Noah: A Covenant With Humanityਨਮੂਨਾ

A New World

After an entire year in the ark watching the rains flood the earth, then waiting for the waters to recede, Noah finally opened the doors and stepped into the sunlight. But the world Noah entered was a new one, fundamentally different from the one he had lived in before, one more intricately connected to a covenantal relationship with God.

Before the flood, it only rained once every 40 years. That was enough to sustain life on earth. In addition, before the flood there were no seasons. The temperature was always just right—never too hot and never too cold. The name Noah, Noach in Hebrew, literally means “comfortable.” The world before the flood was very noach, comfortable, indeed. But the comfort and ease of living caused people to forget God and to lust after their desires uninhibited. The new world would be different—both spiritually and physically.

God said to Noah, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Genesis 8:22). Now there would be seasons. When the heat beat down unbearably, people would turn to God and ask for reprieve. When the harsh cold set in, people would turn to God for a source of warmth. If a drought took place, people would pray for rain. If an early frost set in, people would pray that their crops survived. Humankind would still reap a bountiful harvest from the land, but it was no longer guaranteed.

More importantly, the post-flood world was founded upon a covenantal relationship between God and humanity. In the Creation story found in Genesis 1, the word tov, which means “good,” appears seven times. God created a world that would succeed because of the intrinsic goodness in every human being. But after God saw that humanity had become corrupt and clouded that goodness, there was a need for different guidelines.

In Genesis 9 Moses writes the word brit, meaning “covenant,” seven times. Instead of relying on the goodness in humanity, God put into place laws that would preserve that goodness. Under the Noahic Covenant, those universal laws are: Do not murder; do not steal; do not worship false gods; do not be sexually immoral; do not be cruel to animals; do not blaspheme God; and an affirmative command to set up a system of justice.

Noah and his family may have landed in a more demanding world—a place where sustenance would not come as easily, where weather would not always be comfortable and predictable, and where basic moral obligations were placed upon every human. But it was also a better world—a world that was more conducive to an awareness of God and the creation of a moral, just society.

The directives given to Noah were part of the everlasting covenant God entered with all humanity. This contract is just as binding upon us today as it was in Noah’s time. It is the founding covenant of humanity. It is the covenant upon which all other covenants would stand as God deepened His relationship with humanity and mankind’s partnership with God developed.