So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Genesis 15:9-10 (NIV)
It seems very sad to me that Abram cut up the animals. If you look closely, God did not ask him to do this.
So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Genesis 15:9-10 (NIV)
The rabbis say the significance here is twofold: first, these animals represent the sacrifices acceptable to God.
Second, the cleaved animals are the nations that will later exile Israel, and that God will exact avenge.
The birds (both doves) are Israel, remaining whole, but split between two kingdoms.
But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. I certainly will require your lifeblood; from every animal I will require it. And from every person, [d]from every man as his brother I will require the life of a person.
Genesis 9:4-5 (NASB)
There’s all kinds of interesting interpretations about lifeblood and eating things with the blood in it, but Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (aka “Rashi”), who lived between 1040 and 1105 gives a very simple explanation and application.
בשר בנפשו FLESH WITH THE SOUL THEREOF [SHALL YE NOT EAT] — He here prohibited to them אבר מן החי the eating of a limb cut from a living animal, that is to say that בשר בנפשו (literally, flesh together with its life) means so long as its life is in it you shall not eat the flesh.
Rashi on Genesis 9:4:1
Basically, “don’t limb the animal and eat the limb while the animal is still alive.” It’s not like a plant where you can cut a branch and the plant grows more branches. Animals are different.
And this seems intended to prevent cruelty and suffering for the animals.
Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, as I gave the green plant.
Genesis 9:3 (NASB)
One little gem I’ve discovered while reading Jewish commentaries on Scripture is that Jewish theologians have swatted away dweebs who interpret the text poorly for a very long time. This was written by R’ Jacob ben Asher who lived between the years 1269 and 1343.
כל רמש אשר הוא חי, “every moving living creature, etc.” This expression includes all creatures other than man.
Tur HaAroch on Genesis 9:3:1
No. You can’t eat people.
You shall take with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and his female; and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and his female
Genesis 7:2 (NASB)Also of the birds of the sky, seven pairs, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.
Genesis 7:3 (NASB)For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and I will wipe out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.”
Genesis 7:4 (NASB)
By the time we get to Genesis 7, we should start noticing some patterns involving numbers. We’re going to start looking at Hebrew numerology, because we’ve finally gotten to the part of the story where the numbers themselves carry the narrative.
Some of the numbers are repeated almost absurdly. It can’t be ignored: seven, two, and forty.
But there is a hint of threes being repeated, too. Back in Genesis 1, we learned about three types of animals. And we read in Genesis 6 that Noah had three sons.
These numbers all have meanings.
Then Noah and his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the waters of the flood.
Genesis 7:7 (NASB)They all went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
Genesis 7:9 (NASB)Now it came about after the seven days, that the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
Genesis 7:10 (NASB)In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.
Genesis 7:11 (NASB)The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 7:12 (NASB)
Here the three types of animals are listed again, in conjunction with the three sons again: the animals, the livestock, and the crawling things: threes.
And then twos again in the pairs.
On this very same day Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark
Genesis 7:13 (NASB)They and every animal according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kind, and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, all sorts of birds.
Genesis 7:14 (NASB)So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.
Genesis 7:15 (NASB)
And the chapter closes out with forty again, and then another mention of the three kinds of animals.
(I keep the birds off the list for a reason, and it’s because of how Genesis 1-3 keep them separate. They are different. They represent something different.)
Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.
Genesis 7:17 (NASB)So all creatures that moved on the earth perished: birds, livestock, animals, and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind.
Genesis 7:21 (NASB)
There’s a lot of study on numerology — far too much to explain in detail, but here are some basics:
2 = separations, agreements
3 = community
7 = perfection
10 = completeness, fullness
40 = testing, trials
And some might see some larger numbers as being combinations of these underlying numbers. For example, 430 is written 30 and 400 in Hebrew, and it can be read this way: 3×10 and 40×10. Or perhaps “the fullness of community and the fullness of testing.”
Just something to consider.
But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
Genesis 6:18-20 (NIV)
If you’ve followed my posts about the different “kinds of animals” in Gen 1-3, and how we seem to have a picture of Israel (livestock), the Gentiles (the wild animals), and the Enemies of God (the ones that creep), you may see this as prophetic and extremely hopeful.
The way it is written, this covenant appears distinct from the one that occurs after Noah gets off the boat. This one seems… redemptive.
The serpent (a creeping thing) is more crafty than the wild beasts, but not described as more clever than the cattle/livestock.
God said, “Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind.” And it was so.
God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good.
Genesis 1:23-24 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)
Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that God יהוה had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?”
Genesis 1:23-24 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)
Some translations render this as “more shrewd than all…”
Why?
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
Genesis 2:19-20 (NASB)
I’m not sure, but perhaps it’s tied to this:
Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be careful; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
Exodus 23:13 (NASB)
The creeping things point to the serpent of Genesis 3. The serpent points to all the false gods.
Guest Author @Randallthetrue from Twitter/X:
Genesis 2:15-20
Here God put man in the garden and said it is not good for him to be alone. Then God proceeded to create animals and send them to man to name one at a time. My question is how long did that take? What was man learning from it? Why did God do that before He made women?
Remember once God was done with all the animals none were a suitable helpmate. Obviously, God knew that would be the case but He still put man through all that prior to fulfilling the purpose, which He already had the answer. I can only assume it took many many years to name all the animals prior to woman being made.
To begin with God told man to serve and keep the garden the God said man needs a suitable helpmate. I see this in my life. God says He wants something for me then proceeds to take me down a road that seemingly has no relevance only to connect it all later.
I think if He made women first man would not have said “bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.” Anyways this leads to many thoughts maybe more later on.
Authority to rule the animals, but not to rule or have dominion over other humans.
Ruling over one another is not the image.