Tag: Genesis 9

Undoing Death

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Whoever sheds human blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made mankind.
As for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “Now behold, I Myself am establishing My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you.
Genesis 9:6-9 (NASB)

Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno in the 1500s suggests that the Covenant God makes with Noah in Gen 9 is a CONDITIONAL covenant tied to the previous verses about the shedding of blood.

Ie., “I won’t destroy the earth with a flood IF you deal rightly with murderers.”

He ties this conditional covenant to Numbers, saying that if human blood is spilled and not addressed rightly, the land will need to be wiped clean again; there is no atonement otherwise.

So you shall not defile the land in which you live; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
Numbers 35:33 (NASB)

I’ve given a lot of thought to the nature of death, and how we read clearly that God killed many people in the flood. Going back to the start, we read that God Himself positioned death in the garden by way of a certain tree. It wasn’t “IF” you eat the fruit, it was “WHEN.”

So when we read that God was “sorry” He made humanity, and that this word “sorry” has a meaning tied to a desire for comfort and repenting, the Numbers passage suddenly resonates.

An image of what the Messiah will do emerges.

It will take His blood.

So you shall not defile the land in which you live; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
Numbers 35:33 (NASB)

This is not the same as saying that God made a mistake in introducing death. It is acknowledging that despite death being here, God will undo all of it with His own blood.

Cruelty to Animals

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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.

Other than Man

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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.

Abel’s Offering of Meat

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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)

Prior to Genesis 9, humanity wasn’t given meat to eat. The rabbis debate the reasoning and implications, but what stands out in my own reading is that Abel sacrificed a lamb to God in Genesis 4. I can only assume this was a burnt offering. A cooked offering.

But he didn’t eat it.

Have you ever roasted lamb before? Have you smelled it?

It’s hard to fathom the depth of self-control and restraint required to present something wholly to God like this, and not reach my hand out and take some for myself. But perhaps that’s part of the story of Abel. Maybe there’s a lesson in there about not reaching out your hand and taking what belongs to God. And this points us right back to a certain Tree in the Garden of Eden.

After the flood, all food is permissible, although the rabbis note that God prohibits some food later, so the permission granted here may not mean all animals. Regardless, what was previously withheld by God can now be enjoyed within the context of the Genesis 9 Covenant.

Backwards

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When something is repeated in scripture, it might be because you are supposed to pay attention to it. Underline it. Highlight it.

I wondered why the text uses this word אֲחֹרַנִּית (ahoraneeth) twice in the same sentence. Backwards, or Reverse.

But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were [a]turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
Genesis 9:23 (NASB)

[a] Lit backward

If you’ve followed along, you know that I have to chase these words down and try to find meaning in them and their usage in the text. Sometimes, this results in dead ends, but often it’s quite enlightening.

But sometimes, it gets very interesting…

One learning is that Genesis is full of spiritual versions of words that later are demonstrated in physical words.

Examples:
Good is the spiritual root of beautiful
Shame is the spiritual root of naked/uncovered

So we’re supposed to view them in a related way. This is the nature of parables.

The Genesis Ark is covered inside and out in “pitch,” and we later learn that this word is the same word used for “atonement.” In Exodus, when Moses is in the basket (same word: Ark), it’s also covered in “pitch,” but it’s the natural version of this word. But it’s linked.

And then there is the relationship between the Genesis Ark (“tayVah”) and the Exodus Ark (“ahRon”) of the Covenant. Same concept… except different words are used. One covered in pitch/atonement, the other covered in gold/purity. Sort of like our house vs God’s house? Maybe.

So anyhow, this word “backwards” appears here in Genesis 9, and the next time we see it is in 1 Samuel 4.

Samuel learns that his two wicked sons have died and that the Ark of the Covenant has been taken. In his shock, he falls backwards and dies.

Then the one who brought the news replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great defeat among the people, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas are also dead; and the ark of God has been taken.” When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. And so he judged Israel for forty years.
1 Samuel 4:17-18 (NASB)

Isn’t that interesting?

Eli has two wicked sons who die, and Noah has two good sons who are blessed. The Ark was taken away instead of God’s people exiting it. Eli falls backwards, breaks his neck, and is forever shamed in the text for being fat vs. the two good sons walking in backwards to protect Noah’s dignity to prevent further shame. These stories seem so connected.

Kind of weird, right? But stranger yet, we later have three back to back instances in Scripture that point to another set of “backwards.”

It’s when Elijah demonstrates the power of God to Hezekiah. He appears to reverse the clock, and then set it forward again by 10-degrees.

So Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but have the shadow turn backward ten steps.”
2 Kings 20:10 (NASB)

Then Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
2 Kings 20:11 (NASB)

Behold, I will make the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
Isaiah 38:8 (NASB)

Incidentally, ten degrees by the sun-dial equates to… 40 minutes. And we’ve already learned that 40 = testing or trials. It represents a time of testing.

So here’s an interpretation:

Noah cursed Canaan instead of forgiving him. He thinks he has good reason for this: he wants vengeance.

We can choose vengeance (Noah’s way) or forgiveness (God’s way). There’s time to consider it – a time of testing where God makes the clock stand still. Through our forgiveness or acting out in wrath, we move the sun. We either move forward or backward. We create or destroy.

That’s what forgiveness and wrath do: they create and they destroy. They move creation forward or they undo it and send it back into chaos.

Perhaps we’re meant to see this and understand that time is connected to all of this. God is telling us how to move through time rightly.

The last, and possibly most important instance of “backwards” is in the center of the listings, in 1 Kings 18. This is when Elijah faces off against the prophets of Ba’al, when he calls down fire from heaven.

He prays that God turns the clock of hearts… “backwards.” Back to Him.

Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that You, Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back.

—

And here’s another thought:

Based on these connections, I suspect Noah did not merely curse Canaan. He pummeled him with his fists.

Why?

Because Eli’s sons names are as follows:

Phinehas: – root meaning: mouth. This points to the curse from Noah’s mouth.

Hophni – root meaning: fist. This points to the physical beating from Noah’s hands.

Their deaths points to undoing all of Noah’s vengeance as God turns the clock back.

Blessings for All Y’all

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Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
Genesis 9:1 (NIV)

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
Genesis 9:7 (NIV)

Not only does Genesis 9 start with a blessing, the blessing is repeated in verse 7: “be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth.”

Verse 1 says “them,” so it’s clear that it’s plural.

Verse 7 says “as for you,” but in Hebrew, this is the plural “you.” It’s “ya’ll.”

This is important, because Noah individually does *not* go and become fruitful or multiply (unless you’re seeing a pun, and think the grapes that follow are the multiplied fruit!)

God’s blessings are not merely for individuals. They are for community.

For folks who wish to bear children but can’t, this must feel like a curse. To be told “children are God’s blessing” and then not experience it personally must feel like a double-curse: missing out on the blessing and then experiencing the shame of failure.

In scripture, we see this barrenness: Sarai (Genesis 11:30), Rebekah (Genesis 25:21), Rachel (Genesis 29:31) – wives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They’re all barren at first, but God says they will be a great nation.

Why does it start this way? Perhaps this is an echo of Genesis 1:2.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:2 (NIV)

For reasons unknown, Noah does not have any more children with his wife, even though he is included in the “ya’ll” in Genesis 9:7.

Perhaps Noah failed to count the three blessings he already had. Perhaps the wine blurred his vision.

But he was blessed by God. Twice.

And God has blessed you as well, and God intends to make you fruitful and multiply you in ways you may not yet realize. This seems to be the nature of God: blessings and promises. Fruitfulness.

For all ya’ll.

Authority to Rule Rightly

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Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.

Immediately after God blesses Noah and his sons in Genesis 9, we are given this strange and dark change: the animals of the world will view humanity with FEAR and DREAD.

In the Midrash, the rabbis note the change from Genesis 1, where humanity was blessed, told to be fruitful & increase and fill the earth, but were specifically given the authority/dominion over the animals. To RULE over them.

This authority to RULE appears to have been lost.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:28 (NIV)

This word “rule” (רָדָה, “radah”) is used a few more times in the Scriptures, but it isn’t shown to be restored or given back to humanity until Numbers 24, in the oddest way. It’s from Balaam, when he tries to CURSE Israel, and God turns the curse into a blessing:

“I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of all the people of Sheth.
Edom will be conquered;
Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
but Israel will grow strong.
A ruler will come out of Jacob
and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Numbers 24:17-19 (NIV)

The Christian sees Jesus in this, whereas some Jews point to King David or future Messiah.

In the Messiah interpretation, it points to a future when God’s own hand empowers a star to rise from Jacob’s bloodline with the scepter of authority. To rule RIGHTLY.

This Ruler will not rule creation with FEAR and DREAD the way humanity will wield it, as expressed in Genesis 9. The Ruler will rule creation the way God intended in Genesis 1.

Of course, someone will note that the Balaam prophecy looks a lot like “FEAR” and “DREAD” for the enemies of God’s people.

Yes. But the “enemies of God’s people” are spiritual things, not nations or tribes or people. This is a parable.

The Bow in the Sky

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Most translations render the symbol of God’s covenant to Noah and humanity as “rainbow,” and we all agree that’s what God was referring to, but the Hebrew word here also the word for “bow,” as in an archer’s bow. A weapon of war.

The imagery is that God has hung up the weapon.

My bow I have given in the cloud, and it hath been for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth; and it hath come to pass (in My sending a cloud over the earth) that the bow hath been seen in the cloud, and I have remembered My covenant which is between Me and you, and every living creature among all flesh, and the waters become no more a deluge to destroy all flesh; and the bow hath been in the cloud, and I have seen it — to remember the covenant age-during between God and every living creature among all flesh which [is] on the earth.’
Genesis 9:13-16 (YLT)

Good Deeds

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One of the faults in reform-adjacent Christianity is this insistence on a works-less faith. We have a whole system for what “good works” even means, taking Isaiah’s “righteousness is like filthy rags” and rendering good acts of nonbelievers as meaningless.

This is broken.

I’ve often argued that Paul’s “war against works” was never intended to be used the way the reformers wield it, and that Paul was pushing back against a pious self-righteous boasting about accomplishments and holiness.

In Genesis, it seems like God looks for good works.

After Ham does something (we’re not really sure what) to Noah, the text says that Ham’s brothers address their father’s shame by taking a garment and covering him, shielding him from further humiliation.

But the Hebrew language hides a clue here.

But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
Genesis 9:23 (NASB)

While we read “Shem and Japheth” in English, the Hebrew uses an idiom that doesn’t translate well into English. It’s not “they.” It’s “he,” and it points to Shem as the initiator.

The focus is on Shem.

(Gen. 9:23:) THEN HE, SHEM AND JAPHETH, TOOK A GARMENT. R. Johanan said: “Then they took” is not stated here, but THEN HE TOOK. Shem first showed his courage [in the worthy act] and afterwards Japheth. Ergo: THEN HE, SHEM AND JAPHETH, TOOK A GARMENT.
Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Noach 21:2

Without seeing this, the resulting blessing by Noah makes little sense. While the fate of Ham’s son is repeated, we are told that Shem is God’s man, and Japheth will be blessed by Shem’s abundance.

Why is Shem singled out? The text gives one answer: his good deed.

He also said,

“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant.
May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he live in the tents of Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant.”
Genesis 9: 26-27 (NASB)

And the good deed here is God’s own heart: to defend those who are shamed. We can quibble about drunkenness and nakedness, but the focus is Shem honoring his father and defending the vulnerable from shame.

This is the work God desires. Perhaps this is why God uses Shem.