Genesis 9:8-13

THE RAINBOW COVENANT

"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, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark, even 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 the 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."

This is not the same covenant mentioned in Genesis 6:18. That covenant was conditional, requiring that Noah should build an ark according to God's directions, and then enter it with his family and all the other creatures as God directed. This covenant is absolutely unconditional. That covenant regarded the safety of Noah and those with him on the ark through the impending disaster of the Flood. This one regards absence of any other universal flood unto perpetual generations. No token was given of that covenant, but the rainbow was given as the token of this.

"Covenant ..." This word "occurs some two hundred times in the O.T."[12] There was a series of covenants with Abraham; two were revealed to Noah, and many were made with Israel. There is no need, therefore, to attempt an identification of one particular covenant with another.

"By the waters of a flood ..." This is the prime qualifier of this covenant. The promise was not that "never again would the earth be destroyed," but that it would not be done a second time by means of a flood. The N.T. is explicit, as also the Minor Prophets, that another total destruction of the earth will yet occur, by means of fire, at or near the time of the Great Assize. (See 2 Peter 3; Zechariah 12:9).

"I do set my bow in the cloud ..." There is a difference of opinion as to whether the rainbow appeared at this time for the very first time, or whether this indicated merely a new significance of it decreed by the Father. If the first of these is correct, it would mean that rain had not fallen upon the earth until the times of the flood, which some see as a fact in the light of Genesis 2:6. The great problem of making the rainbow a pre-existing "sign" is that: "If it was, it was a lying sign, because the Flood came in spite of it.[13] Therefore, we conclude that it was not a sign of anything prior to this designation by the Father, no matter whether it had existed previously or not. All kinds of learned opinion has been arrayed on both sides of this question. We prefer the view that it appeared here for the first time. Unger defended the opinion that the bow was a new phenomenon on the basis that "radical changes occurred at the time of the Flood in the earth's atmosphere."[14] The whole question lies beyond the area of any dogmatic certainty. Whenever the rainbow first was seen, "Men are to remember that He who set it there will keep His Word."[15]

N.T. emphasis on the rainbow is pronounced. It adorns the throne of God Himself (Revelation 4:4) and encircles the head of the Rainbow Angel who holds open the redemptive Word of God for mankind (Revelation 10:1).