Genesis Chapter Nine

9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons
The same was said of Adam and Eve; they were blessed and sent out to subdue the earth, Genesis 1:28. Note in both instances Adam and Eve were joined by God (in matrimony) as Noah and his sons were already married. The institution of marriage, founded by God in Eden for our first parents, is not to be trifled with. God loves the institution He created and calls it holy, Malachi 2:11. Likewise He hates divorce, Malachi 2:16; Matthew 19:4-6. Fornicators and adulterers who belittle God’s institution of marriage will be sorely judged, Hebrews 13:4. God created marriage so that we might have a partner in this life on earth; He likewise created marriage so that one husband and one wife might raise up children to God, Malachi 2:15; Psalm 127:3-4; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Proverbs 5:18-19. Adultery, fornication, and homosexuality are not God’s desire for intimate human relationships. The nuclear family began in Eden with our first parents was ordained by God.

9:1 Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.
This command was first given to Adam and Eve almost verbatim. God blessed this newly formed couple and told them to fill the earth and multiply. The word “replenish” in the KJV is more accurately translated “fill” in the NKJV. Neither of these verses teaches the Gap Theory, as some suppose, asserting that when God first commanded Adam and Eve to go out and replenish the earth, it meant that the earth had been made barren via God’s destruction, and needed to be replenished with people. It is a simple matter of proper translation to comprehend that this was not at all what either verse meant. There is NO compelling scriptural evidence for the Gap Theory; this radical interpretation of Genesis came into being early in the 19th century when Charles Lyell (associate of Charles Darwin) began to preach his theory of long geological ages for the earth, thus “repudiating” the idea of a young earth. Shall we heed the counsel of the ungodly, or the word of God?

9:2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth
Here began a new era on earth. It is assumed by virtue of this passage that animals (even dinosaurs) were tame herbivores before the Flood. This would help to explain the ease with which they were subdued and brought to the ark. Now God gave commandment, and the animals became wild; the fear of man was put on them. Why? The next verse is telling: “every moving thing that liveth shall be meat (food) for you; even as the green herb I have given you all things,” verse 3. Man would doubtlessly have hunted everything into extinction had not the fear of man been put on them after this commandment was given. Take note that anyone who insists on a purely vegetarian diet using the Bible as their validation ought to read verse 3 prayerfully. If you feel inclined to refrain from meat, very well. But do not condemn those who do not have the same compunctions, Romans 14:2-3.

We read twice in Isaiah that this command of God will be withdrawn during the millennial reign on Christ. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea,” Isaiah 11:6-9; see also Isaiah 65:25. How do we know this is the thousand year reign? Mark that the prophet says that “nursing children” and “weaning children” are present, which indicates the presence of the nuclear family still, see also Isaiah 65:20. If people are growing old and dying still, howbeit slowly, we know it is not the Kingdom of God, that is, the eternal kingdom yet to come. Paul writes, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption,” 1st Corinthians 15:50.
To be Continued.