A STUDY IN GENESIS
We now come to one of the longest sections of scripture! Chapter nine of Genesis to Messiah’s first arrival is a singular time period with multiple ages. From here forward, we see the stage being set for Israel to become the focus of the Bible. While chapter nine might not look like it, nine and the next several chapters will be monumental in preparing for the arrival a new nation, a nation called to holiness and to be set apart to the Lord as His own. However, before we get to this transition, we need to identify the significant changes to the earth, changes we still see to this day. As the flood waters receded, Noah and his family found themselves in a new world. The planet they knew was gone and the war torn planet now before them was something scared from a spiritual battle that took place in the very physical world. Satan’s attempt to delude the human genome was thwarted by God. Chapter nine of Genesis is the root to many questions people ask today. Today, I want to examine two of those questions.
God had zero fear of the planet having a risk of overpopulation. Genesis 9:1 “So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” In fact this is starting to show in the modernity; the birthing rate in the world is dropping rapidly, within a few decades the human population will start to decrease. For years the remarks and fear mongering of overpopulation was something used by socialist and others for justification for government overreach into our individual lives. Ironically, in God there is freedom, in God there is blessing. God started the first age focused on the family, He also starts the next period of human history focused on the family.
The next significant change is with animals. God places in their heart the fear of man.
Genesis 9:2 “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move [on] the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.” The idea that nature rules over us is ridiculous. God put them once again into our hands, however, there is a fear put into them. This fear has been speculated on by scholars for centuries. However, I think we should take it as it is, before this period animals were not afraid of mankind. Some have speculated and there is merit to the argument that animals could talk until this point. However, I would argue based on the interaction with Noah and the dove that the animals could not talk, but had to communicate in a different way. Genesis 8:10-12 “And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf [was] in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.”
In Genesis chapter three, mankind is not surprised when the serpent talks to them. I think with the fall of man, we lost that privilege to talk to animals and them to us. And after the flood, the cooperation we once had was diminished. You see our sin can be forgiven, but that does not mean there could be impacts that reverberate past the time it happens.
Nevertheless, we have God who will one day make all things new again. We, as the human race, are the world’s sign of God’s redemption promise. Next week we will examine what God thinks about those who kill God’s image barriers.
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming,
JL