Variety: Genesis 9:9–17
‘I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 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. 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.’
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: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 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. 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.’
So God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.’
Genesis 9:9–17
The Great Flood was a terrible low point. Things on earth had become so bad God decided to do a radical reset and if you weren’t one of the fortunate few sheltered on the ark you were toast. Now the waters have receded in an echo of day three of creation, and a new chapter begins with the first covenant instigated by God recorded in the Bible.
Bible publishers often insert titles and subheadings to guide us through the text. Your version may well call this section, ‘God’s covenant with Noah.’ As we have just read, though, it isn’t just with Noah, is it? Eight times in nine verses the text repeats this covenant is with all living things and we still miss it. We’re so vain we always think the Bible’s about us (with apologies to Carly Simon!).
Just as God had rescued a remnant of humans from drowning, he had also ensured there were breeding pairs of all manner of other creatures. Verse 10 distinguishes between livestock and wild creatures in case we assumed the purpose of saving them was to meet human needs. And now he was promising every living creature, including us, he would never again send a flood to destroy the whole earth. What is the significance of this wide scope?
By covenanting with all life, God is affirming its value. This is a foundational reason for followers of Jesus to take the care of creation seriously. It is a declaration that God chose preservation over destruction. A few verses before he regretted the whole endeavour, but the existence of the universe is not in question after this. The promise is for all time – an ‘everlasting covenant’.
Unlike all other biblical covenants, this one rests entirely on God. There are no responsibility or break clauses. Life will survive human sin because God is faithful and merciful and he keeps his word. There can be an exhaustion and ragged despair about some environmental campaigners and activists, those who believe we have to save the world. They know the issues have got beyond us. As Christians we can rest in the knowledge there is a saviour God and he’s got us.
Jo Swinney A Rocha International