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Genesis 9 -- a New Covenant
Here's another two-part chapter. In the first part, God offers Noah and his sons a New Covenant. The rules will be a little different this time! Creation 2.0. This time, humans may now eat animals, not just plants. Perhaps a little meat now and then will calm everybody down. But more importantly, this time, humans may not kill other humans. If a human does kill another human, this time, the punishment will fit the crime: death by execution. Humans may now kill humans who kill other humans. No more tattoos of protection for murderers! So, it sounds like God thinks he made a mistake in letting Cain off so lightly, perhaps Cain should've been executed. This may be how wickedness spread so far so quickly, via the lack of severe punishments. It sounds like from now on, if you act badly, that you will be subject to an equivalent bad act yourself, and that God no longer reserves judgment for himself, that humans may judge and punish each other. That's the only way to keep the wickedness from spiraling out of control. That's the only way God can keep his promise to not destroy everything again. ----- The second part tells us that Noah was the first human to plant a vineyard, and as a result the first human to get drunk, though probably it was an accident. Noah passed out naked drunk in his tent. (I've been there, poor fella is going to have an awful hangover.) One of Noah's sons, Ham, accidentally saw him passed out naked. Ham told his brothers, they brought Noah a robe and covered him, though without looking directly at his naked body. When Noah woke, he was so furious about Ham seeing him naked that he put Ham's son into slavery. Perhaps being hungover made Noah a bit grumpier than usual, him being the most righteous human of the prior batch. OK, first mention of slavery. Slavery is fine, as a punishment for the sins of your ancestor(s), even if you personally are innocent. And, again, nudity is evil. But it isn't the nude person who gets punished. It is the person who gazes upon nudity who gets punished. And under the New Covenant, the punishment must fit the crime. You see your father naked, your son is made a slave. That sounds about right. Don't forget, nudity is evil! So is murder, by the way. And don't be killing any naked people!
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