HBS & DwJ Podcast

Now it is time for our verse break down:

Genesis 10:2
The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
The first section in chapter 10's "table of nations" follows the sons of Japheth.
Japheth's descendants mostly settled to the north of where the nation of Israel would eventually reside.
While the Old Testament prophets sometimes mentioned them, they will not feature greatly in biblical events.
Thus, less is said of Japheth's successors.
They were not cursed, in the way that Canaan was (Genesis 9:25).
Nor were they especially blessed, in the way Shem's descendants led to Abraham and the eventual Messiah, Jesus Christ (Genesis 9:26).
However, the names of Japheth's seven sons can be correlated with the names and peoples of specific geographic regions in the ancient world, some of whom would intersect with the people of Israel from time to time.
Some of these names would be associated with city-states mentioned later in Scripture, such as Magog (Ezekiel 38:2), Tarshish (Genesis 10:4; Psalm 72:10; Ezekiel 38:13) and Kittim (Genesis 10:4; Numbers 24:24; Daniel 11:30).

Genesis 10:3
And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
Rather than a deep line of fathers and sons, this passage shows a broad spread of brothers and cousins.
The previous verse listed Japheth's seven sons.
This verse lists three sons of Japheth's son, Gomer.
The descendants of these three sons became three tribes who settled to the north of the Promised Land.
These people appear to be the Cimmerians, also known as the Scythians.

Genesis 10:4
And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
Accordingly, this passage explains the origins of the nations of the ancient world.
The previous verse listed the sons of Japheth's son Gomer.
This verse lists the sons of Japheth's son Javan.
These four sons are apparently connected to the peoples who would later become the Greeks.
Though Israel would not have many dealings in the Old Testament with the northern peoples who came from Japheth, these names and people do seem to be included in Bible prophecies.
Some of these can be found in Ezekiel chapters 27 and 37—39.
Culturally, the Greeks would become profoundly influential and would even conquer the territories of Israel under Alexander the Great.

Genesis 10:5
By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
This text is broad, showing the various tribes which came from the major descendants of Noah.
The previous verses named the sons and grandsons of Japheth.
From Israel's perspective, the tribes and nations that formed from these men were located, for the most part, to the far north.
Most of these tribes would have little impact on Israel's history, until their descendants—the Greeks—conquered Israel's territory under Alexander the Great.
It's helpful to remember that this spreading out and having separate languages came after the events surrounding the tower of Babel in Genesis 11.
Until that time, all the people of the earth were concentrated in one region and spoke one language.

Our Mission:
To provide the knowledge that will train sisters and brothers in Christ to spread GOD’s Love and create disciples.

Our Vision:
To share all resources that will aid in the knowledge necessary for the building of GOD’s kingdom.

The adversary does not know what to do with those who possess integrity. We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, on the contrary, we Are Spiritual Beings on a human Journey.

Our Scripture Of The Week Is:
Revelation 22:16 KJVS
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

Jesus had sent His angel to deliver the message of Revelation to the apostle John.
He said the message of Revelation is "for the churches." Presumably, churches should be teaching and heeding the contents of this last book of the Bible.

To ignore the book of Revelation is tantamount to rejecting the gift Jesus has presented to the churches. This verse also tells us Jesus is "the root and the descendant of David" and "the bright morning star."

Jesus was born as a descendant of King David (Matthew 1:1, 6–16) He is the rightful heir to the kingdom God promised to David (2 Samuel 7:12–16). The angel Gabriel prophesied that Jesus would reign over His kingdom from the throne of His father David (Luke 1:31–33).

But Jesus is also "the bright morning star." Malachi 4:2 promises Israel that the sun of righteousness will arise with healing in its wings. Revelation 22:16 identifies Jesus as "the bright morning star." Just as the morning star appears before the sun rises, so Jesus will come for the church before he returns to restore Israel to Himself.

Now it is time for our verse break down:

Genesis 10:1 KJV
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

This verse introduces what is sometimes called the table of nations. In addition to listing some of the descendants of Noah's sons, the chapter also mentions the lands and nations that formed among these descendants.

This is the purpose God intended for mankind in His commands after the flood: to repopulate the earth (Genesis 9:7).

As part of His will, God had promised to never again destroy the earth with a flood (Genesis 9:11). It's an awesome thought to realize that the descendants of these individuals became the peoples of the ancient world, the nations that Israel would eventually interact with as a nation themselves.

The incidents of the prior chapter have a drastic impact on these future generations. Since Ham dishonored Noah (Genesis 9:24), his son Canaan was cursed. The out-workings of that curse will not be clear until many generations later, when Israel arrives in the Promised Land.

The verse is clear that these sons were born to Noah's three sons after the flood and not before. Genesis 10 opens and closes with verses that bracket the genealogies between them and reveal their purpose.

Verses 1 and 32 both refer to the chapter as a record of the sons of Noah . . . after the flood, and verse 32 states that these lines of descent and the geographical distribution of the respective clans ultimately produce “nations” (people groups living in specific territories) that Abram and the patriarchs encounter later.

The chapter rehearses the genealogies of Noah’s three sons, beginning with Japheth, who seems least influential of the three in history. Next comes Ham and then Shem, the latter being our next focus.

Our Mission:
To provide the knowledge that will train sisters and brothers in Christ to spread GOD’s Love and create disciples.

Our Vision:
To share all resources that will aid in the knowledge necessary for the building of GOD’s kingdom.
The adversary does not know what to do with those who possess integrity.
We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, on the contrary, we Are Spiritual Beings on a human Journey.

With that being said, we will open this Holy Bible Study Session up with prayer, so please join in....


Our Scripture Of The Week Is:

1 Samuel 1:14 KJVS
And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.
Eli is the high priest of Israel.

He has observed a woman, Hannah, praying intensely at the temple at Shiloh (1 Samuel 1:9–12).
But he does not realize she is praying. He sees her lips moving and hears no sound, and he assumes she is drunk.

As high priest, Eli is responsible, at least in part, for making sure that conduct in this sacred place before the Lord is appropriate and respectful. Eli confronts Hannah, asking her how long she will keep being drunk.

He doesn't tell her to leave the temple, but he does tell her to put her wine away from her. In other words, he says it's time for her to quit drinking and sober up.

Our scripture will be coming from:

Genesis 9:18-29 KJV
[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.
[22] And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
[23] And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
[24] And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
[25] And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
[26] And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
[27] God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
[28] And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
[29] And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Now it is time for our verse break down:

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.

Why is Ham’s son Canaan mentioned here?

For two reasons.

One reason we’ll see in a moment.

Another reason is that when Moses wrote this record, the people of Israel were traveling to the land of Canaan, and it was encouraging for them to have this information regarding God’s judgment upon the people of Canaan.

Genesis 9:19
These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

All people who have ever lived since the Flood came from these three sons of Noah. The, one blood, of Acts 17:26 is that of Adam through Noah. All physical characteristics of the whole race were present in the genetics of Noah, his sons, and their wives.

Genesis 9:20
And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

The word began brings an ominous note to the early stories in Genesis. Husbandman - literally means, man of the soil, perhaps indicating, master of the earth, or lord of the earth.

Genesis 9:21
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

Here is the record of Noah’s sin. Noah had been so faithful to God that it is unlikely that he did this deliberately. His drunken condition may have been a totally unexpected result of the changed environment after the Flood.

The hard fact of the matter is that Noah got drunk, and this is sin. There is no satisfactory excuse, although many expositors have attempted to find excuses for him.

One excuse is that he was ignorant of the effect of wine since no one had been drunk before. You will notice that before the Flood, drunkenness is not mentioned as one of the sins. Well, all I can say is that this is a new beginning in a new world, but it is old sin that is still there. This incident reveals this, and it was given to answer a big question, as we shall see.

Genesis 9:22
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

Ham . . . saw the nakedness of his father: While many explanations have been suggested for this phrase, it is best to take it to mean merely what it says. There is no indication of any gross violation.
The phrase is not the same as in Leviticus 20:17, where it is parallel to another term used exclusively for sexual violations. The phrase indicates that this violation of privacy was merely the beginning of eventual sexual degradation.

Genesis 9:23
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

Perhaps Shem and Japheth did not want to see their father’s dignity and authority reduced to such weakness. They did not share Ham's attitude.

Genesis 9:24
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

This incident could scarcely have happened till twenty years after the flood; for Canaan, whose conduct was more offensive than that even of his father, was not born till after that event.

It is probable that there is a long interval included between these verses and that this prophecy, like that of Jacob on his sons, was not uttered till near the close of Noah‘s life when the prophetic spirit came upon him; this presumption is strengthened by the mention of his death immediately after.

Genesis 9:25
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Now notice what God says through Noah, which became part of the Noahic covenant. This doom has been fulfilled in the destruction of the Canaanites - in the degradation of Egypt and the slavery of the Africans, the descendants of Ham. I would have you note that God said, “Cursed be Canaan”—He does not put a curse on Ham.

A question that keeps arising is this: Is the curse of Ham upon the dark races?

It certainly is not. To think otherwise is absolutely absurd. The Scripture does not teach it. The coloration of the skin, the pigment that is in the epidermis of the human family, is there because of sunlight from the outside not because of sin from within.

There is no curse placed upon Ham; the curse was upon Canaan his son. We do not know in what way Canaan was involved in this incident. We are given only the bare record here, but we recognize that Canaan is mentioned for a very definite purpose.

Let me repeat that it hasn’t anything to do with color—it is not a curse of color put on a part of the human race. That teaching has been one of the sad things said about the black man. It is not fair to the black man and it is not fair to God—because He didn’t say it.

After all, the first two great civilizations were Hamitic—both the Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations were Hamitic.

Another question arises: Why did God give us a record of the sin of Noah?

Well, if man had written the Book of Genesis, he would have done one of two things. He either would have covered up the sin of Noah by not mentioning it at all to make Noah a hero; or else he would have made Noah’s sin a great deal more sordid than it was.

But God recorded it for His own purposes.

First of all, as I have indicated, it was to encourage the children of Israel in entering the land of Canaan during the time of Moses and Joshua. It let them know that God had pronounced a curse upon Canaan. He had pronounced His judgment upon the race. All you have to do is read the rest of the Old Testament and secular history to discover the fulfillment of this judgment. The Canaanites have pretty much disappeared.

God had a further reason for recording the incident of Noah’s sin. In Romans 15:4 we read these words: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

It was recorded to let you and I know something of the weakness of the flesh. The Lord Jesus said that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. And in Galatians 2:16 it is made very clear that no flesh would be justified by keeping the law: “. . . for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

So God has given us here the story of a man who fell. Revealing the weakness of the flesh. There is no use trying to make excuses for Noah. The bare fact is that Noah got drunk. Now, maybe you as a Christian do not get drunk. But, may I say, you and I may be living in the flesh to the extent we’re just as displeasing to God as Noah was.

We have, I think, a wrong conception of life in this universe that we are in. For instance, our nation has spent billions of dollars to put men on the moon, and it looks like it’s not a good place to live anyway. But we spend relatively little on how to live on this earth.

But God is concerned about training you and I how to live on this earth.

Let us not make some of the mistakes that are made in the consideration of this incident. We need to make it very clear that Noah did not lose his salvation. I trust that you understand that. It was an awful thing that he did—there is no excuse for it. It was his weakness of the flesh, but he was still a saved man.

Genesis 9:26
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Rather, Blessed of Jehovah, my God, be Shem, - an intimation that the descendants of Shem should be peculiarly honored in the service of the true God, His Church being for ages established among them, the Jews, and of them, concerning the flesh, Christ came.

They got possession of Canaan, the people of that land being made their, servants, either by conquest, or, like the Gibeonites, by submission, found in Joshua 9:25.

As I have mentioned before, when Moses was given this revelation from God, he was leading the people of Israel to the land of Canaan. The Israelites were descendants of Shem.

...

Our Scripture Of The Week Is:

Deuteronomy 8:5 KJVS
[5] Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.

Thou shalt also consider in thine heart
Frequently think of, and meditate upon, revolve in their thoughts, well weigh in their minds, and take into thorough and deliberate consideration in their hearts; it being a matter of great moment and importance to them for their peace and comfort and the glory of God, namely, what follows:

that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee;
that they stood in the same relation to God as a son to a father, and therefore happy and honourable; that all their afflictions came from God, were appointed, sent, directed, and overruled by him for his own glory and their good.

That these were the chastenings and corrections of a father, and were not done in wrath, but in love, and therefore should be patiently endured; and it became them to consider well from what hand they came, and in what manner, and for what ends and purposes, how they ought to behave under them, and what they should do, as follows.

Our topic today is:

NEW INSTRUCTIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS part 2 Discussion

Verse 7 wraps up the section of blessings and commands by repeating the contents of verse 1: Noah, his sons, and all humanity to follow were charged with having more and more children and filling up the earth again.

Implied in the command is God's blessing to make it possible for humanity to continue to reproduce, to continue to receive the gift of children from God's hand through the process of human reproduction. God had wiped out humanity for its sinfulness, but God's intent is for humanity to thrive again under a new and reestablished relationship with Him.

The repeat of this command is also important in that it follows God's specific call for severe punishment in cases of murder. In verse 6, God institutes a requirement that any man or animal who murders a human being is to be put to death. The reason given was due to man's status as an image-bearer of God.

Here, by returning to the issue of expanding the human race, we see a second reason for God's harsh stance against murder. Rather than allow the kind of violence which had ruined the pre-flood world, God sets a new standard.

One difference of the post-flood era, beginning with chapter 9, is that God is speaking directly to Noah's sons, as well as to Noah. God is specifically including the next generation in His promises, commands, and blessings. In prior verses, God established some new details in man's relationship with animals, including the animal kingdom's fear of man and permission for humans to eat animal flesh.

Blood, however, is not to be eaten. Prior verses also established that instances of murder, whether by a man or an animal, would require the death penalty. As mankind are the image-bearers of God, God would not allow murder and violence to spread to the extent it did prior to the flood.

In this passage, God will establish a specific agreement with Noah and all of his descendants. This was foreshadowed by God prior to the flood (Genesis 6:18). This promise from God involves His vow to never again destroy all life on earth with a flood. The sign given to prove this covenant is God's bow, "set" in the clouds, rather than held ready for battle: the rainbow.

A "covenant" is a solemn agreement between two parties, where each side has certain obligations. Both parties in the covenant are bound to follow through on their end of the agreement. In some cases, those responsibilities are conditional. In such instances, the requirements are stated as "if this, then that."

In others, the mandates are expected no matter what the other party does. In Genesis 6:18, God promises to establish a covenant with Noah. Noah's side of that binding agreement came in his work of building the ark. Now, as promised, God is about to explain His part of the covenant He has made with humanity through Noah and his sons.

God reveals His covenant to all four men and not just to Noah, the patriarch. This will be a covenant with all of the peoples of the earth to follow from these four men—which means it is a covenant with all the peoples of the world to live since that day. Specifically, God will promise to never again destroy all life on earth with a flood. As a sign of this promise, God provides the rainbow.

Prior to the flood, God promised to establish a covenant with Noah (Genesis 6:18), after Noah demonstrated obedience by building the ark. In the previous verse, God revealed to Noah and his three sons that He was about to establish His part of that covenant. This agreement would apply to all living things, which were descended from those who left the ark.

What this verse reveals is that the covenant is also between God and all of animal-kind: every kind of creature that survived the flood aboard the ark. God lists them: birds, livestock, every kind of beast, every living thing. God does not generally make covenant agreements with animals.

Yet, He gives animals special honor here by including them in this promise. God shows that, though He wiped out nearly all of animal-kind in the flood, He still cares deeply about these creatures He has created. God has said that man will triumph over the animals and that humans may eat anything that moves, but that doesn't mean that God sees animals as worthless or expendable.

He makes this promise to them, as well. The promise, given explicitly in the next verse, is that God will never again destroy all life on earth with a flood.

After declaring in the previous few verses that He was about to make a covenant promise to all of humanity, and all of animal-kind, God now reveals the unilateral agreement He is making. The first part of this agreement was Noah's responsibility to build an ark (Genesis 6:16–18), after which God said He would establish this binding promise.

This type of covenant agreement was common in ancient times, but this one is unusual in that God also includes animals as participants. They have no particular obligation, but God includes them in His vow. That oath is given here in direct terms: God will never again use a flood to destroy the earth or to destroy all living things. Period.

God is finished with world-killing floods. This is not a casual commitment for God. The language used here is of a legally binding contract. God is structuring an official agreement that He will bind Himself to, for all of the earth's history. As with other covenants of that era, God will establish some sign, or proof, indicating that this covenant is real.

In this case, God's sign of the Noahic covenant is a rainbow (Genesis 9:13).

This was a common aspect of covenant agreements. Later, when establishing a covenant with Abraham, God will use the sign of circumcision (Genesis 17:11). That sign is revealed in the next verse: God's bow, "set" in the sky, rather than being held in God's hand.

The bow was a symbol of warfare, so the symbolism of it being set in the clouds as a human might hang their bow on a wall represents God's peaceful intentions through the covenant.

More specifically, God says that He has set His bow in the cloud. The word for bow can be used of a battle bow, but the description of the bow being set on the occasion of clouds and being visible on the earth—along with the fact that the same word can be used for rainbow—makes it clear God is speaking of the rainbow.

This is a "sign" which people can see directly. The language used by God here is meant to suggest the symbolic hanging up of a battle weapon after the war is done and it is time for peace. God is taking responsibility for creating rainbows as a symbol of His pledge to humanity and to animals, never again to send a global flood.

While rainbows are a scientific, meteorological phenomenon, Genesis asserts that God is responsible for every scientific and meteorological phenomenon (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 19:1). God chose to cause rainbows to function as a symbol of His covenant promise.

Verse 14 and 15 complete a single thought. Prior to the flood, God began to establish a covenant agreement with Noah (Genesis 6:18). At that time, the obligation was on Noah to build an ark to hold himself, his family, and the animals God intended to save.

After the flood, God establishes His side of the promise. This binding vow is made to all of the people of the earth, as well as all of the animals. He will never bring a global flood again. Covenant agreements were often remembered using some kind of visual sign or symbol (Genesis 17:11). In the prior verse, God explained that the sign of this particular covenant would be His bow set in the clouds.

This evokes the idea of a warrior setting his weapon aside once the battle is over and the time has come for peace. In verses 14 and 15, God begins to describe what will happen when a rainbow becomes visible.

This completes the thought begun in the previous verse. God has established His covenant promise with all life on the earth that He will never again bring a global flood to destroy every living thing. Now God says that when the rainbow becomes visible against the clouds, He will remember His covenant.

He will not send another flood. Usually in Scripture, signs for covenants are given by humans, not by God.

Those signs ....

We will begin with:

Genesis 9:7-17 KJV
[7] And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
[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.
[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.

Genesis 9:7
And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

This is a repetition of God’s instructions in verse 1.

Genesis 9:8
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

GOD communicated by talking to them.

Genesis 9:9
And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

God has already told Noah, with thee will I establish my covenant, found in Genesis 6:18, the first time the word covenant appears in the Bible. Following the great flood, God addresses not only Noah but also his three sons, found in Genesis 5:32; 6:10; 7:13; and 9:18.

God’s covenant includes not only them but their seed, or descendants. Therefore the covenant about to be explained embraces all human beings. “With your seed after you” includes all the human race.

Genesis 9:10
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.

God’s covenant also applies to every living creature. Therefore the prohibitions and warnings that were given earlier regarding these creatures and humans are balanced with the establishment of a special covenant with both parties.
The nature of that covenant is explained next.

All of God’s creatures are included in this covenant. Isaiah predicts that someday the lion and the lamb will lie down together and that they will not hurt or destroy each other. In Paul’s Epistle to the Romans he mentions that the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain in this present age.

May I say to you that God has made this covenant with Noah and with all of His creatures until the time His Kingdom comes on earth. It is for all of Noah’s descendants and “every living creature that is with you.”

Genesis 9:11
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 specifics of the Lord’s covenant are provided: never again will He use the waters of a flood to cut off life and destroy the earth as He has just done. The next destruction of the earth will be by fire, not water found in 2 Peter 3:6-12.

This is God’s promise. His purpose is that He will not again destroy the earth with a flood. The next time His judgment of the earth will be by fire. We find that stated in 2 Peter 3. In the next few verses we see the picture of the covenant, and in my opinion, really a spiritual meaning of the covenant.

It is sort of a sacrament, if you please. The thing which makes it that, is a visible sign to which are annexed promises.

Genesis 9:12
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:

Once more the all-inclusive nature of the covenant is emphasized: it is for Noah and his sons along with every living creature. Moreover, the covenant is for perpetual generations, which is another way of describing, your seed after you, in Genesis 9:9.

Genesis 9:13
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

The visual reminder of the bow, or rainbow, is the token of that covenant. The noun bow generally describes an instrument of death, used for hunting or warfare, as found in Genesis 27:3; 48:22; etc.
Genesis 9:13, 14, 16 and Ezekiel 1:28 are the only places in the Old Testament where this word signifies a rainbow.

Perhaps the symbolism in God’s declaration lies in the fact that He is laying aside an instrument of destruction in keeping with His promise not to destroy the earth again by means of a flood. Some believe that this is the first appearance of a rainbow, marking its significance as part of the covenant that God is establishing.

Others maintain that the rainbow has already been seen on previous occasions after rainfalls, but the rainbow becomes the token of God’s covenant only after He speaks the words in the verse before us.

Genesis 9:14
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

A bow speaks terror, but this has neither string nor arrow; and a bow alone will do little hurt. It is a bow, but it is directed upward, not toward the earth; for the seals of the covenant were intended to comfort, not to terrify.

Genesis 9:15
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.

God’s memory never fails, of course. So the phrase I will remember does not imply that God might somehow forget certain details and needs a rainbow to be reminded of them. In a passage such as this, the phrase I will remember carries with it the idea that God is about to act to fulfill a promise He has made.

A similar usage is found in Exodus 2:24, where God hears the cries of the Israelites in bondage in Egypt, and remembered his covenant. God’s response in Exodus 3 is to call Moses to be Israel’s deliverer.

In the case at hand, God takes personal charge of being the deliverer as He continuously ensures that the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Genesis 9:16
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.

This verse reemphasizes what has already been stated. Notice that God says, “I will look upon it” and “I will remember.” God didn’t say that you would see it; He said that He would see it.

He said He would look upon it and it would be an “everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” That ought to be the encouragement whenever you look at a rainbow.

Genesis 9:17
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.

A final reaffirmation of the rainbow’s importance is given to Noah himself. This is only fitting since this account of the flood began with God’s message to Noah about how corrupt the earth had become, as found in Genesis 6:13, and of God’s intention to establish His covenant with Noah, found in 6:18.

When Noah is first introduced in Scripture, he is called, a just man and perfect in his generations, as found in Genesis 6:9. Because Noah faithfully did, according to all that God commanded him, found in 6:22, he is now given the privilege to witness God’s, re-creative, activity and to hear God announce the terms of a covenant with all flesh that is upon the earth.

It is still true that those who faithfully obey and serve God receive numerous blessings, privileges, and insights that remain only mysteries to those who, like the vast majority in Noah’s day, remain entrenched in their wickedness, as found in Matthew 13:10-16 and Colossians 1:26.

This is God’s covenant, not merely with Noah but with all flesh that is upon the earth. Let me say again that the rainbow could be called a sacrament because a sacrament is a visible sign to which are annexed certain promises.

The Passover feast, the brazen serpent, Gideon’s fleece, and in our day, baptism and the Lord’s Supper are such signs.

God makes a promise and attaches a sign to it.

Now the rainbow is God’s answer to Noah’s altar.

It is as if God says, “I’ll remember, and I’ll look upon it.”

Our Scripture Of The Week Is:

1 Corinthians 13:1 KJVS
[1] Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

Paul launches into one of the most loved and meaningful chapters in the Bible. It is brief, but it powerfully describes the very heart of what it means to live together as believers in Jesus. He begins by showing just how pointless even the most impressive spiritual gifts are without love.

Even the God-given, supernatural ability to speak in a language one doesn't know, even the language of angels, becomes as the sound of a noisy gong and clanging cymbal if it is not exercised with love. The specific word used here is agape, meaning a self-sacrificing and godly love.

The "tongues of men" are understood to be proper human languages. This is a gift given so that those who do not know the speaker's language can understand the message given by God. The language of angels may very well refer to the actual language spoken among heavenly beings, who apparently participated in some way in the worship gatherings of the early church (1 Corinthians 11:10).

Or, this might simply be a figure of speech Paul uses to make his larger point about the primacy of love. No matter how impressive such a display would be, it becomes nothing but repulsive noise when practiced without love for other believers.

Our topic today is:

NEW INSTRUCTIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS part 1 Discussion

Genesis 9 describes God's dealings with Noah and his sons in a world remade by the flood.
It can be divided into three sections.

First, God gives blessings and commands to Noah and his sons which very closely echo His words to Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:28), but with significant differences. God once again blesses mankind with both ability and responsibility to reproduce and fill the earth.

This time, however, God's instruction to subdue the earth includes the fact that all animals would be fearful of humanity. In Eden, God explicitly gave plants as a food source (Genesis 1:29–30).

Now, after the flood, in addition to plants, humanity is given overt permission to eat animals. However, they are not permitted to eat the blood of those animals. In addition, if a person kills another person—or an animal kills a person—God will now require the killer's life to be taken, as well, as a protection against the kind of violence that raged on the earth before the flood (Genesis 9:3–6).

Genesis 9 begins with God's blessing on, and charge to, the humans who remain alive on the earth. This blessing is similar to God's blessing on humankind in Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 5:2.
This is also the third instance so far in Scripture where God commands humanity to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28; 8:17).

In a very real sense, this blessing shows that God is beginning again with Noah what He started with Adam. This time, however, there will be specific differences set out from the start of this reboot of God's relationship with humanity. Among these will be slightly different directions regarding food and the consequences of murder, for example.

The tendency of animals to fear and flee human beings will also be brought up in this passage.
Previously, God indicated that the animals of the ark were meant to repopulate the land devastated by the flood (Genesis 8:17). Now, God's command defines for Noah and his sons their greatest remaining purpose: reproduce.

These first verses of Genesis 9 repeat some of the language God used with Adam and Eve when He blessed them. After commanding Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, God now speaks to them about subduing the animal kingdom, as He did with Adam (Genesis 1:28).
This command to rule over the animal kingdom is different from the original version given in Eden, however.

Instead of merely commanding Noah to subdue the earth, God tells Noah and sons that the animal kingdom will fear them. Every kind of non-human life will be fearful of humankind. Some interpret this to mean that, prior to the flood, animals did not fear man. Others suggest that this simply reinforces the hostile, difficult nature of survival in the post-flood world.

Now, however, God promises that humanity will triumph over the animal kingdom as if in a military battle. Humanity will reign supreme on the earth, even over the most fearsome of the animals. Whether or not animals feared man before the flood, and whether or not they had eaten them prior to flood, the relationship established upon leaving the ark is certain.

This verse establishes a mostly adversarial relationship between man and animals, something else lost from the paradise of Eden as the result of man's sinfulness. In this man-dominated relationship, animal-kind would fear people and people will triumph (Genesis 9:2).

God had said to Adam that he could eat from every plant, except for a single forbidden tree. God again gives humanity specific permission to eat, saying to Noah and his sons that they can eat anything that moves, as well as any of the plants.

This, in part, might explain the reason why man's relationship with animals is characterized in this passage as hostile. At this point in God's relationship with humankind, no restriction is mentioned about defining certain animals as edible or inedible: clean or unclean.

This may have been understood, in the sense that Noah would have considered those animals not previously defined as "clean" as inappropriate to eat (Genesis 7). The other possibility is that humans may have been free to eat animals categorized as "unclean" until God made them off-limits for His people in the Law (Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14).

The permission to eat anything that moves may have included an implied restriction against eating animals which had died of natural causes. In other words, only animals "moving" when man decided to eat them were acceptable. These first few verses of Genesis 9 include God's blessings and commands to Noah and his sons.

These instructions are also meant for the generations that will follow from them. God made clear that humanity was free to eat any kind of creature that moved. This would include birds, fish, beasts, and creeping things. Whether or not mankind was specifically allowed to eat animals prior to flood, they are given specific permission now to do just that.

However, while God does allow man the ability to eat animal flesh, He includes a restriction: Humans are not to eat the blood of these animals along with their flesh. The verse describes the blood as the animal's life. Later, under the Law of Moses, Israelites will be required to very carefully drain the blood from animals before consuming them.

This deep respect for blood is the first step in a long process, establishing the symbolism of Christ's sacrifice for human sin on the cross.

This is one of the first moments in Scripture where blood, specifically, is tied to life.
Later, through moments such as the first Passover (Exodus 12:1–7), and the sacrifices in the temple (Exodus 29:19–21; Leviticus 4:1–21), this reverence for blood will be magnified.
As mentioned before, the ultimate meaning of this symbol will be fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7).
The verse pivots from an animal's lifeblood to the shedding of the blood of humans.
This is a new command for the way human communities should conduct themselves; it is a change from God's requirements for mankind before the flood.
Specifically, God will require a reckoning—a dire accountability—when the lifeblood of a person is shed.

God will require that reckoning whether the one who kills a person is a man or an animal.
The next verse will reveal that reckoning to be the death of the one who kills any human being.
Following the first recorded murder in Scripture, God allowed Cain to live and, in fact, to thrive on the earth.

With this new beginning after the flood, however, God will require death for the intentional, unjustified killing of another person. God declared that, from this point forward in the post-flood world, He would require an account or reckoning whenever a human life was ended by man or animal.

The person or animal who killed another person was to be killed. The poetic language of the shedding of blood refers to death. The institution of the death penalty by God differs drastically from His response to Cain's murder of his brother Abel.

Then God allowed Cain to live and even to thrive on the earth (Genesis 4:15–16). However, the violence on the earth was part of God's reason for wiping out mankind with the flood (Genesis 6:5). God gives a specific reason for this new command to kill those who kill others: Humans are made in God's image (Genesis 1:26–27).

God values human life and will not allow the taking of life to stand without the killer giving an account. This command also shows that human life is valued above animal life in God's eyes. Men were allowed to kill and eat animals, but men or animals who killed a person would themselves be killed.

This specific reference to capital punishment—an offense worthy of physical death—is also important in that it predates the Law of Moses. Christians are often divided over the concept of the death penalty. As part of that debate, Genesis 9:6 reminds us that capital punishment did not ....

Our scripture will be coming from:

Genesis 9:1-6 KJV
[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.

Now it is time for our verse break down:

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

God had made the man and the woman on the sixth day of creation, instructing them to, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, found in Genesis 1: 28. Now, after the judgment carried out through the great flood, God begins what we might call a “re-creation” with Noah and his sons.

Eight people are to fulfill the mandate given to Adam and Eve, found in Genesis 7:13, and 1 Peter 3:20.

The word replenish is meaningful here because we know that there was a civilization before the Flood, and now there is to be a civilization after the Flood.

(When Adam was told to replenish the earth, we assume that there had been living creatures—I don’t know what to call them—before Adam.
They apparently were living creatures of God’s creation; anything I could say beyond that would be pure speculation.)

Notice that the first thing God tells Noah to do is to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” There is to be the propagation of the race. Remember that God gave this command under special circumstances.

Today we are in a time of population explosion, and there is overpopulation that is quite dangerous.

However, Noah stood in a unique position. He and his family were the only folk around.

Can you imagine driving down the freeway, going to work in the morning, and there are cars in front of you, cars to the right of you, cars to the left of you, cars behind you, cars honking—you’re in a traffic snarl?

Then about a year later you go out on the freeway and there is not another car there.
Yours is the only one. You might as well take down all the traffic lights. You won’t need them because you are the only one driving through.

This would be quite an unusual experience for us, would it not?

Well, this was the experience of Noah in his day.

Genesis 9:2
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.

And the fear of you and the dread of you
The second part re-establishes man‘s dominion over the inferior animals. It was now founded not as at first in love and kindness, but in terror; this dread of man prevails among all the stronger as well as the weaker members of the animal tribes and keeps away from his haunts all but those employed in his service.

Another part of the covenant is man’s protection and rulership over the animal world.
I take it that before this time the relationship was different. Apparently man had not been a meat eater before. All the animals were tame, and one is not inclined to eat an animal that is a pet.

Remember that the animals came to Noah when the Flood was impending; they seemed to have no fear of him at all.

Now the animals will fear and dread man. However, man is responsible for the animal world. Man’s treatment of the animal world is a brutal story. Man has attempted to exterminate many of the animals. Man would have slaughtered all the whales around the Hawaiian Islands for the money they could get if the government had not intervened.

At one time the buffalo were in great herds in the West, but they were killed by man. Today we must have places of refuge to protect animals and bird life. It is well that we do that. The animals of Africa are being exterminated. Man is a mighty brutal creature. We need a government to protect the animals from man.

Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Humanity’s diet now is expanded beyond the vegetation permitted in Genesis 1: 30, and meat becomes a new source of protein. We may wonder why God gives such permission at this particular time since creatures are not especially numerous.

Unclean animals had been taken aboard the ark in twos, while clean animals had been taken by sevens, found in Genesis 7: 2, 3; and some of the latter have already been sacrificed in Genesis 8: 20.

But capture of creatures for food will not be easy since they now fear humans found in Genesis 9: 2. It seems that just as man has to sweat to produce food from the ground found in Genesis 3:19, he now will be required to exercise a similar effort to obtain meat from earth’s creatures.

Now God gives to man a new provision for food. Before the Flood God gave to man the green earth, the plant life, to eat. Now He tells Noah that he is able to eat animal life.

Genesis 9:4
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

God next imposes a limitation on the new allowance concerning humanity’s diet: people are forbidden to eat flesh, or meat, with its blood. The restriction and the reason for it will be restated in the Mosaic law in Leviticus 17:10–14, and Deuteronomy 12:16, 23–25.

Taken together, the passages from Genesis, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy imply that blood either is or somehow represents a creature’s life force. One may suggest that the center of life is in the heart or the brain, but these organs function only if the supply of blood to them is maintained.

To cut off the blood supply means certain death. The draining of the blood before eating the meat was a way of returning the life force of the animal to the God who gave it life. This offers recognition that individuals have taken the life with permission and are partaking of God’s bounty as His guests.

Some suggest that this principle remains intact today, found in Acts 15:20, 29. Others point to Jesus’s purging of all meats found in Mark 7:18, 19 as a basis for saying that dietary regulations from the Old Testament are no longer binding.

This may be one of those areas where differences of opinion can exist without passing judgment on those who hold them found in Romans 14:1– 4. The blood should be drained out. The blood speaks of life; draining it indicates that the animal should be killed in a merciful way rather than prolonging its suffering and that it must be really dead.

Genesis 9:5
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.

God expands on the previous stipulation. So important is the principle that life is in the blood that He states and surely your blood of your lives will I require.

God will, first of all, require a reckoning for human life that is taken by every beast that is responsible for so doing. God declares that He will keep a record of every person killed by a member of the animal kingdom, and He will hold the deadly animal accountable.

Of course, animals do not understand the concept of guilt, even so, they are accountable to their Creator for their actions.

How much more, then, is this the case with those created in God’s image, beings who are capable of understanding guilt!

Both this verse and the next address our accountability to God in this regard. This is an interesting statement, but not so meaningful to those of us who do not live on a frontier. However, there are certain animals even we encounter—such as skunks and opossums which may be rabid or disease-carrying rodents—that pose a real danger to man.

Now the fifth and the last statement in the new covenant is the most amazing—

Genesis 9:6
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

God requires of humans that the life of a murderer, whoso sheddeth man’s blood, must be taken as punishment for the heinous act. This principle is later embedded within the Law of Moses, where a distinction is made between premeditated murder and what we would call involuntary manslaughter today, found in Exodus 21:12-14.

The reason for the kind of punishment we see in our text is based on our uniqueness as creatures made in the image of God. So passionate is God about preserving and protecting this uniqueness that destroying a life must be disciplined to the ultimate degree: life for life, also see Leviticus 24:17 and Numbers 35:31.

The Old Testament basis for capital punishment is thus quite clear. To take the life of a murderer is to be considered an act of the utmost respect for life-life as a creative gift of God.

Our topic today is:

Noah Builds An Altar And Offers Sacrifice Discussion

Noah's first action after leaving the ark is to build an altar to God. This is the first recorded altar in Scripture. Noah used it to offer sacrifices to God from the clean animals. Apparently, this was the purpose God had in mind for Noah to take extra pairs of the clean animals (Genesis 7:2).

Using a common metaphor, this passage says that God "smells" the aroma of the offering, and He is pleased. He makes a commitment to never again curse the earth through a flood (Genesis 8:21). He also commits to never wipe out all the living creatures on the planet again, though He recognizes that humanity will continue to carry evil intentions in their heart.

Though human nature has not changed, God shows a measure of common grace and mercy on all life on the planet. God commits to continuing the cycles of life according to His original design. Day will follow night, one season will follow another, as long as the earth remains (Genesis 8:22).

In the previous chapter, God sent seven pairs each of every kind of clean bird and animal. That was the first hint that God regards some animals as clean and others as unclean. Only clean animals could be used as sacrificial offerings to God (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14).

Noah's act here corresponds with the most common form of offering to God, which Israel would later practice while following God's Law. In that offering, the whole animal is burned and fully consumed by fire on the altar. This offering would have been a truly faith-based sacrifice, even if it was commanded directly by God.

So few of each kind of animal existed in the world that to purposely kill any of them, even the more plentiful clean animals, was very costly to Noah and his family. It was clearly an act of faith in God's ability to provide.

This act of worship to God reveals that Noah continued to be faithful to God, even after the flood. Noah proves that he is motivated by allegiance to God. As far as Noah was concerned, this new world remade by the flood would be built on a foundation of obedience and submission to the Creator.


The previous verse recorded Noah's first act after leaving the ark: to build an altar and offer animal sacrifices to God. Now God responds to this humble act of worship. We're told that God smells the pleasing or soothing aroma of the sacrifice and, apparently greatly pleased, makes a new commitment.

This is the only time Scripture shows God explicitly smelling the aroma from a sacrifice, though that is the direct intention of many sacrifices described later in the Bible. This is not meant to be read as if God is literally inhaling smoke.

Rather, the reference to smoke, and its scent, is a common Scriptural metaphor involving prayer, and how our sacrifices are received by God. God's commitment is to never again curse the ground or the earth as He has done through the flood.

This should not be read as God lifting the original curse on the ground in response to Adam's sin. The curse of weeds and frustrating toil and the work required to bring crops from the ground remains to this day. Instead, God's commitment here should be seen as a decision not to annihilate life on the ground as He did with the flood.

The flood brought destruction on the whole earth, on all the ground. God is declaring that He won't do that again. God seems to make this commitment while acknowledging that human nature has not been changed by the flood.

Human beings will continue to harbor evil intentions from youth and throughout their lives. God knows this and decides not to respond to human sinfulness in the same way again by cursing the earth with a flood.

In addition, God promises to never again to strike down every living thing. He will not wipe out humanity and animal-kind with a global and fully life-ending catastrophe as He has done with the flood. We are meant to be comforted by these promises and to be intrigued about how God might respond to human sinfulness, instead.

The world will continue to function predictably according to God's design. This is the grace of God upon all His creation. It is important to notice that this promise begins with "while the earth remains."

God doesn't guarantee that the planet in its current form will exist eternally. In fact, at some point in the future, God will re-make the heavens and the earth (Revelation 21:1). But while it does, those who live on earth will enjoy the goodness of the repetition of the days and seasons by God's great mercy on sinful humanity.