Genesis 9

Genesis 9:1-4 “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 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. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof shall ye not eat.”

1) God pronounces another blessing, on Noah’s and his sons. He then reissues the order to get busy and fill the earth with progeny. Notice that although this is a repeat of the mandate to Adam, the other mandate, have dominion, is not repeated. It will be impossible with what God does to the animals. Not to mention that Adam forfeited his right to dominion when he sinned, so Satan now has dominion.

2) Not only man is to be fruitful and multiply, but also the animals were to breed abundantly. Gen. 8:17. Noah had been instructed to take two of every unclean animal and seven of every clean animal and birds (not just two by two as most people think) Gen. 7:2, 3. The reason for this was that clean animals would be needed to procreate faster for several reasons. One of those was that the clean animals were the ones used for sacrifice. Notice that when Noah got off the ark, the first thing he did was to build an altar and sacrifice unto God. Gen. 8:20. This was why he needed seven. Three pairs to mate, and one for the sacrifice. The poor animals made the ride just to be the sacrifice at the end of the ride.

3) A second reason for the seven clean animals was for food. When Moses was given the dietary laws, the clean animals would need to be more abundant, as they were the ones being eaten. Notice that at this time, there were no dietary restrictions. (these restrictions given to Moses would again be lifted in the New Testament.) If it moved, it was fair game. Both for man and beast. So now animals killed animals. (Probably another reason for the 3 pairs of clean. They tend to be the timid, domesticated kind, so they would be the prey for the more aggressive animals and would disappear faster.) For the first time in history, animals were allowed to be food for man and beast. Vegetation would need time to grow. They needed something to eat in the meanwhile. Even planted crops would take a season to grow. Fruits, nuts, things of this sort would take even longer. With the canopy removed, it wouldn’t be a year round lush growing environment. Soon there would be an ice age which would make food even harder to grow. However blood was never to be consumed - ever. Our life is in our blood. Lev. 17:11. Even to this day, that restriction remains. Acts 15:20. This is another drastic change from their previous world.

4)Yet another change was that the fear and dread of man was instilled in the animals. Knowing that most domesticated animals don’t necessarily fear us, one needs to look at this verse closely. Remember when God created the animals He had three categories: beasts, cattle and things that creep on the ground (which had to include small game animals). Notice this says the beasts and things that move on the earth or ground. One can assume this is still the same classifications and that cattle or domesticated animals did not fall into this fear and dread curse. Birds and fish would also fear man, but they were still delivered into man's hands for his consumption.

Genesis 8:20-21, 9:9-16 “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done…..And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 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 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. 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: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 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. 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.

1) The smell of the sacrifice was a balm to God’s hurt spirit. While He was angry at the world for their evil, He also loves His creation and this was a painful thing to do. This isn’t talking about the actual smell of the sacrifice as much as the sweet savor of belief and obedience and thanks that Noah was offering. It was washing away the filth of man’s rebellion.

2) Now God details the covenant He is making with Noah on our behalf. God knows that we are created in sin and that we can’t help sinning. He will not add anything to the curse that already exists, it is enough as it is. He will not again smite every living creature as He had done. Let’s get specific here. He says He will not smite every living creature as He had done, meaning with a flood. At the end of this age, God will wipe out a good portion of the world, however there will be a remnant left from every nation. God is also specific in that He says He will never again destroy every living thing by a flood. It is true. When there are floods, no matter how bad, it does not destroy everything. And at the end of the age, it will not be a flood, but fire that destroys the earth. So God is very specific about what this covenant covers. To make sure He remembers the covenant He has made with mankind (because this is not only for Noah but for all of his descendants and all the animals on earth) He sets His bow in the sky. It is not just for us to remember, but for His remembrance. 2 Pet. 3:3-7 reminds us of all that we have covered here. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” We are warned about apostasy, disbelief in the Second Coming, disbelief in a literal creation, the belief in evolution, and the disbelief in Noah's Flood in these verses.