Can someone explain to me what the point of God's covenant with Abraham was and why it is important?

[This message has been edited by cac0 (edited 05-21-2006).]

FROM THE BIBLE

Table 2.B "Covenant" in Genesis and Exodus

Era Reference Text (RSV) (In Reference to Abraham)

Genesis

Abraham 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

Abraham 17:2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."

Abraham 17:4 "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.

Abraham 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

Abraham 17:9 And God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

Abraham 17:10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

Abraham 17:11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

Abraham 17:13 both he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money, shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

Abraham 17:14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."

Abraham 17:19 God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Abraham 17:21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year."

Abraham 21:27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.

Abraham 21:32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

Jacob 26:28 They said, "We see plainly that the LORD is with you; so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,

Jacob 31:44 Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be a witness between you and me."

Exodus

Exodus 2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

Exodus 6:4 I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they dwelt as sojourners.

Exodus 6:5 Moreover I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold in bondaand I have remembered my covenant.

Sinai 19:5 Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine,

Sinai 23:32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

Sinai 24:7 Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient."

Sinai 24:8 And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

Sinai 31:16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant.

Sinai 34:10 And he said, "Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD; for it is a terrible thing that I will do with you.

Sinai 34:12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither you go, lest it become a snare in the midst of you.

Sinai 34:15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they play the harlot after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and one invites you, you eat of his sacrifice,

Sinai 34:27 And the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."

Sinai 34:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.