Genesis 9: God's Covenant with Noah

¹ God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth."

 God blesses Noah and his sons, then tells them to fill the earth. In verse 2 God tells them that every creature on earth, every bird, and all the fish are placed under their authority. In verse 3 He tells them that the animals will be food for them, just as the plants are. Verse 3, God says, "I have given you everything". God's love is so great that He provides Noah and his sons everything to make life easier. He provided them with an abundance of food, and put mankind on the top of the food chain. 


In verse 4, the Lord says "However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it". At first, I didn't understand what this meant, or why it was significant enough for God to tell them not to eat 'meat with its lifeblood in it'. In more modern terms, that would just basically mean don't eat meat if there's still blood on it. I asked myself why would God feel the need to tell them this? Then I realized it was God's way of protecting them! I think in the beginning, man didn't understand much about safety practices when it came to cooking meat, so God was protecting them from eating bad meat! In order to obey God, man would have to fully cook the meat to ensure that there was no blood left, therefore killing all the bacteria that could have been tainting the meat. It's just so amazing how God does these little things to help humans out.


In Verse 5 God says " I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man's brother for a man's life". This was very confusing to me at first, so I looked up the same verse in other versions of the bible. The more I read it, the more it made sense. This verse basically says that if an animal or man kills a man, they too shall be killed. Although man shares the earth with animals, man is considered higher than the animals, because verse 6, "God made man in His image". Then God again tells them to be fruitful and multiply on earth in verse 7.


In verse 8 to 11, God is reminding them of His promise. Verse 11 says "that never again will all flesh be wiped out by the waters of a deluge; there will never again be a deluge to destroy the earth". In verse 9, God tells them to understand that He is confirming His covenant with Noah, his descendants, and all the creatures with him. The definition of a covenant is "a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action". In this cause, the Lord promises to refrain from wiping out man by the waters of a deluge.


¹³ I have placed My bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh: water will never again become a deluge to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh on earth." ¹⁷ God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and all flesh on earth."

In verse 12, God shows them the sign of His covenant, a rainbow. Now every time we see a rainbow in the sky, it is a reminder of God's covenant.