What Covenant?

Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. [Exodus 19.5]

In the New Living Translation of the Bible, this use of the word "covenant" is approximately the 37th.  My question is this: "What covenant?"

In looking over the previous appearances of (or references to) the word "covenant" it would seem there are several different actual covenants referred to.  However, the gist of the "covenant" remains the same throughout (with exception to covenants between men).  The arrangement is between God and select individuals/families - and that arrangement is simply that He will be their God and they will be His people.  Although there are various representations of this, the basic theme is the same.

It is noteworthy that up until this time (as the OYB reading goes for the year), the Ten Commandments have not yet appeared - so that "covenant remains to be seen...  Perhaps however we should view the Ten Commandments as 'part' of the 'covenant' and not as the whole.  Hmm.

This is even more interesting in light of the fact that Jesus came to install a 'new' covenant.  Hmm again!

Father help me to grasp the significance of these covenants.