As we have noted, the pruning judgements of God have stripped the world down to the basic constituent elements of the created order. We considered several of these in our last study. Today we expound upon just one 'pillar of the earth': The Word of God as covenant with his people. This event in Noah's record signals the first explicit mention of 'covenant' ('berith') in scripture and proves to be paradigmatic throughout God's special revelation. The immediate context sovereignly chosen to introduce the notion of covenant in detail is the profound moment where just a handful of humans and land creatures manage to survive cataclysmic judgement. McClaren's exposition provides a helpful sketch of this context. “When Noah came forth from the ark, after the stupendous act of divine justice, he must have felt that the first thing he needed was some reassurance as to the footing on which he and the new world round him stood with God. The flood had swept away the old order. It had revealed terrible possibilities of destruction in nature, and terrible possibilities of wrath in God. Was any knowledge of His intention and ways possible? Could continuance of the new order be counted on? The answer to such questions was God's covenant.” Under these circumstances our text unfolds...