1. 3. What do you think Abraham’s test is supposed to show us
3. What do you think Abraham’s test is supposed to show us? – Is it just a test of Abraham’s obedience or is there more to it? 4. What do we learn about the relationship between God and Abraham?

2. Analysing the Abrahamic covenant
I can analyse the extent of covenant’s universality
I can develop AO2 skills
Does the Abrahamic covenant apply to all humans?
- promise of land and offspring (Genesis 12:7; 13:14-17)
brit milah (circumcision) as the sign of the covenant (Genesis 17)

3. AO2 Skills: Analysis and Evaluation
Analysis = explaining lines of argument Evaluation = weighing up lines of argument & using reasoning to reach a conclusion
‘The covenant is not universal; it was created for the nation of Israel alone.’
Setting out the arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’ from p.13:
What evidence is there to support this argument?
Is there a Torah quote to support / link to this argument?
Can you find a scholar who supports / counters this argument?
What is your response / commentary on this argument? Is this a strong or a weak argument? Why? What are the implications of this point? (Where does it lead to?)
How would you conclude your essay? Why?
Deut 7v6: ‘from all the people on earth, I chose you’
Described as God’s ‘treasured possession’ Deut 7v6
Ex 19: ‘you will be my chosen people, a people dedicated to me

4. Analysing the Abrahamic covenant
I can analyse the extent of covenant’s universality
I can develop AO2 skills
Does the Abrahamic covenant apply to all humans?
- promise of land and offspring (Genesis 12:7; 13:14-17)
brit milah (circumcision) as the sign of the covenant (Genesis 17)

5. AO2 Essay Question ‘The covenant is not universal; it was created for the nation of Israel alone.’
It could be argued that the covenant with Abraham is unique because the terms of the covenant apply only to Abraham and his direct descendants. The Torah clearly states that it is Abraham and his descendants who are blessed as God’s chosen people: in Genesis 12 God promises that Abraham will be the Father of a great nation and that his many descendants will be given land. The uniqueness of the Abrahamic covenant is discussed by B.W. Anderson: ‘They venture forth…trusting that their family life is in the hand of their mobile God, who leads them into the future, towards the realisation of divine promises’. Even the change of Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning ‘the father of many’, reiterates the point that the focus of the covenant is on Abraham and his descendants, rather than the whole of humanity. Surely if the covenant were universal, God would not have established the terms as so clearly applying only to one family.
Discuss SandWs of this paragraph as part of an AO2 essay and go through structure using p.12

6. Using p.15, in pairs write an essay in response to this statement.
AO2 Essay Question ‘The covenant is not universal; it was created for the nation of Israel alone.’
Using p.15, in pairs write an essay in response to this statement.
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