Genesis 9:17

Gen 9:17 And God said unto Noah, This [is] the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that [is] upon the earth.

Ver. 17. This is the token of the Covenant.] This is often repeated, {a} that it may be the better observed, and we full assured; as Pharaoh’s dream was for this cause doubled. God goes over the same thing often with us, as the knife doth the whetstone, which is the scriptural allusion. He well knows how slow of heart we are, and how dull of hearing; and therefore whets and beats things of high concernment upon us, that we may once apprehend andm embrace them. Christ is said to have "a rainbow on his head," {Rev 10:1} to show that he is faithful and constant in his promises, and that tempests shall blow over. Let us see God’s love in his corrections, as by a rainbow we see the beautiful image of the sun’s light, in the midst of a dark and waterish cloud.

{a} Deu 6:7. Exacues ea: id est, accurate et commodissime inculcabis. - Buxtorf. Lexic.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God doth repeat this the oftener, to confirm Noah’s faith so much the more.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 17. This is the token] אות oth, The Divine sign or portent: The bow shall be in the cloud. For the reasons above specified it must be there, when the circumstances already mentioned occur; if therefore it cannot fail because of the reasons before assigned, no more shall my promise; and the bow shall be the proof of its perpetuity.

Both the Greeks and Latins, as well as the Hebrews, have ever considered the rainbow as a Divine token or portent; and both of these nations have even deified it, and made it a messenger of the gods.

Homer, Il. xi., ver. 27, speaking of the figures on Agamemnon's breastplate, says there were three dragons, whose colours were

- - ιρισσιν εοικοτες, ἁς τε Κρονων.

Εν νεφεΐ στηριξε, τερας μεροπων ανθρωπων.

"like to the rainbow which the son of Saturn has placed in the cloud as a SIGN to mankind," or to men of various languages, for so the μεροπων αντρωπων of the poet has been understood. Some have thought that the ancient Greek writers give this epithet to man from some tradition of the confusion and multiplication of tongues at Babel; hence in this place the words may be understood as implying mankind at large, the whole human race; God having given the rainbow for a sign to all the descendants of Noah, by whom the whole earth was peopled after the flood. Thus the celestial bow speaks a universal language, understood by all the sons and daughters of Adam. Virgil, from some disguised traditionary figure of the truth, considers the rainbow as a messenger of the gods. AEn. v., ver. 606:

IRIM de caelo misit Saturnia Juno.

"Juno, the daughter of Saturn, sent down the rainbow from heaven;" and again, AEn. ix., ver. 803: -

aeriam caelo nam Jupiter IRIM Demisit.

"For Jupiter sent down the ethereal rainbow from heaven."

It is worthy of remark that both these poets understood the rainbow to be a sign, warning, or portent from heaven."

As I believe the rainbow to have been intended solely for the purpose mentioned in the text, I forbear to make spiritual uses and illustrations of it. Many have done this, and their observations may be very edifying, but they certainly have no foundation in the text.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. This is the token, &c.] This verse, according to the style of P, reiterates the substance of 11–13.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And God said to Noah, this is the token of the covenant,.... Which is repeated for the greater confirmation and certainty of it, since the fears of men would be apt to run very high, especially while the flood was fresh in memory:

which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth: see Gen 9:9, it is highly probable, that from the rainbow being the token of the covenant between God and Noah, and the creatures, sprung the fable of the Chinese concerning their first emperor, Fohi, who seems to be the same with Noah, and whom they call the son of heaven, and say he had no father; which is this, that his mother, walking on the bank of a lake near Lanthien, in the province of Xensi, trod upon a large footstep of a man impressed upon the sand, and from thence, being surrounded with the rainbow, conceived and brought forth Fohi (x).

(x) Martin. Sinic. Hist. p. 11.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The same thing is so oft repeated for the strengthening of the faith of all men, and especially of Noah and his sons, whom the remembrance of that dreadful deluge, which they had experience of, had made exceeding prone to fears of the like for time to come.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant. Murphy thinks that God here directed the patriarch"s attention to an actual rainbow; it seems more natural to conclude that from the beginning of the interview (Gen_8:20) the ark, altar, and worshippers were encircled by its variegated arch. Kalisch compares with the rainbow the other signs which God subsequently appended to his covenants; as, e.g., circumcision, (Gen_17:11) the passover, (Exo_12:13) the sabbath (ibid. 31:13). The Noachic covenant being universal, the sign was also universal meropwn ajnqrwpwn" (I1., 11:27), a sign to men of many tongues. The later covenants being limited to Israel, their signs were local and provisional, and have now been supplanted by the higher symbolism of the Christian Church, viz., baptism, the Lord"s Supper, and the Christian sabbath. Which I have established . The different verbs used in this passage in connection with tyriB may be here brought together.

1. tn; (ver. 12) representing the covenant as a gift of Divine grace.

2. sWq (Hiph.; vers. 9, 11, 17) exhibiting the covenant as something which God has both caused to stand and raised up when fallen.

3. rkz; (ver. 15) depicting the covenant as always present to the Divine mind. Tuch, Stahelin, and Delitzsch detect an idiosyncrasy of the Elohist in using the first and second of these verbs instead of trK; the favorite expression of the Jehovist. But trK; is used by the Elohist in Gen_21:27, Gen_21:32, while in Deu_4:18 the Jehovist uses syqihe. Between ms and all flesh that is upon the earth.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

זאת אות הברית THIS IS THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT — He pointed to the rainbow, and said to him, “This is the sign of which I have spoken.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויאמר אלוקים, G’d repeated His blessings a third time in order to reassure him beyond doubt. According to Bereshit Rabbah 38 our paragraph contains 6 covenants which were meant to correspond to the six days of the creation. If you were to question that actually there are 7, the answer is that the first one was needed in its own right, and cannot be used to relate to other matters. [what are meant by “6 covenants,” are the 6 (respectively 7) separate utterances reported by G’d in this paragraph, utterances which could have been considerably condensed by the use of longer sentences and conjunctive letters. Ed.]

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.