The Covenant

A covenant, or BERIT (ברית) in Yehudit, was the equivalent of a formal contract in today's world. In daily life, in Av-Rahamic and Mosaic times, a covenant would not have had the formality of signatures, because alphabetic writing had not yet been invented; instead a symbolic action was carried out, of which the most common was the laying of a hand upon the other party's genitals (Genesis 24:9, 47:29 et al). This may sound surprising, but then you have probably never noticed the etymological connection between "testify" and "testicles", or wondered why the Jewish ceremony of circumcision is called Brit Milah, "the Covenant of the Word". When your god is a fertility god, and his sacred number 7 (zayin - זין) is also the Yehudit slang-name for the penis, it is entirely logical to swear by it; in today's world, where faith is rather more subjective than material, we place our hand on our own heart instead. 

By Temple times, the laying on of hands in this manner may have become obsolete. What we know from later Biblical texts is that covenants were not "made" but "cut" - as in circumcision - or "passed through" - as in an initiation rite - or "come into", in the manner of a treaty. The oath-taker was sprinkled with blood from animals sacrificed on the altar (cf Genesis 15:18, 21:27; Exodus 24:5; Deuteronomy 29:11; 1 Samuel 11:7 and many others.

Exactly how many covenants there are in the Tanach between YHVH and Humankind or Elohim and Humankind, is a matter of scholarly debate, because some are specifically stated as being covenants, while others merely refer to covenants, or present something which could be interpreted as a covenant.

The ones which are generally regarded by Judaism as covenants are:

Av-Ram's blessing (Genesis 12:1-3)

The promise of the land of Kena'an (Genesis 12:7)

The ceding of the Plain of the Yarden to Lot (Genesis 13:18)

The promise of the land of Kena'an, again, but with different boundaries this time - from the Torrent of Mitsrayim (Gaza) to the Euphrates, and from Tsidon in the Lebanon to the Red Sea (Genesis 15:9-21)

Circumcision (Genesis 17:1-14) The promise of the land of Kena'an, a third time (Genesis 17:8)

Av-Raham's offspring (Genesis 22:16-18)The promise of the land of Kena'an, a fourth time (Genesis 25:11)The promise of the land of Kena'an, a fifth time (Genesis 26:3)The promise of the land of Kena'an, a sixth time (Genesis 28:13)

The Commandments (Exodus 3:4-10; 6:7; 19:5-6)

The promise of the land of Kena'an including land beyond the River Yarden (Exodus 23:31)

The promise of the land of Kena'an including land beyond the River Yarden, again (Numbers 33:50)The promise of the land of Kena'an including land beyond the River Yarden, a third time (Numbers 34:1)The promise of the land of Kena'an, with borders from Lebanon to Syria, from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates (Deuteronomy 1:7)

The promise of the land of Kena'an yet once again (Deuteronomy 30)

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