Promises to Israel

Promises to Israel

God has made several promises to Israel including three, some would say four, unconditional covenants.
A covenant is a legally binding agreement made between the contracting parties. In ancient Biblical times it was the custom to ratify the covenant by laying out the two halves of animal carcasses and then reciting the terms of the covenant whilst walking between them. The covenanted parties are then under obligation to uphold their part of the agreement - failure to do so by one or the other annuls the covenant and releases the other from his obligations. The Hebrew word for covenant literally means to 'cut a covenant'.

Unconditional covenants however are where one of the agreeing parties promises to fulfill his obligations regardless of whether the other does so or not. It will be seen that God made a least three unconditional covenants with Israel that were based upon His sovereign grace to bring them to fulfillment.

The first unconditional covenant that God made regarding Israel was with Abram and is known as the Abrahamic Covenant:

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed."
Gen. 12:1-3

14 the LORD said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, "Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,
15 for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring forever.
16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then your seed may also be numbered.
17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it to you."
Gen. 13:14-17

7 He said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."
8 He said, "O Lord GOD, whereby will I know that I will inherit it?"
9 He said to him, "Take me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon."
10 He took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't divide the birds.
11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.
13 He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.
14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great substance.
15 But you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full."
17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
18 In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
Gen. 15:7-21

It should be noted that although in the first verse of chapter 12 of Genesis Abram is told to leave his own land to go to the land that God would show him, this does not make the covenant conditional as there is no hint of discipline for disobedience, quite the contrary, God in His foreknowledge knew that Abram would obey and therefore makes promises to Abram that have absolutely no conditions whatsoever attached to them. As a matter of fact God says that it was He that brought Abram out of the land of Ur (15:7), strongly suggesting, in accordance with the doctrine of predestination, that Abram didn't really have much choice in the matter (compare how God brings Gog of the land of Magog to the mountains of Israel in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39).

In chapter 13 of Genesis God elaborates on the promises already given and now includes the land as a possesion to Abram and his offspring forever and to make his descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth. By God promising to give the land to Abram and his offspring forever confirms that it is an unconditional covenant as nothing that Abram nor his descendants could do could nullify the promise. This is again confirmed in the manner by which God ratified the covenant as recorded in Gen. 15:7-21: God put Abram into a deep sleep and instead of Abram walking between the carcasses with God whilst reciting the terms of the covenant, God Himself, in the form of a smoking furnace and a flaming torch, passed between the pieces signifying that neither Abram nor his descendants could ever break the covenant as God made the covenant on behalf of Abram rather than literally with him. There could be no clearer way in which God could show that it was indeed an unconditional covenant.

The second unconditional covenant regarding Israel is known as the Davidic Covenant (some commentators consider Deut. 30:1-10, referred to as the 'Palestinian Covenant', as the second unconditional covenant; but it is really only a recomformation of the Abrahamic Covenant):

12 When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;
15 but my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.
16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before you: your throne shall be established forever.
2 Sam. 7:12-16

The first four verses (12-15) refer to David's son Solomon whilst the last (v. 16) is directed specifically to David. These five verses promise to David that he will always have a descendant whose right it is to the throne and that it will be an everlasting throne.

Referring to Solomon, God says that He will punish him for his iniquities but that He would not leave him and that God would establish the throne of Solomon's kingdom forever. This is not to be thought of as establishing Solomon or his lineage forever but rather the throne of the kingdom that he inherited from his father David which is in agreement with verse 16 which promises an everlasting dynasty, kingdom and throne to David. That these promises to David are everlasting shows that it is an unconditional covenant as nothing David nor his descendants after him can do to break it. This is confirmed, even after all the transgressions of the kings of Judah, by the angel Gabriel when sent to Mary:

30 The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name JESUS.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end of his kingdom."
Lk. 1:30-33

By telling Mary that Jesus would be given the throne and kingdom of David, Gabriel was confirming the continuance of the Davidic Covenant and thus proving that it was indeed an unconditional covenant.
The psalmist also confirms that the Davidic Covenant was everlasting and therefore unconditional:

3 "I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David, my servant,
4 'I will establish your seed forever
And build up your throne to all generations.'"
Selah.

19 Then you spoke in vision to your saints,
And said, "I have bestowed strength on the warrior.
I have exalted a young man from the people.
20 I have found David, my servant.
I have anointed him with my holy oil,
21 With whom my hand shall be established.
My arm will also strengthen him.
22 No enemy will tax him.
No wicked man will oppress him.
23 I will beat down his adversaries before him,
And strike those who hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my lovingkindness will be with him.
In my name, his horn will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also on the sea,
And his right hand on the rivers.
26 He will call to me, 'You are my Father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation!'
27 I will also appoint him my firstborn,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my lovingkindness for him forevermore.
My covenant will stand firm with him.
29 I will also make his seed endure forever,
And his throne as the days of Heaven.
30 If his children forsake my law,
And don't walk in my ordinances;
31 If they break my statutes,
And don't keep my commandments;
32 Then I will punish their sin with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
33 But I will not completely take my lovingkindness from him,
Nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
34 I will not break my covenant,
Nor alter what my lips have uttered
35 Once have I sworn by my holiness,
I will not lie to David.
36 His seed will endure forever,
His throne like the sun before me.
37 It will be established forever like the moon,
The faithful witness in the sky."
Ps. 89:3-4, 19-37

The final unconditional covenant is the New Covenant:

31 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.
35 Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that the waves of it roar; the LORD of hosts is his name:
36 If these ordinances depart from before me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.
37 Thus says the LORD: If Heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD.
38 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.
39 The measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah.
40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.
Jer. 31:31-40

Although the basic elements of the covenant have been realized for believers, both Jewish and Gentile, in the Church this does not negate the explicitness of the wording of verse 31. It is also clear from the passage that the New Covenant is to replace the Law of Moses (v. 32) and that as a seal of the unconditional character of the covenant, God emphasizes the perpetuity of the nation of Israel, the city of Jerusalem and by extention the Messianic kingdom (vv. 35-40).

There are many more promises concerning Israel recorded in the Scriptures, most of which contain the same theme — 'I will bring you back':

11 It shall happen in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, who shall remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 He will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isa. 11:11-12

3 I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
4 I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, says the LORD.
5 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called: the LORD our righteousness.
7 Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that they shall no more say, As the LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 but, As the LORD lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them. They shall dwell in their own land.
Jer. 23:3-8

17 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18 They shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things of it and all the abominations of it from there.
19 I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;
20 that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Eze. 11:17-20 [see also Eze. 36:1-38]

21 Say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, where they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all;
23 neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 They shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children's children, forever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore.
27 My tent also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 The nations shall know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore.
Eze. 37:21-28

9 For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall on the earth.
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us.
11 In who day will I raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up the breaches of it; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;
12 who they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name, says the LORD who does this.
13 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14 I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of it; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
15 I will plant them on their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says the LORD your God.
Amos 9:9-15

From all of the above it is clear that Israel has been promised a special place in the program of God — specifically that Israel will be a nation forever, and once graciously saved, will once again dwell in the land with King Messiah ruling over the promised kingdom from David's throne — forever, which with the advent of the new heavens and the new earth and the new Jerusalem, means throughout all eternity. No wonder they are referred to by God as the apple of His eye! catcmo2006