The first covenant with Abraham
A An agreement or promise. is an agreement between two or more parties. It can be thought of as a deal, with both sides having responsibilities to carry out in order to keep the covenant in place.
Abraham
For Jews, Widely regarded as the father of Christians, Jews and Muslims. He was the first person to teach that there is only one God. His story is told in the biblical book of Genesis and also in the Qur’an, where he is named Ibrahim. is known as the founder or first The male head of a family or group. of Judaism, and Jewish people strive to follow his example. He was the first Jewish Someone believed to give messages from God. who received the first An agreement or promise. from God and took God’s message to the people. It was through Abraham that the idea of the The land promised by God to Abraham (Genesis 15:18), Moses, and the Israelites. Also known as the Land of Israel., a homeland for Jewish people, was created.
God gives Abraham the covenant
Abraham was born in the city of Ur (located in the country now called Iraq) at a time when worshipping The worship of an idol, object or person instead of God. was common. The Book of The first book of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) describing the origins of humanity and humans’ relationship with God. explains how God spoke to Abraham in a vision:
Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you.
God instructed Abraham to leave his home and travel to Canaan, the Promised Land, which is today known as Israel. God asked Abraham to follow his rules and be a good example to others.
In return, God promised to give Abraham and his wife Sarah the child they both longed for, and to name their descendants as his chosen people. Abraham agreed that he and his descendants would obey and worship God and lead by example.
Circumcision: the seal of the covenant
God commanded that the covenant was sealed through Abraham’s The removal of the foreskin from the penis performed by a qualified mohel on all Jewish boys, usually on the eighth day after birth. Also known as Brit Milah..
[Circumcision] shall be the mark of the covenant between Me and you… 'Throughout all generations, every male shall be circumcised when he is eight days old… The uncircumcised male… shall have his soul cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.
Abraham kept this covenant and his wife, Sarah, gave birth to their son, Isaac. God chose Isaac to inherit the covenant directly from his father, and Isaac handed it on to his own son, Jacob. Therefore Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are known as Israel’s patriarchs.
As a sign of this continuing covenant, to this day Jewish people perform the rite of circumcision of male babies eight days after they are born, in a ceremony called Jewish ceremony of circumcision of an infant boy..
Question
Why is Abraham important to Jewish people?
Abraham is believed to be the founder of Judaism and he made a covenant with God, which still exists for Jews today. Additionally, Abraham sealed the covenant with circumcision, which is an important ritual for Jews today.
