Understanding the New Covenant

Understanding the New Covenant
By
James Scott Trimm

One of the most misunderstood topics in Christendom and even in Messianic Judaism, is that of the “New Covenant”. Many in Messianic Judaism refer to the books of the so-called “New Testament” as the “Brit Chadashah” (New Covenant) which plays into this fallacy. The compilation of books written by Yeshua’s Emissaries, were named the “New Testament” in Christendom, but this collection of books in no way is that which the Scriptures call the “New Covenant” (“Testament” and “Covenant” are the same word in biblical languages). Not only does this detract from a real understanding of what the “New Covenant” in the Scriptures actually is, but it plays into a theology that identifies the Tanak as the “Old Testament” or “Old Covenant”, relegating the Tanak to irrelevance. A better name for the compilation of books known as the “New Testament” is “Ketuvim Netzarim” (Writings of the Nazarenes).

So just what is the “New Covenant” and how was it understood by the original Jewish followers of Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah of Judaism? To answer this question we must look at three sources of material:

1. What is said about the “New Covenant” in the Tanak?

2. What is said about the “New Covenant” in the Ketuvim Netzarim?

3. How was the New Covenant understood by the Essenes in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

4. How is the New Covenant understood in the Rabbinic commentators?

The Tanak on the New Covenant

The “New Covenant” is mentioned by name only once in the Tanak (Jer. 31:30 in Jewish/Hebrew editions and 31:31 in other editions). Jeremiah writes:

30 (31) Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
31 (32) 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 broke, although I was a husband unto them, says YHWH:
32 (33) But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says YHWH, I will put my Torah in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people.
33 (34) And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know YHWH: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says YHWH; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
(Jer. 31 30-33 (31-34)

Now the first thing we should note is that the Hebrew for “new covenant” is ברית חדשה Brit Chadashah which can mean “New Covenant” but can also mean “Renewed Covenant”, as Jewish commentators understand it here.

The phrase “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” has a very strong parallel to the Torah phrase “besides the covenant which he made with them in Horev.” (Deut. 28:69 (29:1)) In Deut. 28:69 (29:1) this phrase is used to contrast the Covenant at Mt. Moab, made at the end of the forty years in the wilderness, with the covenant made at Mt. Horev (also known as Mt. Sinai) at the beginning of Israel’s time in the wilderness.

There are many parallels between the covenant at Moab and the “renewed covenant” mentioned by Jeremiah, when we compare this whole section of Jeremiah with this whole section of Deuteronomy:

Jeremiah’s “New Covenant” appears to be synonymous with the Covenant at Moab, a return to Torah.

The New Covenant in the Ketuvim Netzarim

The references to the New Covenant in the Ketuvim Netzarim fall into three categories: The Last Supper (Matt. 26:28; Mk. 14:24; Luke 22:20 and 1Cor. 11:25) ; 2Cor. 3:6; and Hebrews (7:22; 8:8, 13; 9:15-20; 12:24)

In the accounts of the so-called “Last Supper” (Matt. 26:28; Mk. 14:24; Luke 22:20 and 1Cor. 11:25) Yeshua takes the cup of wine and identifies it as “my blood of the New Covenant which is shed for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28).

The Last Supper was actually a Passover seder, and here Yeshua is identifying his blood with the “cup of deliverance”, the blood of the Passover Lamb and the Yayin HaMeshumar.

Of course Yeshua’s blood was the blood of the Lamb that was slain from the foundations of the earth (Rev. 13:8). As such the animal sacrifices were always merely symbolic, pointing forward to the death of Messiah. In this way. Yeshua’s blood was the true blood of the Torah covenant as well as the blood of the Renewed Covenant.

In 2Corinthians 3:4-18 Paul states that Messiah “has made us servants of the New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit”. Paul emphasizes the spiritual nature of Torah renewal, probably to contrast it with the Essene “New Covenant” commitment, which included the “Works of the Law”. a group of purity regulations about which they believed the Pharisees and Sadducees were to lax, and by which they could purify their way to Salvation.

Finally the New Covenant is a primary topic of the Book of Hebrews (7:22; 8:8, 13; 9:15-20; 12:24). Hebrews deals with the inner meaning of the Yom Kippur service with Yeshua’s death being the sacrificial offering of the New Covenant as symbolized by the Yom Kippur service.

The Essenes and the New Covenant

As I have said many times before, the Nazarenes were an unlikely union of Essenes and Pharisees. The very first Nazarenes were people of an Essene background.

The New Covenant was a very important concept to the Essenes. The Damascus Document explains how the Essene Community was born when they went together to Damascus, and there they entered together into their understanding of the “New Covenant” and they considered themselves “members of the Covenant” (Damascus Document 2,2)

The Manual of Discipline, also called “The Community Rule” details the complete ritual by Which Essenes would enter the New Covenant (Manual of Discipline 1,16-2,18; 5, 7-13). The Levites would pronounce a blessing upon the initiates. Then the initiates would say:

נעוינו פשענו חטאנו הרשענו אנו ואבותינו מלפנינו בהלכתנו קרי חוקי אמת וצדק [אלהים] עשה משפטו בנו ובאבותינו ורחמי חסדו גמל עלינו מעולם ועד עולם

We have acted perversely, we have transgressed, we have sinned, we have done wickedly, ourselves and our fathers before us, in that we have gone counter to the truth. [Elohim] has been right to bring His judgment upon us and upon our fathers. Howbeit, always from ancient times He has also bestowed His mercies upon us all, and so will He do for all time to come.

After this pronouncement the Priests would invoke a blessing on all of those who “cast their lot with Elohim”, then the Levites would pronounce a curse for all of those who instead “cast their lot with Belial”.

This reference to casting of lots fits well with the book of Hebrews and it’s association of the New Covenant with the Yom Kippur ceremony, in which two goats are selected and lots are cast, one is appointed for YHWH and the other for Azazel.

Rabbinic Judaism and the New Covenant

Very little is said in the ancient Rabbinic literature about the “New Covenant”. The Targum to Jeremiah 31:30 (31:31) is just a literal Aramaic rendering of the Hebrew. There is no mention of the “New Covenant” in the Talmud, Midrash Rabbah or the Zohar. However, there are some very interesting insights from the classic Jewish commentators.

Speaking of the Covenant at Moab (Deut. 28:69 (29:1) RASHI writes of the words “besides the covenant” saying this refer to “the curses in Leviticus (26:14-39), which were proclaimed on Sinai.” Which reminds us of Paul’s contrast of the “letter of the Torah” and “spirit of the Torah” in relation to the “New Covenant” (2Cor. 3:4-18).

And a very insightful comment is made by RAMBAN (in his commentary to Deuteronomy 30:6). A comment that could almost have been written by a Nazarene:

And YHWH your Elohim will circumcise your heart (Deuteronomy 30:6) It is this which the Rabbis have said, “If someone comes to purify himself, they assist him” [from on High]. The verse assures you that you will return to Him with all your heart and He will help you.

This following subject is very apparent from Scripture: Since the time of Creation, man has had the power to do as he pleased, to be righteous or wicked. This [grant of free will] applies likewise to the entire Torah period, so that people can gain merit upon choosing the good and punishment for preferring evil. But in the days of the Messiah, the choice of their [genuine] good will be natural; the heart will not desire the improper and it will have no craving whatever for it. This is the “circumcision” mentioned here, for lust and desire are the “foreskin” of the heart, and circumcision of the heart means that it will not covet or desire evil.”

Man will return at that time to what he was before the sin of Adam, when by his nature he did what should properly be done, and there were no conflicting desires in his will, as I have explained in Seder Bereshit ( Gen. 2:9).

It is this which Scripture states in [the Book of] Jeremiah 31:30], ‘Behold, the days come,’ says YHWH, ‘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 ..etc. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Eternal, I will put my Law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it.

This is a reference to the annulment of the evil instinct (yetzer ra) and to the natural performance by the heart of its proper function. Therefore Jeremiah said further, and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My People; and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying: ‘Know YHWH; ‘for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.’

Now, it is known that the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth and it is necessary to instruct them, but at that time it will not be necessary to instruct them [to avoid evil] for their evil instinct (yetzer ra) will then be completely abolished. And so it is declared by Ezekiel, ‘A new heart will I also give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will cause you to walk in My statutes.’ ” (Ezekiel 36:26)

The new heart alludes to man’s nature, and the [new] spirit to the desire and will. It is this which our Rabbis have said : “And the years draw nigh, when you shall say: I have no pleasure in them; these are the days of the Messiah, as they will offer opportunity neither for merit nor for guilt,” for in the days of the Messiah there will be no [evil] desire in man but he will naturally perform the proper deeds and therefore there will be neither merit nor guilt in them, for merit and guilt are dependent upon desire.”

Here RAMBAN associates the New Covenant with the “days of the Messiah” and a process of overcoming the Yetzer Ra (evil inclination) and a man returning to “what he was before the sin of Adam“. This fits well with Yeshua’s statement concerning the wine representing the blood of the “New Covenant”:

But I say to you I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom. (Matthew 26:29)

This process will not be complete until Messiah returns and the words of Jeremiah concerning the New Covenant will finally be fulfilled:

And they will teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know YHWH: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith YHWH… (Jer. 31:33(34))

And as RAMBAN concludes:

there will be no [evil] desire in man but he will naturally perform the proper deeds and therefore there will be neither merit nor guilt in them, for merit and guilt are dependent upon desire.”

Conclusion

The so-called “New Covenant” is not the books known as the “New Testament” (which are better called the Ketuvim Netzarim, the Writings of the Nazarenes.) nor is it a brand new Christian Covenant. The New Covenant is actually a “Renewed Covenant” identifiable with the Covenant at Moab. In the Second Temple Era the Essenes had a ceremony recalling the Yom Kippur ceremony, whereby they would affirm their renewed commitment to YHWH’s Torah. Yeshua taught us that his blood, symbolized by the Passover wine (and the blood of the Passover Lamb) was the blood of this Renewed Covenant. We can be initiated into this Covenant in the present, however it is a process that will be completed upon the return of Messiah, when he will drink the cup with us in the Messianic Kingdom.

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(Manual of Discipline 5, 7-13)

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