Genesis 9: 1 - 17

 ¹ Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ² The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. ³ Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

⁴ ‘But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. ⁵ And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

⁶ ‘Whoever sheds human blood,
    by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
    has God made mankind.

⁷ As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.’

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ ‘I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you – the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you: never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.’

¹² And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.’

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.’

God’s Covenant with all Living Creatures.

A covenant is an agreement. We divide our Bible into two parts – the Old and New Testaments, which could also be called the old and new covenants. In the New Testament we learn of the covenant of salvation through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for us, bringing about forgiveness for sin and reconciliation with God. He defeated sin on the cross, and in rising from the dead he defeated death. Jesus offers us the free gift – and it is for us to accept the gift by coming to him in repentance and confession of sins.

In the Old Testament, we find the covenant of God with his people, expressed in various ways with various people such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David. In this reading in Genesis 9 we find a covenant that God makes with Noah, and, indeed, with all generations to come. In fact (v. 10) it is a covenant with all living things!

First of all, God reiterates the instructions he gave to Adam, but with some slight changes. Compare Genesis 1: 28 with Genesis 9: 1 - 2 –

Gen. 1: 28 – “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”

Gen. 9: 1 - 2 – “Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.”

Notice how a benevolent ‘rule’ over the animals has turned into a rule that instils ‘fear and dread’ into the animals. Also, in Gen. 1: 29, Adam and Eve were given plants and trees with seed-bearing fruit for food. Now, in Gen. 9: 3, all the animals are given to Noah and his descendants for food. The effect of sin are ongoing, and they affect the whole of creation.

Finally, we see the wonderful reminder of God’s covenant, as shown by the rainbow. The rainbow is a sign of God’s covenant with all generations, and whenever we see one in the sky we should thank God for his love for all people and all living things. We thank him for that covenant, and we can thank him for the new, everlasting covenant of salvation in Christ! (And not only when we see a rainbow!)

 

Prayer

Lord, I thank you for you love for me, for all people, and for all living creatures. I praise you for the beauty of your creation, and for your everlasting covenant. Amen.