Lesson 7: Extended to Descendants

Y'all! We only have 4 more meetings left. It's gone by so quickly and has been such a blessing to me- I hope it's been for you, too!

Yesterday (or two days ago!) we looked at how the covenant was extended to descendants. First, lets took at Abraham:

1. In Genesis 12, we see that God initiates a covenant with Abraham when he is 75 years old. In Genesis 17, we see the extension to the descendants. 
2. We know that the covenant cut was cut close to where the seed/paternity was so that the covenant can include women and descendants. Now, Abraham tried to take things into his own hands ("use Ishmael as my descendent!") later on in chapter 17. We know that the son through which God is going to use is Isaac.
3. In Genesis 22, God tests Abraham by calling him to sacrifice his only son, whom he loved. God is asking Abraham, "Who do you love more?" Abraham is obedient (immediately, even) and shows God that he is devoted to Him and His Plan. What a great contrast to earlier when Abraham was trying to take things into his own hands- now, he is completely resting in God's hand. In covenant, you don't withhold anything, not even what you love most.

Next, we looked at Jonathan:

1.  In 1 Samuel 18, we studied the covenant ceremony between David and Jonathan. 
2. Jonathan is almost immediately tested between choosing his father over his covenant partner (19:2) "Who do you choose?" is what God is asking Jonathan. 
3. We also see that Saul, in 1 Samuel 24, realizes that David is anointed as the next king! What a huge surrender that must have been for him. God was asking, "What do you choose? Your ambitions?"
4. In 1 Samuel 20, we see the covenant extended to descendants. 

Finally, we looked at David:

1. In 1 Samuel 26, David is tested: "Who will you listen to? God or others?"

The next thing we looked at was the term "lovingkindness." We now know that this is a covenant term.  The Hebrew word for this term is "chesed/hesed." It means strength, steadfastness and love demonstrated by actions and not just words. Rebecca gave us this example: obligation calls for you to send your kids to bed on time; lovingkindness makes sure the covers are tucked in just right, that a bedtime story is read, prayers are said and "goodnight" hugs and kisses are given. It's all about going the extra mile. We will see that David does that.

The last thing we looked at was 2 Samuel 9 and the story of Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan, who is lame in both feet. David seeks him out for the sake of the covenant he had made with Jonathan and restored to Mephibosheth the possessions of his grandfather, Saul, and given a seat at David's table as a son.

The application for us?

We are sought after for the sake of Christ, motivated by that lovingkindness, that hesed. All Mephibosheth had to do was accept it, and that's all we have to do, too: accept it in humility, and then we become sons, and as sons, become heirs to the throne.

We were given a handout in our discussion groups that summarizes well everything this pearl of a passage has to offer. Here is the link to that handout. Just scroll all the way to the bottom. (But reading all of it wouldn't hurt, either!) 

Looking forward to this week of homework and next weeks meeting!