Abstract

STRAUSS, Piet J.. Paul Kruger on the covenant of 1838: Was he on target?. In Skriflig (Online) [online]. 2024, vol.58, n.1, pp.1-7. ISSN 2305-0853.  https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v58i1.3100.

Many Afrikaners and those associating with them, keep the promises made by the Voortrekkers in the Covenant of 16 December 1838 in connection with the battle of Blood River between them and the Zulu impis of King Dingane. As a champion of the Afrikaner in the 19th century, Paul Kruger as the elected president (1883-1900) of the Boer Republic, called the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, partook in the Day of the Covenant as being celebrated by Afrikaners every year. This is a spiritual event the people associating with the Covenant should use to thank God for his salvation and for saving them and their forebears in a military crisis. With this view, Kruger as a Reformed Christian Afrikaner, would also have been able to accept the resolution of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church of 1990, about the Covenant of 1838 being celebrated in South Africa after the change in government and the public attitude in 1994. As far as Kruger was concerned, the gratitude of people observing the Covenant of 1838, should be part of a life of gratitude and obedience to God, as their answer to his salvation and saving in everyday life. This view of Kruger came to the fore in his speeches in December 1886, 1891, and 1896 at Paardekraal, Krugersdorp. Paardekraal became the venue for festivities every five years around the Day of the Covenant in the old Transvaal. This was an implementation of a resolution of the government of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek in 1883. CONTRIBUTION: The well-known and debated covenant of 1838 of the trekking Boers, or Voortrekkers of that year once again is the reason for this article. The contribution is written from a historical and church-historical perspective, providing clarity on what it means to keep the covenant for those who ascribe to it at the moment. This theme is compared with the views of Paul Kruger, a representative of the Afrikaners in the 19th century

Keywords : a religious feast; content and meaning of the 1838 Covenant; promise to claim the church as the centre of the community; promise to tell children; to whom does the Covenant appeal?; the nature of the appeal.

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