Genesis 9

For the first time in the Bible, animals show up on the menu. Many students of the Bible say they believe that before the Flood, humans were vegetarians: “God said, ‘Take a good look at all the plants that produce seeds and all the trees that fill with fruit. They are your food.’” (1:29). But after the Flood God told Noah, “I’m changing your menu. I’m giving you the animals as food. You may eat them, just as you have eaten plants in the past” (9:3). Why do you think God changed the plans, especially given that there were now fewer animals, since most died in the Flood?

Even before the laws that Moses gave the Jews, God gave this one law to Noah about kosher food: “Do not eat meat with blood in it. Blood is the source of life” (9:4). As God explained to Moses later, “There’s only one way I’ll allow you to use blood: in sacrifices. Sin is a capital offense. But I’ll let you substitute an animal’s life for yours. The blood of the animal will pay for your sin” (Leviticus 17:11 NLT). So why do Christians eat rare meat that Jews still consider not kosher and forbidden?

God seemed to be in favor of capital punishment, at least in the centuries before Jesus came: “Kill a human, then by a human you’ll be killed. You can’t go around murdering people who resemble God” (9:6). If you had to argue against the value of capital punishment today, what would you say?

For someone God thought was worthy of surviving the flood, Noah later comes across as someone you probably wouldn’t want living next door. His sons find him passed out drunk and “naked in his tent” (9:21). Instead of apologizing, he gets mad when he finds out that his son Ham disrespected him by calling his brothers to come and take a look at their dad laying there like a plucked jaybird. Instead of condemning Ham, Noah put a curse on Ham’s youngest son, Canaan. Bad Grandpa. If you had to defend Noah in Family Court, what would you say?

LIFE APPLICATION. Canaan’s descendants settled in a region that became known as Canaan, in what is now Israel. When Joshua and the Jews arrived during the Exodus, they killed as many Canaanites as they could. They got tricked into making a peace treaty with one city of Canaanites. Joshua told them this: “You are under a curse, and your people will have to send workers to cut wood and carry water for the place of worship” (Joshua 9:23 CEV). Do you think it’s okay for Israelis or anyone else to continue to treat non-Jews in what is sometimes known as the Holy Land as though they are under a curse? Or is that racist?

LIFE APPLICATION. God made a promise: “I will never again drown everyone with a flood” (9:15). It seems ironic that we humans are now capable of killing everyone with fire. Nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands is the one fear more than any other that some of our world leaders say keeps them awake at night. Some of us used to make fun of beauty pageant contestants who said their greatest wish was for world peace. And now we find ourselves wishing for that very thing—hoping it will happen, believing it can happen, and praying to God that it does happen. To many, it seems we jump so quickly into war. What do you think we can do that would help point our nation and our world on the path toward peace?