It was right after the flood that God gave commandments unto Noah and his family. You might think, wait a minute this is before the ten commandments in Exodus 20. That is correct. So let’s see what commandments were given to the people at that time. It is written, “and God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. “ (Genesis 9:1-4) #1, they are told to be fruitful and replenish the earth. #2, they are told to not eat raw meat where blood is not removed. Killing and eating meat was fine, but in the preparation of the meat, all the blood had to be cooked out. Not abiding in this second commandment led to a person being killed. This is a hard way to go, but this is where the term, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth began. We will learn later how Jesus stopped this.
These next verses display the consequences of not cooking out all the blood of animals. But let us not forget the next commandment. #3, if you kill another person, you will also be killed. This is the very commandment that the Israelites used until Jesus came on the scene. We learn this as we read the following verses, “and surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” (Genesis 9:5,6) This was God’s law for the people for many centuries until Jesus came into His ministry on earth. The people must have heard what Jesus said next and thought he was crazy and speaking blasphemy against God at that. Jesus said, “ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:38,39) So what is this new commandment? We are to resist evil, even to the point of not harming another individual that has harmed us or a person in our family. Amen.
Let us pray:
Oh Lord, it is good that You are my God and that I can live by Your commandments. I am safe when I am doing Your will and not the things of the world. There is no more shame or regret, for Your arms are round about me in love. I wish that every person could know what this means, but they must first submit their lives to You also. To abide in Your presence is all I desire. I want less of me and what the flesh desires and more of You and what the Holy Spirit desires. Lead me in Your light and cast out any darkness that still remains. It is my desire to walk worthy of my calling and not walk in disobedience. If I am doing anything unknowingly that offends that Holy Spirit, bring it to my attention now. I do not wish to grieve the Spirit, but be guided and directed by His hand. Thank You, Lord, for speaking to me. Thank You for Your compassion and mercy. You never had to forgive a wretch like me, but You did this nonetheless. As with every child that is to be born, You can see our potential. Now, I wish that every mother would understand this and not kill their unborn child in an abortion. This is sickening to know that this is happening. Put a stop to this in more places. I trust in You. I love You. Amen.
