In the Old Testament, God made many agreements with humankind.  These agreements are often referred to as “covenants.”  A covenant is a cross between a contract and a marriage commitment.  It is binding and has stipulations, like a contract.  It is solemn and personal, like a marriage.

I was reading Genesis 9 the other day, when I stumbled upon a secret that was hidden in plain sight.  This chapter is part of the narrative of the great flood.  You probably remember the story.  The world was a mess, and God was feeling sorry that he had ever made humankind.  God decided to destroy the world, but also decided to spare Noah, his family, and some of the animals.  God was going to start over!

After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah—and with the animals.  For some reason, as many times as I had heard and read this story, I had never noticed how explicit God was in including the animals in this covenant.  As I already said, this not-so-secret secret is hidden in plain sight.

“⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹ “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: ¹³ I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:8-17. English Standard Version, bolding mine)

For some reason, I had always thought of this as God’s covenant with Noah, and of course it is.  However, the animals and their descendants were included as well.

Christians are often accused of not recognizing the importance of animals.  In some cases, the accusation probably has some validity.  However, perhaps our failure to recognize the significance of animals is because we have ignored certain truths from our own sacred Scriptures.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I am not a vegan.  In fact, I am planning to go out to Outback after church today.  I am not planning to have just a salad.

However, apparently there is at least one solemn agreement in the Bible—and I suspect that it is not the only one—that embraces the animals as well as people.  Perhaps Radar O’Reilly on M*A*S*H was at least partly right after all.  One time, Radar said, “Animals are people too!”

I’m not quite ready to go that far, but animals do matter—more than we are willing to admit, sometimes.  Apparently, they matter to the God who created them, too.