Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(coming together). Ratified by eating together, oaths, witnesses, gifts, pillars (Gen. 9:15; 21:30-31; 31:50-52). Covenant of the law through Moses (Ex. 20:24); of the gospel through Christ (Gal. 3; Heb. 8).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
To this subject as spoken of in scripture there are two branches:
1. Man’s covenant with his fellow, or nation with nation, in which the terms are mutually considered and agreed to: it is then ratified by an oath, or by some token, before witnesses. Such a covenant is alluded to in Galatians 3:15: if a man’s covenant be confirmed it cannot be disannulled or added to. When Abraham bought the field of Ephron in Machpelah, he paid the money “in the audience of the sons of Heth” as witnesses, and it was thus made sure unto him (Gen. 23:16). In the covenant Jacob made with Laban, they gathered a heap of stones to be witness between them, and “they did eat there upon the heap” (Gen. 31:46). When the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and the heads of Israel, “the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord, and... sware unto them” (Josh. 9:14-15). So to this day, if a stranger in the East can get the head of a tribe to eat with him, he knows he is safe, the eating is regarded as a covenant. In 2 Chronicles 13:5 we read of “a covenant of salt”; and to eat salt together is also now regarded as a bond in the East.
2. The covenants made by God are of a different order. He makes His covenants from Himself, without consulting man. With Noah God made a covenant that he would not again destroy the world by a flood, and as a token of that covenant, He set the rainbow in the cloud (Gen. 9:8-17). This kind of covenant takes the form of an unconditional promise. Such was God’s covenant with Abraham, first as to his natural posterity (Gen. 15:4-6); and secondly, as to his seed, Christ (Gen. 22:15-18). He gave him also the covenant of circumcision (Gen. 17:10-14; Acts 7:8)—a seal of the righteousness of faith (Rom. 4:11).
The covenant with the children of Israel at Sinai, on the other hand, was conditional: if they were obedient and kept the law they would be blessed; but if disobedient they would be cursed (Deut. 27-28).
In the Epistle to the Galatians the apostle argues that the “promise” made by God—”the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ” could not be affected by the law which was given 430 years later (Gal. 3:16-17). The promise being through Christ, the apostle could add respecting Gentile believers, “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Jeremiah 34:18. When they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof.
This was a very ancient method of making a covenant. The two contracting parties slaughtered a victim, cut the body in two, and passed between the severed parts. Some writers hold that the design was to express a wish that, if the covenant should be broken, the same fate might befall the party violating it which had befallen the slain beast. Others think that it was intended to represent, that as the two divided parts belonged to one animal, so the two parties making the covenant were of one mind so far as the subject of the covenant was concerned. It is thought probable that the latter was the original design of the custom, and that the former notion was added to the meaning subsequently, or substituted for it when the original intention was forgotten. This old custom is referred to in the very expression which was used by the Hebrews to represent the making of a covenant. The phrase “make a covenant,” which is so often used in the Old Testament, is literally, “to cut a covenant” (karath berith).
This ceremony was used when Jehovah made a covenant with Abram. See Genesis 15:10-11. “Ephraem Syrus observes, that God condescended to follow the custom of the Chaldeans, that he might in the most solemn manner confirm his oath to Abram the Chaldean” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary in loco). The custom was widespread among ancient nations, and is often referred to by classical writers. There are traces of it even in modern times. Pitts, after narrating some of the superstitious customs of the Algerine pirates when a storm overtakes them at sea, continues: “If they find no succor from their before—mentionedrites and superstitions, but that the danger rather increases, then they go to sacrificing of a sheep, (or two or three upon occasion, as they think needful,) which is done after this manner: having cut off the head with a knife, they immediately take out the entrails, and throw them and the head overboard; and then with all the tipped they can (without skinning) they cut the body into two parts by the middle, and throw one part over the right side of the ship and the other over the left, into the sea, as a kind of propitiation” (Religion and Manners of the Mahometans, chap. 2).
Related Books and Articles:
Ministry Nuggets:
• Covenant, when used in connection with the Lord, is always, it seems to me, some order established by God and announced to man, according to the terms of which He enters into relationship with man, or according to which man is to approach Him. (“Genesis 9” by J.N. Darby)