COVENANT

COVENANTS   

DEFINATION: Covenant is a binding agreement between two parties and these two parties were known as suzerainty and vassal. And in that case the suzerainty must be ready to give a helping hand to the vassal in everything.

In Hebrew language the covenant is called “BERITH” and BERITH means covenant of the LORD, while in Greek is been called “DIATEKE” which means Testament (SI &cnkn)

KINDS OF COVENANTS

1.     HEZED                       This is covenant of LOVE

2.     TUBAH                      Covenant of goodness of fellowship

3.     SALAM                      Covenant of peace or Covenant Prosperity

4.     YADAH                      Serving faithfully in accordance with the covenant

5.     KARAT BERITH       Cutting the covenant, here covenant were not made but, to be cut, or entering into Covenant. 1 Sam 20:8 and this is the greatest covenant in Israel John 9:1-17, 18:19; Joshua 10:1-8

COVENANT IN THE BIBLE  

There are two categories of covenants in the Old Testament

1.     Covenant between man and man, tribe and tribe, or between nation and nation.

2.     Covenant between God and man, God and people.

The idea of making covenant has its source in God, the initiative has always been his own. Lockyer said this in another way thus: generally speaking, the covenant were originated by God for man’s good condition on the earth. From His this covenants cannot be broken. Man may make covenants and break them as he often does, but God’s word, or promise, or covenant cannot fall ‘My covenant will I not break, nor alter thing that is gone out of my lips’ (Psalm 89:34).

THERE ARE THREE MAIN ELEMENTS IN A COVENANT:-

1.     The parties contracting together

2.     The promises involved

3.     The conditions imposed.

He further showed that it is possible to have a covenant between equal, or one which is imposed unilaterally by a superior. It is obvious that any covenant between God and man can never be as between equal, but must be imposed from above. The whole purpose of a covenant relationship in the Old Testament was to establish a relationship of truthfulness.

The Old Testament abounds in examples of covenants cut between man and man, king and king, or nation and nation. In Genesis 21:21-32, Abimelech was the marvellous success of Abraham in all that Abraham did. He felt little insecure lest Abraham’s power might prove a threat to his well beings. He decided ti enter into a covenant with Abraham. He said to Abraham.

“Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my prosperity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned” (v24)

Before swearing, however, Abraham complained to Abimelech of his wells which the servants of Abimelech had taken. Abimelech said he never heard about that and did not know who seized the wells, and nobody said anything to him about it until that day. Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech and the two men cut a covenant. The vivid description of cutting a covenant here with a gift is worth noticing.

Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. And Abimelech said to Abraham what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart? These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand that you may be a witness foe me that i dug this well? Therefore that place was called Beer-Sheba (gen 21:28-30).

Its power to make peace is expressed in one of the appellation for it, shalmonim, the connection of which with shalom is obvious. But it must not have the effect to disrupt deeper lying obligations. The prophets are constantly complaining that the princes violated justice for bribes (e.g. Isa.1:23; Micah.3:11). What is reproved is the light acceptance of gifts from anyone who offers them; for the gift must, when accepted, necessarily lead to favour the giver.

The value of a gift in important in covenant making in the Old Testament, although it is not the decisive factor. It could be a property like clothing, or even a human being but the Spirit which prompted the giving is more important.

The gift could be from the greater to the less to honour him. Saul, for examples, in appreciation of the valiant victories won by David, gave him Michal to be his wife. 1Sam.18:20-21

PARITY COVENANT  

This kind of covenant is a covenant because it is between two equals parties. Not even death could annual it.

The covenant between Jacob and Laban is another example of a parity covenant. Although Jacob was Laban’s nephew and now his son-in-law, yet he has become a man, and has acquired such wealth. He left Laban unceremoniously because of the shabby treatment that Laban gave him, realizing that Jacob might constitute a threat to him in future, and that he might even ill-treat his two daughters who had become his wives through Laban’s instrumentality, Laban quickly pursed Jacob when he learning that he had left secretly. When Laban met him, he spoke to him and persuaded him to make a covenant with him, he said:

“Come now, let us make a covenant, you and i; and let it be a witness between you and me”. So Jacob took a stone, and set it as a pillar. And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stone,” and they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jeger – sahandutha: but Jacob called it Gilead. Laban said “This heap is a witness between you and me when we are absent one from the other. If you ill-treat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters although no man is with us, remember, God is witness between you and me”.

Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar which I have pillared is a witness that I will not pass this heap to you, and you will not pass this heap to me for harm” (Gen.31:44-52).

Jacob swore an oath and offered a sacrifice on the mountain and they all ate on the mountain and slept there. It was easy then for Laban in peace the following morning.

     MARRIAGE COVENANT       

Marriage is seen as a covenant in the Old Testament. It was a covenant between non-kinsmen. Once a woman was married to a man, she becomes one with him. She shared in his responsibility with him. It is a great sin to betray a marriage covenant. Jacob was very indignant that is, angry and scornful with his children when they broke the marriage covenant Dinah his daughter and the prince and the king Shechem, when in actual fact they had requested that all the male people in Shechem, be circumcised and they had obeyed. (Gen.34).

Malachi said that the Israelites brought trouble on themselves by breaking their marriage covenants. “And this again you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favour at your hands. You ask “why does he not? Because the Lord was witness to the covenant between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, through she is your companion and your wife of covenant”. (Mal.2:13-14) It must however, be mentioned that divorce was permitted on the ground of a wife’s infidelity that is, disloyalty, unfaithfulness. (Duet.24:1-4)

COVENANT BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE

Another type of covenant is that which is made between a married couple who love each other. It  is usually made in secret. The man would incise his body (usually his left arm) and the woman would do the same. They would each rub a piece of kolanut in each other’s blood and eat it. They must not betray each other.

It they agreed that they would both die within a number of days, it would be so. Friends sometimes make this type of covenant.

OATHS

Swearing an oath is another way of cutting a covenant in the Old Testament. Before sending his servant Eliver Aran to choose a wife for his sons Isaace, Abraham made the servant enter into a covenant with him by swearing an oath. Abraham asked him to put his hand under his (Abraham’s) thing, and swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth that he would not take a wife for Isaac from the daughter of the Canaanites among whom they dwelt.

The editors of the Wycliffe Bible Commentary explained that “Putting a hand under another’s thing was a solemn way of signifying that if the oath were violated, the children, yet unborn, would avenge the act of disloyalty. By means of the oath, the servant would be bound more effectively to secure an acceptable wife for Isaac.

When Jacob realized that his life was drawing to a close, he made Joseph swear by asking him to put his hand under his thing, and promise (or swear) to deal loyally and truly with him by not burring him in Egypt, but by burring his corpse with his fathers in Palestine (Gen.47:29-10).

It is always calamities and disastrous to swear an oath or make a covenanat with people or before God and fail to keep it.

Apart from the breaking of a covenant (which is an abomination before God), the  recaptured slaves had been exposed to ridicule in that they had been made to undergo the solemn public ceremony of liberation in which the sacrificial beast was cut into two part and the parties to the covenants passed between them. (Gen.15:1-10; 11:18). The rich had by their influence set aside this covenant and recaptured the poverty-stricken Hebrews. This annoyed Jeremiah and he said that Yahweh would give the Jewish leaders freedom – freedom from his service and freedom to die by war, hunger and disease.

In Ezekiel.17:11-21, the words “oath and covenant” were used synonymously. The king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar)  came to Jerusalem and took her king and his princes and brought them to Babylon.

COVENANT OF SALT

Salt was used in making some covenant in the Old Testament in order to make it an enduring and lasting covenant. Salt was and is usually used in seasoning and preserving food. It gives taste to food, and it preserves meat from decay.

To eat one’s salt (Ezra.1:14) was the same as to eat a person’s bread and when a guest had tasted bread and salt, he was under the protection of the tribe. Salt was accordingly used in making a treaty, possibly as a symbol of purity combined with the inviolable relation established by eating the salt of a host”.

In Numbers 18:19 God made an everlasting covenant with Aaron and his descendants by giving them the offerings of the Israelites as their prerequisite for salt because it was to be an incorruptible, irrevocable and everlasting covenant.

The covenant of salt could not be broken (Lev.2:13; Num.18:19; 2Cor.13:15). What was salted, being preserved from corruption could be regarded as ritually pure and as worthy to the dedicated to the deity. Herein lies the explanation of the use of salt in the ban and in the sacrifice. When the ban was placed upon a district, it was sown with salt to imply that the ground in question was dedicated to the divinity. It was extremely perilous to occupy land thus devoted to God (1KIN.16:34; Josh.6:25). In like manner, an animal was sprinkled with salt to make it fit to be a burnt offering to Yahweh. Ezk.43:24, Mk.9:49)

Abijah reminded Israel and Jeroboam when there was war between Abijah and Jereboam that God had given the Kingship to David as a covenant of salt. He said: hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! Ought you not to know that the Lord God Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by covenant of salt? (2Chr.13:4-5).

COVENANT IN YORUBA LAND

INTRODUCTION: Covenant making forms an integral part of the private and public life of the Yoruba people. it is embedded in almost every aspect of the religious life of the people. yoruba words for covenant includes: Ileri “Promise”, Ibura “oath” Imule “Covenant”  made with mother – earth as witness Majemu “Vow”, and Adehun “bargain, Agreement”, ileri is usually the spoken word and must be kept.

IBURA: An oat can be taken for good or for bad reasons. But once it is taken, the person involved has an obligation to keep it no matter what happens. Oath taking occurs in the home between husband and wife, among gangs of thieves, in traditional bands or companies, among people of the same trade or occupations, and among kings and their immediate subordinates. In order to ensure that they do not poison him people living very close to a king are made to take oaths yearly. This is a renewal of their covenant with him. (N.A. Fadipe, 1970: 205-207).

IMULE: Is a form covenant made with the mother earth as witness, it may be made by digging a hole in the ground, pouring water into it, and putting some slices of kolanut in the water. The parties making the covenant kneel down and drink from the water. They then eat one slice of the kolanut.

MAJEMU: (Covenant agreement). This is an agreement or covenant between Imule and majemu is the method of administration. Majemu can be administer in any way, like using kolanut and alligator pepper or (Ataare) sucking each other’s blood, whereas imule is specially the using of mother – earth as a witness to a covenant.

In Ibadan. A form of covenant is made by the use of three calabashes, one containing earth and water, on containing dried fish broken into pieces, and one containing dried rat broken into pieces. The parties to the covenant take a piece of the rat in turns. Lastly, they drink the water in the first calabash (which contains earth and water), each taking three sips. Then this song is sung:

O gb’orile oj’ekii o.

O gb’orile o jeja

O gb’orile a dami

Ase d’wo ile t’a jo mu

You stand on the earth you eat rat,

You stand on the earth you ear fish

You sat on the earth if you betray me,

Efficacy belongs to them covenant we made together.

The song concludes the covenant. Kolanut and alligator pepper can be added to the contents of the first calabash which contains  water and earth. In that case, each of the parties to the covenant will take some seeds (usually three) of the alligator pepper and a small bite from the slice of the kolanut.

The three chiefs will share kolanut together: they will also share the lungs and the heart of the victim together. This is a renewal of their covenant with one another. They must never talk  ill of or betray on another. If any of them hears any uncomplimentary statement made about any of them he must make this known to the person concerned.

The remaining of the sacrifice victim usually eaten by the young man. The men are not supposed to take part of the meat home lest they mistakenly give it to their wives to eat. The danger is that a woman who eats of such meat will have a continuous flow of monthly period. (This I think is due to the materials or ingredients  used in cooking the meat of the victim). This  is the belief of the people, and the woman would not like to test the validly of such a statement. The Yoruba takes his/her religion seriously, and would not like to try forbidden things; because ENITI O BA SE OHUN TI ENIKAN KO SE RI, OJU RE YIO RI OHUN TI ENIKAN KO RI RI (“Who – so ever does what no one has ever done before will see what no one has seen before”).

Any of those three chiefs who betrays the covenant will surely die of guilty conscience. Chief Olonade Ologodo emphasized that idol worshippers who are on idol worshiping do not always accept forgiveness even when forgiveness is offered. They firmly believe that whoever breaks a covenant must surely die. Treacherous people do not accept forgiveness, they in their sins; and although, sinners are forgiven in the die Christian religion, that does not prevent them from being punish by God for their sins.

COVENANT BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS

An ordinary spoken agreement two friends in a covenant. A men gives some dust of earth to his friends and tells him that when he dies, a son of his who does not care for him should not be allowed to take part in his funeral. If the man does no argue and he allows the young man to take in his father’s funeral. He has broken a covenant. The penalty is usually death.

An incident which happene in 1976 in Ijebu-Ode was cited by Chief Thompson Olusada. A man solemnly warned his younger brother and his son that when he died, his corpse should not be taken to the mortuary, on their way from the mortuary, they died in a motor accident!

SALE OF LAND

The sale of land or farm offered in the past is an opportunity for covenant making. If land of farm was to be sold in the past, seller and the purchaser would go to ILEDI OSUGBO (the council house of the city elders), the OLUWO would put cowries, kolanut would bury the pot in a spot in the farm. They would plant POGOGUN and ever green – plant, round the spot. Once this was done the seller could not have the land back unless it was redeemed. If he went to the farm secretly suffer the consequences. If the farm  was hired, and a witness was called to witness the agreement, the farm would not be taken back until after three years. If any of the parties to the covenant betrayed it, he would die. If he did  not die, he would  cursed to end his life miserably or suffer a protracted (prolong) illness.

A covenant could be between an IFA priest and his client/

Whatever an IFA priest told the client to do, he or she must do , failure to abide by the instruction was breaking a covenant. Chief Olusade cited the case of a barren woman who went to a divivner to consult the oracle.

COVENANT MADE WITH A COMMON MEAL

Chief Olusadde said that people in the same family or society could enter into a covenant by sharing a common meal. The meal is usually sweet potato and meant. Blood would be mixiedf into food. A mat would be spread on the floor and all who wanted to enter in that covenant relationship would sits on the mat.

The usual invitation to any one who wanted to come into the covenant relationship is: ENITI O BA TO AKO EFON K’O WA YO IWO WARIWA (whoever is as strong as male buffalo, let him stretch his horns)

This type of covenant is for men only. Whoever sits on the mat and eats of the food must never betray confidence. Any of three parties to the covenant must not betray it, if one curse on him, it would be so.

COVENANT MAKING AMONG ELDER S

The elders usually bind themselves into a covenant relationship by sharing slices of kolanut. In Yoruba land the kolanut is sacred: kolanut is used in finding out facts about the future. Kolanut stands for earnestness in prayer. That is why the Yoruba say: ORISA KII KO EBE FUN OBI (“the divinity never refuses any appeal presented to it by the they want it to be more binding, they can each add three seeds of alligator pepper. That is why not going well by saying: GBOGBO SEYI AGBA TI EJO AWEBI, E PE ARA YIN JO (you elders who shared pieces of kolanut together, meet together).

Alligator pepper make the covenant transferable to offsprings because alligator pepper stand for productivity in Yoruba tradition. To make the covenant most binding. Bitter kola represents bitterness. The beliefs is that whoever betray such a covenant will end his life in bitterness. The bitter kola is usually taken last.

COVENANT MAKING BY USING

IMMLEMENT OF LABOUR               

Implement of labour are also in covenant making among people of the same trade or professional. They must never betray one another. Farmers use cutlass; hunters use guns; weaver use apace, their weaving sticks. They may pray with kolanut on the implement and share the kolanut. If a farmer betrays another farmer, he may out himself. If a hunter betrays his oath, he will misfire. If a weaver betrays another weaver, her trade will fall.

COVENANT MAKING AMONG KINGS AND OTHERS                                             

                                  

What obtains among the kings and chiefs in Okiti-pupa division shows the covenant relationship among  a king and chiefs. The Ijamu society in every town in Ikale consists of the kings and his senior chiefs, comparable to the Oba and the Iwarefa (the king and the six chiefs) in most of the important town in Yoruba land. I was proviledged to meet the king and four of his high chiefs at Okiti- pupa who gave first – hand information about Ijamu society.

The Ijamuy society was founded by Gbeji of Ajelu who was a great leader in that area. He was defied by his peoples because of his exemplary life of love and brotherliness, and because he exhorted the chiefs to love one another. Branches of this society exist in most parts of Okiti-pupa. If a member leaves on town to live in another in Okiti-pupa, he is absorbed into the branch of that society in the new station without any problem.

There are three stages in the chieftaincy system of Ikale people.  the first stage is called the Ipeere (the youths). Here a young man may take chieftaincy titles like Arogun, Olowodasa, Lomofe. The sogbon. This is a middle group which consist s of young but experienced chiefs. The third stage is the Ijamu which is the council of elders. Chieftaincy titles here include the kings, Lisa, Petu, Oduwu, Sasere, Lemodoro, and Kogun. The Ijamu are the running class in each Ikale town, and age is considered before a chief is admitted or promoted into the group. A member is usually above fifty  years of age before he can be admitted into it, because the Ijamu chiefs are counsellors to the king.

The initiatory rite is usually done on the shrine set apart for Ajuelu, the founder of there society. Members are usually admitted every three years. On the day of initiation a special soup of fish, pepper, salt and olorin (peppery seed which smells like onion) will be cooked. But no oil must be added. Pounded yam will be put in a calabash and the soup will be in a pot. The water to be drunk during this initiation must be taken from the seven rivers in the area. The words of the intiation are never said to the uninitiated, but after the oath – taking of a new member, each member will take a morsel of pounded yam and dip it in the soup in the pot. This they will do in turns.

Whatever is left of this special food and soup is never given to anybody: it is thrown out. Then the common meal follows, usually pounded yam and soup. Part of the common meals can be given to the children who come with fathers. The members also drink from the same cup, although today, individual cup are used.

Member of this society sit seniors, priories, and eat and drink in the  order. When the kings enters, all the members must stand as an act of their absolute loyalty, respect, faithfulness and obedience to him. when another members enter, all those who are junior to him must stand, and they sit when he has taken his seat. If a member wants to enter the meeting place, he must show his respect for orderliness by not rushing in he must first of all cough behind the door. If the members inside are ready to receive him, they will say “Kade” (open). Then he come in

The members in each locality meet every nine days for self examination. They confess freely to each other and to one another whatever they had done. It is required of each member to give absolute loyalty to his fellow member and to faithful and true to him. if one member visits another and that one is making love with his wife, it is incumbent on him to get up and answer his comrade. Their common saying is: EDI MEJI KII DI ARA WON, “two members never betray one another”. Actually it means that two charms of the same kind never oppose one another.

    COVENENANT MAKING IN THE OGBONI SOCIETY

My chief informant here was Chief Jonathan Olonade Lasore, the Baba ijo (male congregational president) of the Methodist church, Itesi, Abeokuta. He was born into a Christian family and as such he had no opportunity of easy relationship with non-Christian. His grandfather was the OLUWO of itesi (the head of Ogboni cult in Itesi, Abeokuta) and because all children in their family had to be initiated into the Ogboni cult, he was initiated.

Although there are many ways of making covenants in Yoruba land covenants in the secret cults are, in his opinion, most binding. He had been a member of some other cults, but the United Brothers of Friendship, of which he was one of the foundation members in Abeokuta, appeared to him to be about the best, because thee he found great love. He could not reveal the secrets of the cults to a non-member.

In all covenant made so far in this world, the most powerful one is blood covenant because it involves life; for blood is life. Lev. 17:11

Many people have entered into these covenants knowingly or unknowingly in the past. Some were made by lovers who pledge to marry one another and in order to re-enforce their relationship, they enter into blood covenants by mixing their blood and afterwards drinking it together. 

This is done by using needle or any sharp instrument to draw blood from their flesh. Sometimes, the blood is mixed with alcohol and then share, or in some other ways.

When Jesus appeared before Pilate and he said No to crucify him. He said again “but he has seen nothing, yet they said “Crucify him and let His blood be upon us and upon our children”. It is still so now for the Jews.

There was a young girl who went for deliverance in 1993. She has written her West African School Certificate (WAEC) for about three (3) times and all the three times, her answer sheet scripts never got to the West African Examination Council (WAEC) office. It is used to disappear mysteriously. She is a child of God, born again, Holy Spirit filled, yet neither she nor her Pastor could explain what is happening. The invigilator submitted her scripts but her papers would not be found. Among the list of her frustrations was her father’s sudden indifference towards her. He was annoyed because the girl refused to go with him to juju houses to find out what was wrong. The deliverance Minister prayed for her, nothing happened, later the spirit of death started hunting her.

She would like to run across a moving vehicle the demons were really out to destroy her. At a point, she was fixed to a special fasting and prayer but later failed. One day she confessed that she had a blood covenant with her former boy friend, when she was an unbeliever and she thought that once she is born again, everything is over. But the boy met her and told her that she is wasting her time. If she did not come back to him, everything they said to one another before they drank their blood would continue to affect her. The information she gave the Minister of God gave him an insight into what the problem was all about and he prayed with her, and breaks the blood covenant in Jesus Name. That was how the girl delivered form blood covenant.