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Scott's Reference Library
Genesis 9:8 through Genesis 9:17 (NIV)
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9“I now establish my covenant
with you and with your descendants after you 10and 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. 11I establish
my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a
flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12And 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: 13I
have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant
between me and the earth. 14Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the
rainbow appears in the clouds, 15I 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. 16Whenever 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.”
17So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established
between me and all life on the earth.”
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSES 8-17
As the old world was ruined, to be a monument of justice, so this world remains
to this day a monument of mercy. But sin, that drowned the old world, will burn
this. Articles of agreement among men are sealed, that what is promised may be
the more solemn, and the doing of what is covenanted the more sure to mutual
satisfaction. The seal of this covenant was the rainbow, which, it is likely,
was seen in the clouds before, but was never a seal of the covenant till now it
was made so. The rainbow appears when we have most reason to fear the rain
prevailing; God then shows this seal of the promise, that it shall not prevail.
The thicker the cloud, the brighter the bow in the cloud. Thus, as threatening
afflictions abound, encouraging consolations much more abound. The rainbow is
the reflection of the beams of the sun shining upon or through the drops of
rain: all the glory of the seals of the covenant are derived from Christ, the
Sun of righteousness. And he will shed a glory on the tears of his saints. A bow
speaks terror, but this has neither string nor arrow; and a bow alone will do
little hurt. It is a bow, but it is directed upward, not toward the earth; for
the seals of the covenant were intended to comfort, not to terrify. As God looks
upon the bow, that he may remember the covenant, so should we, that we may be
mindful of the covenant with faith and thankfulness. Without revelation this
gracious assurance could not be known; and without faith it can be of no use to
us; and thus it is as to the still greater dangers to which all are exposed, and
as to the new covenant with its blessings.