Blood
I
begin today with an unusual statement: I like medium-rare steak. I like the texture of it and the taste of
it. And every time I read Genesis 9:4 I
think about my desire to eat medium-rare steak and whether or not that pleases
God. Because if you’ve ever eaten a
medium-rare steak you know that it still has some blood within it.
I
hope and pray that there is something deeper at work than simply a prohibition
against eating any meat (beef, chicken, fish, etc) that has not be cooked to
the point of being well-done. In fact, I
am sure of it. All throughout our Old
Testament God is setting up the fact blood is the life-force of a person or
animal. He is doing this of course, to
set up the importance of Christ’s shedding of blood for our sake.
Additionally,
in ancient cultures there was a strong belief that if you consumed the
life-force of another living thing that you could add that living thing’s
life-force – strength, time left before death, etc – to your own life. In other words, an ancient person thought
they could make themselves stronger and live longer by drinking the blood of a
young strong animal. They thought that
they could make themselves faster and live longer by drinking the blood of
something young and quick.
So
God is doing more than just setting up the significance of the atoning blood of
Christ on the cross here. God is
reminding us that He is the only source of life we have. We are not to drink the blood of other
creatures in an attempt to think that in doing so we can make ourselves better
or live longer. Rather, we are to turn
to God for those purposes.
After
all, God is the ultimate source of eternal life in addition to making the
declaration that He will make all things new and destroy the shroud of death
forever. We need not go through some
taboo tradition of stealing the life-force from other creatures and needlessly
shedding blood in order to get life for ourselves. Rather, we must simply turn to our
creator. In that respect, as with many
respects, God is so much easier!
Rainbows, Among Other Things
I’d
like to spend a little time here talking about the rainbow. Notice here that the promise is given to all
of the creatures of the earth. This is
not just God’s covenant with Noah or even God’s covenant with humanity. This is God’s covenant with creation. This is the creator looking to the creation
and essentially saying that regardless of how bad humanity becomes, creation
will not be destroyed along with us – at least not by God’s hand. This frees creation to wait for our
redemption with eager longing as Paul tells us in Romans 8:19. God is saying to creation that they need not
fear destruction at God’s hand again. Of
course, God is telling that to humanity as well.
Here’s
a really neat and scary point to what God is saying through the rainbow. The only reason that creation – or humanity –
needs fear imminent destruction is from what we do to ourselves. That is true.
Noah’s Descendants
The
last thing I want to touch on here is the story about Noah’s drunkenness and
Canaan’ cursing. First off, note that
Noah is not without his problems. Noah
has been handed a perfect opportunity by God to start off the world in a fresh
new light and what happens? The next
thing we know is that Noah is drunk and passed out in his tent. He is unable to control his actions.
Drunkenness
immediately leads to immodest behavior.
I think that’s generally still true today. It is not alcohol that is the immediate
problem, it is humanity’s inability to stop the consumption of alcohol at an
appropriate time.
In
addition to this, I always read this passage and wonder what is so bad about
what Ham did in his action. After all,
all he did was see something he shouldn’t have seen, right? It’s not like he took advantage of his father
while he was in that situation, right?
That’s
not quite right. You see, in ancient
cultures it was taboo to see your father naked.
But Ham stumbled upon it, not intending to do so. But instead of resolving the issue and
covering his father so nobody else could see him in that way, Ham leaves his
father naked and broadcasts his condition among the family.
It
is Shem and Japheth that hear about Noah’s disgrace and come alongside Noah in
order to prevent further disgrace. Shem
and Japheth show that they are genuinely looking out for Noah’s benefit. They care about their father.
This
passage really speaks to community and he we relate. Are we interested in aiding our fellow man in
their weakness, or are we more interested in illustrating how they have fallen
so that we don’t look so bad in comparison to them? Ham does nothing to help his father in his
condition while spreading the news about what he’s done. Shem and Japheth are the ones who demonstrate
compassion for Noah.
There’s
a lot to think about in this passage, and I hope your thoughts have been
inspired. God’s peace.
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