Covenant and New Beginnings
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Well, last week we left off with Noah and the flood, and during the past week I think God has been reminding us with all the rain we’ve been having.
I’m going to back up just a bit as we saw Noah enter the ark last week. We remember that from Adam and Eve we had their sons Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel and chooses to go live away from the Lord. So the hope then comes through a third son from the first couple, Seth, and that is going to be the line of hope. We then moved through 10 generations from Adam to Noah.
And one of the things we need to remember is that Noah isn’t a good man - he’s as caught up in sin as the rest of creation, where we’ve seen jealousy, murder, and polygamy break out. But Noah found favor in God’s eyes, and when he was asked to do something - unlike Adam and Eve who did not heed God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Noah is told to build an ark, he builds it!
Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
Then he took 14 of every clean animal. We all know the stories of two by two, and I like to joke that’s what happened to unicorns, he only had two and in Chapter 9 when he comes out of the ark he sacrifices one and… well, you get the jist.
In chapter 8 Noah and his wife along with his sons and their wives come out of the ark and they’re told to bring out every living animal that is with them that they may “be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” Upon doing so, Noah builds and altar and took some of every clean animal and bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. A careful reading will reveal that Noah had 14 of every clean animal. We all know the stories of two by two, and I like to joke that’s what happened to unicorns, he only had two and in Chapter 9 when he comes out of the ark he sacrifices one and… well, you get the gist. Then further on in chapter 9 we see a similar charge given to Noah and his sons when God says to them:
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
This reminds us of the command given to Adam and Eve back in Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The careful reader will note that there is a drastic contrast between the command in Genesis 1 and the one in Genesis 9.
In Genesis one, we read
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Be fruitful
Multiply
fill the earth
subdue it
have dominion
Humankind was to be the tenders, the royal representatives ruling over if you will the earthly kingdom God had created and pronounced good. It was a place of harmony. That is no longer the case.
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
In Genesis 9 we read the familiar statement of “Be fruitful and multiply” but what follows is in stark contrast to the idealic utopia of the garden
The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.
Now every living thing is delivered into humankind’s hand and as a result every animal will dread them. And perhaps for good reason as we read in verse 3.
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
Notice the laws for what is clean to eat are not established yet, with the exception of eating flesh with blood still in it.
And then we get the first covenant of the Old Testament, known as the Noahic covenant. It is important to recognize what the Noahic covenant says and what it does not say.
Here it is:
I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
And this covenant is established not only with Noah and his family, but with all of creation. (v.17)
Now we know that when Noah came out of the ark he offered sacrifices to God - that is similar to what Abel did.
What we also see of Noah is that he is a man of the soil, in that the next thing he does is plant a vineyard.
This next part is something we don’t typically talk about when we talk about Noah, he comes out of the ark, plants a vineyard, gets drunk, and gets naked.
Only 7 chapters ago the man and woman were naked and were not ashamed. Now though we see that it’s the topic of gossip and talking about as Ham comes in sees his father’s nakedness and goes out and tells his brothers. He could have protected Noah’s dignity by covering him up, but no, he goes out and tells his brothers and their behavior is entirely opposite. They go to great lengths not to harm the dignity of their father and putting a blanket on their shoulders walk backwards to put the blanket over their father.
Chapter 10 & 11 are important to remember that these are not in chronological order much like Genesis 1 & 2. IN chapter 11 we get the story of the tower of Babel and learn that man was trying to make a name for himself - which is funny because the tower was small enough that God had to come down to see it. Then God causes confusion in their languages and disperses them.
In chapter 10 though we see Noah’s sons listed and their children. It’s worth noting that his sons birth order given to us throughout has been Shem, Ham and Japheth. But in chapter 10 we are given them in reverse order giving Shem the prominent position and indeed we find out in Chapter 11 that it is through Shem that we will receive hope.
Finally in chapter 11 we see the genealogy of Shem’s family and it is very brief - but does not include that typical phrase “and then he died.” What we do note is that the years of the lifespans gets shorter and shorter.
As we move through the end of chapter 11, we get to Terah, and Terah father’s Abram who we will later know as Abraham. 10 Generations from Adam to Noah, and 10 Generations from Shem to Abram.
What we’re seeing is God’s promise - though man has not changed from his corruption, God remains faithful.