Noah's Covenant and the Rainbow
After the waters receded, God set His bow in the clouds and promised never again to destroy the earth by a flood.
When Noah and his family came out of the ark, Noah built an altar unto the LORD and offered burnt offerings, and God made a covenant with him, with his sons, and with every living creature that came out of the ark. God promised that never again would all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and He gave a sign of that promise that every generation could see: 'I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.' Whenever the bow appeared in the clouds, God said He would remember the everlasting covenant between Himself and every living creature. The covenant with Noah reaches over all humanity and all creation, a sign of God's patience and faithfulness toward a world that still needed redemption.
Did You Know?
The covenant includes 'every living creature' that came out of the ark - the fowl, the cattle, and every beast of the earth.
Just before the covenant, God blessed Noah and his sons with the words first spoken over Adam: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.'
God says that He Himself will look upon the bow and remember the everlasting covenant.
Peter later recalls how 'the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing.'
Key Passage
Noah's Covenant and the Rainbow
Genesis 9:8-17
8nd God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
Meanwhile in the World
The earliest civilizations are emerging in Mesopotamia (Sumer) and Egypt. Writing has not yet been invented. Humans are transitioning from nomadic to agricultural life. The Sumerian King List and early Egyptian dynasties provide the first historical records.
