Rembrandt: Moses with the Tablets of the Law
Moses with the Tablets of the Law, oil painting by Rembrandt, 1659; in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
covenant
religion
- Key People:
- Moses
- Related Topics:
- covenant theology
- divine intervention
covenant, a binding promise of far-reaching importance in the relations between individuals, groups, and nations. It has social, legal, religious, and other aspects. This discussion is concerned primarily with the term in its special religious sense and especially with its role in Judaism and Christianity. Covenants in the ancient world were solemn agreements by which societies attempted to regularize the behaviour of both individuals and social organizations, particularly in those contexts in which social control was either inadequate or nonexistent. Though ancient pre-Greek civilizations apparently never developed a descriptive theory of covenants, analysis of covenant forms and the ancient use ...(100 of 5519 words)