This was the beginning of human government. In the garden, before the fall, man was directly under the rule of God. After the fall, man was under the rule of his own conscience (Gen. 3:7-10). However, the rule of human conscience did not work well, and man fell further into wickedness (Gen. 6:5, 11). Thus, after the flood, God authorized man to rule over other men, and human government began (Rom. 13:1 and note Rom. 13:13 and note Rom. 13:14).
At that time Noah was the deputy authority under God. This was a shadow of the kingdom of God, the reality of which is the church life in God’s New Testament economy, and the manifestation of which will be the kingdom in the millennium (see note Matt. 5:34b in and note Heb. 12:281a).