Noah's Covenant and the New World

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And so, the flood waters abated and we enter into a whole new world for Noah and his family. Let’s get back to the Word of God and read –

Genesis 9.1-21
July 3rd 2022

Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
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.
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
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.
6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

God's Covenant with Noah

8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 And 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.
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.

The Token of the Covenant

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:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
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.
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.
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.

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Alright back to verse 1 please

Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish (or fill, a better word) the earth.

Again, a new world, another need to fill it. And then to us, the same is true of the new world of the Kingdom that is being multiplied and filled with believers spiritually. Same important principle.

And now we read of a specific change to Noah’s new world at verse 2:

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.

The wording of the first line is interesting – “the fear of YOU and the dread of YOU shall be upon every beast of the earth.”

Some, including the Hebrews, suggest that this means that man will fear and Man will dread confrontation with animals of the wild but I tend to see that God put the fear and dread of Man upon all the animals. Perhaps it’s both.

But in terms of fear and dread, even the most powerful animals on earth seem to innately fear human beings even though we have to wonder if horses, cows and even a really aggressive rooster realizes that they could kill most human beings if they really tried. But even in the jungle we see some of the most ferocious animals choosing to run at the sight of Man rather than confront – and when they do

The Introduction of Fear and Dietary Changes in Post-Flood Human Life

Confront, it appears to be out of fear (for we do seek to kill that which we fear) rather than confidence in dominating us. If we really think about it if animals had the capacity to unite and attack based on strength and ability human beings would have been wiped out long ago – so God appears to have put on them a “fear and dread” and therefore, by fear and by dread man rules every beast of the earth, every fowl of the air, and every fish of the sea.

It seems we ought to be grateful for this divine intervention or human existence would be a much more difficult experience – kind of like Jumanji on steroids. In this vane, God adds at verse 3:

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

It seems – seems – that preflood humans only ate the produce of the earth or the green vegetation (not sure about carrots or beets). But here Noah is granted the right to now be a carnivore. Some suggest that the flood caused enormous changes to the earth’s ability to produce truly healthy super foods and the diet of human beings by necessity had to include animal life, but I’m not so sold on this. Some support the idea by suggesting that post flood the atmosphere of the world also changed and therefore the nutrients once readily available through vegetation were suddenly inferior sources. We do have to wonder why this sudden change in the dietary availability to human beings though?

Human-Animal Relationships Before and After the Flood

I have a theory for whatever its worth and it does not relate directly to edible animals versus plants pre-flood but to Man/animal familiarity. Before the flood we read that there was a creation of super men that was the result of when the daughters of Man mated with the Sons of God. We also read that they took “to wife” whatever they wanted. Wild as it sounds, perhaps the animals of the preflood world were intimately engaged with Man at that time partly from there being no threat or fear existing between them. And perhaps as a means to put a darker thicker line between them God introduced fear and dread on the part of the animals because they were now a source of food to humans? The fact that God wiped out all the animals too lends to our wonder about this scenario and this is where I have landed – right or wrong. But after telling Noah and family about this new way to relate to animals, God adds:

4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

The Sanctity of Blood Post-Flood

Now, the Sanhedrim interpreted this to not only forbid the “eating of blood” but it also forbade human beings from removing part of an animal, like a leg, and eating it, while the rest of the animal remained alive. Additionally, if a limb was removed while the animal was alive, it was not allowed to be eaten even after the animal dies – to ensure reasonable use of every animal and mercy extended in the consuming of such. For this reason verse 4 reads:

4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

The reason it seems to say this is because as long as the blood of the animal is coursing through the fleshly body of a beast that beast should be considered alive. So, again, as long as a creature is alive, with blood coursing through its veins and body, which is the life thereof, it’s soul abides and the animal is to be considered alive therefore it cannot be used for food. The scripture here simply equates that life with the blood. No blood in the flesh or no blood coursing through the body of flesh, not life, making it lawful to consume the creature.

As a means to keep the whole process merciful while animal food was granted its blood was most solemnly forbidden, because it was called or sees as the very life of the beast, and “this life blood” was to be offered to God as an atonement for sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace.. Therefore, the blood of a living thing was held sacred, because it was the instrument of payment for sin because it is the life of the sacrifice.

From this we can say that:

• Before the deluge blood was not consumed because animal food was not in use.
• After

The Prohibition of Eating Blood

The deluge it was prohibited, as we read here. And then at the giving of the Law of Moses, and at several times during the ministry of Moses, the prohibition of eating blood was most solemnly emphasized and was associated with awful penalties. As a result, we can see that no blood was eaten previously to the Christian era, nor since the cultivation of the Nation of Israel.

Apostolic Guidance on Dietary Restrictions

We recall from our study of Acts that there was a division happening in the early apostolic church which caused Paul and Barnabas to go to Jerusalem to consult with the other apostles on the subject of circumcision and there they made the decision on how to instruct believing Gentiles on how to live and what to avoid as believers and at verse 20 we read James say to all there:

Acts 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

Then eight verses later he concludes his speech with:

Acts 15:29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.

All of this proves that even to the Apostolic church eating blood was something from which to abstain.

Understanding Blood in Dietary Practices

I used to think that eating rare meat was a form of eating blood but learned that the red liquid that comes from red meat is really myoglobin, which even though it sounds like hemoglobin it's not nor is it blood but the product that carries oxygen to muscles. In fact, red meat is red because of myoglobin and animals with less of it have lighter and whiter meat and animals with none (like some fish) have meat that is all white. So, eating red meat is NOT eating blood – even if you gather up the juice on the plate and drink it.

That being said some cultures do, in fact, eat the blood of animals in things like blood sausage, black pudding or a milk and blood drink popular in Africa. Modern medicine teaches us that there are not much nutritious benefits to eating or drinking blood of animals but instead a great deal of risk is incurred as blood carries all sorts of disease and is subject to quick contamination.

Reasons for the Prohibition

Eating of blood was prohibited in the Bible due to several factors including:

• Blood symbolically represented propitiation for sin as life was taken to provide it (first in sacrificed animals and second in the coming of Christ wherein truly is LIFE in the blood), and
• It was often associated with pagan rites and rituals, including what is called sex-magic which is tied to the power of lifeblood.
• It led to disease.

If I was ever to suggest something that ought to not be consumed by believers today it would be blood – for all the reasons given.

God’s words to the Nation of Israel are more than emphatic when he says in Leviticus 17 beginning at verse 10:

10 And 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. 11 For 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. 12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. 13 And 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. 14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. 15 And every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

Capital Punishment in the Old Covenant

Then shall he be clean. 16 But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.

Alright, back to Genesis 9 and God’s words to Noah as he continues on the topic of blood and says:

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.

Now, the Rabbi’s interpret this passage to speak of suicide because it reads: “And surely your blood of your lives will I require;” (suicide) “at the hand of every beast will I require it” (human deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. by animal) “and at the hand of man, (capital punishment or intentional taking of life) and at the hand of every man’s brother (either murder or unintentional fratricide) will I require the life of Man.”

Apparently and obviously, this verse speaks to the various ways human life can be taken and all of them will be taken into account by God. And here we read the justification for capital punishment alive on earth today as it says:

6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Justifications for Capital Punishment

Hence it appears that whoever kills a man, unless unwittingly, as the Scripture expresses it, they shall forfeit their own life. A man is accused of the crime of murder; of this crime he is guilty or he is not: if he be guilty of murder he should die; if not, let him be punished according to the demerit of his crime because for no offence but murder should he lose his life.

Taking away the life of another is the highest offence that can be committed against the individual, and against society; and the highest punishment that a man can suffer for such a crime is the loss of his own life. As punishment should be ever proportioned to crimes, so the highest punishment due to the highest crime should not be inflicted for a minor offence.

The law of God and the eternal dictates of reason says that if a man kills another, the loss of his own life is at once the highest penalty he can pay, and is the equivalent for his offence as far as civil society is concerned. I do believe that capital punishment is justifiable under the principles of the Old Covenant. I remain unconvinced that it is a principle in the presence of the new Covenant. I am strictly speaking theologically, not politically, and am willing to obey whatever laws of whatever land are in place.

Views on Capital Punishment

The only caveat I would gently suggest relative to the biblical supports used for capital punishments is to remind us that life was taken for life lost and societies that take life for lesser crimes are not in harmony with the principle lesson taught here in Genesis 9.

And to verse 7 as God says to Noah and his family:

7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

We have pointed out the first time these words were used by God (to Adam) and how the principle of it is repeated in other parts of scripture as well.

Interestingly, there is a connection this verse has to some midrash students and that is they see a connection to taking of life and giving life, which has caused some Jews to anciently suggest that to not multiply and re-fill the earth fit appropriately between taking life and creating it.

Okay, to verse 8-9:

8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

Jewish tradition states that Noah refused to continue to propagate the species until after God made this covenant with him. Not so sure about that – but could be, right? Whatever the case, God says to Noah:

And I, (and he repeats) behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

(verse 10)

10 And . . . 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.

And then God repeats saying again in the first line of verse 11.

The Noahic Covenant

And I will establish my covenant with you;

(Ready?) God now describes the covenant, saying

“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. 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: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”

Features of the Covenant

What is called, “the Noahic Covenant,” is the promise that God made to Noah and his descendants after the flood which destroyed that world. It has some simple but distinguishing features. First, it is an unconditional covenant meaning it was not conditioned on anything of Man. Second, it was not only made to Noah and all his descendants but to “every living creature” and even to the earth in general (Genesis 9:8-10). Then third, it was sealed with a sign which is the rainbow.

The Noahic Covenant is an unconditional covenant because it does not depend upon anything Noah or his descendants had to do to fulfill it. The promise is based upon God’s faithfulness alone. Because of God’s faithfulness to always do what He says He will do, we can know today with certainty that there will never be another flood (as there was in the days of Noah) no matter how wicked mankind becomes. Neither the wickedness nor the righteousness of mankind affects this unconditional covenant. There is no "condition" under which God will renege on His promise. This does not mean that God would never again destroy the land in response to sin again as scripture clearly promises that one day He would destroy the land by fire in the terrible events known as the “day of the Lord.”

The Rainbow as a Sign

This too, He did. But as a sign to remind Noah and his descendants of His covenantal promise, God “set the rainbow in the cloud” which was the sign of this particular covenant. Just as circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant and indicated that his descendants were One, the rainbow is the sign of the Noahic Covenant to indicate that God would never wipe out man and beast world-wide (Mesopotamian basin) again by flood.

Of course, the story points to the saving God would do to His Kingdom of all people who by faith looked to His Son. By faith, Noah and his family entered the ark and God evidenced his merciful hand from that point on through the rainbow. By faith the Children of Israel allowed the circumcision of their flesh to be the sign of their unity before God and he promised them a promised land and multitudes, and by faith in Christ, which is indicated by the sign of a circumcised heart, all who present it genuinely are His and protected and it is not by mistake that Revelation described rainbows in two places – chapter 4 and 10 as representational signs.

The point is God provided a means and way for the people in Noah’s day to be saved and He provided a way for the Nation of Israel to do the same. Of course, the ultimate identifier comes by and through faith in His Son, evidencing both His grace and His judgement for sin. Noah and his family were saved from the wrath of God that came in the flood, just as those who were in Christ were saved from the “wrath to come” in the promised great and dreadful day of the Lord, and just as those who will be saved from the self-inflicted wrath I suspect all will experience who reject receiving His Son by faith.

I find it really ironic and just flatly sardonic that the very sign that God gave the world to evidence His mercy on a world AFTER evidencing His wrath is used today as the universal symbol for lifestyles and attitudes that exist outside the heart of a converted believer . . . That pride, arrogance and lust celebrated in human beings is part of what caused the first flood to fall on them but today the rainbow is seen only in the sense of a promise by God to never wipe the world out in the same way – no matter how debased and self-centered it may get. But principles are principles and even though the floods are held back, and the fires only fell on Jerusalem and those who put the Christ to death,

The Enduring Principle of Humility

God remains the same, and no flesh will ever enter His presence without receiving Jesus as Lord by faith. And all the rainbows in the world will fail to obscure the proud hearts of Man from the glory of God when we stand naked and afraid before our Maker.

I am not speaking against gay people. I am speaking plainly and directly against proud people. Simple as that. The people in Noah’s day who did not make it on the ark were proud and indifferent to God. The Nations in Abraham's day were proud and indifferent to God and the people wiped out in Jesus’ day were the same. The principle continues on.

The Rainbow as a Covenant Token

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
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.
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.
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.

Interestingly, both the Greeks and Latins, as well as the Hebrews, have all believed that the rainbow is a Divine token causing some of them to even deify the thing or at least make it a messenger from heaven. Let’s read four more verses as we have a little time beginning at verse 18:

18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

The Lineage of Noah's Sons

Alright back to 18

Genesis 9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

Genesis 10:6 lets us know that Ham had other sons but Canaan is mentioned here because he was the head of a cursed race and whose country God would ultimately promise and give to the Israelites. We will read why Canaan was cursed next week. At verse 19 we are reminded of an interesting insight as Moses writes:

19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

Isn’t that fascinating? That every person on earth today either came from Shem, Ham or Japheth? Did you know that? According to Genesis 5:32 Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth after he was 500 years old. Any other children, if there are any, go unmentioned in the biblical account. Interestingly, the word semite is derivative of the name, Shem so we know that the Jews or Israel comes through Him. Other descendants of Shem include the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Elamites, Arameans, Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites. Japheth’s line produced the Persians, Romans, Scythians, and Macedonians and Ham's line produced the Canaanites, the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, the Cushites, and the Egyptians. Each of the races and all people-groups that exist today can trace their lineage back to one of these three brothers. Where the Asians fall in this list is a mystery to me.

Future Topics and Canaan's Curse

Now next week we are going to consider the one and only biblical story recorded that concerns Shem, Ham, and Japheth. There we will read that after the flood Noah will become a man of the soil or farmer and that he will grow a vineyard. And that after drinking too much wine, Noah passes out in his tent (apparently) and lays there naked and apparently exposed. We will then read that Ham “saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside” and we will discuss what this means. But whatever it was, Ham’s sin, which Shem and Japheth refused to join him in, was a biggy and it caused Noah, once he recovered, to say,

“cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.”

Noah will then bless his other two sons and reiterate Canaan’s servitude to both Shem and Japheth. We will also see that Noah’s curse was not empty as the descendants of Ham have…

A History of Enslavement

Truly experienced a long history of enslavery – not exclusively, though, as slavery has plagued all descendants of the brothers at one time or another – but the occurrence of slavery within the races that came from Ham is pretty remarkable looking back. In ancient times, it is well documented that the Babylonians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians (Hamites) were enslaved by the Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, and Romans (Shemites and Japhethites). In more modern times, Western Europeans (Japhethites) and Arabs (Shemites) are well known to have engaged in the slave trade of Africans (Hamites). The historical record seems to support the fact of Noah’s curse was actual and stands as powerful evidence of the accuracy of ancient scripture.

Noah's Story

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

Noah began to be a “a man of the ground, a farmer.” 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. We do not know if this is the first appearance of alcohol on earth but many believe it to be. Some suppose that the drunkenness that overcame Noah was a surprise and that he too was totally taken back by the effects of fermentation. Maybe so. Maybe not. Whether Noah knew the potency of wine or not is secondary to the story though it really bothers some souls to think it was purposeful and Noah was indulgent in his flesh.

Reflections on Noah's Actions

I for one cannot blame a man who spent a hundred years building a boat and another year couped up on it with a host of animals while riding out a massive flood. To me, Noah couldn’t wait to have a drink. But . . . we will see where this all leads next week.

Questions comments insights? Prayer (Danny Covid)