'Cutting' A Covenant- Christ as the 'Karat Berit'
Mar 15, 2019
- Covenant and Atonement are the same idea.
- The Creation story is a story of covenant.
- A clearer understanding of The Stick of Judah and The Stick of Joseph!
- How the Hittites 'cut' a covenant.
Raw Transcript
so in this episode I want to talk about
cutting a covenant in the Old Testament
in the Hebrew they don't make a covenant
the Israelites and the ancient Jews
would cut a covenant so when we read in
the Old Testament about a covenant that
is being made that is an English term
that we that we state making a covenant
the Jews the Israelites they would say
that they were cutting a covenant and
this is how we ought to think about this
think of the word cleave cleave has two
different meanings one you think of a
cleaver right a type of knife that is
going to cut something and split it
apart you can also think about cleaving
on to something now when you cleave on
to something it is something that has
already been separated it is two
separate things
and so the cleaving is two things coming
together that is how the phrase cutting
a covenant should be looked at you are
cutting something where you are
separating something two things and then
covenant means Co veneer to bring
together so it's both things at once
it's a lot like the creation story think
about the creation story in Genesis
Moses Abraham etc where you're talking
about covenant language you have
throughout the the creation story all of
this separation happening light and dark
land and see the different foliage
different seeds different categories of
things the different types of animals
they've separated out into categories
man and woman you have first a man
separated from himself from his rib
symbolically obviously there's now man
and woman so there there is that is
a covenant it has been cut it has been
split apart and the object there now is
for everything to become one
so I've as everything has been cut and
separated then it is to be brought back
together to made one it's like the word
cleave it is both things at once that is
covenant the same word applies or the
same meaning applies to the word
atonement atonement has to do with
covenant it is our covenants to God to
reach to him and God's covenant to us to
reach down to us the higher and the
lower laws it is bringing both of those
together that is at one mint atonement
so taking a few examples from the
ancient world we can get a richer
context here to this term karate each
cut out better eats is to cut a covenant
in Hebrew so first as with the example
of creation that is something that was
known throughout the Middle East
throughout probably all ancient
civilizations actually the same idea of
a creation process of splitting apart
and bringing back together was this
ancient concept of covenant and then we
know about the records of the ancient
Hittites these are Middle Eastern up
into Turkey where the Hittites have
records showing how these covenants
would be made very interesting so let's
say for example you are a member of a
kingdom and you wanted to make an
agreement with the king and what you are
going to do was you would say something
like okay I need some land and if you
give me the land Oh King and let me use
this land I will farm it and I will
produce crops and you're gonna give me X
amount of land and I'm gonna give you X
amount of crops every year to the palace
or the temple Treasury as a tax for
being able to use this land like a lease
and we're gonna make this agreement well
how do we do that
well what they would do one way that
they would do this is they would record
down what would be what how the covenant
was made how the agreement the contract
was made and then they would take an
animal sounds very strange to us in
modern times but they would take an
animal and they would cut its throat or
they would cut it up into pieces or
oftentimes just in half they would cut
the Covenant and then that would be also
a penalty that would be associated with
that covenant that would say were the
vassal the the the citizen would say
something like if I don't agree to that
if I don't follow through on these terms
of this contract then may what has
happened to this animal here happened to
me it was pretty serious right that but
that was how it was enforced now it may
not be that that's exactly what would
happen as a penalty it was more maybe
used symbolically but that was how the
Covenant was made it was cut it would be
a cut covenant and then they would keep
the records of this and of course
everybody knew that there was going to
be some type of enforcement that would
be in place so that both sides would
keep the terms of the contract
additionally another example of how this
would be done we talked a lot about the
stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah
that we hear about in the book of Isaiah
we always look at that like okay we've
got a the stick of Judah is the Bible
and the stick of Joseph is the Book of
Mormon that's usually what we hear and
that's true that's fine but why why are
these sticks and a lot of times I think
well it was a scroll that rolled up
around a stick or something which is not
how they did it but let's say we let's
take a step back here and look at this a
little closer and get a little richer
idea of what this mean this is covenant
this is two separate pieces of the same
thing being split apart and then brought
back together so as an example
you see in the land of Egypt that there
are always two different Egypt's there
was an upper egypt and a lower egypt and
there are different representations even
on for example you look at King Tut's
crown there would be there would be two
different symbols there that would
represent Upper and Lower Egypt and
there were that they were it was the
oftentimes called the land the the
subject of the effect of the land of two
lands or the two lands and so it was in
a sense a covenant where you had Lower
Egypt which is actually in the north
because it goes by how the Nile runs and
then you would have Upper Egypt in the
South and these would work together and
they were two different lands of the
same land but two pieces think of
Covenant right cutting a covenant it's
the same thing happened in Israel right
you had the land of Judah to the south
the stick of Judah and you had the land
of Joseph or Ephraim his heir his son
the northern area the northern land of
Israel was called Ephraim and it was
Joseph who was the head of that so that
would be the stick of Joseph as well now
yes it has to do with the scriptures
because the Book of Mormon comes from
Lehi who is Ephraim's or uh comes from
Manasseh the tribe of Manasseh who is
Ephraim's brother Manasseh is also the
son actually the oldest son of Joseph
and of course the Bible comes from the
land of Judah from the Jews and so you
have the stick of Joseph and the stick
of the stick of Judah but looking at it
further we can look at it in a different
way anciently one way that they would
make these contracts and the same thing
contract as a covenant is the same thing
is they would take a stick or let's say
a a larger piece of wood and one thing
they would do is they would write down
the terms of the
contract on the wood they wouldn't grave
it and they might have the terms of
let's say again the example of the king
and the citizen they might have the
terms of the King on one side and the
terms of the citizen on the other or
maybe they would put both terms from
both sides on each you know on two side
on both sides of the stick or let's say
the left side of the stick and the right
side of the stick and then they would go
down the middle of the stick or the
piece of wood and let's imagine a jigsaw
going down and cutting it in a specific
way so that the terms were that mirrored
on each side of that cut and then you
would have now two pieces that were one
just like Adam and Eve right you have
two pieces that were one one of those
pieces you would put into the temple
Treasury or the palace Treasury that
would be held under the King's
administration the other would be held
by the citizen and let's say he goes off
to farm the land he comes back and as he
reports to the tax collector or the
Kings representative the the treasurer
they would have his stick their portion
of the stick and they would bring it out
and the citizen would bring his portion
of the stick and they could match them
right because the cut would match
perfectly and they would have the coal
contract then brought together at that
point so you have just like the two
sides of the stick you have the stick of
Joseph and you have the stick of Judah
and in fact the word Testament we think
think of the Old Testament of the New
Testament
probably a better translation into
English would be the Old Covenant and
the New Covenant is the way that would
probably be better if we termed it that
way and with the Book of Mormon we have
the Book of Mormon another testament or
another
covenant of Jesus Christ and so that
brings it all full circle to show us
that yes it's the stick of Joseph and
yes it's the stick of Judah but these
are covenants these are two pieces of
the same people
originally the the tribes of Israel that
would be brought back together again as
you hold them together it's like a
representation of the Northern Kingdom
of Israel and the southern kingdom of
Judah being brought back together as all
things need to be brought back to be at
one or at one mint and that would be the
representation of covenant with the
scriptures
lastly in conclusion we can look at the
Savior himself and as he went to the
Garden of Gethsemane and he bled from
every pore and then died on the cross
the marks and the wounds that he had on
that cross are the Covenant that were
literally cut into him he is the cannot
bet eat because it is he that was cut it
was he that was wounded and it is he
that brings the atonement the ad1 meant
the covenant to us and we see the
representation of this as he came back
from the resurrection as a resurrected
being to the disciples and then down in
Bountiful in the Americas where everyone
came and felt his wounds that why does
he hold on to those because he is the
cannot bet eat he is the cut covenant
that brings us all back together I'll
talk to you next
"I Take This Every Day!"
Learn more about why I accepted Cardio Miracle as a sponsor and why I take it every day!
- Greg Matsen
Cwic Study Group
Checkout our weekly Cwic Study Group!
Delve deeper!
Stay connected with Study Tips & Updates!
Donate
Be a part of our mission! Help us help others increase their understanding of the scriptures and increase their faith.
Cwic Merch!
Check out our Merch Store! Apparell and Accessories.
Cwic Audio Player
All of the Cwic Media podcast episodes on one page!
Recent Posts
What Happened To Exaltation? The Slippery Slope From Eternal Laws To A Prosperity Gospel
Mar 28, 2024
Isaiah Predicts Our Time With Precision
Mar 16, 2024
