Time for Blessing and Responsibility. Genesis 9:1-7

May the mumbling commence!

It’s a time for blessing and responsibility… the flood is over.  Read from Peterson’s The Message:

God blessed Noah and  his sons: He said, “Prosper!  Reproduce!  Fill the Earth!  Every living creature – birds, animals, fish – will fall under your spell and be afraid of you.  You’re responsible for them.  All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else.  Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it – don’t eat that.

But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.

            Whoever sheds human blood,

                        by humans let his blood be shed,

            Because God made humans in his image

                        reflecting God’s very nature.

            You’re here to bear fruit, reproduce,

                        lavish life on Earth, live abundantly!” (Genesis 9:1-7)

Now read it from the NIV:

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.  The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.  Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 

But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.  And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 

Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man shall his blood be shed;

for in the image of God

has God made man. 

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it." (Genesis 9:1-7)

God’s blessing to Noah and his sons are multiple.  In this case, there is much congruence between the NIV and Peterson’s work.  But there are differences.

I like Peterson’s take on humanity being responsible for all creatures under the sun.  That concept gets at the heart, the Spirit, behind the words in the NIV – “they are given into your hands”.  I also like Peterson’s take on God avenging the killing of people.  It’s more to the point than “demanding an accounting”.  God avenges.  We must align ourselves to God’s will in this matter – even though some other person will shed the killer’s blood.

As I have said before, I like the replacing of man with “humans” that Peterson does. It gets to the true meaning of the Hebrew more clearly for our generation, where man is more generally considered gender specific.

There are, however, a couple of places that I take issue with Peterson’s work.  First, there is no reason or warrant fro the additional phrasing “will fall under your spell”.  What’s that supposed to mean?  Is humanity magical now?  It adds nothing to get at the heart , the Spirit, of the Word of God in this instance.

And, as I have said before, I struggle with Peterson’s phrasing for being made in the image of God – especially the second phrasing “reflecting God’s very nature”.  When we are perfectly righteous, godly, walking with God, that’s true.  But no one (other than Jesus) has accomplished that.

So let’s live into God’s will for our lives.  As Peterson rightly puts it – live life lavishly, live bountifully!

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out