Genesis 9 - God�s Covenant with Noah and Creation
A. God�s covenant and instructions to Noah.
1. (1-4) Instructions for living in a new world.
So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: �Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.�
a. Be fruitful and multiply: The world Noah entered from the ark was significantly different from the world he knew before. God gave Noah the same kind of mandate He gave Adam in the beginning of creation (Genesis 1:28), since Noah essentially began all over again.
b. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you: And, even as Adam received instructions for eating (Genesis 1:29-30, 2:15-17), so does Noah. Yet now, Noah receives specific permission to eat animals, permission Adam was not given (as far as we know).
i. Perhaps this was because the earth was less productive agriculturally after the flood, because of the ecological changes. Therefore God gave man permission to eat meat.
c. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth: If man now ate animals, then God would help the animals. For their protection God put in them a fear of mankind.
i. Again, presumably before the flood, man had a completely different relationship with the animals. God did not put this fear in animals because man did not look to them as food.
ii. �Did the horse know his own strength, and the weakness of the miserable wretch who unmercifully rides, drives, whips, goads, and oppresses him, would he not with one stroke of his hoof destroy his tyrant possessor? But while God hides these things from him he impresses his mind with the fear of his owner, so that ... he is trained up for, and employed in, the most useful and important purposes.� (Clarke)
d. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood: God also commands Noah that if animals are eaten, there must be a proper respect for the blood, which represents the life principle in the animal (Leviticus 17:11, 17:14 and Deuteronomy 12:23).
i. The importance of the idea of blood in the Bible is shown by how often the word is used. It is used 424 times in 357 separate verses (in the New King James Version).
� Blood was the sign of mercy for Israel at the first Passover (Exodus 12:13)
� Blood sealed God�s covenant with Israel (Exodus 24:8)
� Blood sanctified the altar (Exodus 29:12)
� Blood set aside the priests (Exodus 29:20)
� Blood made atonement for God�s people (Exodus 30:10)
� Blood sealed the new covenant (Matthew 26:28)
� Blood justifies us (Romans 5:9)
� Blood brings redemption (Ephesians 1:7)
� Blood brings peace with God (Colossians 1:20)
� Blood cleanses us (Hebrews 9:14 and 1 John 1:7)
� Blood gives entrance to God�s holy place (Hebrews 10:19)
� Blood sanctifies us (Hebrews 13:12)
� Blood enables us to overcome Satan (Revelation 12:11)
2. (5-7) God gives to man the right and responsibility of capital punishment.
�Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man�s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man�s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.�
a. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning: According to God�s command, when a man�s blood is shed there must be an accounting for it, because in the image of God He made man. Because man is made in the image of God, his life is inherently precious and cannot be taken without giving account to God.
i. By man his blood shall be shed means because life is valuable, when murder is committed the death penalty is in order.
ii. In its original languages the Bible makes a distinction between killing and murder. Not all killing is murder, because there are cases where there is just cause for killing (self-defense, capital punishment with due process of law, killing in a just war). There are other instances where killing is accidental. This is killing, but not murder.
iii. The Bible also consistently teaches that the punishment of the guilty is the role of human government (Romans 13:1-4) so as to restrain man�s depravity. It also teaches that the guilt of unpunished murder defiles a land (Numbers 35:31-34). As Luther said, �God establishes government and gives it the sword to hold wantonness in check, lest violence and other sins proceed without limit.� (Boice)
b. From the hand of every beast I will require it: To see the strength of God�s command, He even requires a reckoning for the life of man from every beast. God does not condone unlawful killing of any kind.
c. Be fruitful and multiply: This point was repeated because it needed emphasis. The earth badly needed repopulating.
