Covenant Trust

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. (John 10:1)

As I read this verse again this morning I suddenly realized something I had forgotten. In the mid-eastern culture the issue of covenants was a major force in the thinking of people and the way they relate to each other. Covenants are mostly foreign to us in the West but for those in the middle-east even today covenant thinking figures prominently in the way people relate to society and especially religion.

There are a number of different types of covenants and one of them is referred to as the 'threshold covenant'. This is a type of covenant whereby anyone entering into your home through the normal access points of the doorways necessarily had to cross over the threshold of the door on their way into the house. The threshold has powerful significance with a lot of symbols involved that I don't have time to unpack here, but nevertheless a great deal of information is contained and implied within these symbols.

Whenever someone is allowed access into the home by passing over the threshold, a covenant of protection is automatically invoked in relationship with that person. The guest and the householder enter into an unspoken but very binding covenant whereby the guest is to treat the people of the house with respect and in turn is to be protected against all harm from others even to the point of giving your life for them as the owner of the house. The guest is to be treated with hospitality and have their needs taken care of as long as they remain within the confines of the home. Once they leave the house however, they are no longer under the obligations of that covenant and the household is no longer bound to protect or care for them.

Because of this pervasive cultural norm in these societies, it is reported that conquering leaders when entering a city they had subdued would refuse to enter into the city through the normal gates. To do so would be to imply a protective covenant relationship with the people of that city and the conquerers did not wish to be under that obligation. Therefore a hole in the wall would be made for the king or general to enter the town so as to avoid any obligations of any implied covenants and have the liberty to do as they wish and treat the conquered people any way they chose.

Given this background I realize that Jesus very well may have had some of this in mind when He spoke these words about how people might enter the fold containing His sheep. Anyone who refuses to enter through the legitimate doorway and be in agreement with the Spirit of the door (He is the door) and be welcomed by the doorkeeper was obviously not one who should be trusted. Any such person was automatically suspect in their motives and should not be viewed as a covenant partner as those who entered through the proper means could be. Only true shepherds willing to enter the proper way with proper authority should be treated as one in covenant relationship. All others were to be considered strangers, foreigners, invaders and those out of covenant with the sheep.

Of course, the sheep referred to here represent God's children who are under His care. It would be well for anyone who would like to better understand the meanings and implications of covenant thinking to research much more into this powerful concept. Our culture is largely ignorant of covenants altogether as the only thing even remotely familiar to us is a marriage covenant which has been so diluted and distorted that it no longer reflects very much actual covenant thinking today. The replacement in our culture is contracts which are a radically different relationship and function than covenants. But God still operates using covenants and it would be extremely helpful if Christians who are serious about living in close relationship with God to become much more familiar with what is involved in covenants and to learn how to live in true covenant relationship with Him. There are many benefits and protections and blessings to be enjoyed through an awareness of what is available to us in a true covenant relationship with God.

For those wanting to learn more I would highly recommend a couple series by Craig Hill called The Blood Covenant, audio series that go very in-depth into the traditions and nuances of covenant thinking. It was very helpful for opening my own understanding and introducing me to a whole different field of thought that I had never been exposed to before. It also helped to bring to light many things in the Bible that seem mysterious or strange without this background information to make sense of some of the stories and references there. This resource material can be purchased directly from Family Foundations on their web site and is excellent for unpacking this important concept.