Genesis 9: 1-7 , God Grants Humans Dominion and Requires Blood Reckoning

Welcome back to our study of the book of Genesis, in our last study we took a closer look at chapter 8 and talked in details about the events that led up to Noah exiting the ark. Today we’ll continue with chapter 9 and take a look at the first 7 verses.

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

6 

“Whoever sheds the blood of man,
    by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.

7 And you,[a] be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

A. God’s Blessing (9:1)

What is the importance of God’s blessing in vv 1?

The verse begins with “AND” which indicates that there is a connection between chapter 8 and 9. When the author of Genesis was penning down these words, there was no chapter division. God had just established a covenant with Noah and HE now was following it with another blessing. Verse 1 tells us what the blessing is- to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. We need to pay close attention to the way the words of the blessing are ordered. God specifically wanted them to be fruitful  prior to multiplying and filling the earth. Being fruitful was the prerequisite to multiplying and filling the earth. Fruit bearing has to do with doing the will of God, conducting oneself in a way that reflects the character of God. Jesus told us in John 14 to remain in Him so that He can remain in us, that way we will bear fruits. Likewise Noah and His sons as well as his wife and his sons’s wives were to remain in GOD, rooted in GOD so that they could bear fruits that were by products of the vine they were drawing from. Only then could they multiply and fill the earth and thus spread the knowledge of God wherever they went. That is the goal of this blessing. This is the reason it was given in that specific order..

B. Fear of man is placed upon animals, birds, fish and creeping things; humans are granted dominion over these creatures ( 9:2)

God reiterated a statement that was already given in Genesis 1, 29,

…Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

In Verse 2 of Chapter 9, we learn that all other creatures are instinctively fearful of humans. God has designed them such that they have an inherent sense of dread when humans are around. Though animals may attack or kill humans, this usually only occurs out of fear. Humans have been gifted with a level of intelligence that far exceeds that of any other creature under the heavens, and all creatures are naturally inclined to give respect and obedience to mankind.

C. Humans may eat vegetation as well as the flesh of animals ( 9:3)

Why did God extend human’s diet to include the flesh of animals? I don’t think anyone has a definitive answer to that but we might posit the following reasons. Noah wasn’t the first human to offer an animal sacrifice to the ?Lord, Abel was first. And oftentimes, when an animal sacrifice is offered, Scriptures often uses anthropomorphic terms to describe how God receives the offering, an example of that is in Genesis 8, 20-21

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though^[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

We are told that the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma. Even though God is not a human, these kinds of phrases are used to allow us to understand that He accepted Noah’s sacrifice. Now I’m bringing this up because I want to relate it to God’s extension of humans’ diet to include the flesh of animals. In Genesis 1, it was only commanded that humans eat plants – yet it says in Genesis 8:21 that every inclination of the human heart is only evil since childhood. Thus, it was likely inevitable that humans would decide to include meat in their diets and disobey God’s original plan. Out of pure grace then, God extended their diet so they would not sin against Him. Although this may not be the full reason why, it is worth noting.

PS: In verse 3, the author doesn’t make any explicit distinction between animals that are considered clean and unclean. Based on the verse alone, it appears that God allowed the consumption of meat of all living creatures that live and move, save man. But we clearly saw that in Genesis 6, when Noah was commanded to let the animals in the ark, God specifically made a distinction between those that were considered clean and unclean. Now the Scripture may not explicitly specify it in verse 3 so we can assume that all living things that live and move refers to all creatures except man. We may also assume that “all living things” refers to all clean animals. The dietary law of the Jews  will be made more clear in the book of  Leviticus, chapter 11. Thus far, Abraham hasn’t been born and the Jewish nation hasn’t been made manifest yet so we cannot stand on very solid ground as to what the all living things mean.

I also wanted to add that it is possible that when Noah and his family left the Ark, there may have been a lack of vegetation to consume. Recognizing their hunger, God extended the human diet to include flesh or meat. Therefore animals had reason to fear and dread mankind, as they now knew they could be hunted or eaten. This principle is seen in other parts of the animal kingdom, with deer instinctively fearing predators such as lions or other dangerous creatures, they fear lions or other predators. In the same way, animals now were predisposed to fearing mankind.

There is no certainty as to why God decided to extend the human diet to include flesh or meat at the time of Noah and his family. However, it is possible that this was done to curb the exponential growth of animals, which may have been detrimental to humans. Whatever the cause, it is clear that, from this point onwards, animals were now part of the human diet; specifically, only ‘clean’ animals could be eaten.

D. Blood of animal flesh must not be eaten( 9:4)

This verse is of significant importance, as it forms part of God’s covenant with Noah and all humankind. The verse states that humans must not consume meat that has its lifeblood still in it. This prohibition is thought to emphasize the sacredness of life, as blood is known to be a symbol of life. Thus, by eating meat with its lifeblood still in it, one would be taking the lives of animals for granted and disregarding their right to live. As such, this verse serves as an important reminder that it is necessary to respect all living creatures and treat them with love and care.

E. God that requires a reckoning for the shedding of human blood (9:5-7)

This is such a loaded portion of Genesis 9, and I’m lacking words to properly explain what is being conveyed. Humans are the only creatures that were made in the image of God. This is so key to understanding these verses. All lives are sacred in God’s eyes, and we just confirmed this in verse 4 where God forbids the eating of blood of animals that are to be consumed for their flesh ( meat). I find it interesting that  God laid the ground for what was to come in verses 5 and 6 by forbidding the desecration of the life of animals. Because humans are made in the image of GOD, murder is utterly condemned by GOD and even the killing of a human by an animal is also condemned by capital punishment.

The Lord has been against the shedding of innocent blood since the first murder occurred. In Genesis 4, after Cain killed Abel , the Lord put a mark on Cain , not because he was guiltless, but to prevent the spread of violence and bloodshed. I wrote extensively on that , see link below.

This shows the heart of God, HE values humans because we were the only creatures made in His image. In the same chapter 4 of Genesis , it became very clear that the descendants of Cain especially Lamech were very violent. Lamech actually bragged to his wives about killing two people for barely wounding Him. He actually made s statement to elevate himself above God, saying,

If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech [will be avenged] seventy-sevenfold.

Even though God had always been against the spilling of innocent blood , it wasn’t as explicit in the earlier chapter until Genesis 9 where HE clearly condemned  murder by capital punishment. Under Old Testament law, there was no police force as we know it. If a murder was committed, if was up to the family of the victim to find the culprit and bring him to justice. But there was a difference between murder and involuntary manslaughter ( Exodus 21:12-14), so the Lord instructed the nation of Israel to establish six cities of refuge to which the accused could flee for safety until the matter was thoroughly investigated. In our days, Government has been established ( as Paul said by God in Romans 13:1-4) because the human heart is evil and the fear of punishment ( capital punishment) can help restrain would- be murderers.

What can we learn from these first 7 verses of Genesis 9?

The Lord, God of Noah, is a compassionate God who is willing to grant new beginnings to those who come to Him. However, His grace does not erase His righteous justice; this was evidenced by what happened to Noah’s contemporaries that refused to repent.

Humans have been granted a special place within Creation, as we are the only creatures created in God’s image. This privilege was further emphasized with the prohibition of murder at the hands of humans or animals, which highlights our value. As the Genesis 1:28 charge states, we have been given the responsibility of being fruitful and glorifying His name through carrying out His character. Animals are also held sacred by God, but humans are undoubtedly more privileged.

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