Priestly Covenants

A. Priestly Covenants

The Yahwist narrative may have been responsible for the backbone of the event line in Genesis involving the creation of humanity, their first rebellious impulses, and the turn to Abraham. This sequence set the parameters of God's challenge to create a people obedient to him. The Elohist source supplemented this story line, and the Priestly writer added continuity to the event line using genealogies.
   In addition, the Priestly writer employed a series of covenants to add theological structure to Israel's relationship with God and an organization to history. In the biblical world a covenant was a basic structure, a legal metaphor, whereby two parties pledge their abiding commitment. The general schema of history developed by the Priestly writer is worked out in three covenants. Each covenant is marked by a distinctive sign (Hebrew 'ot) as evidence that it was in force.

Table 1 Covenants and Signs

Era	Party	Mediator	Sign	'OT Passage
1. Primeval	Creation	Noah	Rainbow	Genesis 9:12
2. Ancestral	Israel	Abraham	Circumcision	Genesis 17:11
3. Sinai	Israel	Moses	Sabbath	Exodus 31:13, 17