The Noachian Covenant
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.
Here we read of God entering into a covenant (a formal agreement) with Noah—who represented all of mankind at that time. Before the Flood, God had made a covenant with Noah that He would spare the lives of Noah and his family on the ark (Genesis 6:18-19). Now God made another covenant with Noah—one in which He promised to never again destroy all of mankind with a flood. A major reason God made this covenant seems to be Noah’s expression of thanks to God for preserving his family (Genesis 8:20-21). Noah’s faithfulness apparently led to God entering into a covenant with him. This same basic formula was repeated later with Abraham (Genesis 15:6).
Theologians refer to this as the Noachian Covenant. The central provision of this covenant was that God would never again destroy all humanity or the entire earth through a flood (verse 11).
In the ancient world, there were different types of covenants. This is an example of a royal grant covenant. Essentially, this is a permanent covenant from a king (in this case, God) to a faithful servant without a long list of detailed stipulations.
Thankfully, this covenant is still in effect today.
Though a time of trouble is coming that will destroy much of the earth and its population, God will not allow all humanity to be destroyed and promises to intervene to save humanity from itself (Matthew 24:22).
Tomorrow on the Daily Bible Verse Blog: “The Rainbow Sign.”
