The Divine Covenants

The Abrahamic Covenant (Part 1)

Now we will consider one of the most important characters in the Bible. He was called “the friend of God” in James 2:23. In Romans 4:11 he was called “the father of all them that believe”. The history of Abraham is closely bound up with the covenant that God made with him. Therefore it is difficult to avoid looking back at his life.

A period of more than three hundred years passed from the time God made the covenant with Noah to the time that Abraham appears on the stage of biblical history. The first thing to notice is the remarkable prophecy by Noah in Genesis 9:22-27.

· Genesis 9:22-27 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. [23] But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness. [24] When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, [25] he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." [26] He also said,  "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. [27] May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."

Notice in verse 26 that Noah’s announcements deal with future development of God’s purpose. This comes out first in the “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem”. This is the first time in the Scriptures that we see God calling Himself the God of any particular person. In the Bible Jehovah is used when He was dealing with the Jews. God was used when He was dealing with Gentiles. Therefore, when He dealt with Shem He was addressing Shem as a distinct segment of the human race. It was a spiritual distinction that they were to enjoy: a covenant relationship. Shem was to enjoy a special favor. His descendants were to be the line through which divine blessing was to flow: it was among them that Jehovah was to be known.

Verse 27 says May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem.  The meaning of the first clause is, God would give Japheth a numerous posterity, with widely extended territories, which has been fulfilled in the fact that they have not only gained possession of all Europe, North and South America, and Australia, but large portions of Asia. The stock of Japheth was to be the most energetic and ambitious of Noah’s descendants. But it is the second clause I want you to pay special attention to. Japheth was to dwell in the tents of Shem and to enjoy fellowship in the privilege accorded to Shem. Japheth was to come under the divine protection and be admitted to the blessings which were the peculiar, but not exclusive portion of Shem.

The Shemites were to have the blessings of God firsthand. The fact that the Shemites were, according to the prophecy of Noah, the first ones to receive the blessing of God (meaning that it was through the line of Shem that the Savior would come, therefore Jewish); and that the Japhethites (meaning the Gentiles who would live in the tents of Shem, (this has nothing to do with camping tents: instead it is a reference to the fact that the Gentiles would share in that which had been entrusted to the Jews). And since God would extend the territory of the Japhethites, meaning that the Gentiles would outnumber the Jews.

So what we have here is the early prediction through Noah that it was only by entering the tents of Shem that Japheth could enter the place where divine blessing was to be found, which in the language of the New Testament is another way of saying that from the Jews would salvation come to the Gentiles.

The earth was to be possessed and populated by the three sons of Noah. Of them, Shem was the one selected to be the channel of divine gifts, but these were not for his own exclusive benefit. The kingdom of God was to be established in Shem, but Japheth should be received into its community. This implies that salvation was coming first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles.

It was the Canaanites who were to be destroyed by the Israelites when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River. So we conclude that the descendants of Ham were enemies of God (Verse 25).

This prophecy of Noah began unfolding when the Lord announced to Abraham:

· Gen. 12:3, I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Abraham was a Shemite and here he was given the promise that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him. This statement, as you think about it, affirms the idea that the Japhethites would be enlarged.

The next thing to notice is something that happened between the time of Noah and of Abraham told in Genesis 11:1-9.

· Gen 11:1-9, Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.  They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."  But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.  The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."  So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.  That is why it was called Babel--because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

This is the story of the Tower of Babel. It is a mistake to consider this as an isolated event. It should be considered as the beginning of an evil movement. What we learn from this event is that in the four centuries between the flood and the call of Abraham, the character of man remained unchanged. So the world is right back where we were before the flood. Wouldn’t you have thought that the flood would have been such a disaster that people would have learned and sin would have been reduced?

The failure of Noah himself and the evil behavior of his son Ham provided proof that not much had changed. Soon there appeared on the scene a person who further demonstrated that this was true.

· Gen 10:8-9, Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth.

Would it surprise you to learn that Nimrod was of the line of Ham? This was the line upon which the curse had been spoken. It is interesting that “Nimrod” means “rebel”. The bible says that he became mighty before the Lord and this idea of “mighty” signifies “chief” or “chieftain”.

· Gen 10:9-10 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD." The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar.

It is clear from the Scriptures that Nimrod organized a government over which he presided as king and that he introduced idolatrous worship of himself. As such we see him as a type of the Antichrist. And his ambitions went beyond Babylon. But as the king of Babylon he had an idea. Nimrod wanted to establish a name for himself and his people, and to do this it was important to build a city for his headquarters and a motive to inspire the people. The plan then, was to build this amazing tower.

God was obviously not pleased with Nimrod’s plan.

· Gen 11:5-9, But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel--because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

The effect of God’s action was to create the different nations of the then existing world. Since their language was “confused”, we see the beginning of different languages in the world. It was from this event that we get our word “babbling”. It might also be noted that throughout history people of different languages have warred with each other. Just think about things you can recall in your own lifetime where language is at the root of what separates people. Sin continued to abound and then it was that the way was cleared for the next stage in the outworking of His plan of mercy.

Having temporarily abandoned the nations, God now singled out one man, Abraham, from whom the chosen nation was to come.

There is a special order in all of God’s works and His timing is perfect. He is not hampered by the actions of His creatures, but His ways are more admired by those who may spiritually understand them if He waits until the circumstances are right.

Having dealt in judgment with Babel, God chose then to manifest His grace. His judgment only serves to prepare the way for a greater outpouring of His love. God determined to have a people of His own by graciously calling a people who would be privileged to a special nearness to Himself.