Genesis 9

1. Genesis 9 The New World The Establishment of Human Government

2. Genesis 9 Genesis 9:1-17 contain a detailed quotation of God’s own words, given to Noah in response to his believing sacrifice after leaving the Ark. These verses contain the basic provision for human governments among men, to be exercised on behalf of God. They contain the great Noahic covenant with post-Flood mankind, which is still in effect, as far as God is concerned, though thousands of years have passed since it was made

3. Genesis 9:1-2 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky (‘heavens’); with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 

4. Genesis 9:1-2 “The supremacy granted to man over the animal world was expressed still more forcibly than in chap. 1:26 and 28; because, inasmuch as sin with its consequences had loosened the bond of voluntary subjection on the part of the animals to the will of man,---man, on the one hand, having lost the power of the spirit over nature, and nature, on the other hand, having become estranged from man, or rather having rebelled against him, through the curse pronounced upon the earth,---henceforth it was only by force that [man] could rule over it, by that ‘fear and dread’ which God instilled into the animal creation” (K & D, p. 152)

5. Genesis 9:1-2 Q: Was the ‘terror’ (or ‘fear’) of mankind given to the animals to protect mankind, and ensure that they ‘multiply and fill the earth’? Yes, the animals were more in number, and breeding rapidly, and might have otherwise exterminated mankind.

6. Genesis 9:1-2 Q: Were all animals, birds, and creeping things included in this ‘dread’ of mankind? No. Domesticated animals would not shun man’s presence and company. This would include ‘cattle’ and other domesticated animals such as dogs and cats.

7. Genesis 9:3-4 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.”

8. Genesis 9:3-4 “These words do not affirm that man then first began to eat animal food, but only that God then for the first time authorized, or allowed him to do, what probably he had previously don in opposition to His will” (K & D, p. 152)

9. Genesis 9:3-4 Q: Why does God allow the consumption of meat after the Flood? • A more rigorous environment in the new world required the animal protein in meats for man’s sustenance to a degree not normally available in other foods? • Perhaps the Lord desired to show the great gulf between man and the animals, anticipating the dangers implicit in the doctrine of the evolutionary continuity of life of all flesh, which equates mankind with the animals, and denies a Creator?

10. Genesis 9:3-4 Q: Was mankind free to eat any clean or unclean animal? Yes, apparently so, as all ‘green herbs’ (Gen. 1:29-30) were given for food before the Fall. Restrictions were later made to the Jewish nation, dividing ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ animals This prohibition is not restated for Christians in the New Testament

11. Genesis 9:3-4 Q: Why would ‘blood’ be singled out as the only prohibition to eating the flesh of animals? • The ‘flesh’ of the meat was given for food, but the ‘blood’ or ‘life’ of the flesh was given for sacrifice • The words ‘life’ and ‘soul’ in these verses are the same Hebrew word (nephesh). • The blood performs the physiological function of conveying the necessary chemicals from the air and food to sustain and renew the physical flesh, and particularly to maintain the consciousness and the ordinary thought processes of the brain

12. Genesis 9:3-4 • All of this complex operation is called ‘life’ or the ‘soul’ or the ‘consciousness’ which distinguishes animal life from plant life. • The ‘life’ of an animal, spilled on a sacrificial altar, was accepted by God in substitutionary death for the life of the guilty sinner, who deserved to die but who was permitted to live because of the sacrifice, whose blood ‘covered’ his sins in the sight of God (Lev. 17:11) • The blood of animals could only figuratively cover sins. In reality, it would take the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ upon the Cross to put away sin (Heb. 9:26)

13. Genesis 9:5-6 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.

14. Genesis 9:5-6 • The blood of animals, representing their life, was sacred and not to be eaten, since it was accepted in sacrifice in substitution for the life of mankind. • Mankind is to show reverence for the principle of life, as especially created by God (Gen. 1:21) • This would prohibit the pagan ideas of drinking an enemies blood---or eating his heart---in an attempt to gain power over him in this life or the next, and be instilled with additional physical or spiritual prowess

15. Genesis 9:5-6 Q: Were animals allowed to shed the blood of mankind? No, animals, would be held responsible before God for shedding blood. Though animals have a soul and body, only mankind has an eternal spirit, made in the image of God. God would require the very blood of the animal’s life.

16. Genesis 9:5-6 Q: What does ‘require’ mean when He says, (v. 5) “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man” (KJV)? “Require” is a judicial term, with God appearing as judge, who exacts a strict and severe penalty for any infraction of a sacred law. If a beast kills a man, the beast must be put to death (Ex. 21:28) If a man kills another man, willfully, and culpably, then he also must be put to death by ‘every man’s brother’

17. Genesis 9:5-6 Q: Does this permit family revenge for a slaying? No, it stresses that mankind is responsible to see that justice is executed. At the time this was spoken by God, there were only four families. All future families would be brothers descended from these three men and their wives.

18. Genesis 9:5-6 Q: Is this a command to establish a moral judicial and governmental system? Yes, apparently it is. Q: Is government formed primarily to ensure justice after a murder? Yes, apparently it is. The authority to execute this judgment of God on a murderer was delegated to mankind: 6“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed”

19. Genesis 9:5-6 The life of mankind was made secure against animals, as well as other men. God would avenge or inflict punishment for every murder---not directly, however, as He promised to do in the case of Cain, but indirectly by giving the command, “whosoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed,” and thus placing in the hand of man His own judicial power. (K & D, p. 153)

20. Genesis 9:5-6 Luther: “This was the first command, having reference to the temporal sword. By these words temporal government was established, and the sword placed in its hand by God”

21. Genesis 9:5-6 Q: What about capital punishment? Does God support it? Doe He demand it? • The punishment of the murderer is enjoined upon mankind • All judicial relations and ordinances at that time centered in the family and grew by a natural process out of that • The command does not sanction revenge, but lays the foundation for the judicial rights of the divinely appointed ‘powers that be’ (Romans 8:1)

22. Genesis 9:5-6 • If murder was to be punished with death because it destroyed the image of God in man, it is evident that the infliction of the punishment was not to be left to the caprice of individuals, but belonged to those alone who represent the authority and majesty of God, i.e. the divinely appointed rulers, who for that very reason are called “Elohim” in Ps. 82:6 • This command against murder, and the requirement for justice, laid the foundation for civil government

23. Genesis 9:5-6 • If God on account of the innate sinfulness of mankind would no more bring an exterminating judgment upon the earthly creation [a Flood], it was necessary that by commands and authorities He should erect a barrier against the supremacy of evil, and thus lay the foundation for a well-ordered civil development of humanity, in accordance with the words of the blessing which are repeated in ver. 7, as showing the intention and goal of this new historical beginning” (K & D, p. 153)

24. Genesis 9:5-6 Q: Does the New Testament do away with the Old Testament harshness, and with a spirit of ‘love’, do away with capital punishment? No. The modern objections to capital punishment are insufficient to warrant setting aside this decree of God. The prohibition in the Ten Commandments against killing plainly applies only to murder, not to judicial executions; in fact, the Mosaic laws themselves established capital punishment as the penalty not only for murder but also for breaking any one of the Ten Commandments (note Hebrews 10:28) (Morris, p. 225)

25. Genesis 9:5-6 Christianity did not set aside these provisions of the Noahic covenant. • The eating of meat was regulated (I Tim. 4:3-4) • The abstinence from eating blood (Acts 15:19-20) • The authority of the governmental ‘sword’ (Rom. 13:4; Acts 25:11) These were not merely Jewish laws, and OT laws that could be rejected, but rather were God’s original covenant with all mankind.

26. Genesis 9:5-6 Q: But didn’t God sometimes allow those who were guilty of serious crimes to go free? Yes • David – committed murder and adultery, both capital crimes • God forgave him when he repented • David “died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor” (I Chron. 29:28) • However, four of David’s sons died untimely deaths: • Bathsheba’s first son, died after just several days (2 Sam 11) • Absolam kills Amnon after he rapes his step-sister Tamar • Absolam dies in battle, against David’s wishes • Solomon kills his older brother Adonijah,when he becomes King, because of a young woman (‘Shunamite’) that Solomon loved and his brother wanted

27. Genesis 9:5-6 Q: What about the woman caught in adultery, and who should have been stoned (executed)? (John 8) • She was guilty of breaking the Mosaic Law (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22) • Jesus, seeing her heart of repentance, was moved to forgive her, and to see that she was set free (John 8:3-11). A judge, seeing mitigating circumstances, could ‘pardon’ someone. The important point is that mankind is given responsibility which entails the recognition of the sacredness of human life.

28. Genesis 9:7 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

29. Genesis 9:7 In a little over 4,000 years, mankind has repopulated the earth, beginning with just 8, and increasing today to almost 7 billion. • January 8, 2014 = 7,243,784,121 people on the earth • Births today = 247,369… • Deaths today = 102,083… • Population Growth = 145,349… per day +

30. Genesis 9:7 January 8, 2014 • Births this year = 2,997,122 (by January 15, 2014) • Deaths this year = • Population Growth = (1.12%) • Active Cell Phones worldwide = 7.3 Billion

31. Genesis 9:8-11 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.  11I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood [mabbul]; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

32. Genesis 9:8-11 God’s unconditional Covenant with Noah involved several elements, including the command to be fruitful and multiply. • He made a covenant not to send another ‘mabbul’ or cataclysmic Flood upon the earth • The emphasis here is upon God’s promises, rather than upon man’s obligations • Mankind’s obedience to these commands was not a condition determining whether or not God would keep His part of the bargain

33. Genesis 9:8-11 God promised unconditionally----evidently as a result of Noah’s faith and his sacrificial offerings in obedience to the will of God----that He would never again send a worldwide flood or destroy all flesh, as long as the earth remained. God graciously gave Noah and his descendants a beautiful ‘sign’ that He would keep His word = therainbow. Clouds in the sky would warn of an occasional local flood, but never a universal flood

34. Genesis 9:8-11 Before the Flood, the upper air contained only invisible water vapor (humidity), and therefore no rainbow was possible. With the new hydrological cycle following the Flood, the former vapor canopy is gone; it is physically impossible now for enough water ever to be raised into the atmosphere to cause a universal Flood When a storm has done its worst, and the clouds are finally exhausted of most of their water, there appears a rainbow = God would remember His promise after the Flood

35. Genesis 9:8-11 There are many important Covenants in Scripture: • With Moses at Mt. Sinai (the Ten Commandments) • With Abraham – all the nations of the earth • With David – a descendant who would rule • With Israel, including the Palestinian Covenant (land) • With Christians, in the New Covenant, through the Cross • The first Covenant is made with Noah, and with all on the Ark, including the animals

36. Genesis 9:12-16 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.”

37. Genesis 9:12-16 Q: If the ‘flood’ were only a local flood, then wouldn’t this verse---and conversation with God---be meaningless? Yes. If the Flood were only a local flood, then the great promise in this verse is meaningless. There have been many destructive local floods throughout history. God not only made His covenant with mankind, but also proceeded to give a perpetual token, or sign, by which he is to be reminded perpetually of this covenant.

38. Genesis 9:12-16 As the fossil-bearing rocks of the earth’s crust would continually remind us that God once destroyed the earth with a Flood, so the rainbow after the rain would remind us that He never will bring a Flood again. Regardless of the threats of thermonuclear bombs, or death rays, or germ warfare, or pollution of the atmosphere, or hydrosphere, or anything else, we have the promise that God will not permit the destruction of all life upon this earth.

39. Genesis 9:12-16 Not only do we see the rainbow, and remember, but God also sees the rainbow/s and He remembers his promise. Q: But wouldn’t an evolutionist say that rainbows always existed, and God is just now coming up with the idea of using the rainbow as a ‘sign’ and assigning symbolic meaning to it? Yes. But the local flood idea has been discussed before, and shown to be impossible, by historical & biblical sources, and by the evidence found around the world.

40. Genesis 9:17 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” • The rainbow demonstrates the glorious grace of God • The pure white light from the unapproachable holiness of His throne (I Tim. 6:16) is refracted through the clouds surrounding His presence (I Kings 8:10-11), breaking into all the glorious colors of God’s creation. • In wrath, He remembers mercy; glory follows suffering; “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”

41. Genesis 9:17 The word rainbow reappears 3 times in Scripture: • Ezekiel 1:28, seen surrounding the throne of God as He prepares to bring judgment on Israel • Revelation 4:3, just before the judgment of the Great Tribulation, and tremendous world-wide suffering (but limited by the Promise of God) • Revelation 10:1, when the Lord Jesus comes to take dominion over the world and over the wicked one. Instead of a crown of thorns, Jesus has ‘the rainbow upon his head’ (see Hebrews 2:9)

42. Genesis 9:17 “An ‘everlasting covenant’ is a covenant ‘for perpetual generations,’ i.e. one which shall extend to all ages, even to the end of the world. The fact that God Himself would look at the rainbow and remember His covenant, was ‘a glorious and living expression of the great truth, that God’s covenant signs, in which He has put His promises, are real vehicles of His grace, that they have power and essential worth not only with men, but also before God’ ” (K & D, p. 151)

43. Genesis 9:17 “Springing as it does from the effect of the sun upon the dark mass of clouds, it typifies the readiness of the heavenly to pervade the earthly; spread out as it is between heaven and earth, it proclaims peace between God and man; and while spanning the whole horizon, it teaches the all-embracing universality of the covenant of grace” (K & D, p. 151-2)