Be Fruitful And Multiply - Genesis 9:1-7

Genesis 9:1-7 ESV 

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man shall his blood be shed,

for God made man in his own image.

And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

Echoes of the Garden are in these words spoken to Noah:  “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." Here is a new beginning with new ground rules. 

Why does God now give the flesh of every moving thing that lives in addition to the green plants as food for man? It is not explained here in these verses. The fear and dread of man would now characterize the world experienced by those animals. 

The life of a man resides in his blood. This is the case for all men after the fall. When the blood of Jesus is spilled His mortal life is given for all mankind. He makes it possible for us to trade the life contained in tainted blood for His life made available in the Spirit. He has given His flesh and blood as bread and drink from heaven. The man that eats and drinks from His body finds his life resides in God. That man becomes a truer image of God. 

She Did Not Return - Genesis 8:8-12

Genesis 8:8-12 ESV 

Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground.

But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him.

He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.

And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.

Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

Now a dove is released. Unlike the raven, it finds no resting place until the third time. The first time might correlate to the time before Israel when the dove finds no where to land. The waters provide no resting place. 

The second time it returns with a plucked olive leaf. The olive tree is symbolic of Israel. The Spirit of God chooses a people to bring the light into the world. 

The third time the dove is released and does not return. This might correspond to the giving of the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and made available to rest of the world. 

To And Fro - Genesis 8:6-7

Genesis 8:6-7 ESV 

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made

and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.

Forty days is a re-occurring number appearing frequently in Scripture that represents a time of trial, such as the time Moses spent on the mountain, the Israelites wandering in the desert, or the temptations of Jesus during His time in the wilderness. 

Noah opens the only window which lets in the light after the rain and sends forth a raven. The raven goes "to and fro" on the earth, as Satan did in Job. This is the first of two birds released in this new world. One may be reminded that the earth was dark and formless before the appearance of light. 

It is God Who releases the birds. 

Satan will have dominion over the earth until the waters are dried from the earth and the sea is no more. The beasts of Satan rise from the waters of humanity to oppose God, but the dominion of Satan will disappear.

Breath Of Life - Genesis 7:22-24

Genesis 7:22-24 ESV 

Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

The breath of life is different from the breath of God. All living creatures have the breath of life, but only those which receive the breath of God enter the life of God. There is life on earth, but true life is in heaven. 

We who believe have received the breath of God, the Holy Spirit Who seals us in the kingdom. We breathe the air of life beyond life. We have become one spiritually with the Lord. 

The kingdom of heaven has invaded the earth. One day heaven and earth will complete that union as the sons of God receive immortal bodies that match their immortal spirits. 

No longer will the waters prevail. 

Enoch - Genesis 5:9-11

Genesis 5:9-11 ESV 

When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.

Seth's son was Enosh(or Enos in KJV) and his name means "man". The word denotes mortality and the frailty of the human condition. Eve conceived man that would be less than the man Mary would later conceive through the Holy Spirit. That man was mortal and frail, but more and completely alive. He was the only man that could die for us because He was the only man truly alive. The rest of us were dead in sin. 

Every Tree - Matthew 3:8-10

Matthew 3:8-10 ESV 

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

And do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Genesis 2:8-9

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Scripture often uses trees as representing people. The Tree of Life symbolizes Jesus, the source of life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the devil, the source of sin and death. One seed or the other will take root and flourish in the soil of a man. The fruit of the resulting tree will reveal the truth of every tree. 

The fruit sought by God is the fruit of the Spirit. That is the good fruit and it flows from the life of God. All other fruit is nourished from the damp grave of death. 

 

Seth - Genesis 5:3-5

Genesis 5:3-5 ESV 

When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

Adam was created in the likeness of God. He then fathered his son Seth in his own likeness, which was different from the way he began life. He had fallen from his intimate relationship with God and had assumed a life further from God and a little closer to the life of a beast of the field. 

Seth means "compensation". He took the place of Abel who was killed by his brother Cain. 

Thus begins the genealogical tree to the birth of Noah.