Covenant Series: Noahic Covenant

The Noahic is the first covenant in this series that is more widely known. There’s a flood and then the waters dry up and God promises never to flood the earth again and the sign of this covenant is a rainbow. Most often this covenant is told as though it is a nice children’s story with a happy ending. Allow me to paint a different picture for you.

Starting in Genesis 6:5 the author points out that the effects of the fall have multiplied. “Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”  In Genesis 6:11 it says that “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.” Translation? The sin nature of man had completely consumed them, so that everything they did was purely evil. Yikes. The passage goes onto say that God regretted making man, and that His solution for this problem was to start over again with Noah, who was righteous and blameless.

Scripture tells us that things had gotten so bad, that in order to even preserve creation God had to do something drastic: he had to destroy mankind and the current creation for it was so tainted with evil. This is where we once again have to remember who God is: holy, righteous, does not do evil, creator, powerful, etc. Destroying all the people on the earth and sparing Noah and two of each animal was certainly far less extreme than say, causing the earth to just explode and moving onto another solar system. What many people miss in this story is that God is consistent. Humans would have moved on after the fall and started a new project. God chose to work through it. Like it or not, the Flood is part of God’s redemption plan.

So, after commissioning Noah to build a vessel to house himself, his wife, his sons and his son’s wives, the animals came, were loaded up and it began to rain. Forty days and forty nights later, the rains stopped and the ark continued to float for another one hundred and fifty days. Finally, the waters had receded enough for the ark to rest on the top of mountains, but not enough to disembark. About five or six months later, Noah, his family and all the animals could finally leave the ark and restart life on the earth. Now, notice what Noah does, he builds an altar and makes a sacrifice to the Lord. He thanks God for sparing him, and for not completely destroying the earth.

Now we come to the covenant. Genesis 8:21-22 begins the introduction to the covenant: “I will never again curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Let’s take this apart bit by bit. First, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans” reminds us of the Adamic Covenant where God curses the ground because of Adam (Genesis 3:17). What does this have to do with Noah? The fall of man wasn’t just the fall of mankind, it was the fall of creation. All creation is tainted with the effects of sin. Paul says in Romans 8:22 that “all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Creation too groans under the weight of sin. This is why God didn’t just wipe out mankind, he destroyed every living thing on the earth so that when the waters subsided anything that grew would be new and fresh. Second, “even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” shows that God knows how badly sin has affected mankind. Just because Noah is righteous, it doesn’t mean things will not get bad again. God is acknowledging that because mankind is sinful, they will always struggle to do what is right and holy, and will always struggle to acknowledge their creator. Third, when God says: “And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease,” he is stating that going forward there is a new plan, a new solution to redeem mankind and creation and bring them back into right relationship with Him.

Genesis 9:1-7 continue the covenant and specify certain terms. Verses one and seven form what is called an inclusio: a phrase that brackets a certain body of text. This literary style was widely used in Scripture to show the beginning and the end of a certain thought or body of text. Both these verses contain the command to “be fruitful and increase in number.” Sound familiar? This phrase points back to the Edenic Covenant where Adam and Even were also told to be fruitful and increase in number. Similarly, verse two continues the Edenic themes and states that man will again have dominion over all the creatures on the earth, in the sky, and in the sea. In verse three, we get something new though, “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” This means that prior to the flood mankind was, for the most part, vegetarians. However this notion seems to beg the question of whether all humans in existence were vegetarians, or just the righteous ones who were concerned with pleasing God. It could be that one of the reasons God determined to destroy all of creation was that men were killing and eating animals when they shouldn’t have been; thus creation itself was in danger of being destroyed by humans. This is not to say that God has had a change of mind, but rather than he is expanding what is available to mankind. When Adam and Eve were first created, the task of understanding what to eat and how to eat it was probably overwhelming enough. To understand how to eat meat was probably to be added later. I believe that God created mankind to eat meat, but not right away. Here we see God revealing more of how man is to dominate over creation, and what is available for food.  Verses four through six, however, serve as a stout warning about this new food source. “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” This warning is meant to tell Noah and his family to be responsible for the food they eat. Mass killings of any animal are unacceptable if that animal is not killed to be consumed. Eating raw meat is equally unacceptable, most likely for health reasons. Furthermore, this is a call for Noah and his family to live righteously and to value mankind because of how they were created. The image of God sets mankind apart from any other created creature. It reminds us that we were created for a divine being that ultimately has a purpose for our lives.

Genesis 9:8-17 detail the spoken covenant between God and Noah and his family. Verse 9 should be noted, “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you…” This is a lasting covenant. It has no end. God has been faithful to this covenant since it was established and the earth has not been destroyed despite the evil intentions of mankind and their disobedience. Verse ten adds to this though. The covenant is established with every living creature that was in the ark with Noah and his family. The Noahic Covenant builds upon the Edenic and Adamic in that God is not just defining his new relationship with mankind, but with all creation. All creation will be preserved and not destroyed by a flood again. The rainbow will serve as a reminder to both God and man of this covenant.

In conclusion, the Noahic Covenant is the first covenant after the fall of man that sets into motion God’s redemptive plan. God knows mankind will always be bent towards evil, but will tolerate this because of His ultimate plan to redeem creation. This covenant echoes the two previous covenants and points the way forward for man to live with his neighbor and value his neighbor’s life. From this point forward, God begins to get more and more specific with each covenant as to how mankind is to live in right relationship with each other and with God Himself.