Understanding Marriage as a Covenant to Understand the Biblical Covenant

           Talk about covenants and treaties and so on can sound like we are talking about the relationship between nation-states.  And that is the basis of the covenant in the Old Testament, between God and the people of Israel.  In fact, one fascinating interpretation of the book of Deuteronomy is that it is, as a whole, a treaty of a specific, ancient type.

          My Old Testament professor called it a “Suzerainty Treaty”.  In was a treaty made between two kingdoms or nations, each with its own king.  But it was NOT a treaty between equals.  One nation was far more powerful than the other.  So they needed a word for the stronger king, who also pretty much dictated the terms of the treaty.  Thus, the term “suzerain”, the higher ranking, a way to establish rank among titles that were technically equal.

          The point is, such a treaty, or covenant, is in terms of magnitude above that of God and the individual believer in general consideration of the term.  With one notable exception in my experience.  That is the covenant of marriage.

          Two people make exclusive, binding, and public promises to one another.  Marriage is ‘an institution’.  And a quick glance at national statistics contained the ‘good news’ that the rate is trending downward toward 40% instead of the usual 50%.  As, as an institution, not a solid track record for something that general includes “till death do us part”.

          The structure of Covenant between God and humanity has shifted over the history of the writing of Scripture to be more of an individual covenant than a national one.  It was with Abraham that the covenant began to be one with a ‘specific’ lineage, that of Abraham.  From his call, the nation of Israel came into being.

          SIDEBAR: the evidence of God’s side of the covenant through the history of the Old Testament is to be referred to as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the first three generations of the nation.

          So the covenant is an exclusive relationship depending on faith and trust and love on both sides.  Honestly, in Scripture, that is the basis for both the individual and the nation-sized covenants with God.  Reading the bible from this point of view, that of God’s covenant with us, gives it an interpretive structure that, for me, draws the very divergent elements together.  Looking for a comparison from our own lives, I hope that helps to deepen the understanding of what the covenant is for us.

Peter Hofstra