WEEKLY
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An
international Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday September 3, 2017
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THE
RAINBOW COVENANT
(We
can depend on GOD’s eternal promises)
(Genesis
8:20 and 9:8-17)
The historical writings in the Book of Genesis, not only tells
the story of a “chosen people of GOD”, and how GOD acted upon the lives of the
Jews (Genesis 12-50), but it also actually begins by telling the story of how
GOD acted upon the lives of all mankind and all living creatures in general, as
our Holy and sovereign CREATOR (Genesis 1-11).
In the Old Testament, GOD is attempting to
show us just how far we are from HIS high and holy standards. And in the New
Testament, GOD sends us JESUS to try and show us just how we can move closer to
that high and holy standard. The Old Testament also contains the stories of the
many men and women of deep and powerful unbending faith such as Abraham, Moses,
Joshua, David, and the like, who all clung to their belief in the Almighty GOD.
In this day and age, we too, can build, and
embody the same measures of faith that those people exhibited in their
lifetimes, but we, like them, must sincerely seek and honor GOD just as they
did, in all that we do. We will never be required by GOD to come up with any
ground-breaking methods, by way of our considerable “human ingenuity”, of
serving HIM, but rather, we will always be expected by GOD to worship and obey
HIM HIS way, not ours. And all of GOD’s ways, in which HE wants us to serve HIM,
are already laid out in Scripture.
Genesis is the first book of the Holy
Bible, and, the first of five books accredited to the authorship of Moses.
Moses is one of the most towering figures in Jewish history, and, the one who
came to be known simply, as “The Law Giver”. He begins his writings with the
telling of the “Creation Account” of all things, “the fall of man at the hands
of Adam and Eve”, and “the subsequent intolerable wickedness of mankind”, which
led to the “Great Flood” method of destruction by GOD.
However, just as GOD always replaced the
darkness of our ancestors existence, with the light of HIS presence in those
days, so it is too, in these days of the twenty-first century. Over the next
few lessons, we will focus on, and trace GOD’s covenant promises to HIS people,
through, the annals of Old Testament biblical history, and we’ll began with
this first account of GOD’s “Rainbow Covenant” with Noah. Noah is the first man
in Scripture to be called “righteous” (Genesis 6:9), and he was the only
righteous man on earth at the time of the flood!
Finally, some 10 ½ months after the great
Flood had begun (Genesis 8:20), Noah lifted the cover of the ark back, and saw
that the waters had gone down considerably. And after two more months went by,
the earth had completely dried up from the excesses of water that was left as a
result of GOD’s judgment on the earth, and, on sinful man.
It was then that GOD told Noah and his
family to leave the ark, and to set the animal and wildlife cargo free so that
they could perform their roles in the replenishment of the earth. And so 377
days after they boarded the ark, Noah and his family were now able to, once
again, stand on dry land, this time as the recipients of GOD’s great Salvation
from a sinful atmosphere and environment. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD
and used the animals and birds that had earlier been earmarked by the LORD for
sacrifice, and the LORD was very pleased with him.
There at the altar, the LORD made a solemn
promise to Noah that HE would never again curse the earth, destroying all living
things, even though HE knew man would quickly return to his sinful state of
being, and, that their every thought and action would eventually be geared
toward evil from the time of their childhood forward.
Nevertheless, GOD
promised that as long as HE decides to allow the earth to remain, it will
always enjoy the seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter), and the days, and
the nights, will refresh themselves at the appointed space in time (every 24
hours), in perpetual intervals until GOD says, it is enough again. However, HE
would never again cause total destruction upon the earth, and all living
things.
In Genesis chapter 9, verses 1-15, we take
up this great man’s story at a time, immediately following the world-ending
Flood. Here Noah and his sons are instructed by GOD, just as Adam and Eve were,
in the beginning, to be fruitful and multiply (“male”-pronounced “maw-lay”, which
means to “replenish”) and fill the earth with human life.
In the beginning, we must remember that,
GOD also instructed Adam and Eve to eat only the vegetation of the land.
However, this order came with one restriction, “Do not eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil”, and after their disobedience to this command from
GOD, HE quickly had to remove them from the “Garden of Eden” before they had a
chance to eat from the other tree at the center of the garden, the eternal
“Tree of Life”.
Once again, here GOD gives man dominion
over the animals of the earth, but this time, HE allows man the use of all animals
for food. This is not a contradiction to Deuteronomy 14:3-21, because man in
those days did not live under the “Law of Moses”, which did not exist at that
time, and was put in place much later on, to distinguish the Jewish lifestyle,
which started with Abraham, from the rest of human society.
Some believe that the stipulations that
were placed on the Gentiles during the “Acts 15 Council” in the first century (Acts
15), by the Church leaders at Jerusalem, find their origins comprised here
within the Rainbow Covenant. Despite the fact that the distinction between
“clean” and “unclean” animals already existed (Genesis 7:2), GOD, nevertheless,
here allows for the consumption of all plants and animals, by man. However, GOD
did issued one restriction, and that was, that, man not eat an animal with its
“lifeblood” still in it.
Because we bear GOD’s “spiritual image”
(GOD’s Nature), in HIS eyes, every human being is irreplaceable. In verses 5-7,
it is important that we clearly understand that, the “Death sentence” which GOD
imposes upon those who kill other human beings, is neither “retribution”, and
nor, is it a “preventative measure” to guard against murder itself.
Each and every human life is so significant
to GOD that no penalty less than death, provides an adequate measure of value.
It is the only way to impress upon man, the ultimate worth of an individual, in
the eyes of GOD. Apparently GOD saw the necessity for a covenant that not only
came in the form of a promise from HIM, but HE also reasoned that, there must
be an obligation from man that he not take life lightly after seeing the
devastation of the flood.
GOD did not want the example of the flood’s
destruction to be taken as a sign that HE placed a “cheap value” on human life.
This covenant was to show that life is sacred, and that man must not destroy
that which is “made in the spiritual image of GOD”. Man also needed to learn
how to govern himself with “human laws” that would ensure the stability of
nature, and, that wickedness would not run amok like it had before the flood.
And so here we see, quite literally, “the birth of government into human
society”.
In verses 8-17 GOD makes a covenant with
Noah that has come to be known as the “Rainbow Covenant”. Unlike the “Abrahamic
Covenant” (Genesis 15), and the “Davidic Covenant” (2 Samuel 7) that would come
later, it is a covenant that concerns all mankind forever, and not just the
Jews. Throughout the history of the world, GOD has always dealt with man
through various covenants, and here in this passage, we find the very first one.
The next time we look up in the sky and see
a Rainbow that spans to connect the Heavens to the earth, remember GOD’s
promise of security to Noah, that comes across the spans of time to lend to us
also, that same assurance of security. It is reminiscent of the security that
CHRIST JESUS gives us, when we accept the covenant that was ushered in to us by
HIM many years later, and signed in HIS OWN blood. It is a superior covenant
that, unlike the Rainbow Covenant with Noah, reconnects us with GOD, and
secures our future in Heaven.
A
Sunday school lesson by,
Larry
D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
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