This covenant pre-dates the covenant that God will eventually make with Abraham and his children, and suggests a mutual obligation that now exists between God and humanity that did not exist before -- thus Noah's covenant with God will 'echo' with other Biblical narratives of later date, much as the stress upon the disobedience of humankind in the Flood epic recalls the disobedience of humanity in the Garden of Eden. At the end of the narrative, God says that he will never destroy humanity again, despite its inherent tendency to act in a wicked fashion. In both Genesis 6 and Genesis 7, the repetitive language used to describe the animals under Noah's care -- their duality, the fact that some creep and some fly -- underlines man's mastery of the natural world. Humanity may be commanded by God and must submit, but it is humanity that saves the rest of the natural world. The choosing of two mates, so that the earth can be replenished...

This duality of mates is not only true of the animal, but also the human world, as Noah and his family are also 'paired off' when they enter the ark. Although the great age of all human beings, particularly Noah, locates this tale in a kind of mythic realm outside of conventional norms of time, the fact that Noah's younger, fertile sons and daughters-in-law are also included stresses that no matter how fallen humanity may be, God clearly wants humanity to reproduce and continue in its presence upon the earth, now that…