would build a house for Jehovah’s name. God’s purpose in this covenant was to provide a kingly dynasty for the Jews and to give Jesus, as David’s heir, the legal right to the throne of David, “Jehovah’s throne” (1 Chron. 29:23; Luke 1:32), and to provide identification for Jesus as the Messiah. (Ezek. 21:25-27; Matt. 1:6-16; Luke 3:23-31) This covenant included no priesthood; the Levitical priesthood served in conjunction with kings of David’s line; priesthood and kingship were strictly separate under the Law. Since Jehovah acknowledges this kingship and works through it forever, the covenant has everlasting duration.—Isa. 9:7; 2 Pet. 1:11.

COVENANT WITH CHRIST TO BE PRIEST ACCORDING TO THE MANNER OF MELCHIZEDEK

This covenant is expressed at Psalm 110:4, and the writer of the Bible book of Hebrews applies it to Christ at Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17. It is a covenant made by Jehovah with Jesus Christ alone. By Jehovah’s oath Jesus Christ, the heavenly Son of God, would be a priest according to the manner of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was king and priest of God on earth. Jesus Christ would hold both offices of King and High Priest, not on earth, but in heaven. He was installed permanently into office after his ascension to heaven. (Heb. 6:20; 7:26, 28; 8:1) The covenant is forever in operation, since Jesus will act under Jehovah’s direction as King and High Priest forever.—Heb. 7:3.

NEW COVENANT

Jehovah foretold the new covenant by the prophet Jeremiah in the seventh century B.C.E., stating that it would not be like the Law covenant, which Israel broke. (Jer. 31:31-34) On the night before his death, Nisan 14, 33 C.E., when he established the celebration of the Lord’s evening meal, Jesus Christ announced the new covenant, to be validated by his sacrifice. (Luke 22:20) On the fiftieth day from his resurrection and ten days after he had ascended to his Father, he poured out the holy spirit, which he had received from Jehovah, on his disciples gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem.—Acts 2:1-4, 17, 33; 2 Cor. 3:6, 8, 9; Heb. 2:3, 4.

The parties to the new covenant are Jehovah, on one side, and the “Israel of God,” the spirit begotten ones in union with Christ, making up his congregation or body, on the other side. (Heb. 8:10; 12:22-24; Gal. 6:15, 16; 3:26-28; Rom. 2:28, 29) The new covenant is made operative by the shed blood (the sacrifice of the human life) of Jesus Christ. (Matt. 26:28) When one is selected by God for the spiritual or heavenly calling (Heb. 3:1) God brings that one into His covenant over Christ’s sacrifice. (Ps. 50:5; Heb. 9:14, 15, 26) Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant (Heb. 8:6; 9:15) and is the primary Seed of Abraham. (Gal. 3:16) By means of Jesus’ mediatorship of the new covenant he assists those in the covenant to become part or the real seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16; Gal. 3:29) through forgiveness of their sins. Jehovah declares them righteous.—Rom. 5:1, 2; 8:33; Heb. 10:16, 17.

These spirit-begotten, anointed brothers of Christ become underpriests of the High Priest, a “royal priesthood.” (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 5:9, 10; 20:6) These do a priestly work, a “public service” (Phil. 2:17), and are called “ministers of a new covenant.” (2 Cor. 3:6) These called ones must follow Christ’s steps closely, faithfully, until laying down their lives in death; Jehovah will then make them a kingdom of priests, making them sharers in divine nature, and will reward them with immortality and incorruption as joint heirs in the heavens with Christ. (1 Pet. 2:21; Rom. 6:3, 4; 1 Cor. 15:53; 1 Pet. 1:4; 2 Pet. 1:4) The purpose of the covenant is to take out a people for Jehovah’s name as a part of Abraham’s “seed.” (Acts 15:14) They become the “bride” of Christ, and are the body of persons whom Christ takes into a covenant for the Kingdom, to rule with Him. (John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 21:9; Luke 22:29; Rev. 1:4-6; 5:9, 10; 20:6) The purpose of the new covenant requires that it continue in operation until all of the “Israel of God” are resurrected to immortality in the heavens.

JESUS’ ‘COVENANT FOR A KINGDOM’ WITH HIS FOLLOWERS

On the night of Nisan 14, 33 C.E., after celebrating the Lord’s evening meal Jesus made this covenant with his faithful apostles. To the eleven faithful apostles he promised that they would sit on thrones. (Luke 22:28-30; compare 2 Timothy 2:12.) Later he showed that this promise extended to all spirit-begotten ‘conquerors.’ (Rev. 3:21; see also Revelation 1:4-6; 5:9, 10; 20:6.) On the day of Pentecost he inaugurated this covenant toward them by the anointing with holy spirit of those disciples present in the upper room in Jerusalem. (Acts 2:1-4, 33) Those who would stick with him through trials, dying his kind of death (Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24) would reign with him, sharing his kingdom rule. The covenant remains operative between Jesus Christ and these associate kings forever.—Rev. 22:5.

VARIOUS OTHER COVENANTS

a. Joshua and the chieftains of Israel made a covenant with the inhabitants of the city of Gibeon to let them live and, though they were cursed Canaanites, whom the Israelites were to destroy, yet a covenant was considered so binding that the Gibeonites were allowed to live, the curse being performed by making them gatherers of wood and drawers of water for the assembly of Israel. (Josh. 9:15, 16, 23-27) b. Joshua, not long before his death, made a covenant with Israel to serve Jehovah. (Josh. 24:25, 26) c. The older men of Gilead made a covenant with Jephthah at Mizpah to make him head over the inhabitants of Gilead if Jehovah gave him victory over the Ammonites. (Judg. 11:8-11) d. Covenant between Jonathan and David. (1 Sam. 18:3; 23:18) e. Jehoiada the priest with the chiefs of the Carian bodyguard and of the runners. (2 Ki. 11:4; 3 Chron. 23:1-3) f. Covenant of Israel with Jehovah to put away foreign wives. (Ezra 10:3) g. Jehovah to give his servant as a covenant of (for) the people. (Isa. 42:6; 49:8) h. David with all the older men of Israel, at Hebron. (1 Chron. 11:3) i. A covenant of the people, during Asa’s reign, to search for Jehovah with all their heart and soul. (2 Chron. 15:12) j. Josiah with Jehovah to keep Jehovah’s commandments, according to the Law. (2 Chron. 34:31) k. Jehovah spoke of the “braggarts” who ruled Jerusalem as erroneously thinking they were safe in a “covenant with Death.”—Isa. 28:14, 15, 18.

COW

The cow filled an important role in the economy of the Israelites. Besides serving as a draft animal, the cow was valued for its production of milk, from which other common items of diet were prepared, including cheese, butter and buttermilk. (Num. 19:2; Isa. 7:21, 22) Also, the hide could be used in making a variety of leather goods.

Cows or heifers were at times sacrificed. (Gen. 15:9; 1 Sam. 6:14; 16:2) The ashes of an entire red cow, burned outside the camp, came to be an ingredient in Israel’s “water for cleansing.” (Num. 19:2, 6, 9) In the case of an unsolved murder, the representative older men of the town nearest the slain one were required to kill a young cow in an uncultivated torrent valley and then wash their hands over the carcass while testifying to their innocence of the crime.—Deut. 21:1-9.

In the Scriptures numerous illustrative uses of the cow or heifer may be noted. The seven fat-fleshed and seven thin-fleshed cows of Pharaoh’s dream were explained as referring to seven years of plenty to be followed by seven years of famine. (Gen. 41:26, 27) Samson spoke of his betrothed as his young cow, with which the thirty groomsmen had plowed in order to arrive at the solution to his riddle.—Judg. 14:11, 12, 18.

The fraudulent, oppressive, luxury-loving despoilers dwelling in Samaria are referred to as “cows of Bashan.” (Amos 3:15; 4:1) Ephraim is likened to a “trained heifer loving to thresh.” (Hos. 10:11) This comparison takes on added meaning when considering that the animals doing the threshing were not muzzled and, therefore, could eat of the grain, thus receiving direct and immediate benefits from their labor. (Deut. 25:4) Because of becoming fat as a result of God’s blessing, Israel “kicked,” rebelled against Jehovah (Deut. 32:12-15), and is therefore, appropriately referred to as a stubborn cow, one that is unwilling to bear the yoke. (Hos. 4:16) Egypt is compared to a pretty heifer that would come to disaster at the hand of the Babylonians. (Jer. 46:20, 21, 26) The Babylonians, in their pillaging ‘God’s inheritance,’ Judah, are likened to a frisky heifer pawing in the tender grass.—Jer. 50:11.

In prophecy the peaceful conditions that result from the reign of the Messiah, Christ Jesus, are appropriately represented by amicable relations between the relatively harmless cow and the rapacious bear.—Isa. 11:7; see BULL; CALF.

COZBI

(Cozʹbi) [voluptuousness].

Daughter of Zur, a Midianite chieftain. At the time 24,000 Israelites died for immorality in connection with Baal of Peor, Cozbi was killed along with the Simeonite Zimri, who had brought her into his tent, by having her genital parts pierced through by Phinehas. (Num. 25:1, 6-9, 15, 18) Shortly afterward Cozbi’s father was also killed.—Num. 31:7.

COZEBA

(Co·zeʹba).

A site in Judah where descendants of Shelah the son of Judah resided. (1 Chron. 4:21, 22) Most authorities consider Cozeba to be the same as Achzib (“Chezib” in some versions) mentioned at Genesis 38:5 and Joshua 15:44, and on this basis it is tentatively identified with Tell el-Beida, somewhat less than sixteen miles (25.7 kilometers) SW of Bethlehem between the suggested locations of Adullam and Lachish. The men of Cozeba are apparently included in the expression “they were the potters.”—1 Chron. 4:23; see ACHZIB No. 1.

CRAFTSMAN

One skilled in a manual trade or art. The Hebrew word hha·rashʹ is most frequently translated (NW) by the general term “craftsman,” but when it occurs along with some particular material, the phrase is rendered more specifically, for example, “wood-and-metal worker” (Deut. 27:15), “workers in wood and workers in stone” (2 Sam. 5:11), “carver of iron,” “wood carver” (Isa. 44:12, 13), also as “smith” (1 Sam. 13:19) and “manufacturers.” (Isa. 45:16) Further illustrating the many specialties that come under the designation “craftsmanship” is the description of Bezalel who, along with Oholiab, was a worker with metals, precious stones, wood, a weaver and dyer, skilled “in every sort of craftsmanship.”—Ex. 35:30-35; see also 2 Kings 12:11, 12.

Many crafts, such as toolmaking, carpentry, brickmaking, spinning, weaving, textile finishing, making pottery and jewelry, to mention a few, were at one time simple household duties performed by ordinary men or women. Settled communal living, however, with emphasis on developing higher skills, brought about specialization. Even before the Flood certain men were known as specialized craftsmen. (Gen. 4:21, 22) Nebuchadnezzar took the craftsmen along with the princes and military engineers captive to Babylon in 617 B.C.E., the second time he came against Jerusalem. (2 Ki. 24:14, 16; Jer. 24:1; 29:2) In some towns craftsmen of a particular trade lived together in the same section where they eventually associated together in guilds, and became known by their occupation and exercised great influence in the affairs of the town. (Neh. 3:8, 31, 32; 11:35; Jer. 37:21; Acts 19:24-41) Details of how these specialized craftsmen carried on their work are not too well preserved, except those writings and artworks that come from Egypt and which vividly describe and illustrate the various craftsmen at work.

The prohibition against idolatry incorporated into the law of Moses kept the Jews from much of the then-common art of making figurines and the like as objects of devotion. (Ex. 20:4; Deut. 4:15-18; 27:15) Indeed, image worship and the development of art and carving grew side by side in nations such as Assyria and Babylonia. (Ps. 115:2, 4-8; Isa. 40:19, 20; 44:11-20; 46:1, 6, 7; Jer. 10:2-5) Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen in Ephesus made a living by manufacturing silver shrines of Artemis.—Acts 19:24-27.

For detailed considerations of the various crafts themselves, see the individual subjects such as CARPENTER; CARVING; DYES, DYEING; MASON; METALWORKER; POTTER; TANNER and others.

CRAG

See ROCK.

CREATION

The act of creating or causing the existence of someone or something, or the state or fact of having been created or brought into existence.

Throughout the Scriptures Jehovah God is identified as the Creator. He is “the Creator of the heavens, . . . the Former of the earth and the Maker of it.” (Isa. 45:18) He is “the Former of the mountains and the Creator of the wind” (Amos 4:13), and is “the One who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them.” (Acts 4:24; 14:15; 17:24) “God . . . created all things.” (Eph. 3:9) Jesus Christ recognized Jehovah as the One who created humans, making them male and female. (Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6) Hence, Jehovah is fittingly and uniquely called “the Creator.”—Isa. 40:28.

It is because of God’s will that all things “existed and were created.” (Rev. 4:11) Jehovah, who has existed for all time, was alone before creation had a beginning.—Ps. 90:1, 2; 1 Tim. 1:17.

While Jehovah, who is a Spirit (John 4:24; 2 Cor. 3:17), has always existed, the matter of which the universe is made is not eternal. Hence, when creating the literal heavens and earth, Jehovah did not use preexistent material. This is clear from Genesis 1:1, which says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” If matter had always existed, it would have been inappropriate to use the term “beginning” with reference to material things. However, after creating the earth, God did form “from the ground every wild beast of the field and every flying creature of the heavens.” (Gen. 2:19) He also formed man “out of dust from the ground,” blowing into his nostrils the breath of life so that the man became a living soul.—Gen. 2:7.

Appropriately Psalm 33:6 says: “By the word of Jehovah the heavens themselves were made, and by the spirit of his mouth all their army.” While the earth was yet “formless and waste” with “darkness upon the surface of the watery deep,” it was God’s active force that was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. (Gen. 1:2) Thus, God used his active force or “spirit” (Heb., ruʹahh) to accomplish his creative purpose. The things he has created testify not only to his power but to his Godship. (Jer. 10:12; Rom. 1:19, 20) And, as Jehovah “is a God, not of disorder, but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33), orderliness, rather than chaos or chance, marks his creative work. Jehovah reminded Job that He had taken specific steps in founding the earth and barricading the sea and indicated that there exist “statutes of the heavens.” (Job 38:1, 4-11, 31-33) Furthermore, God’s creative and other works are perfect.—Deut. 32:4; Eccl. 3:14.

Jehovah’s first creation was his “only-begotten Son” (John 3:16), “the beginning of the creation by God.” (Rev. 3:14) This one, “the first-born of all creation,”