Genesis 9
1 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.”
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.”
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 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 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.
SS10: SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
Genesis 9
God blessed Noah and his family with a go-ahead to refill the earth with people. I think that is the only God order we have ever completely done right. Apparently, before this time, animals were all cuddly with people because god warns them in V2 that animals are going to fear people. I hate that!
In this covenant with God, people were allowed to eat anything. But they were not allowed to consume blood. Very vamp to have to be told that – wonder if anyone does this. Looked it up. Yes, yes they do. Gross. But looking at the wording here, it may mean we are not to eat living animals. Beyond gross. I have heard of people eating live goldfish.
Why is blood so important to God? Bibleheads say it represents life. There is an atonement element that links losing blood to death. I was thinking about blood and I was thinking about cost. The cost of sin is death. I think it is paid in blood as a currency.
The verse goes on to prohibit murder. It looks like even animals are accountable when they kill people. People are made in God's image. God says people will kill people who kill people. Ok, that is not a direct quote. Sounds circular and like gang activity. But is there a responsibility for society to kill the murderer? Or is this a “live by the sword, die by the sword” sort of thing? Does not say.
Not many rules in this covenant. Not that we can handle even one rule (see Garden of Eden). God makes a covenant with Noah and with the animals. That is interesting. I did not realize the promise covered the animals, but I like that it does. Animals got killed in the flood and deserve some consideration. He promises not to destroy the earth with water again. The rainbow marks that promise. It is a reminder to God. That is a cool thought. When God sees a rainbow, thinks of his promise.
There has never been a covenant with God that does not include at least one rule. A covenant is a contract. With contracts, if one side does not perform their promise, then the other side is not required to abide. We are not very good at upholding our end of the deal. If I were God, I would stop making contracts with us because we are not reliable. But, luckily, I am not God. He keeps trying. He also performs his end even when we fail.
The story quickly takes a weird turn. We do not know how much time had passed, but it was enough time for Noah to plant a vineyard. He makes wine and gets drunk. He is naked and passed out in his tent. Ham and his son Canaan see Noah naked and went and tell his brothers about it. The brothers back in and cover their dad. Ever hear the saying, I got your back? They got his front here. Noah heard about it later and cursed Canaan to be a slave to the other brothers. Noah blessed Shem and Japheth.
Ok, first, I hope Noah took time to plant other stuff and not just a vineyard. That is just embarrassing. Second, what about personal accountability, Noah? Sure, one son mocked you, but what about you? Next, what is so bad about telling his brother his dad was naki? Maybe he was gossiping in a mean way. Some think it is worse. Some think he molested Noah. I honestly do not see it in the verses. Some look at Leviticus 20:11 (The man who lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness...") and believe Ham slept with Noah's wife. That makes some sense, but that does not explain why the brothers react by covering Noah. Bottom line, we are not told all the details of what happened, but it was enough to turn Noah against one of his sons.
Noah lived almost 1,000 years! Only 350 of that was post-flood.
TJ: Am I the only one who finds it frighteningly ironic that God thinks of sparing earth when He sees a rainbow while we think of sexual liberty when we see one? I wonder what other cultures think of it. Looked it up. In Norse culture, it was a bridge to the home of the gods. In Greek myths, it is a messenger linking gods to earth. Sumerians saw it as a punishment for war. That makes no sense. The Aboriginal people thought the rainbow was a snake creator. Buddhists believe the rainbow represents the regions of the earth and viewing it is the highest state achievable before Nirvana. Islam teaches there are 4 colors in the rainbow representing the four elements of earth, water, wind and fire. Science says it is just a dispersion of light through water drops. The list goes on.
