A Mountain or a Mole Hill?
How many times have you heard the expression, “You’re making a mountain out of a mole hill”? Some of us tend to do that more than others. Those who do are probably more familiar with the charge.
We’re probably all occasionally guilty of over-reacting and blowing something out of proportion. It might be about what to fix for supper, what to wear, or a reaction to what somebody said or did. Issues change, but it’s easy to get overly concerned about things that don’t matter in the big scheme of things.
Robert tends to focus on minutia in how things are worded, at least from my perspective. It seems that insignificant questions become huge hurdles. But I’ve learned to listen before reacting. He usually has a valid concern.
This week’s discussion kept replaying in my mind until God made it personal.
It was about a question concerning the translation into Portuguese of our book The Great Exchange: Bound by Blood. It dealt with whether to use con (with) or de (of) when speaking of a blood covenant—the theme of the book. The difficulty is, did God cut a covenant with blood or a covenant of blood when He initiated a covenant with man?
Suddenly, the use of a little insignificant preposition became very significant. Generally, in Portuguese either is correct. However, theologically, to Robert the choice was critical. (After all, if it’s the theme of the book, it needs to be accurate, right?)
Either way infers that blood is part of the ceremony of making the covenant. However, in a blood covenant, the blood is at the very core of the joining together as one. It is the essence and the identity of the covenant. Consequently, it seems it must be a Covenant OF (de) Blood, but one Portuguese translator used with and the other thought that was fine.
It is named a blood covenant because the blood distinguishes that covenant from others. Records of blood covenants from ancient and recent history are similar in their use of blood, but the ritual has been altered and adulterated over time.
However, the biggest question was what does the Bible say that sheds light on it.
Many people don’t like talking about blood, but three major scenes in the Word convince me that it is a covenant of blood, not just with blood.
- When God cut a covenant with Abraham, instead of the normal ceremony involving a few drops of blood, He told Abraham, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram.” (Gen. 15:9a). God asked for three large animals to cut covenant with Abraham. Spilling a lot of blood to seal a covenant created a defining occasion.
- After stating that He was the bread of life, Jesus said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise h
im up at the last day.” He added, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (Jn. 6:54, 56). Once again, blood is central. It is necessary for us to be part of our Lord. We drink wine (symbolic of blood) for communion to celebrate the covenant that allows us to abide in Him. - For the cutting of the New Covenant, Jesus shed His own blood, giving His life to make the New Covenant official, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor. 11:25).
There have always been agreements, pacts, and covenants, but of them all, the most binding is the blood covenant. Only through a blood covenant do two become one. Through the blood, life is exchanged, making an unbreakable covenant.
Prepositions are often insignificant. Choosing between with and of seems like making a mountain out of a molehill. And yet, it could be that we sometimes make molehills out of mountains.
For instance, considering the issue of translation usage has raised a second question about with and of.
Does my life show that I live with Jesus—as if He is walking beside me? Or do I live as if we are one, as if I am of Him—as if He purchased me with His blood, and I am abiding in Him? I’ve never even thought of it like that. But I suspect it is a mountain issue.
I wonder how often in the past months our loving, long-suffering, heavenly Father has wanted to take me by the shoulders, shake me, and say, “Wake up and listen to Me. This is a mountain, and you’re acting as if it’s a molehill.
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Learn more about the ancient ritual of blood covenanting and what it means for us today, or buy the book The Great Exchange: Bound by Blood.