Israel was a covenanted people. The relationship with God began with the Patriarchs. The Law with its covenant was a means of regulating that relationship as Israel's population grew. Moses explained carefully how Israel would receive blessings if they kept their covenant with God and how they would suffer reverses if they did not (Deut. 29.9-15). Moses had also told them of the one, like himself, that God would raise up from among the people in whom He would put His word in a very special way (Deut 18.18). This was the early whisper to Israel of a Coming One, a Messiah to whom Peter referred when he spoke to the people in the Temple just after Pentecost (Acts 3.22,23). The people of Israel shouted excitedly at Sinai "All these things we will do" but it was different when their children arrived in the land forty years later. The nomadic life since Abraham left Ur, was about to change in a way that is hard for us to understand. Their diet changed and they began to live in houses instead of tents. The pagan tribes that surrounded them were enemies although later they deeply influenced Israel with their culture and idolatrous worship. God had not left them without witness of their promises as a covenanted people. The centre of their worship was the Ark of the Covenant and the presence of God was in their midst. Another witness of the covenant was circumcision and that was re-established in Israel when they entered the land under Joshua (Jos. 5). Towards the end of his life and leadership Joshua again made a covenant at Shechem described in Joshua 24.19-28. This was another phase of that earlier relationship. Each one of these covenants was but a restoration, a renewal of that earlier relationship. During their exploits in taking Canaan, Israel were tricked into making a covenant with the Gibeonites (Jos 9.15) because they failed to discover God's will. As a just God, He insisted that His covenanted people should be honourable in their relationships with other people.

For the first few centuries in Canaan, Israel were ruled by special leaders, called Judges. From an ethical and religious point of view there history was a series of peaks and troughs; of repentance and reform followed by apostasy and defeat by their enemies. When they kept the covenant they prospered but when they broke it they suffered reverses of all kinds. The rains didn't come, the crops failed and their enemies pillaged what little they grew and owned. Why then did they break the covenant? We could ask a similar question about any time in human history, including today. The nations of the world continue to take the illogical course in life ‑ utterly sinful ‑ and so do God's people. Who is he (or she) who is so arrogant that they protest that they always do and say what God wants? The pattern does not change and as in those far off days, there were some in Israel who were totally surrendered to God's will. One of these was Samuel. He more than most restored God's Covenant with Israel and led them forward in that relationship. It was the realization of the importance of the Covenant that made him resist the people's desire for a king. In fact the problem was not in wanting a king but their reasons for wanting one. They wanted to keep up with their neighbours ‑ they wanted the pomp and ceremony of royalty that would lead them to victory in battle. They may have become more united as a nation but that did not end tribal conflict. They just changed its outer forms and their relationships were based on envy and pride; barriers were erected and tribalism thrived in social classes and groups. It is still as rife today in party spirit and entrenched unions and sects just as it was in the 1st Century among Pharisees and silversmiths. Each regards his or her own camp or faction as absolutely right and everything is said and done to devalue an opponent. All this because relationships do not have the right basis, that is love for God and love for fellow human beings. Among God's people, if the relationship to Him is right, there will be love for one another without fear or favour. A great deal of sectarianism in the 1st and 21st centuries is a form of tribalism based on fear and envy. Our King has already shown that He has other ideas.

Israel's first king did little to encourage the principles of loving trust. All that Samuel said would happen under royalty did occur during Saul's reign. The man who succeeded him was good at heart but too often he gave way to human weakness. His violence prevented him doing all that his piety would like to have done. He was a good man who longed to make Israel truly God's own people. Something of the spirit of the Covenant is to be discovered in David's dealing with Mephibosheth recounted in 2 Sam.9.1, 7. David, the future king had made a covenant with his great friend Jonathan, the heir to the throne, (1 Sam. 18. 3,4). After Jonathan's death David took care of a weak and disabled son and thus kept his promise to his old friend, instead of murdering all possible rivals in customary fashion. He partially succeeded in establishing a righteous monarchy and God made a special covenant with him that looked forward to the coming of Messiah. Nathan, prophet of God, took a message to David that said He would "raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me … your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever." (2 Sam 7.11-16). This is sometimes called the Davidic Covenant but there is no record of the covenant ceremony, 'cutting the covenant'. It established a principle that was to have a shadow fulfilment in the life of David's son, Solomon.

God spoke through his prophets and they were wonderful men. As Frank Cooke points out in his book 'Living in the Covenant' "long before Plato was born, the Hebrew prophets were declaring the foundations of the just society". More than that they came to know God and what His character was like. There is no doubt that something of the words of these prophets weas taken eastwards and formed the basis of the teaching of the religious philosophers who have been acclaimed world wide. They however never knew the great Creator of the universe or carried His Word as those prophets of Israel. The prophets tended to communicate God's Word to the king. This was certainly true in the days of David and Solomon and the young king led the worship of the people when the Temple was dedicated. "O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart, the covenant you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him..." It is a wonderful record in 1 Kings 8 and the true spirit of piety is to be found in those words to God before His people. It was not to last, even in Solomon's own lifetime, but we catch glimpses of the same spirit when their king stood between God and His people in the lives of Josiah and Hezekiah. For the most part kings, priests and prophets became corrupted and served pagan gods. But the pattern had been laid down and one day an anointed Prophet, Priest and King, Son of God, Messiah, would stand between God and all creation and put it right.

David caught the spirit of God's covenant with Israel in some of the Psalms. In the Messianic Psalm 22 we have the covenant promise to Abraham in vv 27 and 28. In Psalm 23.6 the word 'mercy' is chesed, the Hebrew word for 'covenant love'. It is translated in most texts in the Old Testament Revised Standard Version as 'steadfast love' and a concordance of that translation can make an interesting study of one of the most important words in Scripture. God's love towards His covenanted people is a 'faithful love' ‑ a love which must reward and judge ‑ a love that is unswervingly just and is not affected by human emotion. Glimpses of this wonderful characteristic of our Father is revealed in the psalms as in Psalm 25.10 "All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies" and again in Psalm 136. 1 "O give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever …." and so on through the whole of the psalms.

The vision of the covenanted people that some day an anointed king would come who would lead God's people to victory, never died. So often the epitaph of the Kings of Israel and Judah was 'He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord'. As soon as they returned after the exile, they anointed a king that hopefully things would be better. Later the Maccabees raised their hopes again but it was not to be. When at last their Messiah came they failed to recognise Him. That was in spite of the great work of the prophets who had pointed not to 'pageantry and wisdom of men' but to the ethics of a holy God. He could anoint with His Spirit only one who eschewed the violence and prejudice of humanity and truly reflected His patience and gentleness in faithful service. The ethics of the prophets makes another study. From Elijah through Hosea to Jeremiah the character of the God they served is truly reflected. Only by discovering that moral character and applying its principles to our lives can the predictive prophecy of the Kingdom of God make sense.

DN