Our Scripture Of The Week Is:

Deuteronomy 8:5 KJVS
[5] Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.

Thou shalt also consider in thine heart
Frequently think of, and meditate upon, revolve in their thoughts, well weigh in their minds, and take into thorough and deliberate consideration in their hearts; it being a matter of great moment and importance to them for their peace and comfort and the glory of God, namely, what follows:

that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee;
that they stood in the same relation to God as a son to a father, and therefore happy and honourable; that all their afflictions came from God, were appointed, sent, directed, and overruled by him for his own glory and their good.

That these were the chastenings and corrections of a father, and were not done in wrath, but in love, and therefore should be patiently endured; and it became them to consider well from what hand they came, and in what manner, and for what ends and purposes, how they ought to behave under them, and what they should do, as follows.

Our topic today is:

NEW INSTRUCTIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS part 2 Discussion

Verse 7 wraps up the section of blessings and commands by repeating the contents of verse 1: Noah, his sons, and all humanity to follow were charged with having more and more children and filling up the earth again.

Implied in the command is God's blessing to make it possible for humanity to continue to reproduce, to continue to receive the gift of children from God's hand through the process of human reproduction. God had wiped out humanity for its sinfulness, but God's intent is for humanity to thrive again under a new and reestablished relationship with Him.

The repeat of this command is also important in that it follows God's specific call for severe punishment in cases of murder. In verse 6, God institutes a requirement that any man or animal who murders a human being is to be put to death. The reason given was due to man's status as an image-bearer of God.

Here, by returning to the issue of expanding the human race, we see a second reason for God's harsh stance against murder. Rather than allow the kind of violence which had ruined the pre-flood world, God sets a new standard.

One difference of the post-flood era, beginning with chapter 9, is that God is speaking directly to Noah's sons, as well as to Noah. God is specifically including the next generation in His promises, commands, and blessings. In prior verses, God established some new details in man's relationship with animals, including the animal kingdom's fear of man and permission for humans to eat animal flesh.

Blood, however, is not to be eaten. Prior verses also established that instances of murder, whether by a man or an animal, would require the death penalty. As mankind are the image-bearers of God, God would not allow murder and violence to spread to the extent it did prior to the flood.

In this passage, God will establish a specific agreement with Noah and all of his descendants. This was foreshadowed by God prior to the flood (Genesis 6:18). This promise from God involves His vow to never again destroy all life on earth with a flood. The sign given to prove this covenant is God's bow, "set" in the clouds, rather than held ready for battle: the rainbow.

A "covenant" is a solemn agreement between two parties, where each side has certain obligations. Both parties in the covenant are bound to follow through on their end of the agreement. In some cases, those responsibilities are conditional. In such instances, the requirements are stated as "if this, then that."

In others, the mandates are expected no matter what the other party does. In Genesis 6:18, God promises to establish a covenant with Noah. Noah's side of that binding agreement came in his work of building the ark. Now, as promised, God is about to explain His part of the covenant He has made with humanity through Noah and his sons.

God reveals His covenant to all four men and not just to Noah, the patriarch. This will be a covenant with all of the peoples of the earth to follow from these four men—which means it is a covenant with all the peoples of the world to live since that day. Specifically, God will promise to never again destroy all life on earth with a flood. As a sign of this promise, God provides the rainbow.

Prior to the flood, God promised to establish a covenant with Noah (Genesis 6:18), after Noah demonstrated obedience by building the ark. In the previous verse, God revealed to Noah and his three sons that He was about to establish His part of that covenant. This agreement would apply to all living things, which were descended from those who left the ark.

What this verse reveals is that the covenant is also between God and all of animal-kind: every kind of creature that survived the flood aboard the ark. God lists them: birds, livestock, every kind of beast, every living thing. God does not generally make covenant agreements with animals.

Yet, He gives animals special honor here by including them in this promise. God shows that, though He wiped out nearly all of animal-kind in the flood, He still cares deeply about these creatures He has created. God has said that man will triumph over the animals and that humans may eat anything that moves, but that doesn't mean that God sees animals as worthless or expendable.

He makes this promise to them, as well. The promise, given explicitly in the next verse, is that God will never again destroy all life on earth with a flood.

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.

This type of covenant agreement was common in ancient times, but this one is unusual in that God also includes animals as participants. They have no particular obligation, but God includes them in His vow. 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).

This was a common aspect of covenant agreements. Later, when establishing a covenant with Abraham, God will use the sign of circumcision (Genesis 17:11). That sign is revealed in the next verse: God's bow, "set" in the sky, rather than being held in God's hand.

The bow was a symbol of warfare, so the symbolism of it being set in the clouds as a human might hang their bow on a wall represents God's peaceful intentions through the covenant.

More specifically, God says that He has set His bow in the cloud. The word for bow can be used of a battle bow, but the description of the bow being set on the occasion of clouds and being visible on the earth—along with the fact that the same word can be used for rainbow—makes it clear God is speaking of the rainbow.

This is a "sign" which people can see directly. The language used by God here is meant to suggest the symbolic hanging up of a battle weapon after the war is done and it is time for peace. God is taking responsibility for creating rainbows as a symbol of His pledge to humanity and to animals, never again to send a global flood.

While rainbows are a scientific, meteorological phenomenon, Genesis asserts that God is responsible for every scientific and meteorological phenomenon (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 19:1). God chose to cause rainbows to function as a symbol of His covenant promise.

Verse 14 and 15 complete a single thought. Prior to the flood, God began to establish a covenant agreement with Noah (Genesis 6:18). At that time, the obligation was on Noah to build an ark to hold himself, his family, and the animals God intended to save.

After the flood, God establishes His side of the promise. This binding vow is made to all of the people of the earth, as well as all of the animals. He will never bring a global flood again. Covenant agreements were often remembered using some kind of visual sign or symbol (Genesis 17:11). In the prior verse, God explained that the sign of this particular covenant would be His bow set in the clouds.

This evokes the idea of a warrior setting his weapon aside once the battle is over and the time has come for peace. In verses 14 and 15, God begins to describe what will happen when a rainbow becomes visible.

This completes the thought begun in the previous verse. God has established His covenant promise with all life on the earth that He will never again bring a global flood to destroy every living thing. Now God says that when the rainbow becomes visible against the clouds, He will remember His covenant.

He will not send another flood. Usually in Scripture, signs for covenants are given by humans, not by God.

Those signs ....