"What did it mean to the Hebrew people for them to be in covenant relationship with God?"

it means to keep an agreement or like a contract

alexandra,

It meant that they had the favor of God. The concept of covenant between God and his people is one of the most important theological truths in the Bible.

A covenant, in the biblical sense, implies much more than a contract or simple agreement. A contract always has an end date, while a covenant is a permanent arrangement.

In the Old Testament, God's CHOSEN PEOPLE confirmed their covenant with God with oaths or promises to keep the agreement. At Mount Sinai, the nation of Israel promised to perform "all the words which the Lord has said" (Ex 24:3). When the people later broke this promise, they were called by their leaders to renew their oath (2 Kin. 23:3).

By contrast, God does not break promises. His oath to raise up believing children to Abraham (Gen 22:16-17) is an "everlasting" covenant (Gen. 17:7).

By making a covenant with Abraham, God promised to bless His descendants and to make them his special people. Abraham, in return, was to remain faithful to God and to serve as a channel through which God's blessings could flow to the rest of the world (Gen. 12:1-3).

Even before Abraham's time, God also made a covenant with Noah, assuring Noah that He would not again destroy the world by flood (Genesis 9). The Hebrew people knew that God is a promise keeper, he would not break his promises. God is true to his word.

As he was back then, he is so today. He will not break his covenant that he made to his people when he sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. It will come to pass.

II Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Be Blessed

Alexandra,  Tippy always gives good answers, but I think there is another important fact about a covenant.  It isn't a contract between two people.  It is a onesided contract if you will.  God made covenants with humans and there is nothing we can do about it.  When He says something, it is for ever, we can't change it because we have nothing to say about it.  He said it, so it's his promise.   God loves us, He will always love us and nothing can change that fact.  That's why He came to earth in the form of human to give us a way to be with Him no matter what we do.

You mean to say they people have the contract with God ...

Thanks

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An agreement between two or more persons to do or refrain from doing some act; a compact; a contract. The Hebrew word berith?, whose etymology is uncertain, appears over 280 times in the Hebrew Scriptures; more than 80 of these occurrences are in the five books of Moses. That its basic meaning is “covenant,” comparable to our modern legal word “contract,” is seen from cuneiform tablets found in 1927 at Qatna, an ancient non-Israelite city SE of Hamath. “The contents of the two tablets [of 15 found] are simple. Tablet A contains a list of names . . . Tablet B is a ration list . . . List A is thus a compact in which the men in question . . . agree to enter someone’s service or to carry out certain obligations. List B, written by the same scribe, then illustrates the nature of the compact; the men were to receive specified rations in return for their services. . . . the Israelite concept of berit, ‘covenant,’ was a central theme in Yahwist theology. Here we have the first published extra-biblical occurrence of the word from early times—not later than the first third of the fourteenth century B.C.”—Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, February 1951, p. 22.

It meant in the first place that they entered in this relationship AS A PEOPLE, that is, as under a constitution. The religious aspect was important, but so was the "socio-political" (constitutional) aspect - and these 2 domains were not yet separated at that time. In order to understand the many commandments / laws for instance, they should be understood as jurisprudence - to be understood of course against the background of the given time frame. If the commandments are understood as "religious" in the first (or only) place, they cannot and will not be understood properly, and may easily be ridiculed then as well.

The old covenant was a way for the Jewish people to obtain protection and salvation by God. They needed to the obey the laws He laid out for them as a nation, as a people.

The covenant was between Jehovah God and the Isralites. They could have chosen not to be under the covenant. But they made an agreement through Moses.

Not

Jehovah’s assurance of protecting his people was implicit in his promise that he would deliver them from Egypt and let them enter the Promised Land. Recall that the enraged Pharaoh pursued Israel with his powerful army, equipped with hundreds of chariots. How confident that arrogant man must have been, especially when the Israelites appeared to be trapped between the mountains and the sea! Now God stepped in to protect his people by stationing a cloud between the two camps. On the Egyptian side was darkness; on the Israelite side was light. While the cloud stalled the Egyptian advance, Moses lifted his rod and the waters of the Red Sea parted, providing both an escape path for the Israelites and a trap for the Egyptians. Jehovah utterly destroyed Pharaoh’s mighty military machine, protecting His people from certain defeat.—Ex. 14:19-28. w07 11/1 1:7