Genesis 9:11

And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

1. The Lord promised to never again destroy mankind and animals with a flood.

Genesis 9:10

And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

1. The covenant the Lord made with Noah and his posterity also extended to all the animals on the earth.
2. I'm wondering if the Lord would bother making a covenant with the animals if they could not understand His promise.

Genesis 9:9

And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

1. The Lord made a covenant with Noah and his descendants (in other words, everyone on the earth).

Genesis 9:8

And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

1. God spoke not only to Noah but also to Noah's sons.

Genesis 9:7

And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

1. The Lord reiterated His commandment to Noah and the rest of his family who were married to have many children.

Genesis 9:6

Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

1. The punishment for murder, according to God, should be death at the hands of other men.
2. Man was made to look like God, suggesting man is of great importance to God.
3. At least part of the reason for capital punishment is that man was made in the image of God and is of great importance to Him.
4. Those who advocate abolishing capital punishment for murder appear to be in opposition to the God who created them and the earth on which they live.

Genesis 9:5

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.

1. The Lord seems to have moved on from diet to capital punishment, based upon the following verse, but if so I don't understand the reference to beasts unless He is referring to situations where a beast kills a person. At any rate, it seems likely there's been something lost in either the recording or the translation.

Genesis 9:4

But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

1. The Lord places dietary restrictions on mankind.
2. Noah and his posterity were not to eat meat with the blood still in it.
3. Blood is essential to the life of animals.

Genesis 9:3

Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

1. The Lord provided all animals and plants to man for food.
2. During the days of Noah God did not restrict mankind from eating meat nor require them to be vegetarians.
3. Judging from what we saw on television during the Beijing Olmpics, the Chinese take this commandment, not necessarily knowingly, that all moving animals are okay to eat, quite literally. So, the word of the Lord to Noah appears to be absolutely true.

Genesis 9:2

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.

1. The Lord told Noah and his sons that all the animals would fear and dread them from that point onward.
2. Noah and his descendants were given stewardship over the animals on this planet.
3. The Lord gives human beings responsibilities.

Genesis 9:1

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

1. God blessed Noah, his sons (and their wives), and told them to have many children.
2. Married couples should have children, if possible, thereby replenishing the earth.

Genesis 8:22

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

1. The earth has a limited lifespan.
2. As long as the earth exists the various cycles such as the 4 seasons, day and night, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, will continue to exist here. This is somewhat comforting considering the wild weather we've seen in recent years - at least, I think it's comforting.

Genesis 8:21

And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

1. Recognizing Noah's burnt offerings, the Lord decided He would no longer curse the ground for man's sake, nor would He again kill every living thing as He did via the flood.
2. People feel like doing evil things from the time they are young.
3. I suppose its possible the Lord actually smelled the burnt offering, but I'm more inclined to consider it imagery for the following reasons: 1) The Lord, who is Christ, was only a spirit at this point and didn't have a physical nose with which to smell. Can a spirit smell burning meat? 2) The Lord would have to have been fairly close by to smell the burnt offering, like in the same neighborhood. Is the Lord in the habit of wandering around upon the earth? Perhaps, but that contradicts the notion that He resides in heaven, unless that's also on earth.
4. If the Lord said these words in His heart, how is it someone wrote them down, unless He also spoke them to someone?

Genesis 8:20

And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

1. Noah built an altar in order to make burnt offerings to the LORD.
2. Considering the occasion, the burnt offering to the LORD appears to have been done either out of gratitude for the Lord's blessings or to symbolize their determination to do a better job of following him than those who had drowned in the flood.
3. Noah offered one of every clean beast upon the altar.
4. This reduced the number of each type of clean beast from seven to six.
5. From the plural "offerings" it appears each clean beast was offered separately. Whether each was done on a separate occasion or one right after the other is not clear.
6. This is the second time offerings are mentioned in Genesis, the first associated with the offerings of Cain and Abel. It seems unreasonable to think that the Lord would not have provided instruction to Adam concerning the type, method and occasions for these offerings, but nothing about this is mentioned.

Genesis 8:19

Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

1. All the animals left the ark.

Genesis 8:18

And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:

1. Noah and his family disembarked and headed off together, presumably looking for a suitable place to live.