We each bear the consequences of our own sins, yet pass on bad habits and genetic corruption. Our children also sin and each generation suffers more as the sins of society accumulate. Did God know all this in advance? Has He prepared a plan to save humanity? Let’s discuss this in Genesis 9.
How did God bless Noah’s family? Was the blessing for repopulating the whole world? What change in diet was there?
God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that moves along the ground, and all the fish of the sea, are delivered into your hand. Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As I gave you the green herb, I have given everything to you. (Genesis 9:1-3 WEB)
Was there a guideline about blood? Can we eat blood sausage for instance?
However, you must not eat meat with its life, its blood, in it. (Genesis 9:4 CEB)
Is this still valid? Did the apostles reinforce this rule for Christians?
But you should not eat anything offered to idols. You should not eat any meat that still has the blood in it or any meat of any animal that has been strangled. (Acts 15:20a CEV)
Was there a penalty for murder as early as Noah’s day?
I will certainly demand an accounting for the blood of your lives: I will demand it from every animal and from every human being. I will demand from every human being an accounting for the life of his fellow human being. Whoever sheds human blood, by a human being will his own blood be shed; for God made human beings in his image. (Genesis 9:5-6 CJB)
Was human reproduction encouraged? Was population growth important at that time?
And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it. (Genesis 9:7 ESV)
What covenant did God make? Would such a worldwide flood never again occur in human history?
Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, “Understand that I am confirming My covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. I confirm My covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by the waters of a flood; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” (Genesis 9:8-11 HCSB)
What was the token or sign of that covenant? There have been many local floods since. Was this therefore logically a promise that there would never be such a global flood again?
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. 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 9:12-17 KJV)
Does a rainbow also surround God’s throne in heaven? Has this symbol been hijacked to encourage self-destructive lifestyles today?
Like the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. (Ezekiel 1:28a NASB)
Is the rainbow in heaven slightly different in appearance than we experience here on earth?
At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. (Revelation 4:2–3 NIV)
While kings were often selfish and brutal, glorifying their ancestors, there is one advantage they give us today. They left us their ancestry records. Comparing the lines of kings from Europe, we find common ancestry back to Japheth. Other areas of the globe have similar stories to tell. Are the ancestors of our nations also recorded in the Bible?
Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. (Genesis 9:18-19 NKJV)
Was Noah perfect? Are any of God’s faithful without peccadillos? How far have we fallen from honoring our elders that Ham’s disrespectful act seems rather trivial today? Or, was there more to it that is left unsaid?
And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. (Genesis 9:20-23 NKJV)
Was the punishment of Ham’s son just? Was some detail left out on purpose? Some speculate that the relatively small sin of Ham grew worse in his son Canaan, who had illicit relations with his own mother. Perhaps it’s better we don’t know the details.
When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham: “May Canaan be cursed! May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.” Then Noah said, “May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed, and may Canaan be his servant! May God expand the territory of Japheth! May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.” Noah lived another 350 years after the great flood. He lived 950 years, and then he died. (Genesis 9:24-29 NLT)
Though we each bear our own sins, do our sins also affect future generations?
I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me; and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Deuteronomy 5:9b-10 WEB)
We each bear the consequences of our own sins, yet pass on bad habits and genetic mutations. Our children also sin and each generation suffers more as the sins of society accumulate. Did God know all this in advance, and has He prepared a plan to save humanity in Jesus? You decide!
