Covenants can be found all through history. Even today covenants are created all the time between individuals and whole societies. The United States is under the obligation of covenants with nearly every nation of the world, either concerning military treaties or trade embargos. So too can covenants be found in the histories of all the world's great civilizations. These historical covenants can very often be directly paralleled with other covenants throughout history. The covenants the Israelite community can be directly compared to the Hittite Suzerainty-Vassal treaties. These covenants contain the same basic elements and were created to serve similar purposes. Both the Hittite and the Israelite covenants are agreements between greater powers (kings or God) and lesser people (lesser rulers or Israelites) created for the purpose of benefiting both sides of the agreement in one way or another.

The Hittite Suzerainty-Vassal treaties contained six major parts, the Preamble, the Historical Prologue, the Stipulations/Organization, the Deposit and Reading, the Witnesses, and the Curses and Blessings. These treaties were established between powerful kings of large so

Most important in the Hebrew Bible was the Sinai Covenant. God called upon Moses by way of a trembling mountain and an impressive display of smoke and thunder to come to the summit of Mount Sinai to be given the rules for living under God's grace and protection. He had Moses bring Aaron with him to act as a witness (not to mention the thousands of Israelites waiting at the bottom of the thundering mountain). God begins his terms with Moses with his preamble (an expression of power) by stating simply, "I am the Lord your God" (Ex. 20, 1). God follows immediately with his historical prologue when he speaks of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt and when he says that he is a jealous God who punishes fairly those who are not loyal to him, but showing steadfast love to those who worship him. It is obvious that the 10 Commandments expressed in the Sinai covenant serve the purpose of the terms and conditions segment of the covenant. God then gives the provisions for deposit and reading and talks about how he prepared for the delivery of the commandments to the Israelites by causing the mountain to tremble and smoke. Aaron was brought along at God's discretion to serve as personal witness to the creation of the covenant, but the people gathered around the base of the mountain could be considered indirect witnesses simply by knowing what was really happening up on

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