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S i d e b a r
Symbol of the Covenant
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This Rock
Volume 17, Number 1
 January 2006 
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If we look to both the Old and New Testaments, we find a curious phenomenon. The covenant between God and mankind is often described using the analogy of spousal love. For example, look at Isaiah 62:4–5: For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. The most important quality in a solid marriage is fidelity to the permanent bond that God has created between the spouses. This permanence—or indissolubility—is likewise found in God’s relationship with man: the Israelites called this God’s ‘emeth, or fidelity (cf. Ex. 34:5–7). The permanent bond between spouses, when respected, "echoes" the covenant between God and man.
Take a look at these additional texts:- Hosea 2:21, and indeed the entire message of Hosea, who illustrates Israel’s infidelity by taking a harlot for a wife
- The Song of Songs (see especially 4:12), which is a love poem meant to symbolize the covenant between God and man
- Jeremiah 7:34
- Revelation 21:2
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