God’s Covenant with Noah
God passed judgment on the wicked, but He rewarded Noah because of his faithfulness and obedience. Before the flood came and after it had ended, God told Noah that He would establish a covenant with him.
God made a covenant with Noah because he was the one righteous man on earth. He wanted to make sure we knew that He was the author of the covenant. As part of that covenant, He gave Noah a blessing.
Noah immediately worshiped God after he disembarked from the ark. The burnt sacrifice Noah offered was to restore his relationship with God because of humankind’s sinful nature. This was the first time that we are told the sacrifice was given on an altar.
It was more than Noah was sincerely grateful to God for saving the lives of him and his family. He was acknowledging God’s sovereignty and his dependance. It was a visual exhibition of Noah’s faith. It spoke of his future atonement.
Some of every clean animal and bird were offered to God to restore their blessing.
That means not only on species, but also more than one of a species. (And I would say that Noah wouldn’t break up a pair, so it would be at least one or two pair.)
Each sacrifice – regardless of the number – had to be offered in faith and gratitude and had to consist of our best. Best means unblemished, pure, or first (as in first fruits).
The goal of the burnt offering was to create a pleasing aroma for God. The offering is burnt so that the smoke ascends to God to bring Him near to the one offering the sacrifice.
God accepted Noah sacrifice and gave him a promise for the future. The promise was more than just verse 22. It was that He would accept the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood as atonement for our sins.
God promised to never again flood the earth.
God is saying that He will no longer curse the ground because of humankind’s sin. Some might see Genesis 8: 21-22 a promise that life as we know it will never end. They would be wrong.
Eventually, God will destroy the earth and condemn non-believers to eternity in hell. That will happen when mankind becomes as wicked as they were then. God’s promise to never flood the earth again was unconditional.
Yes, God still allows flooding to happen – localized. Don’t ignore the “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” (Gen. 9: 8-11 NLT emphasis added) parts.
It would be human nature for Noah and his family, as they were just closing the book to this terrifying chapter of their lives, would think it may happen again. But Father God didn’t really want us to feel that. He wanted to assure us that a flood will never again destroy the earth.
Also, don’t read into this that God promised Noah that He wouldn’t destroy the earth in another way. He will. “… The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide” (Rev. 20: 11 NLT).
Noah got off the ark, and we think everything was back to Garden of Eden pristine. Wrong. Mankind is still made in Adam’s image (Gen. 5: 3).
Noah and his family weren’t automatically cleansed by the flood. Blood cleanses us, not water.
Humankind’s purpose had not changed, so the blessing had not changed.
Even though God knew man was going to sin, He wanted us to multiply. Even though He did a major reset, He still wanted us to multiply.
The whole purpose of the ark was to save lives. That is the business God is in — salvation. He sent His Son to die on a cross so that we could accept the gift of salvation.
God showed us that He isn’t afraid of going big to get us back to worshiping Him. He showed us that, even as flawed as we are with a sinful nature, when we ABCD, He will protect us and provide for us.
Humans could now eat animals.
If Adam and Eve had eaten the animals, that would mean death was already present when they committed the original sin. If they had killed for food, that would make the killing of the animal for clothes less of a blood-covering-sin issue.
Maybe one of the ways that the world was wicked was they ignored God’s command to be vegetarians, but Noah didn’t. This was now giving him permission – without restriction – to eat meat.
Life – human and animal – is very precious to God. He will punish anyone who takes another’s life.
If Sovereign God declared that murderers should be executed and placed that opinion in the hearts of humans, it is His call when and if to pardon the murderer.
Our biggest takeaway here should be how much God values human life – even if we have tarnished being made in His image. Murder shatters our relationship as a family.
The visual sign of the covenant tells us that God’s care is everlasting. God says He will see the rainbow from Heaven.
It is fitting that the rainbow is the product of the sunshine and rain. Both the punishment for our disobedience and God’s grace and mercy are needed.
An unseen God wanted to have something visible to allay people’s fears about a reoccurring flood. But it wasn’t really about the sign. It was about the covenant. The promise was guaranteed by the covenant, not by the sign.
God placed the rainbow in the sky to strengthen our faith and to show His love for us. The variety of colors remind us of the beauty of the glory of the Lord.
After the flood, God expanded the region in which Noah’s descendants could live.
We know the Garden of Eden was off limits. We know that Cain was exiled to the Land of Nod, which some believe to be anywhere but the Garden of Eden area.
So, God was sending them off into the big, bad area ruled by Satan. No wonder the world went back to being wicked lickety-split.
Now Noah’s family and descendants were going where God was not and (hopefully) taking Him there with their internal worship of God.
God chose to make a covenant with those who are made in His image, even though we had so angered Him.
God tried again. His covenant with Adam was broken. God’s Word doesn’t tell us He made another one with him, possibly because he was so associated with sin.
We can’t gloss over the fact that God was binding Himself to humans. Not just His protection or blessings. He wanted the relationship that was lost in the Garden restored.
One thing we tend to forget – and non-believers refuse to see – is that sin has clouded our perception of spiritual things. If we think God is hiding things from us, this is partly the reason.
The timing of the covenant is important. It was after the punishment had been meted out. God was now instructing humans – yeah, again – what He expected of them.
Even before God makes the promises of the covenant, Noah – and everyone since then – knows that He has the power and desire to keep those promises.
God didn’t put His bow in the sky to show He would tolerate people’s sin. It is to show His love and blessings to those who obey His Will.
Noah and His Descendants
Because of the faithfulness of Noah’s family, the earth was repopulated by their descendants.
Water doesn’t change our spiritual nature. (Nope, baptism doesn’t save is because it has nothing to do with blood.) Sin was very much still alive and well.
We only get Noah’s occupation after the flood. He planted a vineyard.
Even the most righteous human can — and all except Jesus — will sin.
God had no problem with Noah becoming a grape farmer. He had no problem with him becoming a wine maker — and He even had no problem with him sampling his product.
Drunkenness is a sin. It makes us lose self-control part. That means God isn’t in control of us.
Was it Noah’s intention to get drunk? Maybe. Maybe not. Did he know of the effects of drinking too much? Maybe. Maybe not as it might have been the first time wine was ever made.
But just as the serpent in the Garden of Eden was cursed for being used by Satan, Noah had to suffer the consequences of his actions whether the drunkenness was intentional or not.
The holy line would come down through Shem. This is verified in Luke 3. The name signifies the name — in other words, the name of God.
Shem is the older brother of Japheth. Ham is the second son. That means they are in age order when listed.
It is interesting that it is mentioned that Eber had two sons, Peleg and Joktan. Peleg’s name means division. Was that another instance where God separated and divided siblings? We aren’t really told.
Or was Peleg given this name because of the division caused from the punishment of the Tower of Babel? Did they know beforehand and name him as Methusaleh was given a prophetical name (when he dies, it will come)?
Japheth would play a significant part in the repopulation of earth.
Japheth’s descendants were considered to be Gentiles. Even from the beginning, God was separating Jew from Gentile.
Shem and Japheth were righteous. They followed God.
Ham maybe did, too. This may be his one big sin, just as Noah’s drunkenness seems like it was his one big sin.
The triplets would have been brought up the same way. Their nurture was the same. But then so was their nature. All three, while made in the image of God, had a sinful nature. All three could have committed the sin Ham did. All three committed other sins.
Then here came Ham. He knew right from wrong, but he had a little problem with that.
Knowledge isn’t enough. It must lead to faith and obedience.
Ham was the only one to choose to sin when Noah got drunk.
Ham’s sin wasn’t the seeing part. It was the telling part. In other words, he gossiped.
Temptation is not the sin — the sin is what we do with it that could be.
We will be given blessings for walking with God and curses for sinning against Him.
The curse of Ham – actually Canaan – was servitude. Ham – and especially Canaan – would have seen this as punishment. Even if they turned back to walk with God, they would still know that their descendants would feel the bite of the curse.
Ham modeled his behavior for his son Canaan. Canaan and then passed that viewpoint down the line to his descendants.
We can tell from Ham’s genealogy that the Noah’s curse came to fruition.
The sons of Cush are listed in verse 8. Somewhere down the line, Nimrod is a grandson of Cush’s. We aren’t told if or how many times great is put in front of it.
We are given a windfall of information on Nimrod. He was a warrior and hunter. He is credited with founding the city of Babylon.
Babylon and Assyria were founded by Nimrod. He also built the city of Ninevah, which we read about in the Book of Jonah.
Look at all the nations that came out of the line of Nimrod: Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Hivites, and Philistines – plus Babylon and Assyria. In years to come, Joshua and David will be battling those nations.
Starting in verse 13, it talks about Mizraim. He not only was an ancestor of the Philistines, but he also founded Egypt.
It doesn’t tell us who built Sodom and Gomorrah, but those are cities that are infamous. We’ll read about those further on in the Book of Genesis.
All of the nations that we mentioned will be at war with the nation of Israel in the future. That will be their punishment for a lifetime of disobedience to God.
We don’t know how many generations it was until it was Nimrod’s generation. That was however long it took for the world to become thoroughly wicked again.
The practice of worshiping false gods, called the Babylon Mystery Religions, started with Nimrod around the time of the Tower of Babel.
Shem’s line — leading to the Church and the Messiah — would have remained focused on God. They would have been blessed. Ham’s focused on Satan. Satan’s followers will always be servants to God’s true followers.
If God’s doctrine doesn’t bringing us closer to Him, they are of value to us.
One Language
Originally, all humans spoke the same language. But we aren’t give any hint what was the language on which others were developed.
I’m sure part of the problem some had in believing that there was only one language was the sudden appearance of many languages. As complex as languages are, it is easier to think they evolved over time.
Having only one language would promote unity within God’s Church. Everyone has the same opportunity to hear God’s Word. There are no barriers to their introduction to the Plan of Salvation.
Populating the Earth
Humans started out obeying God’s command to fill the earth.
Nimrod was a descendant of Ham. Remember, Ham — specifically his son Canaan — was cursed for Ham’s sin that stemmed from Noah’s sin.
Babylonians lived in Mesopotamia between 2100 and 538 BC. The city of Babylon was constructed on the Euphrates River.
Yes, they had obeyed the command to populate the earth. No, they hadn’t gone too far at this point. Some did continue to walk with God as they populated the earth.
The real issue here happened when they got settled on the plain of Shinar. They wanted something to “… keep [them] from being scattered all over the world” (Gen. 11: 4 NLT).
It may have started with them deciding they liked the place and didn’t want to move on. But if that happened, they were choosing to disobey God’s directive.
When God commands, we have to say, “Sir, yes sir!”
A Great City with a Tower
They built a tower for worldly purposes.
We don’t know how long Nimrod and crew lived on the plain of Shinar until they got fed up with a patriarchal society. They wanted a monarch — an empire.
Their problem was they forgot we are not independent of God.
They were saying was they wanted a name that established their authority. They were going to take their world in a new direction: away from God.
The “… with its top in the heavens…” (Gen. 11: 4 ESV) part speaks of idolatry, and we know that the worshiping of false gods came from here. The practice of worshiping false gods, called the Babylon Mystery Religions, started with Nimrod around the time of the Tower of Babel. They took the worship practices God required and changed them to worship false gods.
They had to have an intelligence to build what they built. With that intelligence, they probably thought they had power. But the power was just a delusion brought upon by their scheming.
Since the group had decided not to move on to repopulate the earth, they sought to build a tower. They thought that would ensure that they wouldn’t be forced to move again.
Worldview people don’t want to be judged for disobedience to God’s laws and commandments.
They were breaking both parts of God’s command. They were not only not going forth, but they were not also multiplying.
God saw Nimrod and his crew doing bad. He let it go on until it was His time to shut it down.
We don’t know what form God took when He came down. God coming down is probably just a way for us to say it in human-speak so we can understand.
Nothing Will be Impossible
God didn’t want humans who did not believe in Him to grow unchecked.
God was talking about nothing is impossible for humans. We are made in God’s image.
God made us to have abilities. He didn’t want to limit them. He wanted us to be the best for Him.
But He didn’t want a Satan Junior. Satan wanted to depose God. It sounded like these just wanted to be their own god.
God confused the languages so that people had to congregate together and move apart. He want to prevent a universal monarchy.
One world, one people would be tyrannical and cruel with persecution for dissension. That means a world led by sin will be chaotic.
God knew we can lead others astray with our plans.
God may have separated humans, but He did not plan to leave us that way.
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Devotions in the Creation’s Do-Over series