The Noahic Covenant

by VILES, D. | Category: Bible Covenants | Mar 2007

Few incidents from the Old Testament are more widely known than the Genesis account of the long and eventful life of Noah. At the very centre of the Flood account lies the solemn and binding covenant made by God with Noah as the progenitor of the human race. On this rests the authority which God delegates to humankind to order society and the environment, confirming and expanding the injunctions given to Adam and Eve.(1) It is therefore fundamental to our understanding of the place of humanity in God's purposes and in the development of His redemptive design.

Features of the covenant

In common with every divine covenant, the initiator of the arrangement was God Himself. "I will establish My covenant with you,"(2) would become a foundational statement characteristic of all God's covenant dealings. Emphasis is laid in the Genesis account on grace as motivating God's sovereign desire to establish a covenant relationship with Noah and his progeny; �Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD�(3) exemplifies the unmerited love and favour underlying all God's covenant relationships throughout Scripture.(4)

Grace abounds, too, in the detail of this covenant. Unlike the covenant mediated to Israel by Moses, there was no obligation laid on Noah or his descendants to comply with any moral or behavioural conditions except those relating to bloodshed. The covenant was in this respect entirely one-sided, God blessing humankind with authority to replenish and govern the earth in a glorious outpouring of grace.(5) The wilful incapability of the human race adequately to discharge the responsibilities of stewarding God's creation needs no comment in the context of widespread degradation of the natural environment, except to throw into greater relief the wonderful generosity and forbearance of God. If this is the earthly manifestation of His grace, what will be its eternal reality, expressed to us in the riches of His kindness in Christ Jesus?(6)

The permanent nature of the covenant is also stressed in the Genesis account. We have it on God's solemn authority - repeated for emphasis - that there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.(7) A tangible symbol of this immutable promise - while the earth lasts - is provided by the rainbow.(8) Not only is this natural phenomenon a beautiful thing in itself, reminding us that our God is a covenant-keeping God to a thousand generations;(9) it also foreshadows in its permanence and glory our destiny with the promised Lord of the rainbow-circled throne.(10)

The structure of the covenant

The words of the covenant are solemn and clear, with God binding Himself to an irrevocable relationship with humankind. While the covenant with Moses proved to be time-limited, this covenant is described as everlasting.(11) Its provisions, including the rolling cycle of the seasons,(12) will therefore not be superseded or discontinued while the earth exists.

The covenants of Scripture are primarily concerned with what God undertakes to do for those to whom He commits Himself. Here, the emphasis is laid upon what God will not do. The repeated statements to Noah that He will not again inundate the earth7 are broadened into an absolute guarantee that God will neither curse the ground again nor destroy every living thing.(13) While mankind continues in abject failure to conserve the natural environment which God has provided for its enjoyment, we have it on God's authority that He will not see His creation wiped out by global warming or any misguided effort of humanity. The covenant with Noah allows us to go only so far along the road of prognostications of environmental destruction. Hebrews chapter 6 verses 16 to 18 focus on the oath spoken by God as a key component of the solemn words of a divinely-ordained covenant. The Noahic covenant is no exception, God having sworn that the waters would never again cover the earth.(14)

No covenant in Scripture between God and man is complete without the shedding of blood. Previous articles in this series have drawn attention to the blood of the covenant as a representation of the degree of commitment of the Person entering into it. The sacrificial blood used to solemnize the covenant requires, in its developed form, a sacrifice, an altar and a priesthood. All these features are present in the structure of the Noahic covenant.

It is highly significant that the very first recorded act of Noah after the opening of the ark was to build an altar - the first recorded in the Bible - and to sacrifice on it representatives of every clean animal and bird.(15) The offering by Noah, of what had cost him so much to collect, is presented to us as a spontaneous act of gratitude and praise. We can share in Noah's joyful sense of release after the foetid, confined atmosphere of the Ark; we should share, too, in the joyful, voluntary offering of spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ in recognition of the liberty by which Christ has set us free.(16)

Noah was, of course, only offering what God had already provided him,(17) but the effect of the sweet savour of this sacrifice was to draw from God the statement of the promise of the covenant. For the Christian disciple, in the light of the later covenants of the Bible, the sweetness of this sacrifice will evoke a beautiful foreshadowing of the perfection with which the Father regards the completeness of the offering of His Son.(18) In accordance with the pattern of patriarchal household priesthood which subsisted until the Mosaic covenant, Noah functioned as his family's priest on this occasion, pointing to the ultimate mediator of a new covenant-creation - Jesus Christ.(19)

To underline its importance, a sign of the covenant was provided. In later covenants, the appropriate sign is described as a seal,(20) emphasizing the binding nature of the divinely-appointed arrangement as an accomplished fact. Here, the rainbow is located in the air. It is far out of reach of humanity, underlining the unilateral nature of the covenant. Nevertheless, God commits Himself to look down upon it and recall His covenant of mercy toward the earth.(21) Humankind regards the sign from a different perspective, bright against a background of grey, stormy clouds; for the Christian disciple, a beautiful natural phenomenon therefore transforms itself into a symbol of hope and love, enduring against all the vicissitudes of life.

The terms of the Covenant

The covenant with Noah is universal in its scope, affecting all human society and every living creature since its institution.(22) In essence, the dominating role of humanity over the whole of God's earthly creation as His steward, delegated to Adam, is restated, as is the command to replenish an earth now empty of humankind.(23) While express authority is given to humanity to eat meat, a significant limitation is introduced in relation to the consumption of blood. Already, at this early date, the cardinal principle is established that the life is in the blood, to be developed within the sacrificial contexts of the Mosaic covenant and achieving its culmination in the sacrifice of Christ to inaugurate the new covenant.(24)

By extension from the sacrificial context, the issue of bloodshed is expressly transferred into requirements relating to human behaviour and the regulation of society. One of the features of the wickedness of pre-diluvian society was recourse to bloodshed.(25) Noah and his descendents are therefore expressly warned that they will be held directly responsible for the taking of human life. God is vitally concerned about the death of men and women, because of their high status in His order, created in His image; and God is highly image-conscious. In a world which continues in many societies to regard human life as cheap, Christian disciples need to stand firmly for its dignity and inviolability and for a God who will hold everyone responsible for acts of murder.(26) However, judicial acts of execution are expressly sanctioned within the terms of the covenant, as the highest act of governmental authority in human society. The principle of capital punishment for murder(27) is repeated throughout Scripture.(28) Irrespective of national legal codes, God will ultimately hold all unrepentant murderers responsible on the basis of His covenant with Noah.(29)

Why Noah?

The solemn institution of a covenant requires a generous and loving God and a recipient who is willing to accept its terms.(30) In Noah's case the terms were not onerous, but we should pause to consider the willing and responsive nature of this great servant of God who is commended among the heroes of faith. When Noah was warned, unlike his contemporaries he responded, thus condemning human society.(31) Noah brought pleasure to God because of:

- his righteous, God-orientated nature. Noah walked with God.(32)

- his absolute trust in God's will for him, despite opposition and the difficulty of the task to which he was called.(32)

- his wholehearted obedience to the entirety of God's command to him.(33)

- his willingness to warn others as God had warned him.(34)

The Lord warns us that at the time of His future coming in judgment the world will be as heedless as it was in the days of Noah.(35) Awful destruction, comparable to but more final than the flood, (36) is the ultimate fate of this world and its systems. We have the example of Noah to inspire our conduct amidst a crooked and perverse generation.(37)

(1) Gen.1:28-30 (2) Gen.6:18 (3) Gen.6:8 (4) Rom.3:23-24 (5) Gen.9:1-7 (6) Eph.2:6-7 (7) Gen.9:11,15 (8) Gen.9:13 (9) Deut.7:9 (10) Rev.4:3 (11) Gen.9:16 (12) Gen.8:22 (13) Gen.8:21 (14) Is.54:9-10 (15) Gen.8:20 (16) 1 Pet.2:5, Gal.5:1 (17) Gen.7:2-3 (18) Eph.5:2 (19) Heb.12:22-24 (20) Rom.4:11 (22) Gen.9:14-17 (22) Gen.9:9-10 (23) Gen.1:28-30; Gen.9:1-3 (24) Lev.17:11; 1 Pet.1:18-19 (25) Gen.4:8 (26) Gen.9:5 (27) Gen.9:6 (28) e.g. Lev.24:17; Rom.13:1-7 (29) Rev.21:8 (30) Ex.19:7-8 (31) Heb.11:7 (32) Gen.6:9b (33) Gen.6:22 (34) 2 Pet.2:5 (35) Luke 17:26-27 (36) 2 Pet.3:4-7 (37) Phil.2:15

VILES, D. | Mar 2007
Bible Covenants