Noach (Noah, Rest)
B’resheet (Genesis) 6:9 – 11:32
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 54:1 – 55:5
MattitYahu (Matthew) 24:36-46, Kefa Alef (I Peter) 3:18-22
Look at the order of the colors of the rainbow over the Sea of Galilee and that of an LGBTQ flag being advertised for sale to be displayed in parades and other events around the world. What do you see that obviously differs? Why do you think there is a difference?
The Seven Colors of the Rainbow and the Seven Covenants of Yah with Man:
With the rains back in western Oregon, may the Father in Heaven arch over your household with a beautiful rainbow of seven colors. May the Ruach, like a dove, bring you an olive leaf of shalom into your ark of safety in the Messiah. May He reveal to you the seven-fold covenant that He has made with our forefathers in every color of the rainbow:
- Adam (red, blood red)
- Noah (orange, safety orange)
- Abraham, Isaac & Jacob (yellow, golden)
- Moses (green, spring green)
- Phineas (blue, sky blue)
- David (indigo, royal blue)
- Yeshua (violet, grape)
The covenant that YHWH made with Noah and all creation was the first covenant that the Scriptures call a covenant with a sign. YHWH made a covenant that He will never destroy the earth with water, Mayim in Hebrew. The rainbow is a sign in ha’Shamayim, the heavens, illuminated with seven colors. When rays of white light shine through tiny prisms of droplets of Mayim in ha’Shamayim, the light from Heaven is separated into seven colors.
The White Light of Yeshua Separating As Seven Colors
May I propose to you a common thread with the marriage covenant between Yeshua and His Bride? The most common color at a wedding is white.
Yeshua is the Light of the world and the light of men (John 1:4-14) His bright white Light shines out brilliantly as seven covenants through the prism of the Scriptures. The Light of His covenant love for His people shines colorfully by the Ruach Ha’Qodesh, (the Holy Spirit). Since the days of Adam and Eve, we find YHWH working on a covenant to redeem His people and to build His Kingdom by restoring a covenant relationship with His beautiful Bride.
The covenant between Noah and the earth was made right after Noach twice waited seven days to send a dove out. She returned the first time with an olive leaf. The second time she didn’t return because she found a place to rest (the meaning of the name Noach). This was a type and shadow of the true rest we will have in the seventh millennium after YHWH finally judges the earth. The number seven in this Torah portion is on a common thread with the seven colors of the rainbow and with the seven covenants of Yah with man.
The Seven-fold Covenant of YHWH:
If you were to research teachings on the covenants of YHWH, you would find more diversity and differences than the listings of the twelve tribes of Israel. Rabbis, Christians, and Hebrew Roots teachers differ widely in their lists of covenants. However, we do know that the terms and the performance of His covenants are as sure as the constellational scroll written in the skies. The following exposition is only this man’s take on the covenants of YHWH for your consideration.
The covenants of YHWH work in seven phases to accomplish a covenant relationship with His people. The seven-fold covenants can be seen as seven facets of the same spectacular gemstone of one grand covenant that YHWH has with mankind. We will review what most scholars see as signs and symbols that accompany each one of the covenants.
The Creator sets the terms and performance of His covenants in the universal laws of Creation. He creates life to reproduce only after its own kind. This principle is foundational in understanding covenants. The Creation account sets the principle that YHWH is just as sure to perform His side of the covenant as His creatures are to reproduce after their own kind. The Words of His Covenant are unchangeable, immutable, and consistently reproductive after their own kind. In other words, all seven covenants are valid for our generation today.
YHWH will perform His vows set in each covenant, just as sure as the earth spins around the sun and the moon around the earth. The sun, moon, and stars are the signs of the Pre-Amble to His Covenant that YHWH had made with His creation (Gen 1:14). The very plan on how He would perform His covenants is written in the stars and shines out as seven colors of the rainbow.
Here’s what I can see to remember the seven-fold covenants between Yeshua Adonai, His agents, their seed, and all the earth that He created through the seven colors of the rainbow:
1.Adamic/Edenic Covenant:
YHWH with Adam and his seed in Eden.
This covenant was symbolized by Adam and Chavah (Eve) eating of the Tree of Life (blessing of eternal life). The sign that Adam and Eve were in covenant with YHWH was that they could eat of this tree. The sign of the broken covenant was that in exile they could no longer eat of the Tree of Life and would have to toil in the red earth by the sweat of his brow. The sign that they broke the covenant by eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was that they lost access to the Tree of Life. The sign of the covenant, in my view, is the Two Trees in Eden.
Adam means red and that red man after the fall toiled in adamah – the red earth (curse of death). The root word for Adam is dahm, which means blood, which just so happens to have a bright, red color.
The first and upper color of the rainbow is red, signifying that the scarlet blood of the last Adam, Yeshua (1 Cor 15:45), covers those in renewed covenant relationship with Him. This upper color arches over all the other colors, unlike the inverted colors of flags of rebellion as shown in the photo above. Yeshua did not come to us first with purple royalty to rule over us but to first reconcile and renew our covenant relationship with our Father in Heaven.
2.Noahide Covenant:
YHWH with Noach (Rest, Comfort), his seed, and the earth on Mount Ararat (means curse reversed).
The sign of this covenant is a rainbow with seven colors. By His grace, YHWH promised that He would never destroy the earth with water ever again. Grace is the key principle in this covenant. And Noah found grace in the eyes of YHWH. (Gen 6:8)
Giving this sign in the heavens, our gracious Father promised all living creatures that He would never destroy the earth again with water.
The second color in the rainbow, orange, is a color of warning or separation from harm’s way, where the righteous were kept alive and separated from the wicked who perished. Being the second color, the number two is the first divisible number and represents division, in this case, the separation of the righteous from the wicked, and the spiritual in Messiah from the carnal.
3.Abrahamic Covenant:
YHWH with three men and their seed – Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).
The covenantal sign with Avraham is circumcision under the oaks of Mamre.
With Yitzchak, Isaac, the sign is a ram caught by the horns in the thicket on Mount Moriah.
With Jacob, Ya’aqov, the sign of the covenant is his new name of Yisra’el (Israel, God prevails) at Peniel (face of God).
The third color of the rainbow, yellow, is the color of fine yellow gold, representing the wealth of our father Abraham and his seed, like the seed of golden wheat.
Yellow is also the color of cheer and laughter, both Abraham and Sarah laughed when they received the word that she would bare a son.
Fine yellow gold represents divinity, the Divine Seed of Messiah in us in Whom we have riches in glory. We can see His divinity shining out throughout much gold in the furnishings of the Temple, the Dwelling Place of YHWH.
4.Mosaic Covenant:
YHWH with Moshe at Mount Sinai with the children of Yisra’el.
The sign of the covenant is Shabbat, the day of shalom and rest.
The symbol of the covenant is the two tablets of stone with the Ten Words, representing the Torah. YHWH called the tablets, ‘two tablets of the covenant.’ (Deut 9:15) Keeping the Torah and Shabbat, keeps the believer in a covenant relationship with YHWH. Breaking the Torah and Shabbat is to break the covenant with YHWH.
The fourth color of the rainbow is green, the color of a peaceful, serene pastoral scene, where the Good Shepherd rests His sheep in green pastures beside still waters to restore the soul. We only arrive there when we have followed the Good Shepherd in the Way of the Living Torah.
5.Covenant of Shalom:
YHWH with Pinchas (Phineas) and his seed at Shittim. It is also the covenant of YHWH with the restored house of Yisra’el as prophesied by Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones.
The symbol is the priesthood forever serving in the Miqdash, the set-apart dwelling place of YHWH; also called the Mishkan, the Tabernacle of YHWH amid His people forever in eternity (Ezekiel 37:26-27). During the time of the first temple, King Solomon and all of Israel enjoyed shalom, peace, in the world.
The fifth color of the rainbow is blue, the color of peace and tranquility in the heavens and the sea. Blue is also the first color mentioned most often as one of the colors in the tabernacle.
6.Davidic Covenant:
YHWH with David in Jerusalem, Yerushalayim, and his royal seed.
The symbols of this covenant are the throne and the scepter in the temple, the House of Elohim when Messiah Ben David shall reign over all the earth from Jerusalem.
The sixth color of the rainbow is indigo, the color of royal blue, the color of trust, truthfulness, and stability. These are the attributes of Yeshua, Messiah Ben David, the King of Israel.
7.Renewed Covenant:
Yeshua with the twelve disciples and with the seed of Messiah.
The sign of the Renewed Covenant is His shed blood symbolized by the cup of wine that we drink often in remembrance of Him.
The seventh color of the rainbow is that of the fruit of the vine, grapes, the color violet. It is the color of unconditional and selfless love. Purple is a mixture of red and blue, the blood of Messiah that redeemed us out of Egypt, Mitsrayim, and the shalom, the peace, that He brings to His Kingdom.
Out of the greatest act of selfless love, our Messiah shed His blood on the cross when He cried “It is finished.” It was then that the second Adam, Yeshua, completed the work of renewing and restoring the covenant relationship with YHWH our Elohim, so making shalom. His people have broken all previous covenants with Him, but by the finished work of our Savior, the covenant relationship once enjoyed by Adam and Eve is now restored and renewed by the blood of our Messiah.
The seven-fold covenant was completed on the cross of the Messiah, the Aleph, and the Tav, which Yeshua declared Himself to be – the beginning and the end (Rev 1:8, 21:6, 22:13).
Aleph in paleo Hebrew pictures the head of an ox representing strength or might. It is the first letter in El, translated as God, the Mighty One. The Aleph, the Mighty One, had finished His work plowing like a servile ox towards the Tav.
The ancient picture of the Tav is a cross, known as the sign of a covenant.
On the cross, Aleph had met the Tav, and His work of reconciling the covenant relationship between God and man was finished. Together the Aleph and the Tav mean a strong sign of the covenant. The first and the last, the beginning and the end, were fulfilled in Yeshua our Messiah.
In Messiah, we now have the right to access again the Tree of Life, symbolizing the first covenant with Adam. In Yeshua, all seven covenants are one in Him, the Life, and Light of men.
Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,
David Klug