Genesis 8:15–22; 9:1, 11–16

Explore the Bible
Assistant Professor of Christian Ministries, University of Mobile

A FRESH START

Genesis 8:15–22; 9:1, 11–16

A New Start (8:15–19)

As Chapter 8 begins the rain stops and a new world starts to emerge from the cleansing waters of the flood. God remembered Noah. This is the turning point in the flood story. When the Bible says that God “remembers” someone or His covenant with someone, it indicates that He is about to take action for that person’s welfare.

In verses 15–19, God gives the command for Noah, his family and the animals to go out from the ark and Noah obeys. Noah had obeyed God and entered the ark at God’s command and now he disembarks when God commands. There is an important principle to learn here: understanding can wait but obedience cannot. Noah did not completely understand what God was doing nor did he know God’s timetable but he obeys God anyway. We often will not understand what God is up to in our lives but we need to obey His clearly revealed commands.

In verse 17, God’s instructions to Noah are reminiscent of Genesis 1, especially the statement that Noah, his family and the animals are to be fruitful and multiply on the earth. It’s as if God has cleansed the world by these waters of judgment and a new creation is present. Noah is a new Adam entering into the world that God has cleansed by judgment.

God repeats the creation ordinance to be fruitful and multiply. Like a second Adam, Noah steps into a world washed clean by judgment and the spectacular deliverance in the ark is seen as a mere preliminary to salvation proper which is the new creation. Noah is assigned the job of seeing the creational ordinances as originally given by God to Adam reinstituted in a new world. God’s work of redemption is something in which He restores and in some ways betters the conditions of His original creation.

A New Altar (8:20)

Noah responds to God’s work of redemption with worship. God’s saving work on our behalf should always evoke the response of worship. 

This is the first time the word “altar” is used in the Bible. We are told about sacrifices in Genesis 4 in the story of Cain and Abel but no altar is mentioned there. On the altar Noah presents whole burnt offerings using some of the clean animals and birds that had been on the ark. This act of worship is intended to express gratitude for divine deliverance but also is an act of atonement. This is a normal aspect of burnt offerings and is supported by the mention of a pleasing aroma. The word “pleasing” conveys the idea of rest and the sense of soothing. The burnt offering soothes God’s anger at human sin so although human nature has not been changed by the flood, God’s attitude has changed because of the substitutionary sacrifice. In spite of the human propensity to sin, atonement through sacrifice is possible, securing a peaceful relationship between the Lord and humanity. Noah’s sacrifice is a foreshadowing of a greater sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice, the propitiation of God by the Lord Jesus Christ.

A New Promise (8:21–9:1, 11–16)

God promises never to destroy the earth with a flood again, establishing a covenant relationship with Noah, his descendants and all of creation. God’s sign linked to His covenant is the rainbow. Its presence, when rain clouds are in the sky, will be a visible reminder of God’s everlasting covenant with every living creature on earth. God offers a fresh start to people who confess their sin and repent and who trust in Him and His provision. No one ever meets the biblical Jesus and stays the same. A new life is possible in Christ.