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Gen. 9:11: - 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

God establishes a covenant with Noah after the flood to never destroy the earth with water again. God promises this by establishing a rainbow as the sign of this covenant. The covenant signifies God's presence with both those within and outside the church, and that humanity will not perish as the last generation did, nor will a flood destroy the earth again.

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46 views

Gen. 9:11: - 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

God establishes a covenant with Noah after the flood to never destroy the earth with water again. God promises this by establishing a rainbow as the sign of this covenant. The covenant signifies God's presence with both those within and outside the church, and that humanity will not perish as the last generation did, nor will a flood destroy the earth again.

Uploaded by

Vailamtah Ministry
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HERMENEUTICS EXERCISE

Gen. 9:11: - 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.

1. The Grammatical-Historical Method


After declaring in the previous few verses that He was about to make a covenant promise
to all of humanity, and all of animal-kind, God now reveals the unilateral agreement He is
making. The first part of this agreement was Noah's responsibility to build an ark (Genesis 6:16 -
18), after which God said He would establish this binding promise. That oath is given here in
direct terms: God will never again use a flood to destroy the earth or to destroy all living things.
Period. God is finished with world-killing floods. This is not a casual commitment for God. The
language used here is of a legally binding contract. God is structuring an official agreement that
He will bind Himself to for all of the earth's history. As with other covenants of that era, God
will establish some sign, or proof, indicating that this covenant is real. In this case, God's sign of
the Noahic covenant is a rainbow (Genesis 9:13).
And I will establish My covenant with you," signifies the presence of the Lord with all
who have charity, and refers to those who go forth from the ark and to every wild animal of the
earth, that is, to men within the church and men without the church; "neither shall all flesh be cut
off any more by the waters of the flood," signifies that they shall not perish like the last posterity
of the Most Ancient Church; "neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth,"
signifies that there shall not come forth any such deadly and suffocating persuasion.

2. Understand the context


Chapter 9 describes God's interactions with Noah and his sons following the flood. First,
God gives blessings and instructions, including the command to reproduce and fill the earth.
Next, God makes a unilateral covenant with humanity and animals never to end all life with a
flood again. He offers the rainbow as a sign of this promise. Finally, Noah prophesies about the
future of his son's descendants after an awkward episode in which Ham talks to his brothers
about seeing Noah passed out drunk and naked.
3. Determine the type of Literature
Once again on dry land with this new beginning, Noah's first act is to build an altar to the
Lord (Gen. 8:20). Here he offers sacrifices that please God, who resolves never again to destroy
humanity "as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter,
day and night, shall not cease" (Gen. 8:22). God binds himself to a covenant with Noah and his
descendants, promising never to destroy the earth by flood (Gen. 9:8-17). God gives the rainbow
as a sign of his promise. Although the earth has radically changed again, God’s purposes for
work remain the same. He repeats his blessing and promises that Noah and his sons will “be
fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1). He affirms his promise of provision of food
through their work (Gen. 9:3). In return he sets requirements for justice among humans and for
the protection of all creatures (Gen. 9:4-6). So, this is historical narrative.

4. Interpret figurative language


The Hebrew word translated "rainbow" actually omits the sense of “rain.” It refers simply
to a bow—a battle and hunting tool. Waltke notes that in ancient Near East mythologies, stars in
the shape of a bow were associated with the anger or hostility of the god, but that “here the
warrior’s bow is hung up, pointed away from the earth (Walter Brueggemann, Genesis (Atlanta: John Knox,

1982)).” Meredith Kline observes that "the symbol of divine bellicosity and hostility has been
transformed into a token of reconciliation between God and man (Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue:

Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2006), 152)." The relaxed bow
stretches from earth to heaven, from horizon to horizon. An instrument of war has become a
symbol of peace through God's covenant with Noah.
Hyperbole is a form of figurative language. The flood story is filled with hyperbole that
would have been recognized by its ancient audience as a figurative description of an event in
order to produce an effect and make a point.
5. Let the Scripture interpret Scripture
The promise here given, that there shall never more be a flood, is appealed to by the
prophet in Isaiah 54:9-10, “for this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be worth with
thee … for the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on
thee.”
There are more than hundreds of Bible passages that the earth will be destroyed by fire.
As God promised to Noah, there shall never more be a flood to destroy the earth again. But, God
will destroy the earth by fire (2 Pet. 3:10).

6. The Application to modern life


Though God will never destroy the earth with water ever again, He will destroy the earth
with fire! Just as water swept away the ungodly in Noah’s day, fire will purge the earth in a
coming day. Men mock at this coming judgment and deny God’s judging mankind with a
universal flood, but God’s Word is true, and men would do well to believe it and to flee from the
wrath to come. Noah found refuge in the Ark of safety and escaped God judgment; Jesus died on
the cross to provide a place of refuge for us. Jesus said in John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you,
he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into
judgement, but has passed out of death into life.” The moment we believe in Jesus Christ as your
Savior, you have eternal life and will never come into judgment. God places us in Christ, the
believing sinner’s Ark of safety! Romans 8:1 declares, “Therefore there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

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