Genesis 8:21-9:7 - God Changes the Game
With the flood over, it would seem that God is looking back over the circumstances that led to the flood, and is given Noah and his family a slightly different set of rules by which to live.
Before the fall, God gave man plants to eat (Gen 1:29, 2:16), and animals to subdue (Gen 1:28, 2:18). After the fall, God cursed the ground (Gen. 3:17), making it hard to till. Rather than farm the ground, Abel decided to raise animals for food (Gen 4:2,4); Cain tilled the ground (Gen 4:2,3). Now, how do we know Abel’s flocks were for food? Because he knew to give God the fat most flavorful part… the fat portions.Â
Cain, it would seem, was the more obedient in some respect than Abel, God explicitly said to eat fruits and vegetables. Cursing the ground was a punishment for Adam’s sin. But while Cain suffered in silence, Abel found a way around it. No wonder Cain was mad when God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and not his. All that obedience for nothing! Well, even if Abel was being disobedient, somehow his heart was honorable in his offering; somehow, Cain’s was not. It suggests that Abel gave the best of his flock to God, in hopes that God would enjoy it; Cain wanted God to see his obedience and pat him on the back for a job well done. God honored Abel’s offering, and not Cain’s. Cain fell away (Gen 4:8), and eventually became a ruler (Gen 4:17), and ruled in his sin. Eventually, people were eating meat for the mere pleasure of it (Gen 6:5; Luke 17:27). Eventually, the situation became untenable, and God put an end to it with a flood. He saved the only righteous man (Gen 6:8) and his family, and killed everyone else.Â
With no hope of righteousness from the rest of Adam’s descendants, it was a just act on God’s part to start over again with Noah and his family. But this time around, things would be different.
First of all, God lifted the curse the ground (Gen 8:21). People were still evil inside, meaning even Noah and his family still had sinful inclinations. God wasn’t removing those. However, He was providing a new context in which to live, a different perspective for their hearts to work things out. This time around, people were going to be aware of good and evil from the beginning. Satan would not be able to tempt them in the same manner he had Eve. But that was not all.
There were many temptations that God decided to remove. He removed the threat of utter destruction (Gen 8:21) as a consequence of sin. This accomplished a lot. First of all, people couldn’t childishly say to God in their sin, “What are you gonna do? Destroy us all again? Go ahead! That’s what you’re good at!” It also removed it as a motivation to be good however; if we were to be good, then it was to be out of a desire to be so, not out of fear of destruction. Finally, it helps us see God as one whose tempers can flare up and die down. They flare up at disobedience, but only when righteousness is not to be found; they die down after the punishment is over, rather than hanging over our heads without regard for our repentance.
God showed it was possible to please Him, as He accepted Noah’s sacrifice, which was modeled after Abel’s. As a Christian, I see this sacrifice as one of gratefulness and love, and its acceptance likewise.
God then removed the temptation of eating meat for the mere pleasure of it. He made it work to kill the animals (Gen 9:2), and gave His approval for their consumption (Gen 9:3). The only condition He gave is that we not eat the animal’s blood, that when we kill the animal, which suggests the need to dispose of the blood properly, rather than consume it (Gen 9:4). He then ties our treatment of the animal’s blood to our own value and righteousness (Gen 9:6). Finally, He tells us to multiply ourselves on the earth. In fact, he says it both before (Gen 9:1) and after (Gen 9:7) His instructions on valuing the animal life we take to survive.
I suspect that the double-instruction to multiply on the earth, while respecting the meat that we eat, is a nod of approval toward our enjoyment of life. Combine this with the removal of God’s curse from the ground, and life was going to be, not easy, but less hard. The sins of their forefathers would not have the same temptation as before. Satan would need to find other ways to tempt, which of course he did. However, it was a clean slate for man. With stumbling blocks removed, and an overall easing up on the pressures of life, God was ready establish His covenant with the new root of spirit-filled man.