Genesis 9:9-16
‘Behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you — of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth…. 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 — I have set my (rain)bow in the cloud…. It shall be for a token of the covenant between Me and the Earth…. It shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the Earth — that the (rain)bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you…. The everlasting covenant!’ Genesis 9:9-16.
God had previously made His covenant with Noah and his family, before the Flood (Genesis 6:18). And even with Adam and his seed, before the fall (Hosea 6:7). Now, after the Flood, God re-establishes that covenant with Noah and his children.
Calvin comments: “So that the memory of the Deluge might not inspire them with new terrors as often as the sky were covered with clouds, lest the Earth should again be drowned — this source of anxiety is taken away…. God, making His covenant with the sons of Noah, commands them to hope for the best…. It was not therefore a private covenant, confirmed with one family only — but one which is common to all people, and which shall flourish in all ages to the end of the world….
“The favour which the Lord promises, extends also to animals. Yet it is not in vain that He addresses Himself only to men…. We enjoy the sky and the air in common with the beasts, and draw the same vital breath. But it is no common privilege, that God directs His Word to us….
“Here, three distinct steps are to be traced. First, God as in a matter of present concern makes a covenant with Noah and his family…. Secondly, he transmits his covenant to posterity…, so that as by continual succession the effect may reach to other ages…. Thirdly, He declares that He will be propitious also to brute animals — so that the effect of the covenant towards them might be the preservation of their lives…without imparting to them sense and intelligence…. God promises salvation to a thousand generations [= 20,000 years!]….
“A sign is added to the promise…. ‘I have set my (rain)bow in the clouds.’ From these words, certain…have been induced to deny that there was any rainbow before the Deluge. Which is frivolous!…. The words of Moses do not signify that a (rain)bow was then formed, which did not previously exist…. The celestial arch which had before existed naturally, is here consecrated into a sign” — naathaththiy, ‘I have set’; not ‘I now set’!
“Let this therefore be the meaning of the words ‘As often as the rain shall alarm you, look upon the (rain)bow!’…. It shall…be to you a pledge of returning dryness. And thus it will then behoove you to stand with greater confidence, than under a clear and serene sky…. God…speaks after the manner of men, when He says that at the sight of the rainbow He will remember His covenant.”
For the rainbow seals and signifies — the covenant of life!
