Genesis 8:1-9:17

 |  March 20, 2018

Gen. 8:1-9:17

  1. Locate the passage

This pericope records when the ark came to rest and the flood began to recede.  God judgment was just, but He did not forget mankind.  His Covenant was a sign of His grace to His people.

  1. Genre

The passage is narrative.  In this pericope, God speaks His promise within the Godhead (8:21-22) and speaks instructions (8:16), blessing (9:1-7), and covenant (9:8-17).

  1. Determine the structure of the passage

8:1-14 – God remembered Noah and the waters receded.

8:15-19 – God’s instructions to Noah to exit the ark

8:20-22 – Noah’s alter and God’s response

9:1-7 – Be Fruitful and Multiply Again

9:8-17 – The Noahic Covenant

  1. Exegete the passage

8:1 – God “remembered” Noah – The pericope begins with the simple comforting message the God remembered Noah (Cf. Gen. 19:29; 30:22; Ex. 2:24; 6:5; Num. 10:9).

8:2 – The fountains of the deep and the windows of Heaven

8:4 – The ark “rested”

8:7-12 – Noah sent out a raven from the ark which did not return and a dove which returned the first time with no sign of dry land.  But, after seven days, Noah sent out the dove a 2nd time which returned with signs that the land was dry.

8:10, 12 – Noah “waited”

8:13 – 601st year; 1st month; 1st day

8:14 – 2nd month; 27th day

8:15 – The Lord said to Noah

8:20 – Noah built an altar

8:21 – Noah prepared a “soothing aroma”

8:21 – the Lord said in His heart

9:1-4 – The Promise of God Renewed

9:1 – Be fruitful and multiply

9:4 – You shall not eat flesh with its life

9:5-7 – God’s concern for life:

  1. God’s concern for the preservation of life is seen in the prohibition of the use of blood
    1. The consequence of violating this law of the blood is a divine “reckoning.”
    2. Note the three-fold repetition of “I will require” – from Hb. “darash,” which means, “to care about,” “to seek,” or “to demand.”
  2. You ARE your brother’s keeper (9:5b)
  3. Prohibition against murder
  4. Mankind is of the Image of God
  5. Mandate continued to be fruitful and multiply

9:6 – God, here, relinquishes, for the first time, some of the Divine responsibility for judging sin to mankind.

9:11 – I establish My covenant with you

9:12 – the Sign of the Covenant

9:15 – I will remember My covenant

  1. Let the structure of the text drive the sermon

Category: Sermon Structure
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