For much more on this see: The biblical doctrine of government (a study on this website)
N4 p5 to Ge. 1.28. (A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Seven such dispensations are distinguished in Scripture. Cmt. on Ge 1:28, note 5.)
N1 to Ge. 21.33, p32: “And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.” (everlasting God (1) The Hebrew “Olam” is used in Scripture: (a) of secret or hidden things (e.g. Lev. 5:2 “hidden”; 2Ki. 4:27, “hid”; Psa. 10:1, “hidest”); (b) an indefinite time or age Lev. 25:32, “at any time”; Josh. 24:2 “in old time”). Hence the word is used to express the eternal duration of the being of God, Psa. 90:2. “From everlasting to everlasting”), and is the Hebrew synonym of the Greek “aion,” age or dispensation. See Gen. 1:26, note 4.
(2) The ideas therefore of things kept secret and of indefinite duration combine in this word. Both ideas inhere in the doctrine of the dispensations or ages. They are among the “mysteries” of God Eph 1:9; 3:2-6; Mt 13:11. The “everlasting” God (El Olam) is therefore that name of Deity in virtue of which He is the God whose wisdom has divided all time and eternity into the mystery of successive ages or dispensations. It is not merely that He is everlasting, but that He is God over everlasting things. See, for other names of Deity: Gen. 1:1, note; Gen. 2:4, note; Gen. 2:7, note; Gen., 14:18, note; Gen. 15:2, note; Gen. 17:1, note; 1Sam. 1:3, note. )
N1 p16 to Ge. 8.21. The Third Dispensation: Human Government. Under Conscience, as in Innocency, man utterly failed, and the judgment of the Flood marks the end of the second dispensation and the beginning of the third. The declaration of the Noahic covenant subjects humanity to a new test. Its distinctive feature is the institution, for the first time, of human government—the government of man by man. The highest function of government is the judicial taking of life. All other governmental powers are implied in that. It follows that the third dispensation is distinctively that of human government. Man is responsible to govern the world for God. That responsibility rested upon the whole race, Jew and Gentile, until the failure of Israel under the Palestinian Covenant (Deut. 28-30.1-10) brought the judgment of the Captivities, when the times of the Gentiles’ (See Lk. 21.24: Rev. 16.14) began, and the government of the world passed exclusively into Gentile hands (Dan. 2.36-45; Lk. 21.24; Acts 15.14-17). That both Israel and the Gentiles have governed for self, not God, is sadly apparent. The judgment of the confusion of tongues ended the racial testing; that of the captivities the Jewish; while the Gentile testing will end in the smiting of the Image (Dan. 2) and the judgment of the nations (Mt. 25.31-46).
See, for the other dispensations: Innocence (Gen. 1.28); Conscience (Gen. 3.23); Promise (Gen. 12.1); Law (Ex. 19.8); Grace (John 1.17); Kingdom (Eph. 1.10).