Genesis 9:1-7
Categories: Bible Study LessonsAfter disembarking from the ark God commanded Noah to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” We should notice the enormity of this task. The activities of Noah’s household were limited to those that would promote the populating of the planet. Risky behavior would be regulated and lifestyles that provided protection (promotion of peaceful, law abiding society) and a future for the family (heterosexuality) would be promoted.
For this purpose God gives extra provision, i.e., advantages if you will, to Noah’s household. Eight souls had to compete with the many animals that were released from the ark which competed for food. Without this provision the eight souls of Noah’s house may have been food for the hungry carnivores preserved from the flood.
God put fear in the animals to protect man.
Mankind, in small numbers was no match for the animals that had been preserved. We see the wisdom of God as well when humans would later exist in great numbers. This fear would also serve to preserve the animal kingdom.
God allowed the animals to be eaten by man.
Noting Genesis 1:29, it certainly appears that man had not been authorized to eat flesh before this. Man, at the first, was in a garden with much food. This change in man’s diet may have been to provide enough food over a greater part of the earth. This may have made it possible for man to spread over the earth and not just concentrate in the lush areas.
God gave a law for the protection of man.
The preservation of society requires punishment for evildoers. God gave a law designed to stem the tide of murder and to dispense justice.
We should remind ourselves and others in today’s political climate that the eating of meat is authorized by God as well as is the death penalty for murderers. We should never back off from this stand.