When Noach comes out of the Ark a new dispensation, a new period of time in salvation history, begins. This age begins with Noach and the Flood and ends with Abraham. It is a time of rest from God’s wrath, which is what Noach means – rest or comfort.

At the beginning of this new age there is a new covenant – a new way in which God will relate to humanity. This covenant, with its obligations that the Lord made with mankind, is still in effect; it’s still binding on all people to this day, which means that we should know it and follow it.

Let’s start with chapter 8, verse 20: the first thing that Noach does after the Lord saved him from this world-wide Flood, that brought death to every living creature that was on Earth, was to build an altar and offer burnt offerings on it. That tells us that Noach was not angry with God for destroying the world with the Flood. Noach accepted God’s judgment.

In the same way, when the good Lord helps us out of a difficult circumstance, the first thing we should do is to acknowledge our Creator, and thank the God who spared us.

This is the first mention of an altar in the Scriptures, and also the first mention of a burnt offering. Noach knew the principle that true worship must be based on the blood of a sacrifice. That is how we come closer to God. The burnt offering represents dedication, so Noach, who already was a man who did the right things, and had a close personal relationship with God, re-dedicates himself to serve God. And, there are times when we will want to re-dedicate ourselves to serve the Living God, and that our lives would be like a living sacrifice to Him.

It is only clean animals that were killed and burned on the altar. Already there was some knowledge that certain animals were clean and fit for sacrifice, and others weren’t.

The Lord sees righteous Noach, and his small family, who are the only human beings alive on Earth, and the sacrifices they offer, and He is pleased. And, He is even more pleased with the ultimate sacrifice with offered by His Son – with whom He is very pleased. And, this same Lord is pleased with us when we embrace the sacrifice provided by Messiah.

But, even though this is a fresh start for humanity, man’s basic nature remains the same – yetzer lev haAdam rah mee-nu-rav -the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Our species is fallen, sinful, with a natural propensity to go astray from God’s commands, to disobey God, to ignore the Creator. It takes more than judgment, even one as devastating as a worldwide Flood, to change man’s nature. It takes the transforming work of the indwelling Spirit of God. But, not all are indwelt and transformed by the Spirit, and so God will implement some new measures to ensure that man’s evil nature is restrained, some laws that will hold back the corruption within us.

But in spite of this, the Lord promises not to destroy the world again as He did with the Flood. There will never again be a world-destroying Flood. From this point forward, there will be regular, uninterrupted seasons.

This is a new genesis, a new beginning for humanity, and it starts off with a virtual repetition of the blessing God gave to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28. A blessing is an expression of the desire that good things would happen, and the Creator wants humanity, which has been reduced to 8 human beings, to increase, so that we can populate the planet, and rule over the Earth with its various kinds of life, and fulfill the good purposes He has for Earth and for us.

In the next section, starting with chapter 9 verse 2, we have the covenant that God is making with Noach, and with all human beings. This covenant is a “brit olam” – an everlasting covenant, meant for “dorot olam” – all succeeding generations throughout the ages.” It contains 7 laws that are applicable to all human beings. They are:

1. The first law establishes human government. As we have seen, in the age after the Flood, the intent of man’s heart was still evil from his youth, and so human courts of justice must be established, and governments established, to restrain the evil within us. That will help prevent a situation from developing like what happened before the Flood – one of violence and unrestrained evil.

   One of the basic purposes of government is to promote what is right, and restrain what is evil. To restrain evil, capital punishment by man is instituted by God for the first time. Executing a murderer is ordained by God. In fact, not killing the murderer pollutes the land. I believe that our increasingly violent culture would be better off if we don’t ignore this provision given by God for the protection of society.

   Murder is not only a crime against the victim, and his loved ones, but also a crime against God, because we, fallen and twisted though we are, nevertheless still carry the image of God. The image of God is not completely lost in us. We are still like God, with the God-like abilities to think, reason, love and make choices. To carry the image of God means that every human being, no matter how poor, how tragic, how confused, is valuable, important, weighty. To destroy the works of an artists is an insult and an attack on the artist. To murder a human being is to attack the One whose likeness we bear.

2. The second law outlaws blasphemy. Blasphemy is speaking ill of the glorious Creator. He is our Creator, who made us in His image, who endowed us with life and meaning. And, He is our Savior and Redeemer. He has been so gracious to humanity. He provided a way of atonement after the Fall. He allowed humanity to survive through the Flood. It is criminal to speak against such a good God, or speak improperly about Him or the things connected to Him.
3. The third law forbids idolatry. It was the true God, the Living God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who made this agreement with us. It was to the invisible Lord that Noach offered sacrifices. It was the God of Israel who made this covenant with us. To worship or serve any other higher power violates this covenant.
4. The fourth law forbids incest – not just sexual activity between members of a family, but also marriages between relatives that are too close. Leviticus 18 will delineate the specifics.
5. The fifth law changes the diet of man. It permits killing and eating animals, but outlaws eating their blood. Blood is special. It is to be used for special purposes. Blood gives life. Without blood there is no life. Blood cleanses, blood atones. It is not meant for ordinary purposes like eating. So, no blood pudding, or blood soup. Since the animals are now fair game, the Lord changes their relationship to man. Fear and caution supplant the previous harmony between man and the animals.
6. The sixth law forbids eating the a limb from a living animal. If you had an animal, and couldn’t eat all of it at once, you could not cut off a leg, and eat it, and keep the animal alive until more of it was wanted. The animal must be killed quickly and as painlessly as possible. Cruelty to animals is evil and not allowed.
7. The seventh law is a prohibition against robbery. The private ownership of property is allowed, and must be respected.

The basic laws of the covenant of Noach are reiterated in the New Testament, and understood to be applicable to all Believers. Acts 15 records the decision of First Jerusalem Council. It was convened to decide what relationship Gentile Christians have to the 613 laws of the Torah. Some were saying that Gentiles have to observe all the commandments in order to be saved. Paul and others said no, that faith Messiah Yeshua was enough. The Apostles and the Elders of the Jerusalem Congregation met to decide this issue.

Under the direction of the Holy Spirit they decided that Gentiles weren’t obligated to follow all the laws of the Torah, but only these essentials: to abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from eating blood and from eating things strangled and from fornication; if they have faith in God and Messiah, and keep themselves free from such things, they will do well (see Acts 15:28-29). The New Testament makes it clear that these basic provisions of the covenant made with Noach are still binding upon all peoples to this day.

The rainbow is the sign of this covenant. Most bows are used to kill, the rainbow is a symbol of peace between God and man. The rainbow touches the Earth, ascends up to Heaven, and then comes down and touches the Earth again. It like a bridge that joins the Heavens and the Earth. It is made of a sevenfold radiance of light. Three is the number of God, four is the number of the world. The rainbow with its sevenfold light reminds us of the union of God and the world. A rainbow surrounds the throne of God, because God is the source of all light and knowledge, beauty, salvation, and covenant faithfulness (Revelation 4:3).

Whenever we see a beautiful rainbow it is a reminder that humanity has an agreement with the Creator, to live by these laws found in Genesis 9. Whenever the Lord looks down from His Heaven, and sees a rainbow, it reminds Him that He needs to limit the amount of rain, and not destroy the Earth by a flood. Whenever you see a rainbow remember that the Creator is a covenant keeping God, the source of knowledge, beauty and salvation, and He promised never to destroy the Earth again by a flood. The rainbow is a wonderful Biblical symbol. It’s ours! We shouldn’t avoid it just because New Agers or homosexuals try to appropriate it.

Verses 20-24 describe a horrible event. Noach got drunk, and during his drunken state, was uncovered by Cham, the father of Canaan. Why would righteous and blameless Noach, who walked with God, get drunk? I suggest that this is additional evidence that the Earth’s atmosphere was radically changed after the Flood.

Genesis testifies to the fact that before the Flood there was a vastly different atmosphere from the one we have today. In Genesis 1:6-8 Moses told us that God created the atmosphere and separated the waters which were below the atmosphere from the waters which were above the atmosphere. In fact, the Hebrew word for “Heaven” may contain the idea of water. Shamayim can mean “waters there.” The same phenomenon is found in Greek. The Greek word for Heaven – “Ouranos,” may possibly be derived from “ou” – “there” and raino “to sprinkle.”

Genesis 2:5-6 states that God had not sent rain upon the Earth, but that a mist used to rise from the Earth and water the whole surface of the ground. This indicates that the Earth was watered differently. “The rainbow might have been a new phenomenon, due to the changed atmospheric and cloud conditions after the Flood” (Charles Ryrie). Rainbows can only form when water droplets in the atmosphere approach the size of raindrops. Without rain you don’t normally have rainbows (from The Waters Above, Joseph Dillow, Moody Press, 1981, p. 98).

These waters above the atmosphere formed a water canopy surrounding the Earth. This water canopy would have resulted in a worldwide greenhouse effect. It would have produced a climate that was uniformly warm. This water canopy would have protected life on the surface, shielding out much of the harmful radiation to which we are now exposed. That would have resulted in longer lifespans, which is what the book of Genesis describes for lifespans before the Flood. Dinosaur size could also indicate long lifespans since reptiles generally keep on growing until they die. Gigantism in the fossil records indicate that things must have been somewhat different than today. Plants, lizards, insects all grew to huge sizes in the past.

Evidences of a uniform worldwide temperature that further strengthen the idea of a water canopy which resulted in a greenhouse effect are Palm tree fossils which have been found in Alaska. Crocodiles used to be prolific in New Jersey and in England. Explorer Edward Toll reported finding a fallen ninety foot fruit tree with ripe fruit and green leaves in the frozen ground of the New Siberian Islands. The only trees that grow there now is the one inch high willow. In Antarctica large fossil leaves of tropical plants have been found 250 miles from the South Pole (from The Waters Above pp. 141-2).

Greater atmospheric pressure caused by the water canopy would also explain how animals like the Pteranodon could have flown. Under the present atmospheric conditions it would have been very difficult if not impossible for them to have flown. But a greater atmospheric pressure would have made it easier for the creature to fly and help explain the phenomena (from The Waters Above pp. 147-157).

This new atmosphere helps explains how Noach could have gotten caught off guard and gotten drunk. In the post Flood atmosphere there would have been less atmospheric pressure. Under those conditions more alcohol would be produced in fermenting wine in a shorter time. The rate of the formation of alcohol would have increased with less pressure in the atmosphere. Also, drunkenness occurs much more rapidly at lower pressures (from The Waters Above p. 103).

Young man, young woman, don’t get drunk! Bad things, shameful things can happen because of drunkenness, even to someone as good and righteous as Noach, who otherwise was blameless before God. What happened to Noach is a warning to all of us about the consequences of drinking too much.

While he is drunk, Noach uncovered himself inside his tent. Cham, the father of Canaan saw his father naked. In some way Noach was dishonored by what took place, and when he woke up, Noach utters inspired blessings and curses that give us the outline of God’s prophetic program for the races. For 4500 years world history has demonstrated the accuracy of this amazing ancient prophecy. The following is taken from The Dawn Of World Redemption by Erich Sauer:

Noach said,”Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Yafet, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.”

This prophetic utterance starts with Canaan and Cham: The Chamites generally settled in the hot lands like Egypt, Africa, and Phoenicia, as Cham (hot) implies. Cham was the father of Canaan, who became the father of the Phoenicians and Canaanites. Noach said, “Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.” It’s not surprising that a wicked people like the Canaanites came from a father who acted indecently like Cham. Canaan, whose name means low or subdued, was cursed with being a servant of servants, which means he was the lowest of people. They became servants to Israel under Joshua and Solomon (Joshua 9:27, 1 Kings 9:20-21). However, becoming servants was both a punishment and a blessing to the Canaanites. Joshua made them hewers of wood for the altar of the Lord. Serving at the Temple enabled the Canaanites to learn about God and redemption. Redemption is still possible even for the lowest element of humanity!

This curse cannot refer to modern Africans or Afro-Americans like some racists and bigots have used it. This curse is not directed towards all the Chamites but only to the Canaanites. The curse isn’t applicable to anyone living today since the Canaanites died out long ago. There are no special blessings given to the other Chamites even though they prospered immediately following the Flood.

Next comes the most glorious blessing, which was given to Shem, whose name means “name.” Shem is the father of all the Shemites, like the Jewish people, many of the Arab people, and the Chaldeans. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.” God associates Himself with Shem. The Shemites are the ones who are entrusted with “HaShem,” which means “the Name” – God Himself. This was fulfilled through the Jewish people, those special Shemites chosen to represent God and bring the revelation of God to the rest of the world.

From Israel came the Torah and the New Testament, the Prophets, the Apostles and Messiah Yeshua, the ultimate Shemite and the perfect manifestation of “HaShem.” The New Testament reaffirms this special blessing entrusted to the Shemites. Messiah Yeshua testified that “salvation is of the Jews.” The olive tree of salvation and blessing into which Gentiles are grafted is “their (Israel’s) own olive tree” (Romans 11:24). In light of these divine realities, for anyone to be anti-Shemetic – against the Jewish people, is to be against God and far from this blessing.

Finally comes the blessing to Yafet, the father of the Indo-European peoples. “May God enlarge Yafet – the enlarged one, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.” The greatest enlargement of political and intellectual influence is the privilege of the Yafetic peoples. Yafet’s blessings are threefold:

1. First, there is physical enlargement: May God enlarge the enlarged one. Yafet was the father of the Greeks, Romans, Medes, Persians, Indians and Germans. In general the sons of Yafet are the Indo-European peoples. World history has brought about the fulfillment of this prophecy in an overwhelming manner. For centuries after this prophecy was given the ruling civilized peoples in the Middle East were the Chamites and the Shemites, not the Yafetites. In the Nile Valley the Chamitic Egyptians ruled. In ancient Mesopotamia Nimrod, a descendant of Cham, became the first man to found a world empire.

   For the next 2,000 years the Middle East continued to be ruled by Chamites and Shemites. The decisive hour of the sons of Yafet came in 538 B.C. Under Cyrus the Persian the sons of Yafet conquered Shemitic Babylon and became the lords of the Middle East. Since that time no Shemitic or Chamitic people has succeeded in overcoming the world supremacy of the Yafetites. The Persian world empire was followed by the Greek, then by the Roman – all sons of Yafet. The sons of Yafet carried their culture across the Earth and have dominated the world politically and intellectually.

2. Second, there is political enlargement, specifically lordship over the Canaanites: “Let Canaan be his servant.” The Phoenicians were Canaanites. They founded colonies around the Mediterranean, especially in Carthage in North Africa. At the same time Yafetic Rome was flourishing. Collision between these two powers was unavoidable. There was war between them until 202 B.C. when the two armies met and Rome vanquished Carthage. The Romans became the lords of the Mediterranean world and Carthage became Rome’s servant.
3. Third, there is spiritual enlargement: “let him dwell in the tents of Shem.” Spiritual blessings would come to the sons of Yafet through association with the Shemites. Dwelling in the tents of Shem means having fellowship with the Jewish people in their knowledge of God.

   The spread of the knowledge of the One True and Living God to the Yafetic peoples took place throughout Israel’s history, but dramatically increased when Cornelius, a Roman, was allowed to dwell in the tents of Shem without joining the nation of Israel. Another milestone was Paul’s vision in Troas when he saw a man of Macedonia who called to him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:8 10). Who knows what direction the history of the world might have taken if that great apostle had gone east to India or China instead of west to Yafetic Greece and Rome!

The world is destined to remain under Yafetic influence until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Then the ultimate son of Shem, Messiah Yeshua, will return to Earth and rule the nations from the kingdom of Israel. Then, all the nations of the world will go up to Jerusalem, and dwell in the tents of Shem!

In the meantime, until Messiah returns, the sons of Yafet should continue to dwell in the tents of Shem. And, we welcome the sons of Cham to join us as well! There’s plenty of room in the tents of Shem for everyone! The rediscovery of the Jewish roots of the Messianic Faith by many today is very much in keeping with this ancient prophetic blessing of dwelling in the tents of Shem!