Genesis 9:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Genesis 9:2

Comments

The human race, which is now funnelled through the three sons of Noah, must repopulate the earth, and there is a special promise for its preservation. Animals were now ferocious and wild again. They had somehow been wonderfully subdued by the Lord in order to be taken into the ark, but animal nature was unchanged, and now they are back to their normal vicious state. God therefore promises protection by means of an instinctive fear and dread of human beings that will to some extent restrain them from doing man harm. God will write this into even predatory animals to leave the human race alone, by and large. So it is a safety proclaim, because the human race is going to survive. That this is not a total restraint is apparent from verse 5. But there is another reason why the subject of man’s relation to the animals brought up here. This relationship changed after the flood. Verse 2 should be understood in connection with verse 3. It seems that now, for the first time, God gave man the right to eat the flesh of animals. This was not the case before the flood, for until then man had been under the rule of Genesis 1:29 – ‘Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.’ In giving man this new rule and in extending his legitimate food to the animal kingdom, God refers back to the earlier rule which is now amended. It is in connection with this that a greater fear of man is now to fall on the animals, for they are now food for man and will be hunted by him. This is expressed by the words ‘into your hands are they delivered.’ It is appropriate that this change should take place after the flood, for Noah had in effect been their saviour, and so God now places their lives in his hands to do with as he pleased. This new dominion applies even to those creatures that were not with him on the ark – the fishes of the sea. It is not a command – vegans and vegetarians may choose not to eat meat – but it's a permission.

Application

The power granted to Noah and his descendants over animal life applies to other uses besides food. He may use their bodies for clothing; he may use them to investigate the effects of drugs or illness so as to derive understanding of how man can be benefited. Of course the benefit to man must be real, and not just to satisfy his greed or other evil appetites. But especially it is food that Moses refers to, for even before the flood man had the right to take life for the purpose of clothing and sacrifice. Though the earth is made for man, we can take nothing except by the permission of God and he sets limits on what we may do.

Questions

If God now granted man the right to eat the flesh of any animal he pleased, why under the law were there restrictions added that forbade him to eat certain meats? These restrictions were added to teach the Jews about the distinction between clean and unclean, but those lessons were only temporary since the real distinction between clean and unclean exists in the spiritual realm not the physical. The New Testament later ended these Mosaic food laws and returned to the original rule given to Noah (Mark 7:19; Romans 14:14).

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Genesis 9:2 Commentary and Bible Study

The meaning of Genesis 9:2 explained