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= Ecumenical Authority

Of primary importance is a concept known as Ecumenical Authority. Ecumenical authority means the power or right to establish doctrine.

# God has ultimate ecumenical authority. Everything God says is authoritative because he is God.
# God has chosen a representative on earth; or, such a representative is assumed, ex. Adam, Abraham, Moses.
# Such a figure (ex. Moses) has been authorized by God to pass on certain information.
# Such a figure has authorized one or many successors to pass on said information.
# * Also that God has preserved the information from Generation to generation in a reliable form.
# Therefore, as long as you are talking to someone who has ecumenical authority, you can be assured that the information you are getting is authorized by God and that it is not a Heresy.

Therefore since the bible is God's word, the plain reading of the bible ([[Sola Scriptura]]) is an expression of God's Ecumenical Authority.

=== Avoid the "What's your source?" game
"What is your source?" "I reject that source," etc. is a type of logically dishonest debating tactic (i.e. a game) played by people who are not interested in honest debate.

For one, it is the responsibility of each person who is engaging in a debate or discussion for being aware of the basic information about a subject, which includes major sources such as the Bible. This doesn't mean you can (or should) reject a request from someone who is asking you to provide scriptural support. It means that beyond such use as a reference for discussion, it is a dishonest request. People who are asking for the source in order to discredit the point or information you are presenting are playing a game and are not interested in the truth of that statement.

<blockquote>A: I make the claim that two plus two is four.\\
B: What's your source?\\
A: A convicted felon told me.\\
B: I don't accept your source.</blockquote>

When discussing religion, and the Judeo-Christian/Islamic religions in particular, one must understand that the Holy Scriptures have been in the public domain for thousands and thousands of years. It is the responsibility of anyone involved to make themselves aware of the basic information available to them in any kind of discussion or debate, and (especially for extra-biblical sources) it is not acceptable to deny or disparage information purely based on where it came from.

== Biblical Exegesis
In [[Exegesis]], we examine the biblical narrative which builds the case for [[Sola Scriptura]] and/or the Kuzari argument, out of the Pshat reading of scripture (i.e. [[Sola Scriptura]]). This is shown by the self-consistency of the the argument with the biblical narrative.

Below we will examine a series of verses (see: [[Exegesis]]) which show ecumenical authority.

Summary: 102 sources which outline God's transference and protection of ecumenical authority within the biblical narrative.

=== a) Establishment of Divine Authority
The establishment of the final ecumenical authority of God (22 sources).

* **Genesis 1:1**
** "1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
* **Genesis 1:26**
** "26 Then God said, “Let us make man[a] in our image, after our likeness. ..."
* **Exodus 19:4-8**
** "4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord."
* **Exodus 20:1-2**
** "1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."
* **Deuteronomy 4:32-40**
** "32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. 36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them[a] and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, 39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”"
* **Deuteronomy 30:19**
** "19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,"
* **Numbers 23:19**
** "19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?"
* **Proverbs 30:5-6**
** "5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar."
* **Psalms 19:7**
** "7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;"
* **Psalms 119:160**
** "160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever."
* **Ecclesiastes 12:13-14**
** "13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
* **Isaiah 40:8**
** "8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever."
* **Isaiah 45:19**
** "9 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I did not say unto the descendants of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain:' I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare the things that are right."
* **Isaiah 46:9-10**
** "9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure,'"
* **Isaiah 55:9**
** "9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
* **Isaiah 55:10-11**
** "“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
* **Ezekiel 24:14**
** "14 I am the Lord. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord God.”"
* **Jeremiah 29:11**
** "11 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.'"
* **Amos 3:7**
** "7 “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets."
* **Hosea 12:10**
** "10 I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables."
* **Micah 6:8**
** "8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"
* **Habakuk 2:2**
** "2 Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run while he reads it."

Summary: God has spoken his message in the words of the bible, and that he has intended us to understand this message in the plain sense. This represents the establishment of divine ecumenical authority from God, and touches upon how it was given to Israel in the form of the Hebrew scriptures.

=== b) Delegation of Authority
Contrary to the establishment of ecumenical authority, we must now justify the delegation of ecumenical authority; otherwise there can be no claim that God's message has been revealed by the proper parties. This is to say even if we assume "the finger of God dictated the Pentateuch to Moses in a stream of unbroken characters," we must still justify the authority of the prophets and establish the authority of the prophets, since we have used prophetic sources (above) to confirm divine ecumenical authority. 11 sources.

* **Deuteronomy 4:2**
** "2 Do not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you."
* **Deuteronomy 12:32**
** "32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it."
* **Deuteronomy 13:1-5**
** "13 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him."
* **Deuteronomy 18:14**
** " 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.
* **Deuteronomy 18:14-16**
** "15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’"
* **Deuteronomy 18:18-19**
** "18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him."
* **Deuteronomy 18:20**
** "20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’"
* **Deuteronomy 18:21-22**
** " 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him."
* **Deuteronomy 34:10**
** "10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel."
* **Jeremiah 23:16**
** "16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord."
* **Ezekiel 13:9**
** "9 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God."

Summary: The above is the conference of ecumenical authority to Israel at Mt. Sinai and through the reprimand of the prophets.

=== c) Denial of Progressive Revelation
Progressive revelation is explicitly denied in the biblical narrative; prophets only arise from the nation of Israel, to the nation of Israel, to return them to the observance of the commandments. 15 sources.

* **Deuteronomy 4:2** (above)
** "2 Do not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you."
* **Deuteronomy 12:32** (above)
** "32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it."
* **Deuteronomy 13:1-5** (above)
** "13 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him."
* **Deuteronomy 18:20** (above)
** "20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or[f] who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’"
* **Deuteronomy 18:21-22** (above)
** "21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him."
* **Deuteronomy 29:29**
** "29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
* **Leviticus 10:1-2**
** "10 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord."
* **Judges 10:13-14**
** "13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. 14 Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.”"
* **Ecclesiastes 7:10**
** "10 Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this."
* **Ecclesiastes 7:21**
** "21 Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you."
* **Jeremiah 23:16**
** "16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord."

==== Principle of Earliest Authority
Related to the above.

* **Numbers 23:19**
** "19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?"
* **1 Samuel 15:28-29**
** "28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”"
* **Ezekiel 24:14**
** "14 I am the Lord. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord God.”"
* **Hosea 11:9**
** "I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath."

Summary: Although ultimate ecumenical authority has been passed to the nation of Israel, they are forbidden from altering, adding to or detracting from the laws and commandments they have been given. God exists outside of time (he created the days for signs and season), and thus a later revelation cannot abrogate an earlier revelation; "that prophet (and his message) shall die;", and "...you shall not fear him."

=== d) Establishment of Continuity
The biblical narrative accounts for the continuity of the ecumenical authority of Israel both spiritually and logically. The logical argument is thus; that no prophet abrogated the pshat meaning of earlier verses, but merely reminded Israel of their proper observance. The spiritual argument is found within the commandments and statements made by God; that he would protect the nation of Israel and his torah.

== Attacks on Ecumenical Authority
Various attacks made on the above.

=== The Caveat of Wickedness
See [[veils and scales]]. Cross reference with [[Exegesis#the caveat of wickedness]]. This is a trivial argument which is easily countered.

=== Discontinuity between First and Second temple
The charge is often levied that during the Ezra-Nehemiah period between the first and second temples, that continuity with the law and Torah teaching was lost. This claim is not bourne out by an examination of history. In brief; the book of Ezra and the narrative exists to show continuity despite the break between temples. Ezra was in fact the son of the former high priest and was a trained sofer; the insinuation that within a 70 year period //all torah scrolls were lost// and //no one// passed down knowledge among the //widely dispersed// Hebrew communities is in fact an incredulous claim. Anyone familiar with the historic narrative surrounding the destruction of the first temple would be aware that surely the tradition was maintained. There is also the notion of a righteous remnant so even without the narrative of Ezra one would assume God protected his people.

Finally there is the fact that no Jewish literature of the time and after mentions Ezra as an important figure;  he is a comparatively unimportant figure in Jewish literature despite his status as a famous scribe -- this shows that there was a continuity of culture and literature that did not //directly// depend on Ezra's Persian-authorized reforms. If there was a massive change in law or culture the works of the time would reflect it; note especially that the prophets Haggai and Zechariah wrote their works during Ezra's lifetime, and Malachi was written after. None of these prophets mention Ezra or any changes made to the torah; this verifies that according to the narrative of the bible continuity was preserved.

One could also bring up the Hannukah miracles, which are canonical in a sense, but not included in the bible (as it was canonized shortly after Ezra's lifetime).

=== Replacement Theology
This covers any notion that God would have abrogated his covenant with the nation of Israel as the "light to the nations". Note specifically that this covenant was **only** made with the nation of Israel (indeed, it founded the nation of Israel) at Horeb -- Mt. Sinai -- and anyone who was not there is not covered under this law! (ex. nation of Ishmael, anyone who was not brought out of Israel ex. most Egyptians).

== Continuity Exegesis
==== Noachide Covenant
4 sources.

* **Genesis 8:21-22**
** "21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse[a] the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”"
* **Genesis 9:9-11**
** "9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”"
* **Genesis 9:12**
** "12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:"
* **Genesis 9:16**
** "16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”"

==== Abrahamic Covenant
4 sources. Also see: [[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246614/jewish/Abrahams-Covenant-With-Gd-The-Brit-Bein-HaBetarim.htm|the Covenant of Parts]].

* **Genesis 13:15**
** "15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever."
* **Genesis 17:7**
** "7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you."
* **Genesis 17:13**
** "13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant."
* **Genesis 17:19**
** "19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him."

==== Nation of Israel (Pentateuch)
Also known as "The Eternal Covenant"; "It is an eternal salt-covenant before G‑d." (Num. 18:19) Also see: [[https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/683763/jewish/The-Eternal-Covenant.htm|The Eternal Covenant]]

(also see 2 chron 13:5 for ref. on salt covenant; "Don’t you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?")

33 sources.

* **Exodus 3:15**
** "15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord,[a] the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations."
* **Exodus 12:14**
** "14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast."
* **Exodus 12:17**
** "17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever."
* **Exodus 12:23-24**
** "23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever."
* **Exodus 19:9**
** "9 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” [...]"
* **Exodus 27:21**
** "21 In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel."
* **Exodus 28:43**
** "43 and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister in the Holy Place, lest they bear guilt and die. This shall be a statute forever for him and for his offspring after him."
* **Exodus 29:9**
** "9 and you shall gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and bind caps on them. And the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons."
* **Exodus 30:21**
** "21 They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”"
* **Exodus 31:16**
** "16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever."
* **Exodus 31:17**
** "17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”"
* **Exodus 32:13**
** "13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”"
* **Exodus 40:15**
** "15 and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.”"
* **Leviticus 3:17**
** "17 It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”"
* **Leviticus 3:36**
** "36 The Lord commanded this to be given them by the people of Israel, from the day that he anointed them. It is a perpetual due throughout their generations.”"
* **Leviticus 6:18**
** "18 Every male among the children of Aaron may eat of it, as decreed forever throughout your generations, from the Lord's food offerings. Whatever touches them shall become holy.”"
* **Leviticus 6:22**
** "22 The priest from among Aaron's sons, who is anointed to succeed him, shall offer it to the Lord as decreed forever. The whole of it shall be burned."
* **Leviticus 10:9**
** "9 “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations."
* **Leviticus 10:15**
** "15 The heave shoulder and the wave breast shall they bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be thine, and thy sons' with thee, by a statute for ever; as the Lord hath commanded."
* **Leviticus 16:29**
** "29 “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you."
* **Leviticus 16:31**
** "31 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever."
* **Leviticus 24:9**
** "9 And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute."
* **Leviticus 25:34**
** "34 But the fields of pastureland belonging to their cities may not be sold, for that is their possession forever."
* **Leviticus 26:14-46**
** "... 44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord."
* **Numbers 10:8**
** "8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. The trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations."
* **Numbers 15:15**
** "15 For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord."
* **Numbers 18:8**
** "8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due."
* **Numbers 18:11**
** "11 This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the wave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it."
* **Numbers 18:19**
** "19 All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is an eternal[a] covenant forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.”"
* **Numbers 18:23**
** "23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance."
* **Numbers 19:10**
** "10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them."
* **Numbers 19:21**
** "21 And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening."
* **Numbers 25:13**
** "13 and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”"

Summary: 33 sources; The covenant with Israel is **forever** (including the priesthood).

==== Nation of Israel (Prophets, Writings)
* **Jeremiah 32:40**
** "40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me."
* **2 Samuel 23:5**
** "5 “For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire?"
* **1 Chronicles 16:15-17**
** "15 Remember his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, 16 the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, 17 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,"
* **Psalms 105:8-10**
** "8 He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, 9 the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, 10 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,"
* **Psalm 111:5-10**
** "5 He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever."
* **Psalm 111:7-8**
** "7 The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy; 8 they are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness."
* **Psalm 111:9**
** "9 He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name!"
* **Hosea 2:19**
**"19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy."
* ** 1 Kings 9:3**
** "3 And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually."
* **2 Chronicles 7:16**
** "16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time."

Summary: 10 further sources; All prophets confirm the everlasting nature of the covenant.

==== Davidic/Messianic
3 further sources for an eternal covenant.

* **Isaiah 55:3**
** "3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David."
* **Jeremiah 50:4-5**
** "4 “In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the Lord their God. 5 They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’"
* **Ezekiel 16:59-60**
** "59 “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant."