David,
Thanks for your comments.
In response to my suggestion that the first rainbow witnessed on earth
must have coincided with God's giving it as a token between Himself and
the earth following the Flood, you wrote:
Circumcision was already an established custom for some peoples when
God used it second-hand as a token of the covenant with Abraham.
The Noahic covenant was unconditional and universal in its scope and
(apart from thanks and praise) required no response from Noah. But the
Abrahamic covenant applied specifically to Abraham and his seed - the
required response being circumcision of all males. However, it is surely
unthinkable that in this matter God should take His lead from the
practices of pagans. He, clearly, had His own agenda; and while we might
speculate regarding His reason for requiring mutilation of the flesh as a
token of acceptance of this covenant, the truth is that we can never
plumb such depths. Certainly, the Egyptians and others who practised
circumcision had completely different (and erroneous) motives.
You also said:
Passover was long-established when Jesus used it second hand to
establish communion as a sign of the new covenant.
Of course you are correct in regarding the Lord's Supper or Eucharist as
deriving from the Passover. But in the case of the two matters already
discussed, viz rainbow and circumcision, no development was involved, as
there is here. The term 'second-hand' is therefore inappropriate in this
context.
Sincerely,
Vernon
bivalve wrote:
> >The Scriptures first mention this "bow in the clouds" in Gen.9:13
> >where - following the Flood - it is described as "a token of the
> >covenant between me (God) and the earth" - a perpetual reminder of
> >His promise never again to destroy all flesh that is upon the earth
> >by water. What is surely implied here is, (a) the rainbow was a
> >_novelty_ and therefore, (b) untill the Flood, the Antediluvians had
> >never known _rain_.<
>
> The Scriptures first mention feet in Genesis 18, but I do not think
> Noah did not have them. Not every rainstorm has a rainbow, either.
>
> >where was the logic and fitness of God's using it 'second-hand' as a
> >token of the covenant?<
>
> Circumcision was already an established custom for some peoples when
> God used it second-hand as a token of the covenant with Abraham.
> Passover was long-established when Jesus used it second hand to
> establish communion as a sign of the new covenant.
>
> Dr. David Campbell
> Old Seashells
> University of Alabama
> Biodiversity & Systematics
> Dept. Biological Sciences
> Box 870345
> Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA
> bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com
>
> That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted
> Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at
> Droitgate Spa
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