24/03/19 Genesis 9:1-17 “God’s promises to Adam and Eve
now given to Noah”
Genesis
9:1
– And God blessed Noah
and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth.
This has the idea of restarting the original
command God gave in Genesis 1:28 – And
God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth.
It is therefore a fresh new start, the slate
wiped clean, starting over again. Except that it isn’t Adam and Eve here now
but Noah and his sons (and their families)
God – here He is ‘elohiym
rather than Yᵉhovah
(LORD) In the first few chapters of Genesis it is mostly ‘elohiym (God), then Yᵉhovah ‘elohiym (LORD
God) but from around Ch.10 onwards it becomes mostly Yᵉhovah (LORD).
Genesis
9:2
– And the fear of you
and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every
fowl of the air, upon all that moveth [upon] the
earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
fear – fear;
reverence; terror Not only fear of Noah and his family, but a general fear of
all mankind is implied here. This is clearly associated with having dominion
over the rest of living creation, again as per Genesis 1:28. After all, how may
one subdue the earth and have dominion over all creatures if one is not the
dominant creature on earth? And, dominance implies a healthy respect for (or
even fear of) the one who will dominate.
Genesis
9:3-4 – 3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4But flesh with the
life thereof, [which is] the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
meat – food in
general, not only flesh. However, here it clearly means the flesh of other
creatures. Genesis 1:29 & 30 permit all creatures including man to eat
herbage (plant-derived food). This is the first mention of man being permitted
to eat the flesh of other creatures. However, they were not to eat of the
blood.
Note Leviticus 17:10-13 – 10And
whatsoever man [there be] of the house of Israel, or of the strangers
that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of
blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth
blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I
have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it
[is] the blood [that] maketh an
atonement for the soul. 12Therefore
I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you
shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth
among you eat blood. 13And
whatsoever man [there be] of the children of Israel, or of the strangers
that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even
pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
Also note that in Acts 10:9-16, Peter was
told to eat unclean creatures, for God had declared them cleansed. However, the
forbidding of the eating of blood does not appear to have been revoked anywhere
in the Bible. Jesus did appear to be declaring all foods acceptable in Mark 7:14-15; 18-19 – 14And when he had called all the people
[unto him], he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one [of you], and
understand: 15There
is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things
which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. 18And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive,
that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the
man, [it] cannot defile him; 19Because it entereth not into his
heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the
draught, purging all meats?
Romans 14 also strongly implies that the
eating of certain forbidden foods might be acceptable to some but not to
others. It is apparent that the eating of meat with blood in it would not void
your salvation, though. But the Christian Jews of Jerusalem were told (possibly
to keep the peace in this new community of believers) That
ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things
strangled (Acts 15:29).
Genesis
9:5-6 – 5And 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. 6Whoso
sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed:
for in the image of God made he man.
lives – nephesh (soul; life; creature; person;
living being; emotion; passion; the inner being of man) Thus the blood is
associated with their soul or life, their very existence. Note Leviticus 17:11.
This is once again the Law of Retaliation,
that the punishment should match the crime, as per Exodus 21:23-25 – 23And if [any] mischief follow,
then thou shalt give life for life, 24Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for
foot, 25Burning for burning,
wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Leviticus 24:17-21 – 17And
he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.
18And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. 19And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall
it be done to him; 20Breach
for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man,
so shall it be done to him [again]. 21And he that killeth a beast, he
shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall
be put to death.
This was OT law, but the NT (as per the new
dispensation) saw it differently.
Matthew 5:38-39 – 38Ye
have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye,
and a tooth for a tooth: 39But
I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy
right cheek, turn to him the other also.
1 Thessalonians 5:15 – See that none render evil for
evil unto any [man]; but ever follow that which is good, both among
yourselves, and to all [men].
People usually
interpret the Golden Rule as meaning to treat others properly, but it probably
really means that whatever you do to others will return to the perpetrator;
that is, you will reap what you sow. Effectively this is still the Law of
Retaliation, but administered by God, not man.
Luke 6:31 – And as ye would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
Note that the law
of retaliation applied to beasts that killed man. If a beast resisted with
violence man’s dominion over them, then that violence would be brought upon
that beast.
Exodus 21:28-29 – 28If an ox gore a man or a
woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall
not be eaten; but the owner of the ox [shall be] quit. 29But if the ox were wont to
push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and
he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall
be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.
Because man is made in the image of God,
violence against man is seen as violence against God in whose image man is
made.
Genesis
9:7
– And you, be ye
fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply
therein.
Once again a
reminder of the original command by God to all creatures to do so; see Genesis
1:21-22; 26-28.
Genesis
9:8
– And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
Noah and his family are not going to be left
having to wonder what to do next, for God’s commands are quite specific. God
spoke and that was that! To listen and obey or to not listen and obey, well,
that would be according to man’s free will, but any breaking of God’s commands
was a clear issue of wilful disobedience.
Genesis
9:9
– 9And I, behold, I establish my
covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10And with every
living creature that [is] with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of
every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every
beast of the earth.
every beast – literally “all
life”
A covenant was not just a laying down of the
law by one over another, but rather it was a contract between 2 parties,
something that took effect with the knowledge and agreement of both parties
concerned. It wasn’t only for Noah and his family, but also for his
descendants; thus it would have covered Abraham and
beyond. The Abrahamic covenant therefore would have been an extension of this
one to specifically cover God’s promises to a particular nation, rather than
this general one with Noah that covered all mankind and creation in general
from hereon.
Cambridge says (of Genesis 9:9) In a covenant between God and man, God makes the promise
and lays down the conditions. Man accepts the terms unconditionally, while God
“establishes,” or ratifies, them. There is no equality of relationship as in a
covenant agreement between men. Man is pledged to obedience on the strength of
God’s promise of blessing.
This is the first covenant God makes with
mankind, and with animals and birds that were on the ark with Noah. (The
previous one was between God and Noah and his family, to keep them safe, along
with the creatures on the ark. Genesis 6:18-19.) This covenant ensures that
(subject to certain populations becoming extinct) man and creature will continue
in some form or another until God’s mission statement of Daniel 9:24 (to
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to
seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.) is completed.
There are 3 covenants between God and man (4
if you count the one made with Noah to be kept safe during the flood). One is
here in Genesis 9:9 with the rainbow as a sign. The second is with Abraham,
originally for just Israel in Genesis 15 (with physical circumcision as a
sign), but is expanded to all nations in Genesis 17 and taught as such in
Romans in the NT (with spiritual circumcision now a sign). And the third is
with Moses and the Hebrews at Mt Sinai (with the sign of the blood of the
covenant, plus the building of the tabernacle and the establishment of the Law
with God’s people).
Genesis
9:11 – And I will
establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by
the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more
be a flood to destroy the earth.
In this covenant God promised to never
destroy all flesh again by flood, nor would a flood ever destroy the earth
again. Once again, note that while this one is a general covenant with all life
on earth, God would later make a more specific covenant which would include
initially just Abraham and the special nation that God would bring from him,
but then include other nations through the Gentile church later on.
Isaiah 54:7-10 – 7For
a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
8In a little wrath I
hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. 9For this [is as] the waters of Noah unto me: for [as]
I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth
with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10For
the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not
depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the
Lord that hath mercy on thee.
Thus, Israel may have been dealt with
harshly, but she will be restored one day.
Romans 11:1a – I say then, Hath God cast away his
people? God forbid.
Joel 2:32 – And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in
Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom
the Lord shall call.
This does not exclude mankind being
destroyed in other ways, but there also will be no total or absolute
destruction of mankind until Armageddon and the second coming of Christ.
Genesis
9:12 – And God said, This [is] the token of the covenant which I make
between me and you and every living creature that [is] with you, for
perpetual generations:
token – sign; signal;
distinguishing mark; miraculous sign; omen; warning; ensign.
Translated “miracles” in Deuteronomy 11:3 – And
his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto
Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;
where the miracles are signs or tokens.
Translated “mark” in Genesis 4:15.
perpetual – long duration;
for ever; ancient times; antiquity; everlasting; perpetual; indefinite or unending
future; evermore; always.
Genesis
9:13 – I do set my bow
in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the
earth.
The sign of this covenant is the rainbow in
the clouds. It would be a sign of (it would symbolise) God’s promise between
Him and the earth that it would never again be destroyed by flood.
The rainbow is produced by water droplets in
the air refracting the sunlight (can be moonlight!) into its component colours.
If you look directly at the centre of the rainbow, then the sun will be
directly behind you. Theoretically you can never get to one end of the rainbow,
for it will move as you move.
While some maintain that the rainbow must
have existed from the time rains existed, this verse does seem to suggest that
it was a new phenomenon at this time. This would assume that rain as we know it
today didn’t exist as such before the flood?
Genesis
9:14 – And it shall
come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen
in the cloud:
It generally rains when it is cloudy; thus the association of the rainbow with clouds. However,
clouds on their own will not necessarily produce a rainbow, for you have to
have the sunlight behind you and the water droplets in front of you to observe
a rainbow.
Genesis
9:15 – And I will
remember my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living
creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy
all flesh.
As mentioned before, God never forgets, so
remembering here has to be an anthropomorphism, a way of understanding God’s
activities from man’s understanding, attributing to God the style of thinking
done by man.
God will remember His covenant is another
way of saying that God will keep His promises, as per Numbers 23:19 – God [is]
not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should
repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and
shall he not make it good?
God is telling man to trust Him and His
promises. In fact, this is what faith is all about, the trusting in the
character of the one who makes the promises. Faith is a personal response to
the promises of another.
Hebrews 11:1-3; 6-7 – 1Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2For by it the elders obtained a
good report. 3Through
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that
things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
6But without faith [it is] impossible
to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that]
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7By faith Noah, being warned of
God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving
of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith.
Genesis
9:16 – And the bow
shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the
everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that [is]
upon the earth.
Once again this is an anthropomorphism,
where God who cannot forget anything may remember that which He will never
forget. But when the rainbow appears man will remember the covenant and will
know that God will look upon it and remember the everlasting (perpetual)
covenant between Him and all life on earth.
Genesis
9:17 – And God said
unto Noah, This [is] the token of the covenant,
which I have established between me and all flesh that [is] upon the
earth.
We have already had some detail concerning
the rainbow as a sign, but this is now recording as a fact that Noah was informed
by God concerning the covenant and the sign of the rainbow that establishes
this covenant. The rainbow therefore is like the signature on the dotted line
of a contract: it “establishes” the covenant with the sign that guarantees
God’s promise.
I have just put a post online called “Calvinisms” which outlines 9 of calvinism’s
deceits. This is based upon a lot of study that I’ve put into trying to
understand what calvinism is all about. A lot of people would probably question
why I should “waste” my time reading calvinist documents, including much of
Calvin’s Institutes. But, I reason, how can you seriously expect to oppose
what they say unless you first of all actually know (and consequently
have some understanding of) what they teach? So I
spend lots of time reading calvinist documents. Much of it is unintelligible,
waffling around (Calvin was a champion at waffling on), going around in
circles, rarely getting to the point, and when they do get to a point, it’s
often unrelated to what they started off with. They claim to be academic
giants, yet demonstrate very little evidence of such. I am a logical person,
and pick up on anything that is illogical. In some calvinist documents that is
just about the whole lot.
One thing I notice is that many of those
opposing calvinism do not have sufficient understanding of what they are trying
to oppose. Such non-calvinists become easy meat for those calvinists who love
to find the weak arguments and “demolish” them. (I guess it makes them feel
somehow “empowered”.) But even more so, I notice that most calvinists
themselves show very little understanding of those they think they are
opposing. Note such as Danny who would read just enough to pick out possible
points of agreement, and totally ignore the rest. It was clear that he wasn’t
reading what I wrote to him. I was wasting my time refuting his arguments
because he didn’t even bother reading what I wrote.
Most calvinists seem to think that because
they consider themselves the only ones who are biblical, then all who disagree
must be unbiblical. And so they make wide
sweeping often illogical and untrue statements about the opposition.
Take a recent one. Now, I do not know
exactly what Arminians teach, not having studied
their doctrines much at all. However, here’s what one calvinist writer says of
them: Those who have a strong doctrine of the grace of God are often
called 'Calvinists'; those who have a heavy emphasis on man's ability to save
himself by free will and good works are often called 'Arminians'. Note how
calvinists are such good guys who are obviously so biblical while those poor Arminians believe they can be saved by their own works. But, there is absolutely no documentation offered for this
amazing statement! In just one sentence this calvinist has effectively pronounced
calvinism biblical and the opposition unbiblical. So
let us analyse this statement.
The writer is strongly implying (calvinists
do “imply” a lot!) that
1/. Calvinists are godly, biblical people.
2/. If you are not a calvinist, you must be
Arminian.
3/. Arminians
believe they can be saved by good works.
4/. There is no other truly biblical group
out there other than the calvinists.
Here is that assumption that they regularly
fall into, that they are the only biblical group out there. Of course, they
admit that they are in some agreement with many “Arminians”,
but the implication in this document is still that the closer an Arminian is to
calvinist doctrine, the more they will have in common.
Some more quotes to look at.
Arminian doctrine of free-will
is easily understood. Men and women have the ability to save themselves
by their 'free will'.
Arminianism has never paid
much close attention to the exposition of Scripture; the Calvinists at their
best always do.
Arminianism has many links
with destructive liberalism; Calvinism has many links with powerful evangelism.
(Calvin)
showed (i) incredible integrity and honesty in
interpreting Scripture. Calvin was the pioneer of modern careful biblical
interpretation.
Now I could easily expose all of these but
we’ll just discuss them briefly for today. It doesn’t matter which side you are
on; this document has far too much bias without the support of genuine
documentation. It makes wide-sweeping statements that make Arminians
the super-enemy in doctrinal issues. However, it leaves out entirely a whole
realm of argument that is necessary for a balanced evaluation of these issues: that
there are many Christians out there who are neither calvinist nor Arminian, yet
are biblical by choice, unbound by doctrinal biases which always
enter when discussing views from a denominational point of view. If you could
take out all the denominational teachings, and focus entirely upon biblical
teachings, it would affect both Arminianism and calvinism viewpoints; however,
the calvinist viewpoint could almost entirely disappear while the Arminian
viewpoint might still have many points in agreement with biblical truth. That
is, (although I have not researched Arminianism very well) Arminianism appears
to be far less affected by biblical assessment of its doctrines than calvinism.
In fact, if calvinism is to be assessed by biblical standards, it would fail
miserably. (Note that I claim to be neither calvinist nor Arminian; my
doctrinal stand is biblical.)
This is the test of all doctrinal
viewpoints: that they must agree with biblical truth or else they fail.
Calvinists love to call their churches Bible or Grace churches, sometimes both;
it implies that they are what they least represent: biblical correctness
and the grace of God. They are neither! For when did a calvinist know his Bible
well or demonstrate God’s grace to other “lesser beings” around him?
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