IB the token of the covenant. Murphy and the Christian sabbath. Whieh I han thinks thnt Goel hero elirecteel the patriarch's established. The different verbs used in thia o.ttention to nn nctnnl ro.inbow; it seems passage in connection with n•7,;1 may be more no.tum! to conclude thnt from the here brought together. 1. tm (~er. 12) re• beginning of the interview (eh. viii. 20) the presenting the covenant as a gift of Divine o.rk nltnr, nnel worshippers were encircleel grace. 2. 0.1p (Hiph.; vers. 9, 11, 17) ex- by 'its vnl'iegnted o.rch. Kalisch compares hibiting the covenant as something which with the rninbow the other signs which God Goel has both causeel to stand and raised up subsequently appended to his covenants ; when fallen. 8. i:;)t (ver. 15) depicting the as e. g., circumcision (eh. xvii. 11), the covenant as always present to the DiTine p;ssovcr (Exod. xii. 13), the sabbath (ibid. mind. Tuch, Stahelin, and Delitzsch detect xxxi. 13). 'fhe Noachic covenant being uni- an idiosyncrasy of the Elohist in using the versal, the sign was also universal-" dpa, first and second of these verbs instead of p,pcnrwv av0po!1rwv" (II., xi. 27), a sign to rrJf, the favourite expression of the J ehovist. men of many tongues. The later covenants being limited to Israel, their signs were local But rrJf is used by the Elohist in eh. xxi. and provisional, and have now been sup- 27, 32, while in Deut. iv. 18 the J ehovist planted by the higher symbolism of the Chris- uses C'i?v• lletween me and all :flesh that tian Church, viz., baptism, the Lord's Supper, is upon the earth.
HOMILETICS. Ver. 16.-Tkecovenant renewed. I. THE AUTHOR OF THE COVENANT. God. This is evident from the nature of the case. In ordinary language a covenant signifies "a mutual contract between two (or more) parties" (Hodge, 'Syst. Theo!.,' vol. ii. p. 355); cf. eh. xxi. 27 (Abraham and Abimelech); Josh. xxiv. 25 (Joshua and Israel); 1 Sam. xviii. 3 (Jon a than and David); 1 Kings xx. 34 (Ahab and Benhadad); "com- prehending a promise made by the one to the other, accompanied with a condition, upon the performance of which the accepter becomes entitled to the fulfilment of the promise" (Dick's 'Theo!. Leet.,' xiv.). Applied, however, to those transactions between God and man which took their rise subsequent to the £all, a covenant is an arrangement or disposition originated by God under which certain free and gracious promises are made over to man, which promises are ratified by sacrifice and impose certain obligations on their recipients, while they are usually connected with institutions illustratiye of their nature (cf. 'Kelly on the Covenants,' lect. i. p. 12). But, taking either definition of the term, it is obvious that the initial mow- ment in any such trnnsaction must belong to God ; and with special emphasis does God claim to be the sole Author of the covenant established with Noah and his descendants (vers. 9, 11, 12, 17). II. Tim PARTIES 'l'O THE COVENAN'l', i. e. the persons interested in the covenant; viz., Noah and his posterity. But Noah and his sons at that time were-1. The Tieads of the race. Hence the covenant may be said to have possessed a world- wide aspect. Because of their connection with Noah the entire family of man had an interest in its provisions. 2. 1'/ie fathers of the Church. As believers Noah and his family had been saved; and with them, in the character of believers, the covenant was made. Hence it had also a special outlook to the Church, for whom it had a bhissing quite distinct from that which it conferred upon the world as such. III. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE COVENANT. Calling it so frequently as l1e does II my coven11nt" ( eh. vi. 18; vii. 9, 11 ), the Author of it seems desirous to connect it in our thoughts with that old covenant which, more thnn sixteen centuries earlier, he h11d established with mankind immediately after the fall. Now that covenant was in substance an arrangement, disposition, proposal, or promise of mercy and salva- tion; and that has been the essential element in every covenant that God has made with man. So to speak, God's covenant is just another name for his formal convey- ance to mankind sinners of the free gift of Christ and his salvntion. IV. THE FORM OF THE 0OVENANT. While in every age essentially the same, the form of the covenant has been changing with the changing eras of human history. When we speak of a change of dispensation, the thing meant is a change upon the outwnrd forrn or mode of representing- the covenant-a dispensation being a Pivinll OEKF.Sl8, i, 146 THE DOOK OF GENERIS. [en. ,x. 8-17.