7)The Covenant with Noah
The covenant with Noah is often characterized in biblical scholarship as a type of "royal grant," a form of covenant common in the ancient Near East, where a king or sovereign grants certain rights or privileges to a loyal subject or vassal, often hereditarily.
We can read about the covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 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. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.” Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 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 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:1-17, ESV Bible)
Unlike the conditional covenants seen elsewhere in the Bible (such as the Mosaic Covenant which requires obedience to laws), the covenant with Noah is unilateral and unconditional. We see God obligating Noah and his descendants to a certain level of ethical conduct. God’s covenant provisions is a promise not to flood the world again. The sign of this covenant between them is the rainbow.
The covenant is explicitly everlasting. In Genesis 9:16, God states, "When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." This language emphasizes the eternal aspect of the promise, typical of royal grants, which are meant to endure indefinitely, often extending beyond the lifetime of the grantee.
Since the story of Noah tells of all humanity being removed from Earth except for Noah and his family, Noah becomes a new father to the nations. In Jewish thought, all of the obligations God gives Noah and his family also apply to all of mankind. This is why many Jews believe that even the Gentiles are held liable to what has been known as the Noahide Laws.
This covenant is not only with Noah and his family but with "every living creature" and "all future generations" (Genesis 9:9-12). This universal scope highlights the breadth of God's commitment, extending his royal grant beyond humans to include all forms of life on the planet, which underscores the comprehensive and inclusive nature of this divine promise.
Conclusion
The covenant with Noah represents a profound moment of renewal and promise in the biblical narrative, signifying God's universal grace and commitment to all creation. This royal grant covenant is unilateral and everlasting, extending beyond human recipients to encompass every living creature. It sets a foundational precedent for ethical conduct and divine protection against total destruction by flood, symbolized by the rainbow. This covenant, inclusive in its scope and eternal in its duration, underscores God's unwavering commitment to maintain the order of life on Earth and highlights the broad, inclusive nature of His promises.