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genesis chapter 9
Genesis Chapter 9
Genesis 9:1-7
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
In verses 1-7 we see a bookend phrase given at the beginning and end; “Be fruitful and multiply!” Whenever God repeats Himself we should take heed. This seems to be the one thing God always intended for His creation to do. God also said this to Adam and Eve and told them that they had “dominion over Earth.” We see here that mankind no longer has that authority. Dominion over Earth now belongs to Satan as he is free to move about seeking those whom he may devour.
There is one stark difference between Adam and Eve’s charge and Noah’s, namely the permission to eat animals. God has now given animals to be food but there were some restrictions…
1) Mankind may now eat animals for food but they were not to be eaten alive or uncooked.
2) Animals may be hunted, but not for sport. (perhaps the new atmosphere post-flood, caused a need for our bodies to require protein).
3) Animals will now fear you people. This was for our protection (notice cattle do not fear humans).
4) Animals that do not fear people will be killed.
Then God mentions capital punishment…
All three of these rules are mentioned in the New Testament, (I.E Eating of meat, abstaining from blood, and live by sword die by sword.) These laws were given to man not Jews alone. They were meant to stand for all time.
Now to address a personal question. Am I pro capital punishment? The short answer is yes! But I am pro-life too. God was and is clear…blood for blood. However, this rule should be taken not as a postulate, but rather a guide. Numbers 35 God gives rules about a “city of refuge”. A place one could go if a life was taken as a result of an accident or even carelessness. This shows that “blood for blood” was not a immovable law.
During a recent publicity outing, Jennifer sneaked off to visit a
fortune teller of some local repute. In a dark and hazy room,
peering into a crystal ball, the mystic delivered grave news.
"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just be blunt: Prepare
yourself to be a widow. Your husband will die a violent and
horrible death this year."
Visibly shaken, Jennifer stared at the woman's lined face, then
at the single flickering candle, then down at her hands. She took
a few deep breaths to compose herself. She simply had to know.
She met the fortune teller's gaze, steadied her voice, and asked
her question.
"Will I be acquitted?"
The argument against goes something like this, “Isn’t carrying out capital punishment also murder?” No, the blood for blood rule applies to murder not judicial executions. God set man over the earth; the animals, the plants, the environment. He made man over all things, everything except man.
Let’s read on…
Genesis 9:8-17
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
God establishes the covenant between Himself and man (and animals).
People do not realize that God was the first animal activist. He was also the first environmentalist. He cares deeply about the creatures He created and the earth He created. Dare I say almost as much as He cares about his finest creation…mankind. Love God and be an animal activist, love God and be an environmentalist, love God and do whatever you please.
However, remember this, God would, did, and will destroy all of the animals and all of the earth. But people, His finest and most loved creation, will always have a way out. Earth has no hope. Animals have no hope. But people? God always provides hope for us.
The rainbow was a sign of this covenant. Was it a reminder to us? Actually, no! It was a reminder to God. He himself said that when He sees it, He will remember his promise. But the rainbow was also a sign for Noah. Think about it, the last time Noah saw the sky darkening, the clouds forming and thunder clapping, God destroyed the earth.
Now it is not that God forgets and needs a rainbow to remind Him not to destroy the earth with flood again, but the bow faces upward towards him. The bow, (a weapon of war remember) faced towards heaven. As if to symbolize mans sins being launched like an arrow towards God (all sin is against God Psalm 51:4). Just as all sin is against God and is directed skyward towards heaven, so too shall sins punishment redeemer come from Heaven.
So remember this about the rainbow next time you are going through difficult times…
***It takes both rain and sunshine to make a rainbow***
======================================================
Genesis 9:18-28
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[a] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[b] territory;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
We have what appears to be a grave injustice to Canaan. It doesn’t seem fair that he should be punished for what his father did or did not do. Simply put, the curse seems unreasonable.
First let us look at the blessing. From Shem came the Jews. From Japeth came the Gentiles. Noah was, probably unbeknownst to him, actually blessing the future union of God’s chosen people with God’s in-grafted people, the gentiles.
But from Ham came the major enemies of Israel. From Ham came the Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians and Babylonians. Canaan would be taken by Israel, but I digress. Back to the story here…
Even though this is a new world for Noah, the visions and memory of the wickedness he lived through prior to the flood never left him. This is actually the first mention of wine in the Bible. Noah still faced the residue of an old life or old world. Quite bluntly, Noah was drunk! This seems like a good place to mention this…
**God is never done using you!!! **
Not implying that Noah felt done, but since wine was never mentioned before this, we can assume this is the first time he was drunk. Prior to the flood, Noah was called and completely pre-occupied with the ark. Now his kids are growing, the world is repopulating and Noah has no real purpose anymore (or so he may be feeling). There is a big difference between pre and post flood Noah’s.
Sometimes we may feel as if God is done using us or maybe never had a plan for us at all. Again I say God is never done using you! Nothing will cause you to let your guard down like idleness. Noah felt done; he must have felt like his usefulness was past. So he let his guard down and got drunk.
Back to what seems to be a raw deal for Canaan. His father (Ham) who saw his father (Noah) naked, perhaps felt some relief. As if seeing his father there drunk somehow gave him permission to sin. Maybe Ham had been struggling with temptations of his own and sometimes just seeing a good man fall is all we need to give into them.
The world, Christians and non alike, seem to secretly rejoice when a good man falters. Suddenly there appears a standard one can measure their behavior by and rationalize it. Quick side application…
**Never measure your behavior against anyone or anything except Jesus**
You are being watched! Not so much to see if you as a Christian will slip, but so that the world will have an excuse to sin and sleep at night.
Perhaps sin had been crouching at Ham’s door (like Cain) and Noah, lying drunk, cracked the door open. Satan could not touch Noah’s family pre-flood. It was now Satan’s only mission.
Do not be a stumbling block. People cannot wait for a Christian, to mess up. It gives them the out they were looking for. Perhaps Ham rejoiced at his father’s weakness. Perhaps it was all Satan needed to attack.
When Noah awoke, he cursed Canaan not so much to doom him, but more of a proclamation of the inevitable seed of iniquity. In closing consider these similarities between Adam and Noah…
Be Blessed.
Genesis 9:1-7
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
In verses 1-7 we see a bookend phrase given at the beginning and end; “Be fruitful and multiply!” Whenever God repeats Himself we should take heed. This seems to be the one thing God always intended for His creation to do. God also said this to Adam and Eve and told them that they had “dominion over Earth.” We see here that mankind no longer has that authority. Dominion over Earth now belongs to Satan as he is free to move about seeking those whom he may devour.
There is one stark difference between Adam and Eve’s charge and Noah’s, namely the permission to eat animals. God has now given animals to be food but there were some restrictions…
1) Mankind may now eat animals for food but they were not to be eaten alive or uncooked.
2) Animals may be hunted, but not for sport. (perhaps the new atmosphere post-flood, caused a need for our bodies to require protein).
3) Animals will now fear you people. This was for our protection (notice cattle do not fear humans).
4) Animals that do not fear people will be killed.
Then God mentions capital punishment…
All three of these rules are mentioned in the New Testament, (I.E Eating of meat, abstaining from blood, and live by sword die by sword.) These laws were given to man not Jews alone. They were meant to stand for all time.
Now to address a personal question. Am I pro capital punishment? The short answer is yes! But I am pro-life too. God was and is clear…blood for blood. However, this rule should be taken not as a postulate, but rather a guide. Numbers 35 God gives rules about a “city of refuge”. A place one could go if a life was taken as a result of an accident or even carelessness. This shows that “blood for blood” was not a immovable law.
During a recent publicity outing, Jennifer sneaked off to visit a
fortune teller of some local repute. In a dark and hazy room,
peering into a crystal ball, the mystic delivered grave news.
"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just be blunt: Prepare
yourself to be a widow. Your husband will die a violent and
horrible death this year."
Visibly shaken, Jennifer stared at the woman's lined face, then
at the single flickering candle, then down at her hands. She took
a few deep breaths to compose herself. She simply had to know.
She met the fortune teller's gaze, steadied her voice, and asked
her question.
"Will I be acquitted?"
The argument against goes something like this, “Isn’t carrying out capital punishment also murder?” No, the blood for blood rule applies to murder not judicial executions. God set man over the earth; the animals, the plants, the environment. He made man over all things, everything except man.
Let’s read on…
Genesis 9:8-17
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
God establishes the covenant between Himself and man (and animals).
People do not realize that God was the first animal activist. He was also the first environmentalist. He cares deeply about the creatures He created and the earth He created. Dare I say almost as much as He cares about his finest creation…mankind. Love God and be an animal activist, love God and be an environmentalist, love God and do whatever you please.
However, remember this, God would, did, and will destroy all of the animals and all of the earth. But people, His finest and most loved creation, will always have a way out. Earth has no hope. Animals have no hope. But people? God always provides hope for us.
The rainbow was a sign of this covenant. Was it a reminder to us? Actually, no! It was a reminder to God. He himself said that when He sees it, He will remember his promise. But the rainbow was also a sign for Noah. Think about it, the last time Noah saw the sky darkening, the clouds forming and thunder clapping, God destroyed the earth.
Now it is not that God forgets and needs a rainbow to remind Him not to destroy the earth with flood again, but the bow faces upward towards him. The bow, (a weapon of war remember) faced towards heaven. As if to symbolize mans sins being launched like an arrow towards God (all sin is against God Psalm 51:4). Just as all sin is against God and is directed skyward towards heaven, so too shall sins punishment redeemer come from Heaven.
So remember this about the rainbow next time you are going through difficult times…
***It takes both rain and sunshine to make a rainbow***
======================================================
Genesis 9:18-28
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[a] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[b] territory;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
We have what appears to be a grave injustice to Canaan. It doesn’t seem fair that he should be punished for what his father did or did not do. Simply put, the curse seems unreasonable.
First let us look at the blessing. From Shem came the Jews. From Japeth came the Gentiles. Noah was, probably unbeknownst to him, actually blessing the future union of God’s chosen people with God’s in-grafted people, the gentiles.
But from Ham came the major enemies of Israel. From Ham came the Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians and Babylonians. Canaan would be taken by Israel, but I digress. Back to the story here…
Even though this is a new world for Noah, the visions and memory of the wickedness he lived through prior to the flood never left him. This is actually the first mention of wine in the Bible. Noah still faced the residue of an old life or old world. Quite bluntly, Noah was drunk! This seems like a good place to mention this…
**God is never done using you!!! **
Not implying that Noah felt done, but since wine was never mentioned before this, we can assume this is the first time he was drunk. Prior to the flood, Noah was called and completely pre-occupied with the ark. Now his kids are growing, the world is repopulating and Noah has no real purpose anymore (or so he may be feeling). There is a big difference between pre and post flood Noah’s.
Sometimes we may feel as if God is done using us or maybe never had a plan for us at all. Again I say God is never done using you! Nothing will cause you to let your guard down like idleness. Noah felt done; he must have felt like his usefulness was past. So he let his guard down and got drunk.
Back to what seems to be a raw deal for Canaan. His father (Ham) who saw his father (Noah) naked, perhaps felt some relief. As if seeing his father there drunk somehow gave him permission to sin. Maybe Ham had been struggling with temptations of his own and sometimes just seeing a good man fall is all we need to give into them.
The world, Christians and non alike, seem to secretly rejoice when a good man falters. Suddenly there appears a standard one can measure their behavior by and rationalize it. Quick side application…
**Never measure your behavior against anyone or anything except Jesus**
You are being watched! Not so much to see if you as a Christian will slip, but so that the world will have an excuse to sin and sleep at night.
Perhaps sin had been crouching at Ham’s door (like Cain) and Noah, lying drunk, cracked the door open. Satan could not touch Noah’s family pre-flood. It was now Satan’s only mission.
Do not be a stumbling block. People cannot wait for a Christian, to mess up. It gives them the out they were looking for. Perhaps Ham rejoiced at his father’s weakness. Perhaps it was all Satan needed to attack.
When Noah awoke, he cursed Canaan not so much to doom him, but more of a proclamation of the inevitable seed of iniquity. In closing consider these similarities between Adam and Noah…
- Both were told to subdue the earth and multiply.
- Both were ancestors of all mankind (post and pre-flood).
- Both sinned by partaking of fruit (Eve the apple. Noah the fruit of the vine)
- As a result, both became naked and had to be covered.
- The resulting curse has affected mankind ever since (both sins brought the promise of a Savior).
Be Blessed.
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