In the covenant which He made with Noah and his sons, God first told them to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. When God created man, He blessed man, telling him to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth that the whole earth might be filled with beautiful faces expressing God. However, man fell repeatedly, and eventually he came under God’s judgment and was destroyed by the flood. Now that God had saved Noah’s family of eight through water and had brought them into a new age, He made another covenant with man and He blessed man in order to continue the purpose of His creation of man, telling man to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth that man might be brought back to His original intention and that His will might be accomplished in the man who was saved through water.
In this covenant God also charged man to have dominion over every living creature of the heavens, of the earth, and of the sea (Gen. 9:2). This was the authority that God gave to man when He first created him, that man might represent Him to exercise His authority over the earth. However, man lost this position because of his fall. Now God made a covenant again with the man who had been saved through water; He restored man’s authority and committed all living things into man’s hand. Hence, man was brought back to his original position, having the authority to represent God and to rule over all things for Him.
Before the flood God ordained that man should eat only herbs and fruits of the trees (Gen. 1:29), that is, that he should eat vegetables and not meat. However, after the flood, God ordained that animals, as well as vegetables, may also be man’s food (Gen. 9:3). God’s intention was that the man who was saved through water should know that he was fallen and that he needed redemption with the shedding of blood to maintain his life. In the Bible, meat, as food for the maintenance of life, comes from the slaying of an animal, and it signifies Christ being slain that we may have life and be kept alive. Therefore, meat signifies redemption with the shedding of blood; vegetables signify works without blood. Before the fall, man could maintain his life by merely eating vegetables, signifying that in his innocent state man could live in the presence of God by his works. However, after the fall, man became sinful, so he needed the redemption with the shedding of blood that he might live in the presence of God. Therefore, as a symbol of this matter, God told man to eat meat.
Although He ordained man to eat meat, God did not allow man to eat blood, for it is the blood, by reason of the life, that makes atonement for man’s life (Lev. 17:10-11). However, when the Lord Jesus came, He said that His blood was drinkable, for His blood truly can redeem us from sins that we may receive His life (John 6:53-56; Matt. 26:27-28). Therefore, in type, blood makes atonement for man and should not be eaten by man. However, in reality, no blood, except the blood of the Lord Jesus, can take away man’s sins (Heb. 9:12; 10:4). Therefore, no blood should be eaten except the blood of the Lord Jesus. For this reason God forbids man to eat blood. This is to show forth the matter of redemption with the shedding of blood. On the one hand, it indicates that the blood is to make atonement for man; on the other hand, it indicates that no blood, except the blood of the Lord Jesus, can truly take away man’s sins. Therefore, man must receive the blood of the Lord Jesus and depend on it in order that he may have life.
Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” This verse indicates that God’s giving man the authority over other men was the beginning of human government. Originally, apart from the husband being the head over his wife, God had not given man authority over others. Rather, He had given man authority only over the creatures, whereas men were all directly under God. When man fell out of God’s direct government, he came under the rule of his own conscience, that is, under self-government, to maintain his human life. Because of man’s continual fall, the government of the conscience became a failure. Eventually, the whole earth was filled with violence so that God destroyed the human race by the flood, preserving only Noah’s family of eight. After the flood, man was to live a new life on the earth. Thus God set up His deputy authority, placing man under the authority of others to be governed by man in order to maintain the existence and order of the human race. Hence, Noah became the head of a new race. God gave him authority not only over creatures other than man, but also over the lawless man.