NOACHIAN COVENANT
SIGN: RAINBOW
SEAL: HUMAN GOVERNMENT
THE JUDGMENT OF GOD ALLOWS MAN'S PRESERVATION.
1. Fill the Earth (Genesis 9:1,2):
Fruitful. Multiply. Fear of man (by beasts, birds, fish).
2. Man Can Eat Meat (9:3,4):
Fish, Flesh, Fowl. Except blood.
3. Government Is Ordained (9:5,6):
To protect the sanctity of life and to provide security to man.
4. No Universal Flood Ever Again (9:11):
The rainbow is cited by God as a sign (token) of His promise to man.
5. Order of Nature Confirmed (8:22):
Cycles and seasons of nature to continue as long as the earth remains.
Let us review the key verses for this covenant: Genesis 8:15 - 9:17
AND GOD SPAKE UNTO NOAH, SAYING,
GO FORTH OF THE ARK, THOU, AND THY WIFE, AND THY SONS, AND THY SONS' WIVES WITH THEE.
BRING FORTH WITH THEE EVERY LIVING THING THAT IS WITH THEE, OF ALL FLESH, BOTH OF FOWL, AND OF CATTLE, AND OF EVERY CREEPING THING THAT CREEPETH UPON THE EARTH; THAT THEY MAY BREED ABUNDANTLY IN THE EARTH, AND BE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY UPON THE EARTH.
AND NOAH WENT FORTH, AND HIS SONS, AND HIS WIFE, AND HIS SONS' WIVES WITH HIM:
EVERY BEAST, EVERY CREEPING THING, AND EVERY FOWL, AND WHATSOEVER CREEPETH UPON THE EARTH, AFTER THEIR KINDS, WENT FORTH OUT OF THE ARK.
AND NOAH BUILDED AN ALTAR UNTO THE LORD; AND TOOK OF EVERY CLEAN BEAST, AND OF EVERY CLEAN FOWL, AND OFFERED BURNT OFFERINGS ON THE ALTAR.
AND THE LORD SMELLED A SWEET SAVOUR; AND THE LORD SAID IN HIS HEART, I WILL NOT AGAIN CURSE THE GROUND ANY MORE FOR MAN'S SAKE; FOR THE IMAGINATION OF MAN'S HEART IS EVIL FROM HIS YOUTH: NEITHER WILL I AGAIN SMITE ANY MORE EVERY THING LIVING, AS I HAVE DONE.
WHILE THE EARTH REMAINETH, SEEDTIME AND HARVEST, AND COLD AND HEAT, AND SUMMER AND WINTER, AND DAY AND NIGHT SHALL NOT CEASE. (GENESIS 8: 15 -22)
AND GOD BLESSED NOAH AND HIS SONS, AND SAID UNTO THEM, BE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY, AND REPLENISH THE EARTH.
AND THE FEAR OF YOU AND THE DREAD OF YOU SHALL BE UPON EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH, AND UPON EVERY FOWL OF THE AIR, UPON ALL THAT MOVETH UPON THE EARTH, AND UPON ALL THE FISHES OF THE SEA; INTO YOUR HAND ARE THEY DELIVERED.
EVERY MOVING THING THAT LIVETH SHALL BE MEAT FOR YOU; EVEN AS THE GREEN HERB HAVE I GIVEN YOU ALL THINGS.
BUT FLESH WITH THE LIFE THEREOF, WHICH IS THE BLOOD THEREOF, SHALL YE NOT EAT.
AND SURELY YOUR BLOOD OF YOUR LIVES WILL I REQUIRE; AT THE HAND OF EVERY BEAST WILL I REQUIRE IT, AND AT THE HAND OF MAN; AT THE HAND OF EVERY MAN'S BROTHER WILL I REQUIRE THE LIFE OF MAN.
WHOSO SHEDDETH MAN'S BLOOD, BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED: FOR IN THE IMAGE OF GOD MADE HE MAN.
AND YOU, BE YE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY; BRING FORTH ABUNDANTLY IN THE EARTH, AND MULTIPLY THEREIN.
AND GOD SPAKE UNTO NOAH, AND TO HIS SONS WITH HIM, SAYING,
AND I, BEHOLD, I ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU, AND WITH YOUR SEED AFTER YOU;
AND WITH EVERY LIVING CREATURE THAT IS WITH YOU, OF THE FOWL, OF THE CATTLE, AND OF EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH WITH YOU; FROM ALL THAT GO OUT OF THE ARK, TO EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH.
AND I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU; NEITHER SHALL ALL FLESH BE CUT OFF ANY MORE BY THE WATERS OF A FLOOD; NEITHER SHALL THERE ANY MORE BE A FLOOD TO DESTROY THE EARTH.
AND GOD SAID, THIS IS THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT WHICH I MAKE BETWEEN ME AND YOU, AND EVERY LIVING CREATURE THAT IS WITH YOU, FOR PERPETUAL GENERATIONS:
I DO SET MY BOW IN THE CLOUD, AND IT SHALL BE FOR A TOKEN OF A COVENANT BETWEEN ME AND THE EARTH.
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, WHEN I BRING A CLOUD OVER THE EARTH, THAT THE BOW SHALL BE SEEN IN THE CLOUD:
AND I WILL REMEMBER MY COVENANT, WHICH IS BETWEEN ME AND YOU AND EVERY LIVING CREATURE OF ALL FLESH; AND THE WATERS SHALL NO MORE BECOME A FLOOD TO DESTROY ALL FLESH.
AND THE BOW SHALL BE IN THE CLOUD AND I WILL LOOK UPON IT, THAT I MAY REMEMBER THE EVERLASTING COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND EVERY LIVING CREATURE OF ALL FLESH THAT IS UPON THE EARTH.
AND GOD SAID UNTO NOAH, THIS IS THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT, WHICH I HAVE ESTABLISHED BETWEEN ME AND ALL FLESH THAT IS UPON THE EARTH. (GENESIS 9:1-17)
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOACHIAN COVENANT.
To understand the Noachian Covenant requires more than a study of the above verses. What occurred before the flood, the nature of the flood itself, and its aftermath provides the context in which the covenant was set (Genesis 6 - 9; Job 9:5-8; 12:14-15; 22:15-17; 26:11-14; 28:9). The covenant is unconditional and it is still in effect today.
The exceeding sinfulness of mankind (Gen. 6:5) is what made the righteous judgment of God necessary. The LORD "repented" that he had made man and His heart "grieved" (Gen 6.6). Since God cannot change (Nu. 23:19; 1 Sa. 15:29; Mal. 3:6; James 1:17), He did not change His mind. The Hebrew word for "repented" in this verse is nacham which means draw breath strongly, groan, be sorry or have pity. The word "grieved" is the Hebrew 'atsab, actually "to carve," by implication to feel great sorrow, anguish, or outrage. Sin is the only thing that can bring "pain" to God. Often biblical authors ascribed human characteristics to God in order to help the reader better understand God's moves and motives.
Sin was rampant in the pre-flood world. The resulting sovereign judgment of God was a short-term cataclysmic World-Wide flood (the Deluge) affecting land, sea, and all creatures. All died except for eight people whom God saved.
Why? "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (v.6). The Hebrew word for "grace" is chen and this is its first mention in Scripture. It means the same thing as the New Testament Greek charis (Cp. Eph.2:5,7,8). One does not earn God's grace. One finds it. Noah found grace (God's favor), became a justified, righteous man finally becoming "perfect" in the eyes of God even though he sinned later in life (Gen. 9:21-29). Noah was a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Pe. 2:5).
Noah's pre-flood testimony is that he and his family obeyed God, built and prepared the ark using God's plans and believed God's prophecy that He would use the flood to cause "the end of all flesh" and "destroy them with the earth" (Gen. 6:13). The Noachian Covenant was promised by God to Noah before the flood (Gen. 6:18) and was actually given to Noah after he and his family had set foot on dry land and offered sacrifices on the altar. Thus, the Noachian Covenant was necessary for mankind's continued relationship to God. Man's worship acknowledges God's sovereignty, man's submission, man's sinful nature, and thanksgiving to God for His mercy and His grace.
Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives were saved in the ark. God also directed all the chosen animals to be housed within it. When the time came "... all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Gen. 7:11,12). It rained for the first time.
The waters which had been separated by the firmament at creation (the canopy above and the springs below) flooded the land "And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and only Noah remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark" (Gen. 7:23).
Earth today is very different from the pre-flood world. (For one hundred reasons why the Deluge was universal, see Appendix Six of "The Defender's Study Bible," World; www.ICR.org.) Do not assume that there were very high mountains in those days that needed covering. Peleg lived after the flood (Gen. 10:25; 1 Chr 1:19) and it was in "his days the earth was divided." This could have been a tribal dispersion or a geological event. Since the confounding of man's language making tribes and nations is recorded in Genesis Eleven, I think that God broke up the earth into tectonic plates in the days of Peleg.
Read "The Remarkable Record of Job," (Henry M. Morris, Baker; www.ICR.org) who lived after the flood in Saudi Arabia in a temperate climate before it was a desert. Lastly, Jesus mentioned as fact the flood in Noah's time to point out the similarity to the destruction in the end of times to come (Luke 17:26,27; Matt 24:37-39).
THE TERMS OF THE NOACHIAN COVENANT.
It Is needful to know that the terms of the Noachian Covenant apply not only to Noah and his offspring, but to the animals and to the earth as well (Gen. 9:10). They apply to all mankind since.
1. Fill the Earth (Gen. 9:1,2):
Fruitful. Multiply. Fear of man (by beasts, birds, fish).
This is the same basic command of God to Adam meaning that the human race had the challenge and opportunity to flourish in the present world despite the onset of sin.
Noah and his children were urged to have many offspring because God wanted them to "replenish" or flesh out the earth. Mankind had been preserved and was given a new chance by God to live within His covenants.
Man's sinfulness brought destruction upon the land and all living things. God noted that beasts, fowls of the air and fishes of the sea would now fear man. God delivered them into the hand of man to be under his dominion.
2. Man Can Eat Meat (9:3,4):
Fish, Flesh, Fowl. Except blood.
God told Noah that the eating of flesh for the first time would be allowed for food in the like manner that God had commanded man to eat herbs. This post-flood world would be a much harsher place than man had ever seen and he would have to be able to hunt and gather for his needs.
God forbade man from the consumption of the blood of mammals. This points to the fact that "The life of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11). Blood is symbolic that all life was created by God and is holy.
3. Government Is Ordained (9:5,6):
To protect the sanctify of life and to provide security to man.
Having set forth the symbol of "blood," God explained its significance, not only to mankind, but for beasts as well. God values blood as the essential emblem of His creation. The nature of the covenant is that God values life highly. It would be false to conclude that because God killed all living things that life is not important. The sanctity of life is to be upheld.
The means to this end is the institution of civil government. This is the key exposition of verse six. Because man is made in God's image, anyone who sheds another man's blood is to be slain himself. In order to carry out this command fairly and justly, government is necessary to serve and protect its people (Rom. 13:1-7). With it came God's authorization for capital punishment which is still in effect.
4. No Universal Flood Ever Again (9:11):
The rainbow is cited by God as a sign (token) of His promise to man.
God specifically and categorically promised that under this covenant a World-Wide catastrophic flood would never again be used to cut off flesh and to destroy the earth. As a token, or sign, of the long-lasting covenant God cited the rainbow in the clouds as a reminder for man (9:12-17). No one had ever seen a rainbow until after the Noachian covenant went into effect. The rainbow is the prismatic effect of sunlight slashing through drops of rain. Man on the ground sees the spectrum of visible light broken down into its beautiful colors as a half-circle at most, or a column of light leading to the ground. [ There is no gold at the end of the rainbow, because the rainbow has no end. ] When God views the rainbow in the storm clouds, He sees a large circle, like a ring. Not only is this stunning (ask any pilot), it is a reflection of the throne of God itself (Rev. 4:3). God sees it and remembers His pact.
5. Order of Nature Confirmed (8:22):
Cycles and seasons of nature to continue as long as the earth remains.
God promised Noah that as long as the earth endured the rotation of the seasons and the day-night cycle would continue (8:22). This promise of God will persist until the time when Jesus Christ renovates the earth and removes the curse thereof altogether (Rev. 22:3). Peter described the "then" world of the flood (2 Pe. 3:5,6); he recorded the "now" world (2 Pe. 3:7); and he predicted the transition to the "to be" world of righteousness (2 Pe. 3:11-13).
There is no possibility that any other people survived the World-Wide flood. Genesis 9:19 simply stated that the whole earth was repopulated by Shem, Ham and Japheth. Genesis 10:32 supports this view noting that only Noah's sons were responsible for the families of man after the flood.
Through Noah, God made a new beginning for His creation, but it is important to keep in mind that there was also a new beginning of evil. Sin haunted Noah and spread rapidly among his children (Genesis 11). Despite the severe consequences of the flood, a remnant of man has always sought after and found the LORD GOD.