That eternal, unconditional covenant was given to Abraham regarding his spiritual seed, not his physical seed.
The elect are they who are the chosen of God who comprise the seed.
Ok, let's look at the covenant and what it said.
12 Now
mthe Lord said
1 to Abram, “Go from your country
2 and your kindred and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you. 2 nAnd I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3
oI will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and
pin you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
y“To your offspring I give
3 this land, from
zthe river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”..
for all the land that you see I will give
pto you and
qto your offspring forever.
So no, it's not to a "spiritual seed" the covenant is very much literal and to a real people .
God did make a non-eternal covenant with Abraham, which was realized when Johsua came into the land, but that covenant was conditional not eternal. So, God made two covenants with Abraham: one eternal, dependent upon God's actions alone; the other, dependent upon Israel's keeping of the covenant's requirements and stipulations which they failed to do.
We often confuse one covenant with the other not recognizing there are two.
God made everything which He had promised to come to pass - not a single part of it failed.
We are talking about the Abrahamic Covenant. No it has not yet come to pass. Israel still does not have all the land the covenant stated. That is why Israel coming back to the land in 48 is so significant.
No, not slides past, it is that the Jews of Israel en-masse, except for the elect, were never promised salvation - eternal life was a part of a different covenant. The spiritual Jews (the elect) were.
There is a remnant, Romans 11 says so. The Jews have been blinded for a time. You can read it in black and white.
Because God's covenant to Israel was not unconditional, when they violated it, they were punished according to the stipulations, which included (but was not limited to), God's divorce of them.
You are speaking of the Mosaic Covenant. Let's take a look.
"Israel often proved to be an unfaithful spouse, committing spiritual adultery by worshiping false gods and forsaking the Lord. In fact, it was due to idolatry that God spoke this word:
“I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. . . . Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense” (
Jeremiah 3:8–10).
God punished Israel, and He illustrates that punishment like this: He “divorced” Israel and sent them away—a reference to the
Assyrian invasion, which resulted in Israel’s removal from their homeland (see
2 Kings 17:5–7). Even given the example of Israel’s “divorce,” Judah remained unfaithful, as if daring God to mete out a similar punishment on them."
"Having just cause, God, the faithful Husband, “divorced” Israel, His unfaithful wife. To make matters worse, God had asked, “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again?” (
Jeremiah 3:1). The answer,
according to the Mosaic Law, was “no”; a man who had divorced his wife could not later remarry her"
According to God’s metaphor,
Israel seems to be in a hopeless situation: she has been divorced by God, and, according to the law, she can never be accepted back.
But then comes a surprising twist: God’s
mercy intervenes:
“‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord,
‘I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord,
‘I will not be angry forever’” (
Jeremiah 3:12).
“‘Return, faithless people,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I am your husband. I will choose you . . . and bring you to Zion” (
Jeremiah 3:14).
God used the shocking illustration of a “divorce” of Israel to stress their guilt before Him. But God never cut Israel off unilaterally for all time. He only asked that they return to Him and experience His goodness. In fact, after God says that He “divorced” Israel, He commands them three times to “return” (
Jeremiah 3:11,
14,
23).
The apostle Paul explains,
“Did God reject his people? By no means! . . . God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. . . . At the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. . . .
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! . . .
And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again” (
Romans 11:1–6,
11,
23).
Another illustration of God’s amazing goodness is found in the story of the prophet Hosea. God actually commanded
Hosea to marry a prostitute (
Hosea 1:2). She did not remain faithful to Hosea. Then, while his wife was living in immorality, the Lord commanded Hosea to find her and buy her back. God’s purpose was to show the greatness of His grace: “Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods” (
Hosea 3:1).
God gives them a “bill of divorcement,” but then He pleads with them to come back. In Hosea, God pursues and redeems His estranged “wife” and seeks to continue His relationship with her. Both stories provide an unforgettable picture of God’s strong, unending love for His covenant people.