Old versus new covenant

Can you explain the difference between the old covenant versus the new covenant?

The Catholic Encyclopedia contains a very good definition of a covenant - "A solemn promise, fortified by an oath, concerning future action." When we open out Bibles we notice it is divided into two parts; the Old Covenant (or Testament) and the New Covenant (or Testament).

The Old Covenant is generally thought of as the Covenant made between God and Moses but it can be better thought about as a series of covenants between Yahweh and the Hebrew people. In the first covenant God swears to provide Abram with an heir and tells him that the sign of the covenant shall be the stars in the sky which represent how numerous his descendents shall be.

Another covenant was during their captivity in Egypt. Yahweh made a covenent to spare the Hebrew people from the worst of the plagues. In making this covenant, ia family sacrificed an unblemished lamb, sprinkled the blood, and roasted the lamb and ate it. The left overs were burned as an offering. See Exodus 12 for more on this covenant, which is represented and renewed every year by Jews at the Passover meal.

Likewise, the new Covenant began at a passover meal, a very special passover meal we refer to as the Last Supper. Jesus becoming the unblemished sacrifice that provides the
nourishment of the meal, and spilling His blood so that no longer would it be
necessary for animals to be sacrificed to renew the covenant.

There is an excellent article explaining the Old and New Covenant and their interrealtionships on the St. Charles Borromeo webs site at the following link: http://www.scborromeo.org/papers/covenant.pdf