God's Covenant with Noah (9:1-17)

2. God's Covenant with Noah (9:1-17)Both Yahwist and Priestly writers record God making a pledge of commitment to Noah. The version in chapter 9 takes the form of a covenant. Covenants in the ancient world were formalized relationships regulated by terms and conditions.

    This is the first explicit act of covenant in the Hebrew Bible, and for that reason it is highly significant. In fact, the term covenant is used a total of seven times in this episode. Through this act of relationship God commits to continue life, both human and animal. As the following episode demonstrates, perversity still characterizes human behaviors, but because of the covenant God refrains from initiating a second deluge. The rainbow in the sky, the return of brilliance after the dark of storm, is the sign and reminder of this covenant.
    Notable elements of this covenant episode echo the language of the Priestly creation story. God blesses Noah and his sons using the same language as Genesis 1:28: "Be fruitful and increase and fill the earth." As in the creation story humans here are given charge of the created world with the added provision that animals may be eaten as food--if the blood is first removed. Human life receives special divine sanction because humanity is made in the "image of Elohim" (9:6; see also 1:27).

I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." (9:11)