Thanks to Ian

Genesis 9 – The Covenant with Noah

God’s covenant with Abraham is for Abraham and all his descendents – for the children of promise, the people of faith and obedience – but God’s covenant with Noah is for all humanity. The behaviour of Ham, Noah’s son, (v.18 – 28) revealed that rebellion still remained in human hearts; the behaviour of the other two sons showed that God had not taken away freedom of choice – to choose right or wrong – they chose right.

Because rebellion was still in the hearts of humans, laws were necessary. Jewish scholars agreed that Noah’s covenant contained 7 essential laws (Noahide Laws) for all humankind. Those laws are summarised in v.6 –

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed;

for in the image of God has God made man.”

A simpler way of interpreting that verse is – Whoever takes the life of any person – another person will take their life – for God has made all persons in his image. That statement – “God has made all persons in his image” – is a most important statement for all humankind – all have sinned but all are created in God’s image and can be forgiven through repentance and grace.

We live in an ‘us and them’ culture but we must remember that both the ‘us’ and the ‘them’ are created in God’s image. God has never revealed his image but whatever our colour, our race or our gender we are all in God’s image. Nobody can claim to be more or less in God’s image – there can never be any superiority or inferiority – we are all in God’s image. Nobody can create an object of worship and claim it to be in God’s image, nobody can be forced to bow down to such an image.

Because we are all made in God’s image, all laws can be summarised by a basic principle – we must not do anything to harm one another; if we do, we harm ourselves and others harm us. – daily we see that principle broken in countless ways.

A covenant is between two parties and has to be upheld by both. God has said that he will never again flood the earth to destroy life and sent the rainbow as a reminder to himself and to us – but – Humans, the other party in the covenant, are constantly breaking the covenant because they do not respect that all people are in God’s image and are therefore equal; in their waring, rebellious nature they seek power and control over one another and so, are constantly harming one another.

Which of the two parties is destroying both themselves and the planet?

Prayer – Forgive us Lord for our lack of respect for each other as equals in your creation and for how we frequently harm those whom you love and are created in your image. – Also – Please forgive us Lord for our part in breaking your covenant with mankind.


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