The Development of the Noahic and Abrahamic Covenants in Genesis

Over time many readers of the Bible have identified and studied the role and progression of covenants in the Bible. Understanding the progression of the covenants will help to understand God’s purposes in the narratives of Genesis, the Pentateuch and the whole Bible. This paper will trace the development of the Noahic and Abrahamic covenants to reveal God’s purposes within them.

Development of the Noahic Covenant

The Noahic covenant was a covenant made between God and Noah, but ultimately with all of mankind. The backdrop for the covenant was given in Genesis 6 when “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (v. 5). God grieved over all creation and was sorry that He had made them; yet God was pleased with Noah (vv. 6-8). The Noahic narrative describes an act of God’s mercy upon mankind; where man was sinful, God chose to use Noah to preserve His creation.

The Noahic covenant was foreshadowed in Genesis 6. God said that He would establish His covenant with Noah, a statement directly followed by His instruction to build the ark (v. 18). As the narrative progresses, Noah and his sons build the ark, God brings two of every animal into the ark and God exacts His judgment upon the wicked generation, preserving Noah and his sons from within the ark while the rest of mankind was destroyed by the flood (Genesis 6.19-22; 7; 8.1-19).

There are two movements which serve to setup the establishment of the Noahic covenant. The first comes in Genesis 8. God recognizes that “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (v. 21). Given that God had just destroyed nearly the entire creation, He vows never to do so again. In fact, in His promise to preserve the seasons, God vows never to destroy every living creature again until the end times when the entire earth will be destroyed (v. 22).

The second movement comes in Genesis 9. God echoes His command to Adam in Genesis 1.28 when He tells Noah to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (v. 1). God chooses to preserve mankind as a whole through the line of Noah and not through any other means. God also gives mankind the ability to fulfill the command given to Adam to “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” (Genesis 1.28) in that He both allows Noah and his sons to eat meat and He places the fear of man into the hearts of the animals (v. 2, 3).

It is in this movement that the purpose of the Noahic covenant is seen. God tells of the importance of the lifeblood of an animal. Noah is given two commands. First, man is not to eat the blood of an animal (v. 4). Second, because the life is in the blood, man is not to shed the blood of man, lest his own blood be shed (v. 6a, b). Man’s life is to be honored because man was made in God’s image (v. 6c). These statements are bookended by the command to multiply and fill the earth (v. 1) and a command to all mankind (the you in verse 7 is plural in the original) to fill the earth. The purpose of the Noahic covenant is to reestablish mankind upon the earth; to restore the life which God destroyed in the flood.

The establishment of the covenant occurs in Genesis 9. It is at this point that God promises to Noah and his offspring after him (all mankind) not to destroy all mankind and animals again by a flood (vv. 8-11). The following verses describe the sign of the Noahic covenant (vv.12-17). When the rainbow appears in the sky, God will remember His promise to Noah and to all mankind, not to destroy them by a flood, regardless of their wickedness. God then shows the sign to Noah, that he too will remember the covenant. Therefore, the rainbow serves as a reminder to mankind of God’s promises and of the purpose of the covenant, to fill the earth.

Development of the Abrahamic Covenant

The Abrahamic covenant was a covenant made between God and Abraham. As mankind filled the earth again after the times of Noah, they proved to be wicked just as before the flood. The Abrahamic covenant is a covenant between God and Abraham, where God promised to make a great nation out of Abraham. This was to be a holy nation, devoted to God. The first eleven chapters of Genesis describe this need by narrating man’s wickedness and pursuit of rebellion against God.

The foundational elements of the Abrahamic covenant are found in Genesis 12. God commanded Abram to go out from the land he was living in without any exact direction (v. 1). He then gives Abram a promise which will come if Abram is obedient to this task. Abram is promised to be made into a great nation (v. 2a), he is promised blessing and reputation (v. 2b) and he is promised that he will be a blessing to others (v. 2c). Abram will become the standard by which people of the earth will be blessed, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (v. 3a). And finally, it is given that all families (nations or peoples) will find blessing in Abram (v. 3b).

The covenant with Abram is made in Genesis 15. God gives Abram a vision, where he promises him two things. First, He promises Abram that his descendents will become countless as the stars in the sky are countless. Abram is concerned about this because he has no physical heir, but God promises him an heir (vv. 1-5). Second, God promises Abram possession of land. He shows him the promised land (the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites (vv. 19-21)) and tells him that his descendants will posses this land (v. 18). This is the land which the holy nation which God will bring out of Abram will posses.

The sign of the Abrahamic covenant comes in chapter 17 when God says, “You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you” (v. 11). The covenant agreement is that the male children of Abraham (God changed Abram’s name to Abraham in v. 5) must have their foreskins removed—circumcision—and God will bless them with an inheritance (v. 8-13). God says that any who are not circumcised have acted against the covenant and will be cut off from the people of God (v. 14).

The purpose of the Abrahamic covenant is that Abraham’s seed would become a great nation, but that they would be a holy nation. Abraham was to “command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18.19). The idea is that other nations would see the blessings of God’s people and that they would desire to follow God in order to receive the same blessing. This is what is meant by, “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him [Abraham]” (Genesis 18.17). The purpose of the Abrahamic covenant is that the nation which came out of Abraham would lead other nations to follow God.

Genesis 22 affirms the blessings if the covenant. Abraham was tested by God and proved to be obedient. Because of this God promises to fulfill the covenant promises: to bless Abraham (v.17a), to multiply Abraham’s descendents beyond numbering (v. 17b), to give them the land of their enemies (v. 17c), and to bless all nations through the nation which would come out of Abraham (v. 18). This covenant promise is based on Abraham’s obedience, not the nations obedience.

Throughout the book of Genesis, God is faithful to this promise to Abraham. On several accounts, God reaffirms His promises made to Abraham (26:2-5, 23-25; 28:10-17; 35:9-12; 50:24). God is faithful to remember the covenant as the nation is faithful to keep with the sign of the covenant of circumcision. These promises as recounted in the latter parts of the narrative are twofold: to bring a nation out of the descendants of Abraham and to deliver them into the land of their enemies.

As the remainder of the Pentateuch (and the remainder of the Bible) is read, the Bible reader will see the promise of the Noahic covenant played out repeatedly. As mankind pursues wickedness, God yet has mercy on them and does not destroy the work of His hands. The latter books of the Pentateuch and the books of the former prophets will show God’s faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant as the holy nation of Israel is formed out of the seed of Abraham and in time, delivered into the land which God had promised them. Even under the New Covenant we await the ultimate fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant as prophesied by the Apostle John.