Buchanan has unlocked an interesting conflict that took place in Scripture and has important ethical implications that continue until today. There are only two passages in Scripture that report something that God reckoned to anyone as righteousness. One of these is the covenant made with Abraham that included the promises of prosperity, posterity, and the land if the people obeyed, but curses of famine, disease, wild beasts, and the sword, if they disobeyed. The other covenant was made with Phineas. It also expected to receive the promises but demanded different behavior. It was designed to repudiate the covenant made with Abraham. Buchanan has traced the results of these covenants as they were followed by the parties to the contracts from Abraham to Jesus, Paul, and Marcion in antiquity, and as far as Martin Luther King today. Originally these conflicts were played out within the borders of Palestine and according to the character of life that the contracts directed and the righteousness associated with their fulfillment.
