The following is a study on breaking faith - bagad. In order to fully understand breaking faith, I have included some connecting subjects, so you will have a clearer picture of the situation. Our leaping off point is Malakiy [Malachi] 2:10-16.

" ' ¹⁰ is there not one father to us all? has not one el created us? why do we act deceitfully, each man with his brother, to defile the beriyth of our fathers? ¹¹ yahudah has dealt unfaithfully, and has done an abomination in yisrael and in yerushalaim; for yahudah has defiled the set apart of YHWH, which he loves and has married a daughter of a foreign el. ¹² may YHWH cut off the man who does it, from the tents of yaaqob, he waking and answering, or offering a grain offering to YHWH tsebaoth. ¹³ and this is a second thing you do, covering with tears the altar of YHWH, weeping and groaning; yet not facing toward the grain offering, and taking with delight from your hand. ¹⁴ yet you say, "on what cause?" because YHWH has been witness between you and the ishshah of your youth, against whom you have dealt unfaithfully; and she is your companion and the ishshah of your beriyth. ¹⁵ and has he not made you one? and remnant of the ruach is in him. and what of the one? he was seeking a seed of elohiym. then observe your ruach, and with the ishshah of your youth do not deal deceitfully. ¹⁶ he hates sending away says YHWH the elohey of yisrael, and to cover with violence as his garment, says YHWH tsebaoth. and observe your ruach and do not act unfaithfully.' "

Let's define and take a look at some of the words in this passage. We'll start with beriyth [covenant]. Covenant in the Hebrew is zixa ( beriyth)- in the sense of cutting, a compact, confederacy, covenant, league, agreement, alliance, treaty, swear an oath. There are several examples of covenants between YHWH and His chosen: Adam, in Bereshiyth [Genesis] 3; Noach, in Bereshiyth 6:18, 9:8-17; Abraham, in Bereshiyth 12, 15:18, 17:2-21; the nation of Yisrael, in Shemoth [Exodus] 19:5.

There are many different relationships involving beriyth [covenant] in Scripture.

· YHWH with one man - Bereshiyth [Genesis] 12 Abraham

· YHWH with a nation - Shemoth [Exodus] 19:5 Yisrael

· YHWH as a husband - Yechezqel [Ezekiel] 16 Yisrael

· Man with himself - Iyowb [Job] 31:1 Iyowb

· Man with man - I Shemuel [Samuel] 18:3, 23:18 Yahunathan [Jonathan] and Dawiyd

· Man with his wife - Malakiy [Malachi] 2:10-16, Mishley [Proverbs] 2:17

· Man with group - II Dibrey HaYamiym [Chronicles] 15:12

· King/Leader with people - II Melekiym [Kings] 11:17 Yahuash [Joash]

· Nation with nation - I Melekiym 15:19 Yahudah and Aram (present day Syria)

YHWH instructed Yisrael not to make beriyth-covenants with other

nations-Shemoth [Exodus] 23:32, 34:12,15.

· YHWH with animals - Hoshea 2:18, Bereshiyth [Genesis] 9:10

· YHWH with heavens and earth - YirmeYahu [Jeremiah] 33:20,25

In the NIV, as with other English translations, zixa (beriyth) is translated as several other words. The following are the words and their locations. You might want to go through your Scriptures and write covenant or beriyth above each one.

alliance/allied: Bereshiyth [Genesis] 14:13, Thehillah [Psalm] 83:5, ObadYahu

[Obadiah] :7

compact: II Shemuel [Samuel] 3:21, 5:3

agreement: Bereshiyth [Genesis] 26:28, II Shemuel [Samuel] 3:12,13, Hoshea 10:4

swore an oath: Bereshiyth 26:31

treaty: Bereshiyth 21:27, 32, Shemoth [Exodus] 34:12, Yahusha` [Joshua] 9:6-16, I

Shemuel 11:1, I Melekiym [Kings] 3: 12, 15:19, 20:34, II Dibrey

HaYamiym [Chronicles] 16:3, Yechezqel [Ezekiel] 17:13-16, Hoshea 12:1,

Amos 1:9

If you are interested in a broader understanding of beriyth [covenant], please do a word study with a Hebrew concordance for the remaining words.

All the Thoroth [teachings, laws- plural of Thorah], rules, precepts, commands, ordinances and regulations are called the Sefer HaBeriyth [Book of the Covenant] - Shemoth [Exodus] 24:7, 8. Also, in YirmeYahu [Jeremiah] 31:31-34, it is foretold a Beriyth Chadashah [Restored Covenant] will be established. Which brings us to what many call the Beriyth Chadashah [New Testament].

The Greek for covenant is diatheke - a contract, covenant, testament, will. The New Testament was called such, based on the verse in YirmeYahu, about a restored covenant. Yet, the covenant was not broken by YHWH, who established it, but by the people. This covenant is not new, but restored. The concept of a new, as opposed to old testament or covenant, was predominantly taught by a heretical "Christian" called Marcion, who coined the term New Testament. Please see the studies on New Testament and Early Christian Deviations for further information. I do not refer to the NT as such, but call it what it was called by the earliest church fathers, the Testimony [the Gospels], Letters and Revelations.

In the Testimony we find several references to the blood of Yahusha` being the blood of the Restored Covenant. He is the blood, the Kohen Gadol [High Priest], the sacrifice, the red heifer, etc. MaththiYahu [Matthew] 26:28, " 'this is my blood of the beriyth chadashah [restored covenant], which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.' " Also, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, I Corinthians 11:25.

II Corinthians 3:6, " 'he (YHWH) has made us competent as ministers of a beriyth chadashah [restored covenant] - not of the letter but of the ruach [breath, spirit], for the letter kills, but the ruach gives life.' " 3:14, " 'but their minds (the yahudiym [jews]) were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. it has not been removed, because only in mashiyach is it (the veil) taken away.' "

Hebrews 7:22 Yahusha` is a guarantee of a better covenant. Hebrews 9:15, " 'for this reason mashiyach is the mediator of a beriyth chadashah [restored covenant], that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.' "

As you can see, Yahusha` is the Beriyth Chadashah [Restored Covenant]. He is the word made flesh - a mediator of, minister of, blood of, guarantee of the Beriyth Chadashah that enables us to receive forgiveness of sins, so we may be redeemed to YHWH, to follow the ruach of the Thorah [law] that gives life.

There are two scriptures to fill out our understanding of beriyth [covenant], Galatians 3:15, " 'brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. just as no one can set aside or add to a human beriyth that has been duly established, so it is in this case.' " This brings to mind the scripture in HaDebariym [Deuteronomy] 4:2, " 'you will not add to the word, which i am commanding you, you will not take away from it, to observe the commands YHWH your elohey, which i command you.' " This is mirrored in Revelations 22:18,19, " 'i warn everyone who hears the words of the foretelling of this book, if anyone adds anything to them, YHWH will add to them the plagues described in this book. and if anyone takes words away from this book of foretelling, YHWH will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the set-apart city, which are described in this book.' " Covenants cannot be changed on a whim or not adhered to just because it no longer suits your purpose. I think, that if YHWH treated covenant with as little respect as we treat it, we would probably all be drowned in another flood. Thankfully, YHWH is faithful even when we are not.

The second scripture is that of Yahusha` [Joshua] 9. It is best to read the whole chapter to get an overview of what is taking place between the Gibeoniy [Gibeonites] ( a foreign nation they were not supposed to make covenant with) and Yahusha`, the leader of Yisrael. The Gibeoniy resorted to an elaborate ruse, in the hopes of saving their people. It worked. Without consulting YHWH, Yahusha` and the leaders of the assembly made a beriyth with them. Upon finding out that they had been deceived, this is what they declared in verse 20, " 'this is what we will do to them, we will let them live, so that the wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them.' " This is a very important point. It was sin to disobey the word of YHWH, as far as making beriyth with other nations, but it is far worse to not keep beriyth. As Yisrael realized this, we would be prudent to learn the same lesson and have the fear of YHWH upon us and not break our covenants.

With all of this groundwork laid, we can delve into breaking faith. The Hebrew word for breaking faith is cba ( bahgad) - unfaithful, offend, transgress, treacherous, depart, break faith. Now, turn back to Malakiy [Malachi] 2:10-16. In verse 10, Malakiy stresses that breaking faith with one another is defiling the beriyth with YHWH. Defile is to make a set apart thing impure, polluted by treating it with disrespect or irreverence. He further describes the situation in verse 11 as detestable. YHWH instructed Yisrael in Shemoth [Exodus] 34:11, " 'be careful not to make a beriyth with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their elohiym and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. and when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their elohiym, they will lead your sons to do the same.' " Many times in scripture YHWH warns not to intermarry because of the spiritual pollution that will take place. A good example of this is King Shlomoh [Solomon].

Let's look at I Melekiym [Kings] chapter 11. Bear with me as I type verses 1-13 out. They are self explanatory, but sometimes people do not look everything up and I find this important enough to take the time to type it for you.

"king shlomoh [solomon], however, loved many foreign women besides the daughter of faraoh - moabiy [moabites], ammoniy [ammonites], edomiy [edomites], tsiydoniy [sidonians] and chittiy [hittites]. they were from goyim [nations] about which YHWH had told yisrael, 'you must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their elohiym.' nevertheless, shlomoh held fast to them in love. he had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. as shlomoh grew old, his wives turned his heart after other elohiym, and his heart was not fully devoted to YHWH, as the heart of dawiyd his father had been. he followed ashtaroth, the eloah of the tsiydoniy [sidonians], and molek the detestable el of the ammoniy [ammonites]. so shlomoh did evil in the eyes of YHWH; he did not follow YHWH completely, as dawiyd his father had done.

on a hill east of yerushalayim, shlomoh built a high place for kemosh the detestable el of moab, and for the detestable el of the ammoniy [ammonites]. he did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their elohiym. YHWH became angry with shlomoh because his heart had turned away from YHWH, YHWH alyon of yisrael, who had appeared to him twice. although he had forbidden shlomoh to follow other elohiym, shlomoh did not observe the command of YHWH. so YHWH said to shlomoh, 'since this is your attitude and you have not kept my beriyth and my rules, which i commanded you, i will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. nevertheless, for the sake of dawiyd your father, i will not do it during your lifetime. i will tear it out of the hand of your son. yet, i will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of dawiyd my servant and for the sake of yerushalayim, which i have chosen.' "

Some of you are not of Hebrew birth, nor was I. Therefore, we were Goyim [gentile] until we received Yahusha` as our Mashiyach [Messiah] and were adopted into the family of Abraham, the Beyth [Household] of YHWH, by faith. Now, many things in the Tanak [Old Testament] are a type and shadow of what is to come. The ethnic background of a person now, is not as important as being circumcised of heart. Galatians 3:28,29, " 'there is neither yahudiym nor yawaniy [jew nor hellenis (greek), slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in yahusha` hamashiyach. if you belong to mashiyach, then you are the seed of abraham, and heirs according to the promise.' " YHWH is concerned with the state of your heart, not with the color of your skin. II Corinthians 6:14-7:1, " 'do not be yoked together with unbelievers. for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? or what fellowship can light have with darkness? what harmony is there between mashiyach and baal [beliyal]? what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? what agreement is there between the beyth YHWH [house of YHWH] and idols? for we are the beyth [house] of the chaiy [living one]. as YHWH has said, "i will live with them and walk among them, and i will be their alyon [most high], and they will be my people." "therefore come out from them and be separate", says YHWH. "touch no unclean thing, and i will receive you. i will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters", says YHWH tsabaoth. since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and ruach, perfecting righteousness out of reverence for YHWH.' "

In Hoshea 5:6,7 it states, " 'when they go out with their flocks and herds to seek YHWH, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them. they have broken faith (are unfaithful) to YHWH; they give birth to illegitimate children.' " This joining with unbelievers will ruin your relationship with YHWH. He will turn His face away and not hear your prayers until you turn from your sins to YHWH.

Malakiy [Malachi] 2:13. Another form of breaking faith involves that of an iysh [husband] and ishshah [wife] in a relationship that is acceptable to YHWH. When a man breaks faith with his ishshah, commits adultery, he has broken faith with YHWH. Again, YHWH does not accept your offerings because He is acting as a witness between you and the ishshah [wife] of your youth. Mishley [Proverbs] 5:15-20, " 'drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. may your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the ishshah of your youth. a loving doe, a graceful deer, may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? why embrace the bosom of an ishshah of another man?' "

Malakiy [Malachi] 2:16, " 'he hates sending away' says YHWH the elohey of yisrael, 'and to cover with violence as his garment,' says YHWH tsebaoth. 'and observe your ruach and do not act unfaithfully.' "

The Hebrew word for cover means to conceal, hide. The Hebrew for violence is qng – chamace - violence, cruelty, damage, oppress, maltreat. This is listed as verbal as well as physical. There is no tiptoeing around this issue. In the assembly, whether Ibriym [Hebrews], Yahudiym [Jews] or ingrafted Believers, there are men who abuse their wives, even those in positions of leadership. This is not acceptable in the eyes of YHWH. When a man does this to his ishshah, he breaks beriyth with her and thereby breaks faith with YHWH. You may not have spoken the words, "I will protect you," as part of your wedding vows, but the responsibility of an iysh [husband] is to protect. If you enter in a contract of any sort and do not read the fine print or the entire contract, and then violate it, you cannot claim ignorance as a defense. We, as believers, need to read the fine print of the Thorah and find out what exactly this beriyth is that we have entered into, with YHWH. Ignorance doesn't work in secular courts and it certainly doesn’t work with YHWH who searches hearts and minds. Therefore, if a husband enters into a marriage beriyth and did not know that one of his responsibilities was to protect his ishshah, not hurt her, the fault lies with the husband. If he has been violent against her, he has broken faith with his ishshah and thereby with YHWH.

I Corinthians 13:4-7, " 'love is patient, love is kind. it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. it always protects, always hopes, always perseveres. love never fails.' " Yechezqel [Ezekiel] 16 , is a beautiful chapter and a sad one. It shows the love YHWH had for Yisrael, as a woman and His marriage to her, as well as her being unfaithful to Him. In verse 8, He says, " 'later i passed by, and when i looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, i spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. i gave you my solemn oath and entered into beriyth [covenant] with you, declares adonay YHWH, and you became mine.' " This word for cover is dqk kasha - an edge or extremity, a wing. It is the same word used in Ruth when Boaz covers her with the corner of his garment; the same in HaDebariym [Deuteronomy] 32:11 as wings to shield and care for Yisrael; and again in Thehillah [Psalm] 17:8 to hide me in the shadow of Your wings. It is a place of protection, not one in which to cover or conceal violence.

Believers are complaining of a lack of the power of YHWH or manifestation of His Ruach [Spirit] in the Assembly, and in our lives. Look at what we have done. We have defiled the beriyth [covenant] of YHWH by breaking faith with one another. He is not hearing our prayers or accepting our offerings. We, not YHWH, have become impotent because of sin and Thorahlessness [lawlessness]. Thankfully, YHWH does not treat us as our sins deserves, but in His lovingkindness pours out His mercy and favor when we confess our sins and turn from them back to Him - theshub, turn and return. We need the fear of YHWH, to pour out on the Assembly. We need to be faithful to the covenants we have made with one another, whether it is an agreement, a business transaction, a marriage beriyth or even a promise to one of our children or friends. I, for one, would like my prayers heard.

The following are some scriptures of the same Hebrew word for breaking faith, bagad .

I Shemuel [Samuel] 14:33,34, "and they told shaul, saying, 'look, the people are sinning against YHWH, to eat with the blood.' and he said, 'you have broken faith. now roll me a great stone today.' ³⁴ and shaul said, 'disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, each one bring his ox near to me, and each his sheep, and you slaughter here, and eat; and you will not sin against YHWH, to eat with the blood.' and each of all the people brought near his ox in his hand that night, and they slaughtered there."

YirmeYahu [Jeremiah] 3:20, 5:11, " 'surely as an ishshah treacherously departs [breaks faith] from her lover, so you have dealt treacherously [broken faith] with me, beyth yisrael,' declares YHWH." " 'for the beyth yisrael and the beyth yahudah have broken faith with me,' declares YHWH."

Hoshea 5:7, 6:7, " 'they broke faith against YHWH, for they have brought forth strange sons. now a new moon will devour them with their portions.' " " 'but, like adam, they have broken the beriyth; they have acted like traitors against me there.' "

Thehillah [Psalm] 78:57, 119:158, " 'but they turned back and betrayed, like their fathers; they veered aside like a deceitful bow.' " " 'i saw betrayers, and was disgusted, because your sayings they do not observe.' "

Mishley [Proverbs] 11:3,6, " 'the integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of traitors [breaking faith, unfaithful] will devastate them.' " " 'the righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but traitors [breaking faith, unfaithful] will be taken in their lust.' "

13:2, " 'from the fruit of his mouth a man eats good, but the desire of the unfaithful is violence.' "

22:12, " 'the eyes of YHWH keep knowledge, and he overthrows the words of the unfaithful.' "

YirmeYahu [Jeremiah] 3:7-12, " 'and i watched. when for all the causes for which the apostate yisrael committed adultery, i sent her away and i gave the writ of her divorce to her. yet her treacherous [breaking faith, unfaithful] sister yahudah did not fear, but she also went and whored. and it happened, from the wantonness of her whoring she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with pieces of wood. and yet for all this her treacherous [breaking faith, unfaithful] sister yahudah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says YHWH. and YHWH said to me, the apostate yisrael has justified herself more than treacherous [breaking faith, unfaithful] yahudah.' "

From the above verses, you begin to see a kind of personality profile of those that break faith – they bear illegitimacy, they veer, deceive, are traitors, they don’t observe the ways of YHWH, they lust, desire violence, do not fear, defile, do not turn the whole heart, lie, are perverse.

It is as the verses in Mishley, " 'to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding; ³ to receive instruction in prudence, justice, and judgment, and uprightness; ⁴ to give sense to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man. ⁵ the wise hears and increases learning, and the understanding ones gets wise counsel, ⁶ to understand a mashal and an enigma; the words of the wise, and their acute sayings. ⁷ the fear of YHWH is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.' "

observe your ruach and do not act unfaithfully.

May YHWH open your spiritual eyes that you may see and perceive and your ears that you may hear and understand.