Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/108

76 you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15. And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 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.

Articles of agreement among men are sealed, that the covenants may be the more solemn, and the performances of the covenants the more sure, to mutual satisfaction; God therefore being willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his councils, has confirmed his covenant by a seal, (Heb. 6. 17.) which makes the foundations we build on, stand sure, 2 Tim. 2. 19. The seal of this covenant of nature was natural enough; it was the rainbow, which, it is likely, was seen in the clouds before, when second causes concurred, but was never a seal of the covenant, till now that it was made so by a divine institution. Now concerning this seal of the covenant. Observe,

1. This seal is affixed with repeated assurances of the truth of that promise which it was designed to be the ratification of. I set my bow in the cloud, (v. 13.) it shall be seen in the cloud, (v. 14.) that the eye may affect the heart, and confirm the faith; and it shall be the token of the covenant (v. 12, 13.); and I will remember my covenant, that the waters shall no more become a flood, v. 15. Nay, as if the Eternal Mind needed a memorandum, I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant, v. 16. Thus here is line upon line, that we might have a sure and strong consolation, who have laid hold on this hope. 2. The rainbow appears then when the clouds are most disposed to wet, and returns after the rain; then when we have most reason to fear the rain prevailing, God shows this seal of the promise that it shall not prevail. Thus God obviates our fears with such encouragements as are both suitable and seasonable. 3. The thicker the cloud, the brighter the bow in the cloud. Thus as threatening afflictions abound, encouraging consolations much more abound, 2 Cor. 1. 5. 4. The rainbow appears when one part of the sky is clear, which intimates mercy remembered in the midst of wrath; and the clouds are hemmed as it were with the rainbow, that it may not overspread the heavens; for the bow is coloured rain, or the edges of a cloud gilded. 5. The rainbow is the reflection of the beams of the sun, which intimates that all the glory and significancy of the seals of the covenant are derived from Christ the Sun of righteousness, who is also described with a rainbow about his throne (Rev. 4. 3.) and a rainbow upon his head (Rev. 10. 1.); which bespeaks not only his majesty, but his mediatorship. 6. The rainbow has fiery colours in it, to signify, that though God will not again drown the world, yet when the mystery of God shall be finished, the world shall be consumed by fire. 7. A bow bespeaks terror, but it has neither string nor arrow, as the bow ordained against the persecutors has; (Ps. 7. 12, 13.) and a bow alone will do little execution; it is a bow, but it is directed upward, not toward the earth; for the seals of the covenant were intended for comfort, not to terrify. Lastly, As God looks upon the bow, that he may remember the covenant, so should we, that we also may be ever mindful of the covenant, with faith and thankfulness.

18. And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21. And he drank of the vine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

Here is,

I. Noah's family and employment. The names of his sons are again mentioned, (v. 18, 19.) as those from whom the whole earth was overspread. By which it appears that Noah, after the flood, had no more children: all the world came from these three. Note, God, when he pleases, can make a little one to become a thousand, and greatly increase the latter end of those whose beginning was small. Such are the power and efficacy of a divine blessing. The business Noah applied himself to, was that of a husbandman, Hebr. a man of the earth, that is, a man dealing in the earth, that kept ground in his hand, and occupied it. We are all naturally men of the earth, made of it, living on it, and hastening to it: many are sinfully so, addicted to earthly things. Noah was led by his calling to trade in the fruits of the earth. He began to be a husbandman; that is, some time after his departure out of the ark, he returned to his old employment, from which he had been diverted by the building of the ark first, and, probably, afterward, by the building of a house on dry-land for himself and family. For this good while he had been a carpenter, but now he began again to be a husbandman. Observe, Though Noah was a great man, and a good man, an old man, and a rich man, a man greatly favoured by Heaven, and honoured on earth, yet he would not live an idle life, nor think the husbandman's calling below him. Note, Though God by his providence may take us off from our callings for a time, yet when the occasion is over, we ought with humility and industry to apply ourselves to them again; and in the calling wherein we are called, therein faithfully to abide with God, 1 Cor. 7. 24.

II. Noah's sin and shame. He planted a vineyard; and when he had gathered his vintage probably, he appointed a day of mirth and feasting in his family, and had his sons and their children with him, to rejoice with him in the increase of his house, as well as in the increase of his vineyard; and we may suppose he prefaced his feast with a sacrifice to the honour of God. If that was omitted, atit [sic] was just with God to leave him to himself, that he who did not begin with God, might end with the beasts;