Catholic Commentary on Genesis 9

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." (Genesis 9:13)

The Covenant with Noah

After the flood, God establishes the first formal covenant in Scripture, the Noahic covenant, with Noah and his sons and every living creature. It is unconditional and universal: God will never again destroy all life with a flood. He gives the sign of this covenant: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. The rainbow is not merely a beautiful meteorological phenomenon. It is a divine promise, written in light across the sky, renewing creation after judgment. The Catechism calls the Noahic covenant the first stage in the progressive revelation of God's plan of salvation, the establishment of the cosmic framework within which all subsequent covenants will be made (CCC 56).

God also gives new regulations for this new beginning: the fear and dread of humanity will be on every animal, but every moving thing that lives will be food. However, the life of the creature, which is its blood, must not be eaten. And most significantly: whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made mankind. The prohibition on murder is grounded not in social utility but in theology: to kill a human being is to attack the image of God. This is the foundation of every subsequent account of human dignity in the biblical tradition.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, every rainbow you see is a divine promise. Not a cliche, not a greeting card. The covenant God made with Noah after the flood, renewed in the sky every time light meets rain. The God who makes and keeps covenants is the same God who keeps every promise he has made to you. When you see the rainbow, remember: he will not abandon what he has made. He remembers his covenant. Forever.

Prayer

Lord God, you set your rainbow in the clouds as the sign of your covenant with all living things. You bound yourself by promise never to abandon your creation. Help us to trust your covenant word with the same certainty that the rainbow declares it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

9
The Covenant of the Rainbow
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things. 4 But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. 5 And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
 
6 Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man his blood will be shed;
for in His own image
God has made mankind.
7 But as for you,
be fruitful and multiply;
spread out across the earth
and multiply upon it.”
 
8 Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth—every living thing that came out of the ark. 11 And I 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.”
 
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: 13 I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
 
14 Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.”
 
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.”
Noah’s Shame and Canaan’s Curse
 
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
 
20 Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded * 9:20 Or was the first to plant a vineyard. 21 But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
 
23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
 
24 When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
 
“Cursed be Canaan!
A servant of servants
shall he be to his brothers.”
Shem’s Blessing and Noah’s Death
 
26 He also declared:
 
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
27 May God expand the territory of Japheth;† 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for expand.
may he dwell in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his servant.”
 
28 After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. 29 So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

*9:20 9:20 Or was the first

†9:27 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for expand.

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