Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Genesis 9:8-17
God's Covenant with Man and with All Living Creatures (Genesis 9:8)
Now we come to the primary covenant around which the whole history is written. This covenant, made with Noah and his sons, is distinctive. It is not a covenant of relationship but of direct fiat from God. It is not dependent on any response from man, which is why it is given by God as Creator (Elohim) and not as Yahweh.
The covenant was important to man's sense of security. The Flood had demonstrated what could happen to the world and without this covenant man would henceforth live in fear of a repetition. Every gathering of clouds, every storm at sea, would be seen as a portent. Thus God gives man the assurance that he need not fear. God will not allow it to happen again. He will keep the elements in bounds.
‘And God spoke to Noah, and his sons with him.'
Only since the Flood has this stress been laid on the inclusion of the sons. There is now joint responsibility. All mankind is included in the covenant, as are the living creatures. Notice, however, that although the covenant is with all creation it is communicated to Noah and his sons. They stand in the place of God for His creation.
‘Saying, “I, behold I, establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domesticated animals, the wild creatures, those who are with you, as many as came out of the ark, even every creature of the earth (land)”.'
Note how all creatures are included in the covenant. This is the covenant of the Creator with His creation. It is thus not dependent on man's obedience. It is absolute.
‘And I establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut of by the waters of a cataclysm, nor shall there ever again be a cataclysm to destroy the earth.'
God gives His guarantee that never again will there be a cataclysm of such devastating proportions. The repetition of ‘I establish My covenant' is a double guarantee, a double confirmation for the purpose of stress, as well as a means of reinforcing the words to a listener.
‘And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you through all future generations. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be as a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall be that when I bring a cloud over the earth, the bow will be seen in the cloud, 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 cataclysm to destroy all flesh, and the bow will be in the cloud, and I will consider it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth”.'
God takes a natural phenomenon and turns it into a sign. ‘I do set my bow in the cloud'. The word for ‘bow' is the same as later used for a ‘war bow'. Are we to see in this a suggestion that God is ceasing His adversarial position? That He has magnanimously ‘laid down His arms'? Every time man sees the rainbow he will recognise that God has ‘put down His bow'.
The use of the rainbow as a sign does not mean that it has never appeared before, only that it is being given a new significance. Thus every rainbow will be a reminder of God's covenant. ‘I will remember --'. It is not of course that there is any danger that God would forget. It is man who will see the bow in the clouds and will be assured that God will ‘remember' His covenant. Note that the bow is mentioned three times. This is a guarantee of the completeness of the protection it provides.
And the guarantee is that never again will such a flood come on the earth. Never again need they fear inundations of water of such magnitude. It has been a once for all occurrence.
“The everlasting covenant”. This covenant is permanent and unchangeable. It is for ever.
‘And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on earth.”
This final repetition sums up the whole and gives final confirmation to the hearers of the sign and its significance. It is God's unconditional guarantee.
This no doubt is where the original account ended in its use at the feast for which it was considered appropriate when it would be recited as a ‘reminder' to God of His covenant. It is followed by a further covenant history which was probably tacked on, as also applying to the sons of Noah, when the tablet on which the two accounts is found was written, with the purpose of leading on to the next account, the spread of the nations. It is quite remarkable how the compiler has gathered together disparate covenant records and combined them into one united whole, each leading on to the next.