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Genesis 8:1-9:17
The Rainbow: God’s Promises for the Future

We left Noah last week floating in the ark on a vast sea. Extensive heavy rainfall plus “the floodgates of the sky” and “the fountains of the great deep” – whatever precisely they are – have produced enough water to flood at least the known world.

Genesis 8 opens: “God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark” (Gen 8:1). In the Hebrew, “remembered” doesn’t imply God had forgotten about Noah, as if He were preoccupied with another project. When God remembers Noah, He is ready to take action to show faithful love and mercy.

First, God stops the flood; He closes “the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky,” and He “restrain(s) . . . the rain” (Gen 8:2 NAS). The flood is clearly not a freak of nature; it’s divinely ordained and controlled. Next “God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided” (Gen 8:1 NAS). “And . . . the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat” (Gen 8:4 NAS). The web site shows two possible locations for this: one sanctioned by the government of Turkey near the traditional Moslem site; the other speculative. But notice: the ark does not rest on Mt Ararat, one of the world’s major mountains at 15,800 feet. The ark rests somewhere in Eastern Turkey in the range of mountains which includes Mt Ararat. (We wonder where the Mt Ararat legend comes from; even the King James Bible says “mountains of Ararat.”)

The waters continue to recede, and more and more landscape is visible. 40 days later Noah does what ancient mariners did: he uses birds as scouts. We said last week God’s detailed instructions about building the ark lead some commentators to suggest Noah knows nothing about ships – and we learn in chapter 9 that Noah is a framer (9:20) – but maybe Noah does have sailing experience. In any case, Noah sends out a raven, who flies “back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth” (Gen 8:7). A raven is a carrion-eater, who will dine on dead animals at higher elevations. How long does the raven fly “back and forth” in search of dry land and dead meat? The bible doesn’t say. Nevertheless, Noah follows the raven with a dove, a valley bird; Noah wants to know if lower-lying areas are habitable. But the dove returns “because there was water over all the surface of the earth” (Gen 8:9). What’s the deal here? Has “the water had dried up from the earth” (Gen 8:7), or hasn’t it? Again we’re dealing with inherent imprecision of translating Hebrew into English – moving from a small vocabulary big picture language to a language focused on details. The bible probably means the valley regions are still covered with water because: “the dove could find no place to set its feet” (Gen 8:9). Noah waits seven days and sends out the dove again; this time it returns with “a freshly plucked olive leaf . . . in its beak” (Gen 8:11). Progress! The lower elevations where olives grow are drying out! Noah waits another seven days and sends out the dove a third time; “but this time it did not return” (Gen 8:12).

Noah concludes “the water had dried up from the earth” (Gen 8:13), so he “removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry” (Gen 8:14). It’s his 601st birthday . . . which some commentators claim symbolizes mankind’s new beginning after the flood. Nevertheless, after having undergone such a horrendous experience with the forces of nature, Noah doesn’t want to leave the ark precipitously; is the deluge really over, or is this just a lull in the storm? He waits until God says it’s safe.

“Then God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark . . . Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you . . . so they can multiply on the earth.’ . . . So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures . . . and all the birds . . . came out of the ark” (Gen 8:15-19).

The bible says this all happened one solar year after God brought this water disaster to the earth (7:11). In fact, although this story is peppered with precise dates and time durations, when everything is totaled, the numbers don’t add up! This emphasizes that numbers in the bible can be used with either literal or symbolic meaning – an ambiguity the Middle Eastern mind is comfortable with. Some numbers in this story are surely symbolic; for instance, some think the numerical symmetry as the flood builds up and recedes – 7 days/40 days/150 days/40 days/7 days – seems more symbolic than literal.

Nevertheless . . . for a very long time Noah and his family have been cooped up in a covered barge the size of an ocean liner with limited visibility, filled with animal sounds and smells. What a relief it must be to finally leave! And what is the first thing Noah does . . . this man who “walked with God” (Gen 6:9) . . . who has endured the Mother of all Rainstorms and Tsunamis rolled into one, leaving only the inhabitants of the ark alive? Noah gives thanks to God. He “built an altar to the LORD and . . . sacrificed burnt offerings on it” (Gen 8:20). (Now we see why God told Noah to take extra “clean” animals and “clean” birds.) Those of us who know nothing about worship by animal sacrifice – and less about biblical Hebrew – miss the point here that Noah is not making the usual burnt offering, which the animal is essentially barbecued and eaten. Noah’s offerings are holocausts, in which the entire flesh is burned up; these offerings are usually connected with petition and thanksgiving. Noah is making an all-encompassing display of thanks to the God who has brought him safely through the flood.

God must feel good about this. He observed increasing wickedness among mankind – so much so that there was only one righteous man in the entire human race. God sent judgment to destroy everyone except that one man and his family. And now – after that one man has come through the judgment – the first thing he does is give thanks to God!

God promised Noah a covenant after all this was completed, so now God follows through; God’s covenant is the subject of the end of chapter 8 and most of chapter 9. Is the end of chapter 8 one version of the covenant and chapter 9 another version? Or is chapter 8 the outline and introduction of a covenant detailed in chapter 9? I prefer the latter interpretation . . . but the point is this is God’s first formal covenant with man.

It’s really cool the way God leads into the covenant. Immediately following Noah’s sacrifice: “The LORD . . . said in his heart: ‘Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood’” (Gen 8:21). God knows He hasn’t fixed man’s sin problem by allowing the one righteous man to start the human race all over again. Noah’s descendants will be sinners, because “every inclination of (their hearts are) evil”; man must make a special effort to avoid his naturally evil ways. Yet the flood provides a dramatic demonstration of God’s justice and power; as this story is passed down to future generations, they will know there is One God: a God of justice who rewards those who follow Him, and punishes those who don’t!

God’s covenant as detailed in the first part of chapter 9 consists of 4 speeches by God: three to Noah and his sons, and one to Noah alone. This covenant has been compared to a royal grant, in which a king gives a servant land or other benefit as a reward for faithful service. The grant is nominally unconditional and perpetual – but it anticipates future faithful service (with the overhanging threat of forfeiture for unfaithfulness). God’s covenants are generally like this – even though they emphasize blessings for faithfulness – which is why last week I referred to a covenant as a “contract.”

God begins by calling on Noah and his sons to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen 9:1 NAS). Noah is the 2nd Adam; what God told Adam, he now tells Noah. But God makes clear this is not a replay of Genesis 1. Animals apparently were not afraid of man in the Garden of Eden or thereafter – which is logical, since man was vegetarian. But now God proclaims: “The fear and dread of you will fall upon . . . every creature. . . . Everything that lives and moves will be food for you” (Gen 9:2-3). God’s only prohibition is that man must not eat meat with blood in it (Gen 9:4). This certainly means man must not eat live meat, but God may also be addressing the belief in some pagan cultures that drinking an animal’s blood, gives them the life force of that animal. God’s prohibition against blood occurs several other times in the Pentateuch, but it is unique to the Hebrew God; it’s not typical of the ancient Middle Eastern culture.

God next condemns murder of fellow humans in the strongest possible terms. Cain’s murder of Abel was a most despicable crime and Cain was punished with banishment. Yet Cain’s descendants thrived, and his offspring Lamech even bragged he murdered someone merely for injuring him. Murder must have been common in the pre-Noah era, so in God’s covenant with Noah, he proclaims the sanctity of human life, because “in the image of God has God made man.” (Gen 9:6). To kill another human is to destroy the bearer of the image of God, so “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen 9:6). Murder is such a serious crime that it warrants taking the life of the murderer. It’s unfortunate the translators of the King James Bible decided to say “Thou shalt not kill,” instead of the correct translation: “Thou shalt not murder” – a mistake which has confused generations of faithful Christians. Capital punishment is clearly part of God’s plan. Many commentators extract from this a mandate to establish courts of justice, and we know the ancients had system of capital punishment through an “avenger of blood.”

As God’s first speech comes to an end, He repeats his opening instructions to Noah and his sons: “As for you, be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 9:7 NAS). In chapter 8, God tells Noah to release the animals in the ark so they can reproduce (Gen 8:17). God expects the same from Noah; God wants the earth repopulated.

God’s second speech to Noah and his sons formally uses the word “covenant” . . . referring to the promise which closed chapter 8. God says: “I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by . . . a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. . . . I have set my rainbow in the clouds (as) the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever . . . the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures” (Gen 9:11,13-15). God repeats all this for emphasis. Then God closes the covenant portion of chapter 9, with a final speech to Noah alone, reiterating the sign of the covenant.

The question is raised if there were rainbows before the flood. Some commentators say “yes,” with a confidence founded on ignorance. Others argue – based on the “floodgates of the sky” (7:11) – that a vapor canopy or waters above the earth prevented the sun from making a rainbow before the flood. This is an interesting point for discussion – but we’ll never know the answer, and it’s hardly an essential of the faith!

Some commentators claim God’s promise is proof Noah’s flood was a universal flood – since periodic local floods still occur. But that doesn’t seem a good argument. The point of the covenant is that never again will a flood wipe out mankind as God’s judgment; God will use other means for future judgments – as we learn in Revelation. Noah’s flood is unique, even if was only local; in any case, it was so extensive and of such duration that it appears not only in the Jewish Bible, but in Gentile legends as well.

Every child who’s been to Sunday School knows about God’s promise to never again being a flood to destroy mankind – and the rainbow as the sign of that covenant. Yet few of us know the rest of God’s covenant with Noah: first, that God who created everything allows us to eat meat as well as vegetables – but we should refrain from cruelty to animals by eating them alive. Second, to kill another human is to destroy the bearer of the image of God; human life is so sacred to God that anyone who murders must have his own life taken by his fellows, emphasizing the magnitude of his crime. And third, by implication, courts of justice must be established to carry out this sacred duty.

Some Jewish scholars find four more “Universal Laws” in Noah’s covenant: prohibition of idolatry, prohibition of blasphemy, prohibition of theft, and prohibition of illicit relations. I don’t find these in Genesis 8 or 9, nor have I found an explanation of how they are inferred. My best guess is this is based on reading Genesis 3-6:7 as case studies which illustrate sins that precipitated God’s judgment through the flood. The logic would be: sins like these caused God to bring the flood of judgment, and though God promises never again to judge mankind with a flood, these things that will cause judgment in other ways. I confess I don’t find all these “Universal Laws” in Genesis 3-6:7 either – but much Jewish theology is based on tradition, beyond a literal reading of the bible.

God’s covenant with Noah is critically important because it’s the only covenant with all mankind – not just the Jews. When Paul says in Romans man is “without excuse” (Rom 1:20), we might ask where non-Jews received revelation from God. It’s here . . . in God’s covenant with Noah . . . a covenant presumably carried as oral history throughout the world when the offspring of Noah’s sons dispersed.

In an effort to be “fair and balanced,” I must say most commentators emphasize Noah’s covenant as a free gift of grace, not a contract. They say God gives freely, and man need do nothing in return. But that seems an oversimplification. God freely promises to never again send an extensive flood to judge mankind, and indeed that promise does not depend on what mankind does. However, that only means future judgment will come through something else: military conquest, the fires of hell, etc – including the judgments recorded in Revelation. God clearly expects something from mankind . . . at a minimum, not to eat live meat and not to murder.

Next week we’ll see just how right God was . . . that allowing the one righteous man to start the human race all over again hasn’t fixed man’s sin problem. Noah’s descendants aren’t righteous like Noah . . . they showing disrespect for their father, and later they succumb to Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve by trying to “be like God” (Gen 3:5).