The Covenants of the Lord Unto the House of Israel

When the angel gave Nephi a vision of the early colonists and the formulation of the United States, he showed Nephi that they had a sacred book which clearly was the Bible. The angel gave this interesting description of the Bible: “The book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles” (1 Nephi 13:23). I was intrigued as I thought about this description—he repeated twice in his summary statement about the Bible that it records the “covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel.” This of course made me think of President Nelson’s invitation to “make a list of all that the Lord has promised He will do for covenant Israel” in our scripture study. The angel’s declaration suggests that we will find the covenants of the Lord to Israel in the Bible specifically.

               Perhaps the most important covenant recorded in the Bible is that made by the Lord to Abraham which of course extended to Isaac and Jacob (Israel). The Lord said this to the ancient patriarch: “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations…. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” God’s covenant with Abraham, in part, was that he and his posterity would be God’s people. I think the covenant we see to Moses for the House of Israel helps us see what that means to be God’s people: “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways” (Deuteronomy 28:1-9). What an incredible list of what the Lord will do for covenant Israel! If we will but keep the Lord’s commandments, we will be His people and receive His boundless blessings. I love this simple summary: “Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do” (Deuteronomy 29:9).

               Later in the Old Testament Jeremiah also spoke about the Lord’s covenants for Israel. He wrote, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Again we see that at the core of the Lord’s covenant is that we can be His people. Here we see a little more of what that means: we shall know the Lord. And what greater blessing could there be than that, for as Jesus prayed, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). His covenant with us means that we can come to know Him, and that is the way to eternal life He has prepared for His people. To know of these covenants is indeed of “great worth” to us today so we can ultimately receive “all that [the] Father hath” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:38).