Covenant Relationships

Human memory can fail, but in the Torah, it’s God who renews his covenant. In Deut 29:12, Hashem speaks about the need to establish his people as a people. It says, leman haqim otkha hayom “to establish you today.” God promised the patriarchs to produce a people, a nation out of them. But the identity of the people does not just materialize overnight. Hashem established it for Israel through many formative shared events. Yet Almighty wishes not only to establish Israel as a people in this text. He also desires to truly be their God, yihyeh lekha leElohim “to be as God to you.”