Lesson: Genesis 9:8-17
Golden Text: “And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:11).
INTRODUCTION. God created the whole world and people to inhabit it. When Adam and Eve chose to sin so much changed. Man’s sin caused a major divide between God and humanity. Because of sin’s downward spiral, God decided it was time to start over again. He knew there was one man, Noah, who “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” because he was a righteous man (see Genesis 6:8-9); so God spared Noah and his family from the devastation of the punishment---the Flood. After Noah, his family, and the animals left the ark, the world they saw was fresh and new. God made a covenant with Noah. A covenant is a pledge, a binding agreement.
II. A COVENANT
ESTABLISHED (Genesis 9:8-11). Background for the
Lesson: After man
and woman were evicted from the Garden of Eden, they began to replenish the
earth as God had commanded by giving birth to Cain and Abel and Seth (see
Genesis chapter 4). Chapter five gives us the genealogy of Adam
down to Noah, the son of Lamech. We are then told that Noah had
three sons, Shem, Ham and Japhet. Chapter six records that soon
men began to multiply on the face of the earth (see Genesis 6:1).
Before long, society degenerated to the point that “every intent” of the
thoughts of man’s heart “was continually evil” (see Genesis 6:5).
Instead of living responsibly as persons created in the image and
likeness of God, people existed as beasts (sound familiar?). The
situation was hopeless, causing God, like a parent whose children have gone bad,
to mourn for them. The Lord was sorry that He had created man and
was grieved in his heart (see Genesis 6:6). He would now destroy
everything He had created except for Noah and His family (see Genesis
6:7). God then tells Noah that He is going to destroy man “with
the earth” (see Genesis 6:13) and directs him to build an ark for his family and
two of every kind of animal because He would bring a flood upon the earth, and
Noah obeyed (see Genesis 6:14-22). Chapters 7 and 8 give the
details of the Flood. After the Flood waters receded, God gave
guidelines for Noah and his family just as He had done with Adam.
They were to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with
people. Noah was also given dominion over the animal world and the
freedom to eat meat instead of just vegetation. However, man was
restricted from eating meat that still contained blood (see Genesis
9:1-5). God also instituted capital punishment, giving men the
authority through human government to take life in cases of murder (see Genesis
9:6). We must remember that these instructions God gave to Noah
were for all mankind, not just Jews, because Noah was not a Jew.
The Jewish nation had not been established at this time.
A. The covenant was
with Noah and his descendents (Genesis
9:8-9).
1. (vs. 8). This verse simply says “And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying.” God spoke directly to Noah and his three sons, Shem Ham and Japhet (see Genesis 5:32). Only they and their wives along with Noah and his wife were preserved during the flood. It was through these eight people that the earth would be repopulated. What God was about to say was intended for all of their descendants.
2. (vs. 9). Having the attention of Noah and his sons, God said “And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you.” God would make a “covenant” with Noah, his sons and “your seed after you” which is a reference to all of their descendents including you and I. Note: Again, we must not forget that everyone who has inhabited the earth since Noah and his family are the descendents or “seed” of this family. Noah and his family were simply human beings: they were not Jews or any other race of people. A “covenant” is a formal agreement, or contract between two parties in which certain obligations are specified.This covenant in our lesson is known as the Noahic Covenant, and it is an unconditional covenant.In other words, the obligations specified in it are dependent upon God and Him alone.Noah had no specified obligations in the covenant. Note: In the Scriptures there are two types of covenants, conditional and unconditional. In a conditional covenant both parties have obligations within the covenant. For instance, the Mosaic Covenant is a conditional covenant. God’s fulfillment of all the promises of the Mosaic Covenant is conditioned upon Israel’s obedience as implied by the words “…if ye will obey…then ye shall be…” (see Exodus 19:5-8). Basically, in a conditional covenant, God says “If you will…then I will…” If the second party fails to keep their part of the covenant, God does not have to keep His part. But in an unconditional covenant, only God is responsible for keeping the covenant. For instance, the Abrahamic Covenant is an unconditional covenant. In it God declares simply, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee…and I will bless them that bless you and curse them that curse you…” (see Genesis 12:2-). Keeping the covenant is dependent on God alone. Abraham was not required to do anything.
B. The covenant was with all living creatures (Genesis 9:10). Not only was the covenant with Noah and his descendents, God said that it was also “with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.” Every creature that came out of the ark would be under this covenant or agreement. While animals don’t have eternal souls as people do, they are God’s creatures and He is concerned about them (see Matthew 6:25-26).
C. The covenant has a specific promise (see Genesis 9:11). In this verse, God continues to say “And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.” God now confirms the central feature of His covenant that makes it unconditional---“neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.” In other words, God declared that never again would the earth or all the life upon it be destroyed by a flood. He didn’t promise that there would not be any more floods, but rather that a universal flood would never again cut off “all flesh” and devastate the entire earth. The Flood in Noah’s time was a onetime event. Note: This does not mean that God will never destroy the earth again; however, the next time it will be done with fire instead of water. It should be noted that God’s covenant did not rule out any future judgments.The phrase“While the earth remaineth” (see Genesis 8:22) implies that this earth was not intended to be eternal. The Day of the Lord is coming and it will be severe with the earth being destroyed not by water, but by fire (see II Peter 3:10-12). Some scholars maintain that even though the flood in Noah’s day was severe, it was a local flood; meaning that it only occurred in a small area of the earth. But what God promised raises serious problems for that belief. If “earth” in this verse merely means land in a certain area, God would have broken His promise many times, because large land areas have often been devastated by floods. In addition, “all flesh” (both human and non-human) would have had to have lived only on a small portion of the earth, for they all were destroyed (see Genesis 7:21-23).
III. A COVENANT EXPLAINED (Genesis 9:12-17)
A. The sign of the rainbow (Genesis 9:12-13).
1. (vs. 12). This verse tells us “And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.” As a guarantee that He would fulfill this covenant that He made with Noah and his sons, God gave a “token” or sign, that would be a reminder to earth dwellers of God’s faithfulness to His covenant. This “token” or sign was intended for “every living creature” that was with Noah and his sons and even “for perpetual generations” meaning generations to come.
2. (vs. 13). God continued to say “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.” The sign that God would be faithful to keep His covenant “between me (Him) and the earth” would be the “bow in the cloud.” This of course refers to the “rainbow.” God told Noah that the “bow” or rainbow would be a visual reminder of His promise to never flood the whole world again. Note: Whether rainbows first appeared at this time or were merely given a new significance is a matter of debate. It is possible that God took an already familiar phenomenon to mankind and gave it a higher purpose. On the other hand, it’s possible that the atmospheric conditions were permanently changed after the Flood, and that rainbows became visible for the first time. For example, Scripture tells us that no rain fell at the beginning of creation and makes not mention that any fell at any time before the Flood. In fact, prior to the Flood, the earth was watered not by rain, but by a heavy mist (see Genesis 2:5-6). The rainbow is a bonus for us after a rainstorm. We don’t always see it, for we are not always in the proper position or conditions may not be just right. A rainbow is caused by the reflection and retraction of the sun’s rays as they hit falling rain, mist or watery spray. Since no rain had fallen before the Flood (see Genesis 2:5), no rainbow was needed. Now, after a rain, when clouds clear away, light refraction shows the marvelous rainbow. Noah and his family may have been afraid that if rain began to fall again, another opening of “the windows of heaven” (see Genesis 7:11) was coming and another huge flood was on the way. Seeing the rainbow would remove those fears.
B. The creation of the rainbow (Genesis 9:14-15).
1. (vs. 14). In this verse, God went on to say “And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud.” God further stated that whenever He brought a cloud over the earth after a rain, the “bow shall be seen in the cloud.”
2. (vs. 15). The Lord continued to say “And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” God put the rainbow in the sky as a reminder to mankind of His promise. But He also stated that the rainbow would be a reminder to Him as well of His covenant between Him, man and every living creature. Again, the Lord restated His covenant that “the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” In other words, when the rainbow appears in the sky, it would remind Him of His promise not to destroy the earth by water again. If a tremendous rainstorm occurred again, this could cause great fear in man, so it was important for him to be assured that the earth would not be destroyed by water again. Note: The question may arise as to why God would need to be reminded of His covenant promise since He knows everything. The writer, Moses is here speaking of God using an anthropomorphism, or a human quality to describe God. In order to help the reader better understand God, the writer uses language that would cause the reader to better relate to God.
C. The reminder of the rainbow (Genesis 9:16-17).
1. (vs. 16). The keeping of this covenant promise was so important to God that He repeated it again saying “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” Once again the Lord reassured Noah and his sons that the rainbow was a reminder to Him as well as to them, and that it included “every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” However, this time God referred to the covenant as the “everlasting covenant.” As stated earlier, this is an unconditional covenant (see commentary on verse 9) for all living creatures and it has no ending time. It was unconditional because Noah had no conditions to meet in keeping the covenant; it was all God’s responsibility.
2. (vs. 17). Our final verse says “And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” Here God once again reassures Noah that the rainbow is the “token” or sign that He will not destroy the earth by water again and that the covenant was between God and all flesh that will ever inhabit the earth, including animals.
IV. Conclusion. Every time we see a rainbow in the sky, we should be reminded that it is a sign that God will never again send a universal flood to devastate the earth and destroy mankind. The rainbow is therefore a reminder to mankind of God’s marvelous grace. It behooves every believer to personalize the significance of the rainbow. Upon seeing one, we should also think of God’s love, mercy, and grace in giving us salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.
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