Genesis 9:1-17
The Daily Office
Do you realize that God's original intention was that we should be vegetarians? "And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food'" (1:29). God says nothing about the animals. Any creature that had blood flowing through it had been given that which only God could give, and was in some sense, worthy of reverence. That's why food needs to be kosher, that is, drained of all blood. Or in the blood is the gift of life, which ideally is only God's to give and to take.
But continuing our theme from yesterday, God now recognizes that he cannot destroy humanity, because that would imply that God was wrong to have ever made us. But neither can God snap his fingers and make us good, since we are free to obey or disobey. So like any other frustrated parent, God shrugs his shoulders and says, "Kids: can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em." Then, God responds with grace that accepts the lesser evil of eating meat. Then God takes the bow, the symbol of lethal violence, and makes it a thing of beauty in the sky.
God always meets us, wherever we are, and starts over with us from that place of lesser evils. And God promises us for all time that destruction is not his purpose for us. That is the true message of the Flood.
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