Covenants, part 5

3.  Shedding of Blood

The Hebrew word, be’rith, translated as covenant refers to something “cut” but also refers to something eaten (Trumbull 264).  The Old Testament phrase for making a covenant is karat be’rith meaning literally to “cut a covenant” or “to cut a bond” (Ludlow).   Blood must be shed for a covenant to be binding.

As we previously discussed, sometimes this was the blood of the two parties involved.  The earliest biblical covenant between individuals is mentioned in Genesis 14:13 where Mamre, Eschol, and Aner were in covenant with Abram.  (Trumbull 265).  Abram calls upon these three to help him battle to free his nephew Lot when Lot is captured (Gen. 14:24). 

Abraham also made a covenant with Abimelech at the wells of Beer-sheba (meaning the Well of the Seven or the Well of the Oath).  “Herodutus, who goes back well-nigh two-thirds of the way to Abraham, says, that when the Arabians would covenant together, a third man, standing between the two, cuts with a sharp stone the inside of the hands of both, and lets the blood therefrom drop on seven stones which are between the two parties.  Phicol, the captain of Abimelech’s host, was present, as a third man, when the covenant was cut between Abimelech and Abraham” (Turnbull 266).  While Dr. Turnbull infers that such a practice occurred between Abraham and Abimelech the biblical record is unclear as to whether this was the case.  Dr. Turnbull argues that the biblical record doesn’t clarify in greater detail because the practice was widely known and implicitly understood at the time the record was made.

What is clear, however, is that for a covenant to be binding and complete blood (life) was spilt.  In many cases, this was done vicariously with a sacrificial animal.  The animal’s throat was cut and the blood spilled out finalizing the agreement. The animal was then used as the main dish in a celebratory meal. (Ludlow)  A covenantal meal or feast also is found in the Hebrew be’rith, which, in addition to something cut, can also signify something eaten.

Another meaning of be’rith is a “bond” or a “joining together” deriving from the Akkadian root biritu meaning to “fetter” or “chain”.  So to “cut a covenant” is to bind or “chain” yourself in an absolute, binding compact. (Ludlow)

Covenants are established by sacrifice (Psalms 50:5). 

Blood is shed in gospel covenants as well.  When God established a covenant with Abraham concerning his seed, God required some of Abraham’s blood at the very source of his paternity through the rite of circumcision, symbolizing, among other things, that his posterity would be dedicated or surrendered to the Lord.  God required this of Abraham’s seed as well (Gen. 17). 

Moses revealed more fully, God’s intent for Abraham’s posterity.   “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation.” (Exo. 19:5-6). Of all the families of the earth, only Israel will be saved. They alone become Christ’s sons and daughters--his family (Mosiah 5:7-8).  This is a matter of a covenantal relationship, however, and not an issue of bloodlines.  The Jews got this confused.  So serious was the Lord about this that any who were not circumcised were cut off from the Lord’s people and were considered to have broken the covenant (Gen. 17:14).

Christ’s establishes His covenant with us by His own blood.  It is His “blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:11).  It was not, however, merely a cut on the palm of his hand or his wrist, though his hands and wrists were pierced.  Nor was it a quick slitting of the throat as in the case of the sacrificial animals.  The burden placed upon Him was so great that blood was wrung from His every pore (Mosiah 3:7).  “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit.” (D&C 19:18).

We were not purchased with something perishable like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:18-19).

From Adam until Christ, men offered up sacrifices from their flocks.  This was in similitude of the Savior’s great atoning sacrifice (Moses 5:7).  It served to teach and remind the participant of God’s covenant and relationship with them, His love, and His sacrifice for them.

In an environment where livelihood depended upon animals, offering up of an unblemished, male bullock or ram represented a very real sacrifice on the part of the one making the sacrifice.  In a smaller way, the animal sacrificed may also have been symbolic of the surrendering and devotion of the life of the one making the sacrifice unto God.  For those who understood, offering such a sacrifice was not just a gift offered unto the Lord, it was a token of the Lord’s total commitment to the individual and the individual’s total commitment in return to the Lord.

Following the Savior’s great sacrifice, He discontinued the shedding of blood.  We are commanded to offer a sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit (3 Nephi 9:19-20).  It is our pride, our rebellion, our stubbornness, our will that is to be sacrificed.  It is not to be a symbolic gift, but a very real and very personal offering.  How much more difficult is this than the sacrifice of an animal?  We are to be circumcised in our hearts (2 Nephi 9:33).  Our garments are to be washed white through His blood (Alma 5:21). We are to surrender ourselves unto the Savior. Only then can His sacrifice bring about our at-one-ment with the Father.

Joseph Smith taught, “A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for, from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things.  It was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life.” (Lectures on Faith 6:7)