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Adam, Noah, and the Kingdom: The Fulfillment of the Commission to Adam in the Old Testament The Mosaic Covenant In the generations that Israel was in Egypt, we see the initial fulfillment of the promise of abundant descendents. In the Mosaic covenant that is given to Israel in the desert, we also begin to see how Abraham's descendents were to bring blessing to the world. The covenant with Moses — emphatically grounded in, not contrasted with, the Abrahamic promise (cf. Ex. 32:13; 33:1; Lev. 26:42; Num. 32:11; Deut. 1:8; 6:10; 9:5,27) — suggested more than one means for Israel to be a blessing. 1) The example of Israel would be used by God to bring other nations to the true knowledge of the Lord (Deut. 4:5-8). 2) The sacrificial system included the feast of tabernacles during which seventy bulls were sacrificed for the seventy nations of the world (cf. Gen. 10), indicating Israel's intercessory work for the world. 3) The sacrificial system was prophetic, pointing forward to the perfect sacrifice to come, which would take away the sins of the world. As I suggested before, Israel's warfare with Canaan was not just conquest of land. If we understand it in any other way than as warfare against the seed of the serpent, we totally pervert the meaning of the conquest itself and God's leading of His people in history.[5] This also means that Canaanites who converted were accepted into the people of God. The most prominent examples are Caleb (Num. 32:12; Josh. 14:6; Caleb was a Kenizzite, one of the tribes of Canaan, Gen. 15:19), Rahab (Josh. 2), and the Gibeonites (Josh. 9). The promises to Abraham would be fulfilled through the people of Israel as they worshipped God according to His law. Obedience to the covenant would bring about ever greater fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise that Israel would bless every nation in the world. Disobedience would result in the nation being disciplined so that she could be brought back to her calling. For Israel was chosen to accomplish an historical mission, one that was bound up with the promise of the seed of the woman, a Messiah who would come through Abraham to be the particular seed that would defeat Satan and bless all mankind. In closing, we must emphasize again that the law given to Israel is presented in Scripture as an extension of the covenant given to Abraham and not at all as a fundamentally different sort of covenant. The law was not given to annul the promise, nor is it contrary to the promise. It was in continuity with the Abrahamic covenant brought in as an aid for its fulfillment. It is not to be seen, therefore, as in interruption in covenant history, as if the Divine word to Noah was to be set aside for an age.
[5] Liberals often exclaim, How could God command Joshua to exterminate the inhabitants of Canaan! The problem is not with God or Joshua but with the liberal presuppositions that guide their interpretation of the text. The issue is not nationalism, nor is God being pictured as favoring one tribe against another. God is enabling His people to defeat the seed of the serpent, just as He had promised to Adam and Abraham.
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