Noah's Covenant with God

Genesis 9: 1-21

Genesis 9 gives us our first glimpse of life in the post-Flood world. It starts with a repeat of the very first commandment (law) in the Bible, “be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.” I can begin to see why families that follow the Bible literally have so many children!

Another change in the post-Flood world: vegetarianism is out, being an omnivore or carnivore is in. God declares that everything that lives and moves will be food for you. However, this seems contradictory to later laws in Deuteronomy that do put restrictions on what to eat, and are used to define kosher laws in Judaism. These dietary restrictions are not present in Genesis 9.

Genesis 9:3-4, NIV “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.”

For Jehovah Witness’, Genesis 9:4 is cited as the reason why blood transfusions are forbidden. I truly don’t see the connection. A person is not feeding on blood when they have a transfusion, and there is no murder committed. The blood is given freely, by a living donor.

Capital Punishment

Genesis 9:6, JPS “Whoever sheds the blood of man, By man shall his blood be shed; For in His image Did God make man.”

Translation: Kill, and be killed. Cain sure got off easy. And let the history of stoning begin and capital punishment begin. For people who believe that the death penalty is commanded by God, and it is the responsibility of humankind to carry it out, this is where that idea comes from. And I have to say, it is stated loud and clear in this chapter. But, since I don’t believe in a literal reading of the Bible, and do not believe it was divinely inspired, this is just another cultural tradition that wormed its way in to the book. I wish I could say capital punishment is ancient history, but alas it is not. At least not in the United States.

Ancient Israelites were tribal in nature. When a person was murdered (or killed accidentally), it was up to a family member to avenge the killing—what today we call a blood feud. The next of kin of the deceased person would be expected to find and kill the person responsible.

It is interesting to take a look at where different religious groups fall on the death penalty spectrum. Among the most active in opposing the death penalty: Amish, Quakers, and Unitarians. Those most active in supporting: Christian Reconstructionist.

Abolitionists: Roman Catholic Church, American Baptists, Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA), Eastern Orthodox, liberal Judaism, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Reformed Church of America, United Church of Christ.

Retentionist (support death penalty): Southern Baptist, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Islam, conservative Judaism.

Mixed or no official stance: Pentecostal Assemblies of God, Athiest, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness.

Jewish Interpretation of the Rainbow

Source: The Jewish Week, Turning Bows and Arrows into Rainbows

In the JPS Torah, the word “bow” is used instead of “rainbow”, to describe the symbol of the covenant between Noah and God. I was curious about that, and did a little research. Nahmanides, a 13^th century Rabbinic scholar, suggested that the bow of the rainbow is directed away from the earth, as was the ancient Israelite custom of warriors to turn their bows the other way to signify peace with their enemies. The bow, once a symbol for wrath and destruction, is transformed into a rainbow, representing divine hope for a better future.

The Greeks were the first to attribute a rainbow to the sun’s rays striking the moist air after a rainfall, an entirely natural phenomenon. Nahmanides agreed that the Rainbow was not created after the Flood, but argued that God choose this already existing phenomenon as the symbol of his covenant.

Genesis, 9:20-21 “Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.”

Can I just say that I LOVE that the first thing Noah planted was a vineyard. Not wheat, or leafy greens, or carrots. Nope, first on his to-do list was make wine. Pronto. And then drink it. In excess. I guess spending a year stuffed in an ark with your immediate family and a gazillion animals would do that to a man.