Covenants, part 7

5.  Covenant Marks and Tokens

Remnants of ancient covenanting practices can still be found in our modern world.  Some believe our handshake used in greeting or upon reaching a deal evolved from the practice of two blood-covenant partners grasping one another by the forearm as they touched their wrists together allowing their blood to mingle from incisions made on their wrists.  (It may also have descended from tokens of gospel covenants given to Adam.)  Either way it seems to be a custom derived from covenant practices.

Some cultures rubbed an abrasive substance into these wounds thereby leaving a permanent mark on the body as a token of the covenant made.  Hands and arms were raised in greeting to display these covenant marks on the wrist.  It may be that our modern practice of waving in greeting came from this tradition.

In other cases, something stained by the blood and kept as a record in a leather case was worn as an arm band or as a necklace as a token of the blood-covenant made.  In other instances, for example in a covenant between a man and a woman, blood was not shared but a bracelet was given and worn as a reminder of being bound or fettered in a covenant bond with “bracelet-binding” being similar to a “blood-bond” (Turnbull 65).  This seems to be the idea behind the gift of two bracelets to Rebekah on behalf of Isaac by Abraham’s steward (Genesis 24:22).  He had asked God for a sign indicating the right girl.  When Rebekah met the sign, he offered her the symbolic gifts even before meeting her father and arranging the terms of the marriage. Rebekah would have understood the significance of accepting these gifts

Among the North American Indian tribes, wampum belts [as encircling and binding token of a covenant] were exchanged to confirm and finalize a formal covenant or treaty.  Beads woven into these belts in various patterns and colors recorded and memorialized the covenant and often showed hands-clasped or figures with arms clasped.  These belts were exchanged with the words “we join the two bodies into one” (Turnbull 327).  

 Lafitau, traveling among the Canadian Indians in the early years of the eighteenth century, recorded: “They do not believe that any transaction can be conducted without these belts.” He observed that “everything of moment transacted at solemn councils, is ratified and made valid by strings and belts of wampum.  The strings are used for affairs of little consequence, or as a preparation for other more considerable presents” but the binding “belts” were as the bond of the covenant itself” (Turnbull 328).  When these belts represented the tribe, they were not worn by an individual but guarded in a sacred tribal repository.

“There is still preserved, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the wampum belt which is supposed to have sealed the treaty of peace and friendship between William Penn and the Indians.  It contains two figures, wrought in dark colored beads, representing ‘an Indian grasping with the hand of friendship the hand of a man evidently intended to be represented in the European costume, wearing a hat’” (Turnbull 328).

As an aside, there is a beautiful story of love and sacrifice depicted in the movie Last of the Mohicans (starring Daniel Day-Lewis; filmed in 1992.  This is one of the rare cases where a movie is much better than the original book. I recommend it.).  In one of the final scenes, the main character Nathaniel Hawkeye displays such a belt to a hostile tribe as testimony to the truth of the words he speaks.

The binding of an entire tribe or group has biblical precedent as well.  An interesting incident is recorded in Joshua chapters 9 & 10.  Here the Israelites are finally entering the promised land and are destroying the inhabitants as commanded by the Lord.  After hearing of the annihilation of Jericho and Ai, the people of Gibeon are deathly afraid of the Israelites.  They resolve upon a strategy to save their hides.

The Gibeonites sent an embassy, dressed in old garments and old shoes with provisions that looked to be the remains of a long journey, to the Israelites.  Meeting with Joshua, they stated they were from a far country and sought to make a treaty with the Israelites.  Joshua and the others were fooled by their appearance and made a grave error.  They failed to ask the Lord (Josh. 9:14) and proceeded to enter into a covenant. 

Later Joshua and the Israelites learn the truth and are very angry at having been duped. They are left in a dilemma.  Do they honor God’s command to destroy all the inhabitants of the land or do they honor their covenant even though it was entered into under false pretenses?  The Israelites honor the covenant and refrain from destroying Gibeon, opting to make them servants instead.  The Lord supports them in their decision.  Not only does Israel refrain from destroying Gibeon but almost immediately they are called upon to defend Gibeon against a host that has assembled against her.  The Israelites defeat Gibeon’s enemies with assistance from the Lord (Josh. 10). 

Israel honored this agreement from generation to generation for about 500 years until an over-zealous King Saul broke it by slaying some of the Gibeonites.  The Lord punished Israel for this offense by sending a famine lasting three years.  King David inquired and was told by the Lord that the famine was a result of Saul’s breaking of the covenant with Gibeon (one that was established 500 years earlier by Joshua).  David makes restitution by delivering, as demanded by the Gibeonites, seven of Saul’s sons into their hands for hanging. King David spared Mephibosheth of this fate for the sake of his oath with Jonathan (2 Sam. 21:1-7).

The whole incident is another profound example of how seriously the Lord views covenantal obligations.

  

Throughout various times and cultures objects such as amulets, bracelets, frontlets (phylacteries) or rings have symbolized covenantal commitments and relationships.  Our modern practice of exchanging wedding rings as a symbol of binding together and the marriage covenant descends from these older traditions.

Marks have also been used to identify groups who have been separated from other people. The Lord set a mark upon Cain (Gen. 4:15).  Was this partially a mark indicating his covenant with Satan?  The Lord cursed the Lamanites and as token of this curse set a mark upon them to keep them separated from his people (Alma 3:6-10).  The Amlicites, likewise, marked themselves with red upon their foreheads to set themselves apart (Alma 3:13-10).  During the final winding up days those who follow Satan will also receive his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. (Rev. 20:4).  It is interesting to me to see how many want to separate themselves today by tattooing their bodies.  (In my book, tattoos are “tramp stamps”.)

In gospel covenants, marks and tokens are important.  The mark of circumcision was a physical reminder of the covenant between God, Abraham and Abraham’s descendants (Gen. 17:10).  Although this was a physical token, it was intended to represent something spiritual—a commitment on the part of the individual thus marked (see Jeremiah 4:4).  It was the individual’s heart that was to be circumcised and was what concerned the Lord (Deut. 10:16, Romans 2:27-28, Col. 2:11).  The heart represents our desires and motives.  Circumcising one’s heart therefore indicates bringing our will into alignment with God’s and keeping our appetites and desires within the Lord’s bounds.  We discussed this in detail under the Sin & Iniquity blog entry.  Without this circumcision of the heart, the physical rite of circumcision ultimately meant nothing (Jeremiah 9:25).

The Savior bears covenantal marks on his body.  One of my favorite scriptures is found in Isaiah 49:15 -16, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”

We also bear covenantal marks.  Not in our flesh, but nevertheless upon our person as we wear our garments.  In the Nauvoo temple these marks were cut into the fabric rather than being sewn in.  This cutting of the marks occurred at the end of the endowment ceremony in front of the veil.  The cut marks were later hemmed around the edges at home to make them permanent.  This continued until 1894 when the marking of the garment was moved to the washing room and was no longer done at the veil (99).  In 1918, another change was made to mark the garments before they are put on the body in the temple (178).  At this point the marks were still cut into the garment and were to be marked by someone having authority.  By 1938 the cut marks were no longer left open, but stitched closed to “keep them neat and less conspicuous” (249).  As for different styles of garments being introduced:  “It is in reality the sacred markings and the intention of the wearer that convert underwear into garments.  It is therefore of the utmost importance that the marks be understood and sacredly regarded” (249).  In 1979, garments were being produced and marked through automation and the cuts were eliminated (436). [All pages numbers listed in this paragraph refer to the book, The Development of LDS Temple Worship 1846 – 2000: A Documentary History by Devery S. Anderson, Signature Books, 2011]

While there may have been valid, practical considerations and purpose in these changes, have they changed the symbolic teaching or meaning of the marks?  In light of our discussion of covenants is there anything here that has been lost to us?