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.” (Genesis 9:12-17)

-- Jubilee Bible

One of the Many

One of the Many

The study of these verses led to further evidence for my early disdain of 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 that 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 that are 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 on a daily basis. Think about the work involved in gathering the food. Gathering the creatures. Keeping them alive.

God could have made Noah and his family’s lives easy in those days. 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 choice offered—a heavy enough burden on its own—but God gave them even more weight to carry: the creatures He could so easily have just 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 only species that had disappointed God that was saved.

This thought leads me to believe that all the dogs that I have loved and cared for have received their own consideration from their Creator. Our Creator.

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:

I have heard it said that prostitution of the flesh is the oldest profession. This is not so. Adam’s first assignment was to care for the creatures he held dominion over. He didn’t tell Adam to care for the grains. 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. It could go deeper: Abel gave the best of what he nurtured; Cain tossed out the least of what he grew.

What do you mean I am not the center of God's attention?

Genesis 9:12-17 NIV

The Covenant

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:

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.”