And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein [is] the breath of life, from under heaven; [and] every thing that [is] in the earth shall die.
17. And I, behold, I ] The emphasis on the 1st person seems to bring out the thought of the terrible necessity of this act of universal destruction brought upon the world by its Creator.
the flood ] Heb. mabbl, a word used only of the Deluge in this passage (6 9) and in Psa 29:10, where “the flood of waters” fails to give the meaning, which is “the Deluge (the mabbl) of waters.”
all flesh ] See Gen 6:12. Here, however, it denotes the animals as well as mankind.
the breath of life ] Lit. “the spirit ( rua, LXX ) of life,” a different phrase from that in Gen 2:7, “the breath ( nishmath) of life” (J). Noah is commanded to enter the ark, taking with him his own family and two of all the animals. The Priestly Writer could not endorse the idea that the distinction between “clean” and “unclean” was known before the days of Moses. In J, however (Gen 7:2-3), it is assumed that this distinction was primaeval (see note).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 6:17-22
I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh
The flood
I.
The first fact that strikes us in the story of the flood is this: that God, on account of the wickedness to which the world had grown, had made up His mind to sweep it away, once and for all.
II. Out of the seed of Noah God had determined to people the earth once more with a race that would not be so wicked as the one He destroyed.
III. Noah was told to go into the ark because his life was to be saved from the flood. God has provided another ark for us; He tells us to go into it and be saved.
IV. Noahs family was taken with him into the ark, showing the value God sets on family life.
V. God gave it as a reward to Noah for his righteousness that his children went with him into the ark. A holy and loving example preaches a sermon to those who watch it, and remains in the memory of the godless son and the godless daughter long after the parents have been laid in the grave. (Bp. Thorold.)
Lessons from the flood
A long period elapsed between the commencement of the building of the ark and the actual flood. During that period we notice–
1. The strength of Noahs faith. God has told him of a deluge of which there is no appearance; He has commanded him to build a strange vessel for no apparent purpose; He has told him that one hundred and twenty years of toil must elapse before the vessel can be of any use to him. And yet, in the face of all these difficulties, Noah forms and keeps his resolution to obey God.
2. Notice the reception which Noahs work and message probably met with. The first feeling excited would be one of derision and mirth, then would come wonder, then pity, then disappointment and disgust, and lastly, perhaps, a silent contempt.
I. THE FLOOD SHOWS US–
1. How absolute is Gods control over the natural world.
2. The evil of sin, and the light in which it appears to the eye of God.
3. It reminds us of another deluge, of which all unreconciled sinners stand in jeopardy.
II. Consider THE VARIOUS PURPOSES THAT WERE SERVED BY THE DELUGE.
1. It swept away an effete and evil generation, which had become of no use, except to commit sin and thus deprave and weaken the general stock of humanity.
2. The flood was calculated to overawe mankind, and to suggest the idea that other such interpositions might be expected when they were required.
3. The flood furnished an opportunity to God of coming more nearly and closely to men.
4. The flood brought the human family nearer to the promised land of Canaan. (G. Gilfillan.)
The history of the deluge
The history of the deluge is alleged in the New Testament as a type of the deep waters of sin, in which a lost world is perishing, and from which there is no escape but in that ark which God has prepared for us. The eight souls saved from the deluge are types of that little flock which rides safely and triumphantly, though the floods lift up their waves and the billows break over them. And their safety is assured to them, because they are in Christ.
I. At the root of all Christianity lies THAT DEEP MYSTERIOUS TRUTH, THE SPIRITUAL UNION OF THE REDEEMER WITH THOSE WHOM HE REDEEMED. To this truth most emphatically witnesses all the New Testament teaching about the ark as a symbol and a prophecy. For–
1. The ark is a figure of Christ. The ark floated over the waste of waters, as Christ dwelt and toiled and suffered in the wilderness of this world, and amid the waters of affliction.
2. The ark is a figure of the redeemed of Christ. The Church, which is Christs body, is also the ark of refuge from the wrath of God. This life is still to the Church a conflict, a trial, a pilgrimage, a voyage. The crown shall be at the resurrection of the just.
II. The practical thoughts to which this subject leads us differ but little from the doctrinal. Is not the substance and the end of all–safety in Christ, rest in Christ, and at last glory in Christ? Those only who have rested in the ark will rest upon Mount Ararat. The life of the Christian is begun on earth; it is perfected in heaven. When the voyage is over, the Saviour, who has been to us the ark upon the waters, shall be to us, in the eternal mountains of the Lord, rest and peace and light and glory. (Bp. Harold Browne.)
The record of the flood
I. Consider the record of THE FLOOD AS A HISTORY: a history having a two-fold aspect–an aspect of judgment, and an aspect of mercy.
1. God, St. Peter says, spared not the old world, He brought in a flood upon the world of the ungodly. He who made can destroy. Long trifled with, God is not mocked: and he who will not have Him for his Father must at last know Him as his Judge.
2. The record of judgment passes on into a record of mercy. Mercy was shown:
(1) in preservation;
(2) in reconstruction.
II. Consider THE FLOOD IN ITS USES: AS A TYPE, AS A PROPHECY, AND AS A WARNING.
1. The water through which Noah and his family passed into their ark was like the water of holy baptism, through which a Christian, penitent and believing, finds his way into the Church of the living God.
2. St. Peter exhibits the flood to us also as a prophecy. The flood of waters becomes in its turn the prediction of a last flood of fire. He who foretold the one–and notwithstanding long delay the word was fulfilled–may be believed when He threatens the other; and no pause or respite can defeat the certainty of the performance.
3. There is one special warning appended by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself to the Scriptural record of the great deluge: As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. (Dean Vaughan.)
Flood of waters
Mythology tells how Jupiter burned with anger at the wickedness of the iron age. Having summoned a council of the gods, he addressed them–setting forth the awful condition of the things upon the earth, and announcing his determination to destroy all its inhabitants. He took a thunderbolt, and was about to launch it upon the world, to destroy it by fire, when he bethought himself that it might enkindle the heavens also. He then resolved to drown it by making the clouds pour out torrents of rain:–
With his clenchd fist
He squeezed the clouds:
Then, with his mace, the monarch struck the ground;
With inward trembling earth received the wound,
And rising streams a ready passage found.
(W. Adamson.)
The impotence of floods
The Almighty is about to do here what some of us in our imperfect wisdom have often wished to see done: we have supposed that if all notoriously bad people could be removed at a stroke from the world the kingdom of heaven would be at once established on the earth. The idea may be put roughly thus: Bring together all prisoners, all idlers, drunkards, thieves, liars, and every known form of criminal; take them out into the middle of the Atlantic and sink them there, and at once society will be regenerated, and paradise will be regained. Now this is substantially the very course which the Almighty took in the days of Noah, with what results we know only too well. All our fine theories have been tested, and they come to nothing. The tree of manhood has been cut down to the very root, and it has been shown in every possible way that the root itself must be cured if the branches are to become strong and fruitful. If you were today to destroy all the world, with the single exception of one household, and that household the most pious and honourable that ever lived, in less than half a century we should see all the bad characteristics returning. Water cannot drown sin. Fire cannot burn out sin. Prisons cannot cure theft and cruelty. We must go deeper. In the meantime it was well to try some rough experiments, merely for the sake of showing that they were not worth trying. If the flood had not been tried there are some reformers amongst us who would have thought of that as a lucky idea, and wondered that it had never occurred to the Divine mind! After all, it is a very elementary idea. It is the very first idea that would occur to a healthy mind: the world is a failure, man is a criminal and a fool, sin is rampant in the land; very well; that being the case, drown the world. There are persons who seriously ask, Do you think the flood ever did occur? and there are others who find shells on hilltops, and show them in proof of a universal deluge. O fools and slow of heart! This flood is occurring every day; this judgment upon sin never ceases; this protection of a righteous seed is an eternal fact! How long shall we live in the mere letter, and have only a history instead of a revelation–a memorandum book instead of a living Father? That there was a flood exactly as is described in the Bible! have not so much as a shadow of a doubt; but even if I took it as an allegory, or a typical judgment given in parable, I should seize the account as one that is far more profoundly true than any mere fact could ever be. Look at it! God morally angry, righteousness asserted, sin judged, goodness preserved, evil destroyed; it is true, it must be true, every honest heart demands that it be taken as true. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. I – do bring a flood] ; mabbul; a word used only to designate the general deluge, being never applied to signify any other kind of inundation; and does not the Holy Spirit intend to show by this that no other flood was ever like this, and that it should continue to be the sole one of the kind? There have been many partial inundations in various countries, but never more than ONE general deluge; and we have God’s promise, Ge 9:15, that there shall never be another.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I, even I, which is thus emphatically repeated, to signify that this flood did not proceed from natural causes, but from the immediate hand and judgment of God,
do bring, i.e. will assuredly and speedily bring,
all flesh, i.e. all men, birds, and beasts.
Every thing that is in the earth. This limitation is added to show, that the fishes are not included in the threatened destruction, either because they did not live in the same element wherein men lived and sinned; or because they were not so instrumental in mens sins as the beasts might be; or because man had a greater command over the beasts than over the fishes, and greater service and benefit from them; and therefore the destruction of the former was a greater and more proper punishment to man than the latter.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17-22. And, behold, I, even I, dobring a floodThe repetition of the announcement was toestablish its certainty (Ge 41:32).Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the operation of naturallaws and agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by Godas a punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth,…. That there was such a flood of waters brought upon the earth, is confirmed by the testimonies of Heathen writers of all nations; only instead of Noah they put some person of great antiquity in their nation, as the Chaldeans, Sisithrus or Xisuthrus; the Grecians and Romans, Prometheus or Deucalion, or Ogyges. Josephus z says, all the writers of the Barbarian or Heathen history make mention of the flood and of the ark; and he produces the authorities of Berosus the Chaldean, and Hieronymus the Egyptian, who wrote the Phoenician antiquities, and Mnaseas, and many others, and Nicolaus of Damascus: and there are others that Eusebius a makes mention of, as Melo, who wrote against the Jews, yet speaks of the deluge, at which a man with his sons escaped; and Abydenus the Assyrian, whose account agrees with this of Moses that follows in many things; as do also what Lucian b and Ovid c have wrote concerning it, excepting in the name of the person in whose time it was: and not only the Egyptians had knowledge of the universal deluge, as appears from the testimony of Plato, who says d, that an Egyptian priest related to Solon, out of their sacred books, the history of it; and from various circumstances in the story of Osiris and Typhon, which name they give to the sea, and in the Chaldee language signifies a deluge; and here the Targum of Onkelos renders the word by “Tuphana”; and the Arabs to this day call the flood “Al-tufan”; but the Chinese also frequently speak of the deluge e; and even it is said the Americans of Mexico and Peru had a tradition of it f; and the Bramines also g, who say that 21,000 years ago the sea overwhelmed and drowned the whole earth, excepting one great hill, far to the northward, called “Biudd”; and that there fled thither one woman and seven men (whose names they give, see Ge 7:13) those understanding out of their books that such a flood would come, and was then actually coming, prepared against the same, and repaired thither; to which place also went two of all sorts of creatures (see Ge 6:19) herbs, trees, and grass, and of everything that had life, to the number in all of 1,800,000 living souls: this flood, they say, lasted one hundred and twenty years (see Ge 6:3) five months and five days; after which time all these creatures that were thus preserved descended down again, and replenished the earth; but as for the seven men and woman, only one of them came down with her, and dwelt at the foot of the mountain.
And this flood was not topical or national only, but general and universal: it was brought “upon the earth”, upon the whole earth, as the following account shows; and by the Lord himself, it was not through second causes, or the common course of things: and to show it possible and certain, this form of expression is used, “behold, I, even I, do bring”; it was wonderful, beyond the power of nature, and therefore a “behold” is prefixed; it was possible, because the Almighty God declares he would bring it; and it was certain, which the redoubling of the word points at; and would be quickly, since he said, “I am bringing”, or “do bring”; just about to do it; wherefore the ark was not so long preparing as some have thought, and the command to build it was not long before the flood came. The word for the flood comes from one which signifies to fall h, either because of the fall of the waters at it, or because it made all things to fall, wither, and decay, as herbs, plants, men, beasts, and all creatures; or from one that signifies to consume, or to mix and confound, and bring all things to confusion, as Jarchi suggests i: and the end and intention of it, as here expressed, was
to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; every living creature, men and women, the beasts and cattle of the earth, and every creeping thing on it, and the fowls of the heaven, man principally, and these for his sake.
[And] everything that is in the earth shall die; but not what was in the waters, the fishes of the sea, which could live in the flood.
z Antiqu. l. 1. c. 3. sect. 6. a Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 12, 19. b De Dea Syria. c Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 7. d In Timaeo, & de Iside & Osir. e Sinic. Hist. l. 1. p. 3, 26. f See Bishop Patrick, in loc. g Miscellanea Curiosa, vol. 8. p. 261, 262. h “cecidit”. i “consumpsit, vel” “confudit, miscuit”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(17) A flood.Mabbul, another archaic word. It is used only of the deluge, except in Psa. 29:10, where, however, there is an evident allusion to the flood of Noah.
Every thing that is in the earth shall die.That this by no means involves the theory of a universal deluge has been shown with admirable cogency by Professor Tayler Lewis in Langes Commentary. His view is that the writer described with perfect truthfulness that of which he was either an eye-witness, or of which he had received the knowledge by tradition; or lastly, that he recorded in his own language the impressions divinely inspired in his mind by God. We have no right, he adds, to force upon him, and upon the scene so vividly described, our modern notions or our modern knowledge of the earth, with its Alps and Himalayas, its round figure, its extent and diversities, so much beyond any knowledge he could have possessed or any conception he could have formed. The excursus is too long even for condensation, but we may add, first, that the idea of unnecessary miracle is contrary both to the wisdom of the Almighty, and to what we actually find in the Bible with respect to the exercise of supernatural power; and, secondly, that the narrative itself repeatedly negatives the theory that the flood extended to any great distance beyond the regions then occupied by man. Moreover, it is in exact accordance with the use of words in Holy Scripture that the large term, the earth, is limited to the earth as known to Noah and his contemporaries. We shall also discover in what follows reason for believing that the account originally came from one who was an eye-witness; and the extreme antiquity of the language is a proof that it was committed to writing at a time long anterior to the age of Moses.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Behold, I, even I, do bring a flood Language setting forth a special and awful providence . The word , flood, here used, is applied only to the deluge of Noah; Psa 29:10, is no exception; and everywhere except in Gen 9:15, where it is promised that a similar judgment shall never recur, it invariably has the article, pointing out the great inundation that once washed out the world’s sin in judgment .
To destroy all flesh This language is absolute and unqualified, as in Gen 6:13, yet afterward the exceptions are introduced . Such rhetorical peculiarities mark the extreme antique simplicity of the style . These simple, absolute assertions, pictorially describing facts when seen, as it were, on successive sides, would have been interwoven into balanced periods in a more modern historical production.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Announcement of the Flood
v. 17. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die. v. 18. But with thee will I establish My covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons’ wives with thee. v. 19. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
v. 20. of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. v. 21. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee and for them. v. 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Gen 6:17. And, behold, &c. It is very evident from this verse, that the deluge was universal, as no words can be imagined more strong and comprehensive. See also ch. Gen 7:4.; and indeed there is scarce any nation upon earth, among whom some traces and tradition of this wonderful event are not to be found. The heathen stories are well known; and Indians, Chinese, and Americans, have all retained some memory of what the sacred scriptures only give us, and indeed only can give us, an authentic account.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein [is] the breath of life, from under heaven; [and] every thing that [is] in the earth shall die.
Ver. 17. And behold I, even I. ] Verba stomachantis, &c., confirmantis veritatem comminationis suae . Abused mercy turns into fury. God will not alway serve men for a sinning stock. Crudelem medicum intemperans ager facit. a
Every thing that is in the earth shall die.
a Mimus.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I, even I. Figure of speech Epizeuxis. App-6.
a flood. Hebrew. mabbul. Limited to this account of the Deluge, and Psa 29:10, which therefore refers to it. The Babylonian tablets of the Epic of Gilgames are the traditional accounts of primitive truths, corrupted in transmission. The inspired account here corrects the imaginary accretions which had gathered round it.
all flesh. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of part), put here for every kind of being.
breath. Hebrew. ruach = spirit. See App-9.
life. Hebrew. chaiyim, plural for all kinds and manifestations.
die = cease to breathe, expire.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
behold: Gen 6:13, Gen 7:4, Gen 7:21-23, Gen 9:9, Exo 14:17, Lev 26:28, Deu 32:39, Psa 29:10, Isa 51:12, Eze 5:8, Eze 6:3, Eze 34:11, Eze 34:20, Hos 5:14, 2Pe 2:5
bring: Gen 7:4, Gen 7:17, Gen 7:21-23, Job 22:16, Psa 29:10, Psa 93:3, Psa 93:4, Psa 107:34, Isa 54:9, Amo 9:6, Mat 24:39, Luk 17:27, Heb 11:7, 1Pe 3:20
is the: Gen 2:7, Gen 7:15
shall die: Gen 6:7, Psa 107:34, Rom 5:12-14, Rom 5:21, Rom 6:23, Rom 8:20-22
Reciprocal: Gen 7:10 – waters Gen 7:11 – all Gen 7:22 – breath of life Gen 8:21 – curse Num 18:6 – And I Jdg 5:3 – even I Job 12:10 – the breath Job 12:15 – he sendeth Job 14:19 – washest Job 36:31 – by Psa 146:4 – His breath Isa 8:7 – the Lord bringeth Isa 27:3 – I the Isa 34:16 – my mouth Jer 23:39 – even I Jer 35:17 – Behold
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
DOOM AND DELIVERANCE
And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh.
Gen 6:17
With the exception of the black tribes and peoples, there is no branch of the human race that has not a tradition of the flood.These traditions, of course, differ in many respects, and regard the event from many different standpoints, but in general features they are so constant and unvarying that it is impossible to regard the story as a myth. The Flood came before the family had scattered. Gods children were still in their ancestral home when the hour of tragedy and death arrived. The Flood, then, is not an idle story. It is the record of an actual event. What are some of Gods purposes in giving it this large place in His Word?
I. It teaches us the truth that God is watching.Our Saviour has spoken of that, and so we put it first. For we are always tempted to think, as the years roll, that there is no eye fixed upon the scene. Day succeeds day, and night moves after night; men eat and drink, and love, and marry, and die, and all is so orderly and uninterrupted that they almost forget the power on the throne. But the story of the Flood was meant to teach that the Lord God is not indifferent. He does not sit apart in royal state, unconcerned with human sin and sorrow. He seems to be idle, but the hour will come when He will bare His arm and work in majesty. Men were utterly vile before the Flood, and God saw that. But among them there was one man who lived a holy life, and God saw that. Men thought they could live and sin just as they pleased, but the day dawned when they saw their tragic error. Let none of us think, then, that God does not see us. If we are struggling in evil surroundings to be good, He knows it all. No Noah can ever be hidden from the gaze of Him whose eyes go to and fro upon the earth.
II. Again, it teaches us that we are saved by faith.The writer to the Hebrews dwells on that. There is no more sublime faith in the worlds history than the faith of Noah in preparing at Gods word. The skies were not dark when the first beams were laid. There was no murmur of uprising waters. Do you not think that people laughed at Noah? Did not the schoolboys mock him as they passed? It was the work of a dotard, in that golden weather, to be getting ready for a deluge. But Noah had been taught to scorn appearances, and he toiled on undaunted in his faith. By faith, then, Noah was saved through grace, and that not of himself, it was the gift of God. He had nothing but Gods bare word to hold to, but he held to it, though everybody mocked; and he found at last how wise it had been to walk by faith and not by sight. Are you ready to be true though others smile? Are you willing to pray and to believe that sin spells death, though all the appearances should be against it?
III. Once more it teaches us that God saves by separating.That is one of the greatest of all Bible truths. Let us never forget the care and the love and the patience wherewith God separated Noah from the world. The thought of the ark and the plan of the ark were Gods. It was God who gave Noah strength to do the work. And at last, when all was ready for the voyaging, we read that it was God who shut them in. Did Noah grumble at his loss of liberty? Did he think it hard to lose the fair sweet world? Was it odious to him to be confined and limited after the long years in vale and meadow? I think he saw the wisdom of the limits when he stepped out to the large liberty of Ararat. So does God deal with every one of us. He draws us apart; He saves by separation. And at first, perhaps, when we are called to cross-bearing, we think it hard that our old liberty should go. But gradually through our separation comes our freedom. Through our separation we have entered a new world, and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.
IV. Then, lastly, it teaches us that God saves for service.It was for the worlds sake that Noah was brought through. He was preserved that mankind might start again, and so was he a forerunner of the Second Adam. God never saves us merely to enjoy. God saves us that we may do His will. A man is brought through the deep waters for the sake of others, and his first task is always to build an altar. Note, too, that of the beasts and birds that were preserved, some were immediately offered on that altar. They, too, no less than Ham and Shem, were saved for service, and they served best by being sacrificed. Is not that sometimes the case with all of us? Was it not so supremely with the Lord? He was brought through the deeps and billows of Gethsemane to serve mankind, and His crowning service was being sacrificed on Calvary.
Illustration
Pre Scheil, the Assyriologist, recently discovered a new account of the Deluge. It was found upon some fragments of a terra-cotta tablet which he dug up at Sippara, inscribed with cuneiform characters. One word, hibis (effaced), indicates that though the tablet is dated in the time of King Ammizaduga (about 2140 b.c.), it is itself only a copy of an earlier record. It is now settled, therefore, beyond all question that many centuries before Moses, men could and did make permanent records. The fragments of this newly-discovered tablet are large enough to show that the poem contains polytheistic and mythical details, in marked contrast with the divine story of Genesis.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Gen 6:17-18. Behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth I, who am infinite in power and therefore can do it; infinite in justice, and therefore will do it. But with thee will I establish my covenant 1st, The covenant of providence, that the course of nature should be continued to the end of time, notwithstanding the interruption which the flood would give to it: this promise was immediately made to Noah and his sons, Gen 9:8, &c.; they were as trustees for all this part of the creation, and a great honour was thereby put upon them. 2d, The covenant of grace, that God would be to him a God, and that out of his seed God would take to himself a people.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
This is the first occurrence of the important word "covenant" (Heb. berith) in the Old Testament (Gen 6:18). There were two basic kinds of covenants in the ancient Near East. [Note: G. Herbert Livingston, The Pentateuch in Its Cultural Environment, pp. 153-154.]
1. The parity covenant was one that equals made. Examples: Abraham and Abimelech (Gen 21:22-32), Isaac and Abimelech (Gen 26:26-33), and Jacob and Laban (Gen 31:44-54).
2. The suzerainty covenant was one that a superior (e.g., a king) made with an inferior (e.g., a vassal). Examples: the Noahic Covenant (Gen 9:1-17), the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:18-21), the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19 -Numbers 10), et al.
"The Noahic covenant is closer to the royal grant known from the ancient Near East where a deity bestows a benefit or gift upon a king. It has its closest parallels to the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants (Genesis 15; Genesis 17; 2 Samuel 7), which are promissory charters made by God with the individuals and their offspring, characteristically forever. Unlike the Mosaic covenant, in the royal grant form of covenant God alone is under compulsion by oath to uphold his promise to the favored party." [Note: Mathews, p. 368.]