Genesis 9.8-17-Establishment and Sign of the Noahic Covenant

Thursday September 29, 2005

Genesis: Genesis 9:8-17-Establishment and Sign of the Noahic Covenant

Lesson # 36

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 8:20.

This evening we will study Genesis 9:8-17, which records the establishment and sign of the Noahic covenant.

Last, night, we studied Genesis 8:21-22, which contains the first provision of the covenant the Lord established with Noah.

Genesis 8:20, “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”

Genesis 8:21, “The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, ‘I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.’”

Genesis 8:22, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

There are two types of covenants: (1) Conditional: Dependent upon the faithfulness of the recipient for its fulfillment (2) Unconditional: Dependent upon the faithfulness of God for its fulfillment.

Genesis 8:20-22 records the first provision in this new covenant with Noah, which was “unconditional” meaning its fulfillment would be totally and completely dependent upon the faithfulness of God.

The first provision stipulated that God would never again curse the earth on account of man and that day and night and seasons would never cease as long as the present earth remains and that there would be a continuation of humanity until the end of human history by guaranteeing its sustaining food supply.

This covenant that the Lord made with Noah denoted His gracious undertaking for the benefit of Noah and his family and descendants as a result of Noah operating in faith and obeying the Lord by presenting the appropriate offerings on the altar.

Genesis 9:1, “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”

The second provision stipulated that Noah and his descendants would multiply and replenish the earth.

Genesis 9:2, “The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.”

The third provision stipulated that Noah and his descendants would have dominion over the animal kingdom and implies that the interaction between humans and animals would not be peaceful, just as Genesis 9:6 suggests the same of human beings.

Genesis 9:3, “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.”

The fourth provision stipulated that all animal life was now given as food for people to eat and that the diet of the human race would not be restricted to a vegetable an fruit diet.

Genesis 9:4, “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.”

The stipulation recorded in Genesis 9:4 was given since the soul life of animals resides in its blood (Lev. 17:11, 14).

Genesis 9:5, “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man.”

Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.”

Genesis 9:5-6 records for us the establishment of the fourth and final divine institution.

These four institutions are systems of authority designed to protect the freedom of members of the human race, both unbeliever and the believer.

(1) Volition: You have authority over your own soul (Gen. 2:16-17).

(2) Marriage: Husband has authority over the wife (Gen. 2:22-24).

(3) Family: Parents have authority over the children (Gen. 4:1).

(4) Government: Government has authority over its citizens (Gen. 9:5-6).

Murder is a violation of the first divine institution, which is volition.

The fifth provision stipulated that as a result of the total depravity of mankind, God instituted capital punishment in order to protect both animal and human life and to curb violence and be a deterrent to crime.

The reason why this provision is given is found in the phrase “for in the image of God, He (the Lord) made (`asah, “modeled”) (the soul of) man.”

Genesis 9:7, “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

Genesis 9:7 is a repetition of Genesis 9:1 in order to emphasize God’s desire to have many people who will gather around His throne and enjoy fellowship with Him throughout eternity (Rev. 5:9-10).

Genesis 9:8-11 records the sixth and final provision of the Noahic covenant, which stipulated that a worldwide flood would never again destroy the earth.

Genesis 9:8-9, “Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ‘Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you.’”

Genesis 9:10, “and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle (behemah, “domestic animals”), and every beast (chayyah, “wild animals”) of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.”

Genesis 9:11, “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off (niphal form of karath, “to destroy”) by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

“Covenant” is the noun berith (tyr!B+ ), which is a compact or agreement between two parties binding them mutually to undertakings on each other’s behalf.

This covenant that God made with Noah was the result of Noah operating in faith and obeying the Lord by presenting the appropriate offerings on the altar and denoted God’s gracious undertaking for the benefit of Noah and his family and descendants and the animal kingdom to never again destroy the earth with a worldwide flood.

The covenant confirms God’s preexisting relationship with all His creatures when He blessed them at the time of their creation.

It also affirms God’s passionate concern for and certain commitment to the preservation and care for all of His creatures in the air, on the land and in the sea.

The repetition of the fact God established the covenant gives emphasis to it.

Genesis 9:12, “God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations.’”

Genesis 9:13, “I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.”

Genesis 9:14, “It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud.”

Genesis 9:15, “and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

“I will remember” is the verb zakhar (rk^z*) (zaw-kar), which signifies that whenever the rainbow appears in the sky, God will act upon His promise He made to Noah to never destroy the earth again with a worldwide flood and by acting on this promise, God would demonstrate Himself to be a trustworthy partner.

The phrase “I will remember” is an “anthropopathism where the human attribute of remembering is ascribed to God who is omniscient in order to appeal to our human frame of reference God’s concern and involvement in the affairs of men.

The phrase “I will remember” also speaks of the “immanency” of God meaning that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with the affairs of men.

Genesis 9:16, “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

This statement stands in stark contrast with God’s statement in Genesis 6:12 where He looked upon the earth’s inhabitants and saw them corrupt.

But in Genesis 9:16 we see the awesome transcendent God humbling Himself to involve Himself with the affairs of men and mercifully choosing to reflect on the rainbow rather than the evil and sin produced by fallen humanity.

The expression “the everlasting covenant” indicates that this promise to Noah would “expire” when the present heavens and earth are destroyed at the end of human history.

Genesis 9:17, “And God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.’”

Genesis 9:12-17 records that the Noahic covenant would be marked by a “sign,” namely, a rainbow.

Four Covenants marked by a “sign”: (1) Noahic: Rainbow (Gen. 9:12-17) (2) Abrahamic: Circumcision (Gen. 17:11) (3) Mosaic: Sabbath (Ex. 31:13, 17)(4) Davidic: Son (Isa. 7:14).

The rainbow should be a reminder to us that we can trust God to be faithful to His promises and we can look to Him also for mercy and grace.

Deuteronomy 7:9, “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.”

The rainbow should be a reminder to us that we can look to God also for mercy and grace.

Psalm 145:8, “The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.”

The rainbow typifies the cross of Christ in the sense that just as the judgment of the Flood was never again to be repeated so the believer would never be judged for his sins since Christ died for every sin-past, present and future.

1 John 2:12, “I am providing information in writing at this particular time for the benefit of all of you, little children in view of the fact that for the benefit of all of you, your sins have been forgiven-past, present and future on the basis of His merit.”

In order that mankind would not have to live in constant fear of another worldwide flood, God gave a reminder that He would never again destroy the earth in this manner.

Just as the rainbow was a sign or symbol of God’s mercy to the entire human race so the cross of Christ manifests the mercy of God towards the entire human race.

The rainbow also demonstrates the grace of God where in wrath, God remembers mercy, glory follows suffering and where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Grace is the exercise of all the divine attributes and is all that God is free to do in imparting unmerited blessings to us based upon the merits of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross.

Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

Ephesians 2:9, “not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Grace is for the unworthy and undeserving and manifests itself through acts of mercy and compassion.

Psalm 116:5, “Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate.”

The Lord Jesus Christ is the grace of God incarnate (2 Cor. 8:9).

2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

The rainbow appears three more times in Scripture.

In Ezekiel 1:28 the rainbow is seen surrounding the throne of God as He prepares to judge His people Israel.

It is seen again around the throne of God just prior to Great Tribulation in Revelation 4:3.

Revelation 4:3, “And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.”

The rainbow appears one last time in Revelation 10:1 where it is over the head of an elect angel who appears during the midway point of the Tribulation.

In each of these cases, the picture is one of immanent judgment and suffering, but only “limited” judgment and suffering, with God’s grace ruling over all.