God’s Covenant With Noah

Topic: Covenant
Passage: Genesis 9:1–19

January 29, 2022

Commentary

After the flood there were only eight people alive in the world: Noah and his family. God told them the things they were to do, and He makes a covenant with Noah here in chapter 9: (1) He told Noah to be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth again with people (vv. 1, 7), just like He had told Adam in Genesis 1:28. (2) Noah, like Adam, was to rule over the ani­mals (v. 2). Before this time the animals had not been afraid of each other or of mankind, however, now animals would have a fear of man. (3) They could kill animals for food but were not to eat the blood with the meat (vv. 3-4). Up until this time vegetables, fruits and growing things had been their diet. (4) God made a covenant with them that anyone that killed another person should be put to death (vv. 5-6). God made man in His own image, and He is to be the giver of life. 
 

God made an everlasting covenant with Noah and his three sons and every living creature upon the earth, that he would never again destroy every living creature with the waters of a universal globe encircling flood (vv. 8-11). Then He gave a token for special meaning when He made this covenant by giving a rainbow, or rare beauty (vv. 12-17). The Hebrew word for rainbow is also the word for a battle bow or we could say a weapon. The bow is now hung in a place by the clouds and suggests that the battle of rainstorm is over, and the rainbow speaks of peace. It is the product of storm and sunshine. Just about every­one rejoices in seeing a rainbow in the sky and we should delight each time we see this display of God’s faithfulness to us. The Bible says of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, “Of them was the whole earth over­spread” (vv. 18-19). Here we see that everyone on this earth came from Noah’s family and went throughout the whole earth. 

Application

Isn’t it much easier to stay in our own little area than to go to the ends of the earth with the gospel? What are we doing to get the gospel to the ends of the earth? Are we going? Are we giving to others that are going and are we praying for those who are going?

Genesis 9:1– 19 (NET)

1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority. 3 You may eat any moving thing that lives. As I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

4 “But you must not eat meat with its life (that is, its blood) in it. 5 For your lifeblood I will surely exact punishment, from every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person I will exact punishment for the life of the individual since the man was his relative.

6 “Whoever sheds human blood, by other humans must his blood be shed; for in God’s image God has made humankind.

7 “But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.”

8 God said to Noah and his sons, 9 “Look. I now confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature of the earth. 11 I confirm my covenant with you: Never again will all living things be wiped out by the waters of a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

12 And God said, “This is the guarantee of the covenant I am making with you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all subsequent generations: 13 I will place my rainbow in the clouds, and it will become a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 then I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures of all kinds. Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy all living things. 16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things that are on the earth.”

18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.