Noahic Covenant – Genesis 9:1-17

John Walton, in his commentary on Genesis, writes, about capital punishment as required in Genesis 9: “The laws that require due process are predicated on the belief that though society’s response may result in death, just like the criminal’s actions did, that response is necessary for society to discharge its responsibility. If the execution of capital punishment is not a controlled, thoughtful process but simply a tool of repression and tyranny, it is no longer justifiable. It has become equal to the murder as a selfish, vindictive act of wanton violence.”

[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, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

[8] Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, [9] “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, [10] and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. [11] I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” [12] And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: [13] I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. [14] When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, [15] I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. [16] When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” [17] God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:1–17, ESV)

Though after the flood, mankind is starting over with godly people, Noah and his family, the sinful nature of man’s heart has not changed.  And because of that, with the new permission to eat animals (or at least new on a larger scale), God puts the fear of man in animals.  This makes it more difficult for people who are not concerned with caring for God’s world to kill animals to extinction.

Animals may now be eaten, but the blood must not be eaten.  The reason for this prohibition is that the blood is the animal’s life.  This life is precious and so it seems it is an acknowledgement of Yahweh’s gift of life.  In the Law of Moses this prohibition is codified and the explanation for abstaining from eating blood is “the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Leviticus 17:11).

Shedding human blood is closely tied to this.  So if an animal or a human kills another human, their life must be forfeited.  God requires the reckoning for bloodshed, but He gives the responsibility of carrying out this reckoning on human government.  This establishment of human authority to carry out God’s just punishment is a factor of deterrence against human sinfulness.  To be sure, God does require solid evidence before the death penalty is imposed (Deuteronomy 19:15), but there is no doubt errors will be made.  This does not overcome the reckoning that is required but rather necessitates the best judgment possible.

God makes a covenant, that apparently only He has obligations to, promising that He will never again destroy the world with a flood and the sign of that covenant is a rainbow, a recurring event when rain ceases.  This does not mean He will never destroy the world again (2 Peter 3:10), but He will not destroy all its inhabitants again.  This covenant is a renewing of the covenant God made with Adam and Eve, enjoining the human race to be fruitful and multiply (murder is a direct conflict with this mandate to multiply).