se to keep their pledge given in vowing unto
God--"Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse."[137]

Fifthly. In the first ages, the exercise was accompanied by sacrifice.
The phrase ([Hebrew: karath b'rith]), which is most commonly employed to
designate the making of a covenant, consists of two terms, each of which
conducts us to the sacrificial rite. The latter of these, ([Hebrew:
b'rith], a covenant,) would appear to be derived from a verb which,
according to circumstances, bears the significations, _to cut, to
choose, to eat_. The connection between all these and an expression
which means _to purify_, is not obscure, nor is their relation to a word
([Hebrew: bar]), with which that so rendered is intimately connected,
difficult to be traced. That which is eaten is made choice of for its
purity, or because that by cutting, it is separated from what is less
fitted for food, or even during the process of eating is cut. It is an
opinion held by one class of commentators, that the reason why that term
is put to signify _a covenant_, is, that it may be deduced from the verb
bearing the meaning _to choose_, and to which there would appear no
objection, provided that that meaning were reckoned to be secondary to
the signification _to eat_. The idea implied in the verb _to choose_ is
essentially abstract. Not so is that included in either the verb _to
cut_, or the verb _to eat_. From one of these, which may be considered
as collateral primary meanings, it must therefore be deduced. And since
it cannot be deduced from the one without the other, it must
consequently be derived from the latter. But since, on the occasion of
entering into covenant, feasts were wont to be kept, and since the flesh
of animals slain for sacrifice was not seldom partaken of by those
associated to present them, there is reason to conclude that food eaten
on the occasion of solemn Covenanting included the flesh of sacred
victims, and that while this term for _Covenant_ may be considered as
derived immediately from an expression signifying _to choose_, it is to
be viewed as tracing its origin to the same expression viewed as
denoting _to eat_, because the flesh of sacrifice afforded to the
federal parties a means of convivial entertainment in the accustomed
friendly feast. The other of these terms ([Hebrew: karoth]) means
literally _to cut_. It is used in describing the operation of cutting in
twain the animal sacrificed at the ratification