A covenant comes with rights and duties for both partners. In ancient times these commitments were often written down in detail: a wife could ask for regular provisions of food, clothing or luxuries. A husband could ask for work in a specific area like textile production. Some of these ancient covenant stipulations even mentioned the frequency of marital relations for either covenanted partner. Each action vowed became a duty for one and a right of the other. His duty became her right, and her duty became his right.
Rights and duties are inalienable
This system can also be illustrated with a clan consisting of a group of juniors, overseen and cared for by their lord: whichever suitable son had inherited the duty to provide leadership and care for the whole clan. Each party, the juniors or servants on one side and the clan's overlord or master on the other had rights and duties. Rights AND duties were inalienable. But what does that mean?
Aliens have no say
The word 'alien' means stranger, outsider. In a covenant setting this means a stranger from outside the covenant. This person has no say over duties or rights of people who are covenanted to each other: he is not included, and has no part in the line of hierarchy or list of commitments. Thus, a servant can not have his or her rights taken away from an outsider, and a lord can not be relieved of his duties: the vow was made between a lord and his dependents, passed down through the generations.
Covenanted kings and nations
Even kings and nations can't have their mutual vows interfered with by outsiders. A nation can claim inalienable rights like protection from their king, while the king's rights of loyalty from the people is inalienable too. Foreign nations have no say over the covenanted relationship between a king and his people.
Who is your Daddy?
Today, many people think they can claim their inalienable rights but they have lost sight of the origins of these rights. Who is the lord whose duty it is to provide and protect their so-called inalienable rights? Without knowing who their Lord is, and under which covenant they live and work, their calls for having their inalienable rights kept secure sound a bit hollow.
Can you lose your inalienable rights?
Yes. But you would have to break the covenant you are in through disloyalty. A husband can commit adultery, or a nation can turn to a different Lord Protector. A wife can forget the husband of her youth, or a church can forget the stipulations of the covenant with their Lord. In ancient and Biblical times, breaking a covenant would involve certain legal procedure leading to either a divorce or to a consequence that was agreed on when the covenant was made: to be cut off from the land or to have assets seized. A vassal state who had entered into an 'alien' alliance could expect to suffer the dire consequence of war. Under these circumstances a servant would lose all his or her covenanted rights. I wonder how this would work for say, the United States whose constitution bears all the hallmarks of a covenant with God: food for thought for a - dare I say it: godless? - nation that prides itself on her God given inalienable rights!
Rights and duties under a divine covenant - important enough to stop and think about words and phrases we use. Claiming these rights requires understanding where they came from, and by which vows they were acquired.
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