Jehoiada leads Judah in a three-sided covenant. Judah\u2019s communal life is articulated, ordered. It\u2019s not simply Yahweh-with-a-mass of Israelites. It\u2019s Yahweh with Jehoiada the priest, Joash the king, and the people of Judah. Covenant constitutes a political order.<\/p>\n
The new covenant posits a structured polity: Jesus the king, ministers, and people. Liturgical leadership isn\u2019t an optional extra of Christian faith, nor merely a practical necessity. Insofar as the new covenant takes historical form as church, the ministry is inherent in covenant life.<\/p>\n
They covenant together for a particular purpose: \u201cto be Yahweh\u2019s people\u201d (v. 16). It\u2019s a stunning phrase in the Hebrew. In Hebrew, this is a series of three prepositional phrases each starting with the same preposition, l-<\/em>.<\/p>\n The preposition usually means \u201cto,\u201d but it can also mean \u201cas\u201d or \u201cfor.\u201d This phrase could be translated, \u201cto be as the people for Yahweh.\u201d<\/p>\n Yahweh is the end, goal, and aim of Israel\u2019s entire existence; they have abundant life because they are the people whose life is directed \u201cto Yahweh,\u201d the people called to do all they do \u201cfor Yahweh.\u201d<\/p>\n But the initial phrase \u2013 \u201cto be\u201d \u2013 is itself a pun on Yahweh\u2019s own name, which comes from the Hebrew verb \u201cto be.\u201d Yahweh, the God who is, the great I am, is the substance of the covenant. For Israel to be at all is to commune with and be directed toward Yahweh.<\/p>\n And \u2013 who can resist it? \u2013 one is inclined to speculate that there\u2019s a whiff of Trinity here: Israel is<\/em> from the Father; as the people<\/em> of the Son; directed by the Spirit toward<\/em> her fulfillment in God.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jehoiada leads Judah in a three-sided covenant. Judah\u2019s communal life is articulated, ordered. It\u2019s not simply Yahweh-with-a-mass of Israelites. It\u2019s Yahweh with Jehoiada the priest, Joash the king, and the people of Judah. Covenant constitutes a political order. The new covenant posits a structured polity: Jesus the king, ministers, and people. Liturgical leadership isn\u2019t an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":19870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-ot-chronicles"],"yoast_head":"\n