'And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him,
saying, And I, 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 with you; from all that
go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I
will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all
flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood;
neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the
earth. And God said, 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 do set My
bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a
covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come to
pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow
shall 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 flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall
be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may
remember the everlasting covenant between God and every
living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And
God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant,
which I have established between Me and all flesh that
is upon the earth.
GENESIS ix. 8-17.
The previous verses of this chapter lay down the outlines of the new
order which followed the flood. The blessing and the command to be
fruitful are repeated. The dominion over animals is confirmed, but
enlarged by the permission to use them as food, and by the laying on
them of 'the terror of you and the dread of you.' The sanctity of human
life is laid down with great emphasis. Violence and bloodshed had
brought about the flood. The appalling destruction effected by it might
lead to the mistaken notion that God held man's life cheap. Therefore
the cornerstone of future society is laid in that declaration that life
is inviolable. These blessings and commands are followed by this
remarkable section, which deals with God's covenant with Noah, and its
token in the rainbow.
1. The covenant is stated, and the parties concerned in it enumerated
in verses 3-11. When Noah came forth from the ark, after the stupendous
act of divine justice, he must have felt that the first thing he needed
was some assurance as to the footing on which he and the new world
round him stood with God. The flood had swept away the old order. It
had revealed terrible possibilities of destruction in nature, and
terrible possibilities of wrath in God. Was any knowledge of His
intentions and ways possible? Could continuance of the new order be
counted on? The answer to such questions was--God's covenant. Now, as
then, when any great convulsions shake what seems permanent, and bring
home to men the thinness of the crust of use and wont roofing an
infinite depth of unknown possibilities of change, on which we walk,
the heart cries out for some assurance of perpetuity, and some
revelation of God's mind. We can have such, as truly as Noah had, if we
use the Revelation given us in Jesus.
In God's covenant with Noah, the fact of the covenant may first be
noted. What is a covenant? The term usually implies a reciprocal bond,
both parties to which come under obligations by it, each to the other.
But, in this case, there are no obligations on the part of man or of
the creatures. This covenant is God's only. It is contingent on nothing
done by the recipients. He binds Himself, whatever be the conduct of
men. This covenant is the self-motived promise of an unconditional
mercy. May we not say that the 'New Covenant' in Jesus Christ is after
the pattern of this, rather than after the manner of compacts which
require both parties to do their several parts?
But note the great thought, that God limits His freedom of action by
this definite promise. Noah was not left to grope in dread among the
terrible possibilities opened by the flood. God marked out the line on
which He would move, and marked off a course which He would not pursue.
It is like a king giving his subjects a constitution. Men can reckon on
God. He has let them know much of the principles and methods of His
government. He has buoyed out His course, as it were, on the ocean, or
pricked it down upon a chart. We have not to do with arbitrary power,
with inscrutable will. Our God is not one who 'giveth no account of any
of His matters.' To use a common saying, 'We know where to have Him.'
The substance of this covenant is noteworthy. It is concerned solely
with physical nature. There is nothing spiritual or 'religious' about
it. There are to be no more universal deluges. That is all which it
guarantees. But consider how important such an assurance was in two
aspects. Note the solemn light which it threw on the past. It taught
that the flood was an exception in the divine government, which should
stand unrepeated for ever, in its dread pre-eminence testifying how
awful it was as a judicial act, and how outrageous had been the guilt
which it drowned out of existence and sight. A wholesome terror at the
unexampled act of judgment would fill the hearts of the little group
which now represented mankind.
Consider the effect of the covenant in encouraging hope. We have said
that the one thing needful for Noah was some assurance that the new
order would last. He was like a man who has just been rescued from an
earthquake or a volcanic eruption. The ground seems to reel beneath
him. Old habitudes have been curled up like leaves in the fire. Is
there to be any fixity, any ground for continuous action, or for labour
for a moment beyond the present? Is it worth while to plant or sow? Men
who have lived through national tempests or domestic crashes know how
much they need to be steadied afterwards by some reasonable assurance
of comparative continuity. And these men, in the childhood of the race,
would need it much. So they were sent out to till the earth, and to
begin again strenuous lives, with this covenant to keep them from
falling into a hand-to-mouth style of life, which would have brought
them down to barbarism. We all need the same kind of assurance; and
then, when we get it, such is the weakness of humanity, we are tempted
to think that continuity means eternity, and that, because probably
to-morrow shall be as this day, there will never come a to-morrow which
shall be quite unlike to-day. The crust of cooled earth, on which we
walk, is thick enough to bear man and all his works, but there comes a
time when it will crack. The world will not be flooded again, but we
forget, what Noah did not know, that it will be burned.
The parties to the covenant must be noticed. Note how frequently the
share in it, which all living creatures have, is referred to in the
context. In verse 10 the language becomes strained (in the original),
in order to express the universal participation of all living
creatures; and in verse 13 'the earth' itself is spoken of as one
party. God recognises obligations to all living things, and even to the
dumb, non-sentient earth. He will not causelessly quench one bright,
innocent life, nor harm one clod. Surely this is, at least, an
incipient revelation of a God whose 'tender mercies are over all his
works.' He 'doth take care for oxen'; and man, with all the creatures
that are with him, and all the wild ones that 'come not near' him, and
all the solid structure of the world, are held in one covenant of
protecting and sustaining providence and power.
2. The sign of the covenant is described at great length in verses
12-17. Note that verses 12, 13 state the general idea of a token or
sign, that verses 14-16 deepen this by stating that the token to man is
a reminder to God, and that verse 17 sums up the whole with emphatic
repetition of the main points. The narrative does not imply, as has
often been supposed, that the rainbow was visible for the first time
after the deluge. To suppose that, is to read more into the story than
is there, or than common sense tolerates. If there were showers and
sunshine, there must have been rainbows. But the fair vision strode
across the sky with no articulate promise in its loveliness, though it
must always have kindled wonder, and sometimes stirred deeper thoughts.
Now, for the first time, it was made 'a sign,' the visible pledge of
God's promise.
Mark the emphasis with which God's agency is declared and His ownership
asserted. '_I_ do set _My_ bow.' Neither Noah nor the writer knew
anything about refraction or the prismatic spectrum. But perhaps they
knew more about the rainbow than people do who know all about how it
comes, except that God sets it in the cloud, and that it is His. Let us
have the facts which science labels as such, by all means, and the more
the better; but do not let us forget that there are other facts in
nature which science has no means of attaining, but which are as solid
and a great deal deeper than those which it supplies.
The natural adaptation of the rainbow for this office of a token is too
plain to need dwelling on. It 'fills the sky when storms prepare to
part,' and hence is a natural token that the downpour is being stayed.
Somewhere there must be a bit of blue through which the sun can pierce;
and the small gap, which is large enough to let it out, will grow till
all the sky is one azure dome. It springs into sight in front of the
cloud, without which it could not be, so it typifies the light which
may glorify judgments, and is born of sorrows borne in the presence of
God. It comes from the sunshine smiting the cloud; so it preaches the
blending of love with divine judgment. It unites earth and heaven; so
it proclaims that heavenly love is ready to transform earthly sorrows.
It stretches across the land; so it speaks of an all-embracing care,
which enfolds the earth and all its creatures.
It is not only a 'sign to men.' It is also, in the strong
anthropomorphism of the narrative, a remembrancer to God. Of course
this is accommodation of the representation of His nature to the
limitations of ours. And the danger of attaching unworthy ideas to it
is lessened by noticing that He is said to set His bow in the cloud,
before it acts as His remembrancer. Therefore, He had remembered before
it appeared. The truth, conveyed in the childlike language, is that God
has His covenant ever before Him, and that He responds to and honours
the appeal made to Him, by that which He has Himself appointed for a
sign to men. The expectant eyes of the trustful man and the eye of God
meet, as it were, in looking on the sign. On earth it nourishes faith;
in heaven it moves to love and blessing. God can be reminded of what He
always remembers. The rainbow reminds Him of His covenant by its calm
light. Jesus Christ reminds Him of His grace by His intercession before
the throne. We remind Him of His plighted faithfulness by our prayers.
'Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence.'