Today’s passage: Genesis 8:20-9:17
Helpful thoughts:
- Mankind was not going to change (Verse 21 – “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth”), but this specific response of God’s to man’s sin would never be repeated.
- God gave mankind the rainbow as the sign of a covenant. It serves as a ceremonial reminder. God has promised not to judge the sin of the world through a global flood.
- The modern use of the rainbow is terribly ironic and a mockery of God’s intended purpose for it.
- After all of that death, and after the command to be fruitful and bring about more life, God gives instructions for what to do when there is death (Including through violence:
- Animals were now to be used for food. Mankind was now to eat both plants and animals. The blood was to be drained, because God is the giver of life (Blood represented the life God had given, Leviticus 17:12-14).
- There was a consequence for murder. There was much violence before the flood. Now, God gives a specific law concerning the punishment for murder so that violence would not be left unchecked. God decreed the death penalty (Verse 6).
Questions to consider:
- As was the case in yesterday’s passage, in what ways does this passage give hope, but also the expectation that all was not well?
- Why are laws and the ability to carry out consequences a good thing? Why are they necessary and important? What makes governments, laws, and law enforcement distasteful to people? Why won’t the troubles the world has had with justice (Or the lack thereof) be eradicated from the world before Jesus returns?
- Why can it be appropriate to kill animals but not people? What makes us different, distinct from all other living things? Who made us different? Why does that matter? If someone doesn’t believe in God as the Bible reveals Him to us, how might they think differently?