Seven Covenants: The Noahic Covenant I. Introduction A. Review 1. Dispensation of Innocence - Man, set in a garden paradise, is tested by a single, simple command not to eat of the fruit if the Tree of Knowledge, Good and Evil. Failing this test Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden and sent into the world to labor against a cursed earth. - God made a covenant with Adam in which He promised to send the Seed of the Woman to undo what had been done by the Fall. 2. Dispensation of Conscience - Under the burden of providing for one s own sustenance, humanity is given one simple principle live according to the moral law written on the heart. - This principle of responsibility is immediately violated when Cain murders his brother Abel. Standing as archetypes of the righteous and the wicked, these two brothers preview the violence that soon fills the earth as men begin to reject the moral law and embrace their inclinations towards selfinterest. - While the righteous begin calling upon God, the wicked begin to wax worse and worse, to the point that eventually the whole earth is corrupted before God. - Having failed the test of conscience humanity is judged by God who sends the Floodwaters to destroy all living things, except those who were in the Ark. - After the waters recede from the continents, Noah exits the Ark into a pristine world. B. Passage Overview
1. Creation Story - Recounting the end of the Flood and Noah s exist from the Ark, chapters 8 & 9 set forth a parallel to the creation story. - Ross says, The first part of this chapter details the creation theme, telling how the waters abated, dry land appeared, foliage grew, and humankind again inhabited the earth. 1 - Other parallels follow that present the Flood story as a second creation account. 2. New Beginnings Slide Two ----------------------------------------------------------------- Genesis 8:18 22 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, I will never again curse the ground for man s sake, although the imagination of man s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease. II. Exposition A. The Introduction of the Covenant 1. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord - Noah gratefully acknowledges God s faithfulness to His promise and offers up a sacrifice to Yahweh. 1 Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing, 196.
- Noah certainly had the kind of gratitude that is expressed by those who survive a sudden and striking catastrophe. - Sacrificing clean animals and clean birds previews Israel s sacrificial system. (Lev. 20:25) 2. God s Promise a. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma - Indicates God s acceptance of the offering. - Leviticus 26:31. I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. b. Then the LORD said in His heart, I will never again curse the ground for man s sake. - This is indicative of God s purpose and is a contrast to the inclination towards evil in the heart of humanity (Gen. 6:5). - God would never again destroy all life and would also preserve the seasons for the benefit of humanity. c. although the imagination of man s heart is evil from his youth - The promise did not depend on man s righteousness, but on God s faithfulness. The only condition is temporal as long as the earth remains. - And what God has said in His heart, He now begins to bring into reality. Third Slide ----------------------------------------------------------------- Genesis 9:1 7 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things,
even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it. B. The Principle of the Covenant 1. Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. - This phrase acts as an inclusio marking off the beginning of this section in 9:1 and the end in 9:7. - Notice that the charge to subdue and rule (1:28b) is absent in the statement. However, it is included in the very principles of the covenant. 2. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you - A radical change takes place concerning their sustenance now humanity is given flesh to eat. This is a radical extension of the dominion mandate. 3. for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning - While taking the live of the beast is sanctioned, taking the live a human being is not. - God is reaffirming the value and dignity of humanity, which is created in His image. 4. Whoever sheds man s blood, By man his blood shall be shed - This is the guiding principle of the new order human self-government. - God institutes the right and duty of capital punishment, thereby establishing the authority of human government backed by the power of the sword. - Romans 13:1. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
- Contrast this with the previous dispensation in which God restricted the execution of criminals when He set a mark of protection on Cain. - Genesis 4:15. And the Lord said to him, Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. - Notice that capital punishment is predicated on the fact that man is created in the image of God. Fourth Slide ------------------------------------------------------------------- Genesis 9:8 17 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow 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; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth. C. The Promise of the Covenant 1. Inclusio - Repetitions of the terms establish and covenant indicates an inclusio. - This passage presents the formal ratification of God s promise to preserve the earth.
- The New American Commentary notes, Particularly instructive are the variant tenses for the verb establish, showing the divine initiative and realization of the covenant: I now establish (imminent future, v. 9); I establish (present, v. 11); and I have established (present perfect, v. 17). 2 2. never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth - The survivors of the Flood would have been plagued by an obvious fear: What if it happens again? - In His covenant with Noah God promises to never again destroy all life with a flood. The remnant of humanity was free to multiply and spread abroad on the earth just as God instructed. 3. I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. - The covenant is with the whole earth, both man and beast. - Like the Adamic Covenant, this covenant is universal. Black Screen III. Conclusion A. Gratitude is the true mark of worship. - Luke 17:12 19. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! So when He saw them, He said to them, Go, show yourselves to the priests. And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And He said to him, Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well. - Romans 1:20 21. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His 2 K. A. Mathews, vol. 1A, Genesis 1-11:26, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 408.
eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. B. We are our brother s keeper. 1. Cain s question. - Genesis 4:9. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know. Am I my brother s keeper? 2. God s answer - James 1:26 27. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. C. Government is Ordained of God. - Romans 13:1 7. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. - Capital punishment is still in effect as the power of government.