The Covenant Formula: An Exegetical and Theological Investigation

by Rolf Rendtorff

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 1998

Overview

An important contribution to a canonical interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. God’s covenant with Israel is one of the most important themes of Old Testament scholarship: “I will be your God, you shall be my people.” Yet this has only rarely been the focus of a comprehensive study.

Professor Rendtorff explores the different ways the covenant formula is used in the Bible, its structural and theological functions, the connections between covenant and election.

Contents

Top Highlights

“That Yhwh is Israel’s God, and Israel Yhwh’s people is one of the central statements in the Old Testament.” (Page 11)

“We encounter the formula in three versions (with variants): (1) ‘I will be God for you’; (2) ‘You shall be a people for me’; (3) where the two statements are combined in a single formula, though here the sequence of the two elements changes. In order to avoid the conceptuality of ‘full formula’ and ‘halves’, I shall from now on call these three versions Formula A (= 1), B (= 2) and C (= 3).” (Page 13)

“Zechariah 8:8—the sole example of the covenant formula in the prophetic books outside Jeremiah and Ezekiel—is interesting. Here at the end of the series of sayings in 8:1–8 there is a tersely formulated promise that those who have been scattered will be brought back to Jerusalem (vv. 7–8), and this promise flows into the covenant formula: ‘They shall be a people for me, and I will be God for them in faithfulness and in righteousness’. The closing addition of the weighty paired terms באמת ובצדקה, ‘in faithfulness and righteousness’, stresses the fixed character of the covenant as a declaration summing up God’s relationship to Israel as the fundamental presupposition for her salvific future.” (Page 37)

“In Jeremiah 30–32 we encounter the covenant formula four times in all; this is the greatest concentration in the Hebrew Bible.” (Page 33)

“Priestly language: ‘the recognition formula’, ‘You shall know that I am Yhwh your God” (Pages 16–17)

Endorsements

A useful and important addition to the literature that studies the theological significance of the covenant.

—Richard S. Hess, Denver Seminary, in Denver Journal

Signficant for its angle of approach as much as for its actual contents.

—John Goldingay, Church Times

Rendtorff’s study of all the passages using the ‘covenant formula’ in biblical order is a helpful contribution to a synchronic reading of the Old Testament text… It will provide students with an excellent introduction to covenant theology in the Bible.

—John Barton, Oxford

This study is one of the most illuminating among those written on the covenant and the covenant formula… Rendtorff has produced a pioneering contribution on covenant theology which cannot be overlooked.

—Zeitschrift fur Katholische Theologie

Product Details

• Title: The Covenant Formula: An Exegetical and Theological Investigation
• Author: Rolf Rendtorff
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Print Publication Date: 1998
• Logos Release Date: 2009
• Pages: 128
• Era: era:Contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Bible. O.T. › Theology; Covenants › Biblical teaching
• ISBNs: 9780567086051, 0567086054
• Resource ID: LLS:COVNTFORMULA
• Resource Type: text.monograph.biblical-theology
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:58:59Z

About Rolf Rendtorff

Rolf Rendtorff (born 10 March 1925) is Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg. He has written frequently on the Jewish scriptures and is notable chiefly for his contribution to the debate over the origins of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament.