March 20, 2017
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Reading along with us in Genesis? Here’s today’s reading:
Genesis 9 (ESV)
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 dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.
7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,”… Continue Reading
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Before The Flood, Noah was considered, “a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). After The Flood, God established a new covenant with Noah and his offspring and Noah “began to be a man of the soil” (Genesis 9:20). The only “walking” in this chapter is when Shem and Japheth took a garment to cover their father Noah’s naked body as he lay passed out from drunkenness (Genesis 9:21).
I guess when God tells Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply, Noah took “fruitful” literally.
This looks familiar.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam (and Eve) sinned after eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Like Adam, Noah “enjoyed” the fruit of the vineyard and the effect of his sin is seen in his nakedness.
Shem and Japheth covering their father is like Adam and Eve who realized their sin and covered themselves (Genesis 3:7). Ham saw that Noah was naked but did not cover his father. Instead, he told Shem and Japheth and they covered him.
When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor, he cursed Canaan (Ham’s son), anticipating the deeds of later generations in the acts of their fathers as is done throughout Genesis.
After all this drinking and cursing, how does this chapter end? Noah dies.
Just like the narrative in Genesis 9, I got caught up in what Noah was doing while the focus was taken off of God speaking to Noah as he established His covenant with him.
Read chapter 9
God blessed Noah and his sons, but changed the relationship with them and the animals, as now every living creature feared man. That must have been sad after being their caretaker for that year+ in the ark. But God changed it and opened the door for animals as a source of food. Grateful that God upholds the value of human life again, and makes a covenant not only with man but all the living creatures, never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life and wrapped it in His bow.
I am good with this verse.
Read Galatians chapter 2 – thinking about what “laws” and traditions we place on ourselves (and on others!), relying on them for our relationship with God rather than Christ’s sacrifice. But also thinking about how our walk dramatically changes when we come to Christ and that sincere repentance requires a turning, and sometimes that lines up with the law.
Read Chapter 9
I read John 6 this morning and afternoon and commented there. I’m suddenly reminded of a sermon I listened to about a month ago by John Piper (“The Present Effects of Trembling at the Wrath of God”), specifically the illustration he gave of a man standing on a narrow ledge over an abyss, the wind whipping, and no way off the ledge unless he is rescued. After reading John 6, I am filled right now with trembling fear and unspeakable joy.
“If you know God — really know God — for who he is in the greatness of his holiness and justice and wrath and grace, you will tremble in his presence. And this is not something you will grow out of. In fact, the immature must grow into it.” John Piper
Father, I want to REALLY know You!!
Read Chapter 9
“And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
And example of a promise from God.
God gives to Noah the same basic command He once gave to Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”. But there are changes. The relationship between man and beast is now one of fear and survival. We now have not only the plants for food but also the meat. We are not to eat the meat with “the lifeblood” in it. In Leviticus 17 God gives Moses His requirements regarding blood. The primary thing is that He gave the blood for sacrifice on the altar for atonement. What would we do without the Blood?
The life is in the blood! We may not fully understand but by His grace we believe–because He told us!
Everytime i see a rainbow I am reminded of the promise of our great God!
The ending part of chapter 9 is once again proof of our need for a cure for sin. Noah got blitzed and conked out, Ham had a good but unprofitable laugh, and humanity continues on in disobedience.