The Renewed Covenant
“Behold, the days come, says Yahuah, that I will make a (Re)new(ed) Covenant with the house of Yisra`el, and with the house of Yehudah: 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 Yahuah. But this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Yisra`el after those days, says Yahuah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their `Elohiym, and they shall be my people:” (Jer. 31:31-33 parenthesis mine). The word ‘new’ is translated in many places (Job. 10:17; Psa. 52:10, 103:4; Lam. 5:21) from חָדַשׁ khar-dash which is a primitive root. However, Strong uses #H2319. This seems strange when you consider the following Strong’s references, suggesting that it was done to ‘prove’ a completely new and replacement Covenant is now in force.
Yahuah writes Torah on the hearts of people where the lying scribes (Jer. 8:8) and false prophets (Jer. 23:26, 27) cannot pervert the truth.
חָדַשׁ #H2318 *613 khar-dash – prim. root – renew, repair.
νέος #G3501 neh-os – new in the sense of something that was in decline but has been restored.
“The king and Yehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of Yahuah; and they hired masons and carpenters to restore (חָדַשׁ #H2318) the house of Yahuah, and also such as worked iron and brass to repair the house of Yahuah.” (2 Chron. 24:12 parenthesis mine).
חָדָשׁ #H2319 *613a khar-darsh – completely new, never before existed.
καινός #G2537 kai-nos – new in the sense of being completely new, never to have existed before i.e. a new baby.
“Now there arose a new (חָדָשׁ #H2319) king over Egypt, who did not know Yosef.” (Exod. 1:8 parenthesis mine).
חֹדֶשׁ #H2320 *613b khar-desh – new moon, month.
“Dawid said to Yonatan, ‘Behold, tomorrow is the new (חֹדֶשׁ #H2320) moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at even.’” (1 Sam. 20:5 parenthesis mine).
νεομηνία #G3561 neh-om-en-eea – new moon from compound νέος #G3501 neh-os + μήν #G3376 mane – month.
Inserted in between two references of something being renewed or repaired, is a reference, to be used by Replacement Theologists as proof text, that it was a completely new Covenant (Roth p. 942).
Yet, in other places, Strong uses בְּרִיאָה #H1278 beh-ree-ar – a new thing, creation, completely new thing, never to have existed before, “But if Yahuah make a new (בְּרִיאָה) thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain to them, and they go down alive into She`ol; then you shall understand that these men have despised Yahuah.” (Num. 16:30).
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Jer. 31:31-33 is the definitive proof text used by Replacement Theologists to show that for salvation, Torah has been done away with by a completely different covenant. However, this error has come about by the use of two methods of exegesis that contravenes the accepted rules of hermeneutics:
(bi) by forming doctrine from a translation;
(bii) by forming doctrine of a single passage,
without supplementary support from other passages of Scripture.
Further clarification comes from the Ancient Hebrew ~2151(N) – renew or repairfrom the root חָדַ kha-dal – restoration. “…and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of Yahuah…” (2 Chron. 24:12). It is obvious from this verse, that the workmen were not engaged to build a completely new Temple from scratch, but rather to repair and put back the original to its former glory.
When the Covenant of salvation was originally made, it was to Khavah, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:15) and Adam, “Yahuah `Elohiym made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.” (Gen. 3:21).
The Adamic Covenant is the Covenant of Salvation, whereas the Noakhic Covenant is in relation to Yahuah’s promise never again to destroy the world by flood (Gen. 9:8-17); the Abrahamic Covenant was in relation to Yahuah’s promise to make Abram a great nation and of Eretz Yisra`el (Gen. 12:1-3, 7) and the Dawidic Covenant is Yahuah’s promise regarding the dynasty of Dawid and rule of the Messiah (2 Sam. 7:8-17). All these begin with Yahuah’s declaration of “I will…”
The Mosaic Covenant is Yahuah’s promise to be Yisra`el’s `Elohiym (Exod. 6: 6,7). In this Covenant, Yahuah has declared that Am Yisra`el, out of all the nations of the earth, was to be His particular people. Now that they were a nation unto Him, there was laid down a very specific set of conditions, known as Torah.
In Jer. 31:31-33, it is said that Yahuah will write a renewed Covenant upon the hearts of Am Yisra`el. The Scriptures used in this book are not completely new, but have been put down on a different medium, a laptop. The Good News that was given to Adam and Khavah was originally in an oral format, handed down to each generation. However, as the population grew, the Good News message was more difficult to relate and pass down, and so people ultimately ignored it teachings. Therefore, it was necessary to the nascent nation of Yisra`el to have the Good News clarified, codified and so written down, in order for it to be made widely known and passed down.
Nevertheless, as time passed, Yahuah knew that the people would once again ignore His message of salvation through His Son, therefore the Covenant had to be re-written or renewed into a medium, making it impossible to ever disregard. Hence, it was written on hearts.
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תּוֹרָה #H8451 tor-rar – law, instruction, direction (from the root יָרָה #H3384 ya-rar to throw, cast, shoot or direct figurately becoming to teach). The significance of this is lost to western cultures wherein it is invariably translated as law. Law can be defined as the set of rules, regulations, statutes and ordinances laid down in order to regulate the governance of the state.
Although this is an aspect of Torah, it is but a small part. Yahuah has given His Torah as a means of initiating an intimate relationship between people and Himself. The Mosaic Covenant can, therefore, be considered as codifying that verbal and typical instruction given from Adam to Mount Sinai.
It has been said that the Mosaic Covenant is, in fact, a ketubah, the marriage contract between Yahuah `Elohiym and His (Betrothed Bride) people. The Covenant Scroll was put alongside the arone (Deut. 31:6), the Ark of the Covenant. However, on tablets of stone, Yahuah inscribed Eseret Ha-devarim (Ten Words/Commandments), that represent the full Covenant. These stone tablets are, therefore, typical of the eternal Ketubah, and were placed within the arone (Deut. 10:2).
That is why so much of the Tanakh warns against adultery as it typifies falling into idolatry and is a capital offence, “You shall not commit adultery.” (Exod. 20:14); “The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” (Lev. 20:10).
“At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he who is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.” (Deut. 17:6). It is not possible for Yahuah `Elohiym (the Plaintive Husband) and the People (Accused Bride) to act as legitimate witnesses.
HaSatan brings legitimate accusations, “…for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our `Eloakh, day and night.” (Rev. 12:10b). Therefore, the husband is required, under Torah for, “This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband married or betrothed), goes astray, and is defiled; or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before Yahuah, and the Priest shall execute on her all this law.” (Num. 5:29, 30 parenthesis mine). This is why the Master Yahusha had to drink the Cup of Jealousy mentioned in Gat Sh`manim.
Adultery and thus its anti-type, idolatry, is totally abhorrent to Yahuah, as He knows what has to be done in order to restore His Bride back to Him. All Gentile Believers are grafted into the commonwealth of true Yisra`el, and so come under the same Ketubah.
The arone,along with the stone tablets, disappeared from history around the time of the Babylonian sacking of Yerusalayim in 587 B.C.E. and when Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) prophesised the re-writing of the Covenant upon the hearts of the people.
All this was laid down as Written Law (as opposed to orally handed down to Moshe), but Am Yisra`el continually broke the Mosaic Covenant. Therefore, Yahuah put the Covenant in a place that the people could not claim ignorance of: in the heart of Man. However, this was not a new (חָדָשׁ #H2319 *613a khar-darsh; καινός #G2537 kai-nos) Covenant, but a new (חָדַשׁ #H2318 *613 khar-dash; νέος neh-os) Covenant.
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If there was a completely new Covenant that was required for salvation, then all who died prior to the Resurrection could not have received Yahuah’s salvation, as “But `Eloakh commends His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, the Messiah died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we will be saved from `Eloakh’s wrath through Him. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to `Eloakh through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by His life.” (Rom. 5:8-10).
However, this would be absurd boarding on the blasphemous. From Adam throughout history to Dismas, the penitent thief, all who looked in anticipation to the death of the Master Yahusha, salvation was secured, in faith, by the acceptance of His shed blood through a substitutionary animal. From the Crucifixion to today, salvation is secured, in faith, by accepting the actual shed blood of the Master Yahusha. There can only ever be one Covenant of salvation because there is only one Lamb that shed His blood.
That which was promised, “Yahuah `Elohiym made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.” (Gen. 3:21), typified, “Moshe took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Look, this is the blood of the Covenant, which Yahuah has made with you concerning all these words.’” (Exod. 24:8) and is ratified at the Cross.
Although the Septuagint (LXX) uses Καινήν kainun in Jer. 31:31, the LXX translations vary considerably (Archive) and contains many errors, and it is from the use of the LXX that the idea of a completely new Covenant issues. Writers of the Renewed Covenant (New Testament) text, simply uplift the LXX text as a matter of convenience (cf Luke 22:20).
Two very clear examples of this can be seen in the treatment of the following verses:
“It will happen that whoever will call on the name of Yahuah shall be saved. For in Mount Tziyon and in Yerushalayim there will be those who escape, As Yahuah has said, And among the remnant, those whom Yahuah calls.” (Joel 3:5(2:32))/ “For, ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Rom. 10:13 HNV). The Tanakh clearly uses Yahuah three times in Joel. However, the LXX and Romans uses κύριος kurios – lord.
Similarly, “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honour.” (Psa. 8:4, 5 NKJV)/ “But one testified in a certain place, saying: ‘What is man that You are mindful of him? Or the son of man that you take care of him? You have made him a little below the angels: You have crowned him with glory and honour, And set him over the works of Your hands.” (Heb. 2:6, 7). The Tanakh uses אֱלֹהִים #H430 `elohiym,used 2,345 by Strong as God but only once, in Psa. 8:5 as angels. However, both the LXX and Hebrews uses ἄγγελος #G32 angelos – angels.
This seems in direct contravention of “You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahuah your `Elohiym which I command you.” (Deut. 4:2).
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This is, at best, a matter of false piety interfering with Scripture. The further away a translation is from an interlinear, the more society, creed and tradition introduces a conscious or subconscious bias that really is only a commentary. It is best, therefore, to treat the LXX more as a commentary than a translation.
It is notable that Mattityahu, writing to an audience of native Hebrew/Aramaic speakers, does not claim the cup at the Pesakh Seder ushered in a completely new Covenant, “He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, ‘All of you drink it, for this is my blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.” (Matt. 26:27, 28). Many versions (NLT, NIV, NASB etc) do not even have the wordnew whilst others have new in italics (Amp).
So it is with the Covenant that Yahuah made with Yisra`el. The people broke the conditions of this Covenant (Jer. 31:32), and Yahuah had the choice of scrapping it and starting again (contrary to the character of He who makes all things perfect, and His Word), “Yahuah spoke to Moshe, ‘Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!… Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.” (Exod. 32:7, 10).
Therefore, the Covenant had to be repaired and restored to its former glory. This was accomplished by placing Torah in the hearts of the people so that they would have no excuse for not complying with all its statutes.
Yahuah bless you and keep you,
Yahuah make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you,
Yahuah lift up His face toward you and give you peace.
All glory be to Yahuah,
Ameyn.
References and Credits
In using these references, it is in no way agreeing to or condoning the theological viewpoint of the authors.
Harris R.L., Archer Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Moody, Chicago,
G.J. Jr., Waltke B.K.(1980) Il. (Denoted by *)
Strong J.(1994) Strong’s New Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, World Bible Publishers Inc., Madison. (Denoted by #H or #G).
Strong J.(1996) The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words, Thomas Nelson, Nashville. (Denoted by #H or #G).
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Roth AENT “Scripture taken from the Aramaic English New Testament Copyright 2008. Used by permission of Netzari Press.”
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First Generation Assembly 