Genesis 9:12-17
“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. ”
-- KJV
One of the Many
Studying these verses gave me more evidence for my early disdain for what I often called Jesus’s eighth-grade science project.
We were made; we failed to follow the rules, rinse, repeat. How long before the colors start to fade?
“Look at me! I go to church. God loves me, no matter what I do.”
So what? God gave me everything; I gave nothing but contempt in return. One of the sources of my anger came from what is perhaps my most selfish perspective: I would sooner save the life of a dog than the life of a man. I am sure that is a blasphemous character trait. I am working on it. That said, the insolence we humans so proudly thrive in—that we are the apple of God’s eye, and surely no other creature is worthy of His love and protection as we are—might come from an abject failure to comprehend the words written and offered to us freely.
In Genesis 9, I noticed, not once but five times, that He does not enter into the covenant with just us. He includes “every living creature of all flesh.” God could easily have re-created all of the creatures He ordered Noah to protect and care for on the ark. Imagine the mayhem that ensued. Think about the work involved in gathering the food. Gathering the creatures and then keeping them alive on the voyage.
I am one of God's children. I am not all of God's children. An addiction, I wanted to be the center of the universe. I never will be. And I should give up on the idea, because it is bat shit crazy.
Genesis 9:12-17
WEB
The Covenant
12 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:
13
I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.
14
When I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud,
15
I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16
The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
17
God said to Noah, "This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."
God could have made Noah and his family’s lives easy. Instead, not only did they have to suffer knowing that all of humanity, except for them, was gone—wiped away with no compassion and no alternative offers—a heavy enough burden on its own—but God gave them even more weight to carry: the creatures He could so easily remade when the waters receded.
Then, He extends His covenant to those creatures. All of them. Even the spiders. We were not the only species saved. We were the only species with free will that was saved.
We were the ones who disappointed God. We were the ones who defied him.
Another point worthy of noting here is that God's conversation with Noah seems almost fretful. I don't believe He was struggling with his feelings; I think He was demonstrating to us that we should give weight to our own. Consider all sides of an argument. Don't jump to conclusions. If God spent the time to emphasize a point to Noah five times in four sentences, He was probably serious.
Version Study & Takeaway
The Linguistic Trap:
In Genesis 4:2, Abel is called a ro'eh tson—a "feeder" or "shepherd" of flocks. His daily work was walking alongside, protecting, and caring for living, breathing creatures (nephesh chayyah).
Cain was an oved adamah "tiller of the soil." He worked the unfeeling ground.
The Takeaway:
Caring for God's creations is our earliest obligation to the Creator. Adam was placed in the garden to steward life, not just extract yield. Abel's work required active care for living, breathing creatures, while Cain worked the soil from which man was made and by which his own hunger was fed. Maybe that point bears some weight on Cain’s offering compared to Abel’s.
It is always pointed out that Abel offered God his best specimen while Cain offered seconds. This lesson examines the depth of love for others versus the depth of our love for ourselves. God is always trying to show us the same thing: in all things, the more we offer, the more we receive. I don't think the lesson lies in grain versus flesh, or an unblemished lamb held against a day-old tomato. What if God's point was the depth of attachment to that which we are willing to give up?
I would hand over the contents of my pantry with little concern for my own likely hunger. I would not so easily hand over my dog. The degree of surrender is measured by the spiritual connection we have with what we offer up. In effect, the lamb is love; the wheat is not.