This week, we are focusing on the favorite scripture of our own Elaine Becker. Elaine shared with me that her favorite Scripture is Genesis 9:11….this is at the end of the Noah story when God makes a covenant with Noah – apparently this covenant is called by scholars the “Noahide” covenant or the “Noahic” covenant. God established a covenant with the people and animals of the earth and promised to never destroy the earth again by a flood.
We are going to read the portion of Noah’s story that focuses on God’s covenant. Please turn to Genesis 9 and read along with me, starting at verse one and reading until verse 17:
The Scripture Genesis 9:1-17
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.
3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you
10 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.
11 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.”
12 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:
13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
15 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.
16 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.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray…
The Message The Rainbow and the Redeemer: An Everlasting Promise, An Unconditional Welcome
Throughout history, God has established covenants with the people of the earth – many covenants. In a biblical context, a covenant is a sacred, legally binding agreement or relationship between God and humanity that involves mutual commitments, obligations, and promises.
Unlike a modern contract, which is typically a business arrangement based on conditions and self-interest, a covenant establishes a deep, enduring personal bond—often sealed with an oath, a sacrifice, or a visible sign (such as a rainbow or circumcision).
When we hear the word “Covenant,” we usually think of the Covenant God made with Abraham and Sarah – that their descendants would populate the earth. Or, we may think of the Covenant God made with Moses – that the Jewish people would repopulate the Promised Land of Israel. But, God made a covenant with David, a covenant with Adam, a covenant with Noah, and most importantly the “New Covenant” made with the world after the death and resurrection of Jesus that God will totally forgive our sins, fill us with the Holy Spirit, and write God’s law upon our hearts.
Today, we focus on the Noahic covenant.
But first, let’s remember some of the details of the Noah story. The Noah story is a creation story. After the creation of the earth, God watched the people of the earth from afar and observed that we didn’t do very well if we were left to our own devices. Wickedness prevailed across the earth. People were violent and corrupt. God regretted creating humanity. So, God decided to have a “do-over.”
Noah stood out to God as being morally upright and faithful to God. So, God decided to spare Noah and his family and get rid of everyone else. God approached Noah directly, told him to build an ark, and load it with the animals of the earth. In some verses of the Noah story, it says Noah loaded the animals on the boat with a male and female pair of each type of animal. In other verses, it says Noah loaded the boat with seven pairs of each type of animal – I guess to prevent inbreeding. But, the people who passed down this story orally over the centuries didn’t know about genetic inbreeding, so the important thing to remember is that the animals joined the people on-board the boat – the Ark.
God flooded the earth. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The rain covered the earth for 150 days. Noah released a Raven and then a Dove to discover if the earth was dry enough to exit the ark. When the Dove returned to Noah with an olive leaf in its beak, Noah knew the coast was clear and he, his family, and the animals could leave the ark. They were on the ark for almost a year.
Once everyone and everything departed the ark, Noah made an altar and offered a sacrifice for God in thanksgiving for their survival.
Our scripture for today comes after God received the sacrifice. God told Noah and his family to be faithful and fruitful – it would be their job to repopulate the earth – Noah’s wife and three daughters-in-law were going to be very pregnant for a long time. God established his “unconditional” covenant with the people, and animals, of the earth – God would never again destroy the earth with a flood. And, the rainbow was set in the sky as a sign of this promise.
The word for the rainbow in Hebrew is “Keshet.” This word has a double meaning. Keshet is also used for a “war bow” – the bow used by an archer when fighting in a war with bows and arrows. In the ancient world, after a war ended, the king would unstring his bow and hang it in a prominent, visible place – facing like an upside-down U. If the bow was strung, and it had an arrow on it, and the string was pulled back, the arrow would shoot into the heavens and not hurt anyone. This was a symbol to everyone the war was over and the people were at peace. The rainbow is like God’s war bow, unstrung and hung on the heavens for everyone to see that we are at peace – God promises not to allow the destruction of the earth again.
This was not a conditional promise, a conditional covenant. God didn’t promise not to destroy the earth if everyone behaved. God didn’t promise not to destroy the earth if we all perfectly followed God’s commandments. God didn’t promise not to destroy the earth if we were good. God promised not to destroy the earth…peroid….unconditionally.
The story of Noah’s covenant with God is a story of hope for everyone. God’s experiment of creating humanity will not end because God decides to destroy us. The rainbow is a symbol of a “divine disarming.”
Jesus is the embodiment of God’s “disarmed,” radical grace. The ways of the world are not forgiving or graceful – we want to punish our enemies….we are into “tit for tat.” People hold grudges, countries try to outdo each other with retaliatory tariffs, empires wage wars against their perceived opponents. People are not forgiving and we don’t do a good job of reacting to slights with graceful inaction. But, Jesus is the embodiment of “God’s disarmed radical grace.”
Jesus is often depicted in our artwork hanging on the cross – with his arms outstretched with mercy. Jesus is opening his arms to hug the people of the world. Jesus’ sacrificial love for humanity is the symbol of God’s love for humanity. God reaches into the world to hug us close and to love us with no exceptions, with no conditions.
God’s love for us is unconditional. God doesn’t look at our performance, our goodness, or our ability to follow God’s rules and decide based on how we have behaved whether to love us or not. Instead, God loves us unconditionally. Jesus came to earth to tell us that God’s grace is for everyone.
So, as a response to God’s love, we must do everyone we can to in-turn love God and love each other. We are the recipients of God’s forgiveness and love. We are the recipients of God’s unconditional covenants. Let us respond to God’s love by caring for each other, and caring for God’s creation…
Today and all days. Amen.