God blesseth Noe: forbiddeth blood, and promiseth never more to destroy the world by water. The blessing of Sem and Japheth.
“And every thing that moveth, and liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you: Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat.” (Genesis 9:3-4)
God gives man all food to eat on the earth, from animals to herbs, except for flesh and blood as the blood symbolizes life.
“From this the eating of meat takes its beginning, not for the purpose of prompting them to gluttony. But since some of the people were about to offer sacrifices and make thanksgiving to the Lord, he grants them authority over food and obviates any anxiety about foods lest they seem to be abstaining from foods because they were not properly consecrated. ‘I have given you them all,’ he says, ‘as I did the green grass.’ Then, as in the case of Adam when he instructed him to abstain from the one tree while enjoying the others, so in this case too. After permitting the consumption of all foods without hesitation, he says, ‘except you are not to eat flesh with its lifeblood in it.’ So what does this statement mean? It means ‘strangled,’ for an animal’s blood is its soul. So since they were about to offer sacrifices in the form of animals, he is teaching them in these words that as long as the blood has been set aside for me, the flesh is for you. In doing so, however, he is intent upon resisting in advance any impulse toward homicide.”(4) -St. John Chrysostom
“Whosoever shall shed man’s blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God.” (Genesis 9:6)
Life and man created in God’s image has such honor that the taking of life and murder is a very grievous sin.
“‘Whoever sheds someone’s blood, his own will be shed in payment for that person’s blood, because I have made the human person in God’s image.’ Consider, I ask you, how much fear he struck in them with that remark. He is saying even if you are not restrained from murderous hands by kinship or by a sense of fellowship of nature, and even if you thrust aside all brotherly feeling and become completely committed to a bloody murder, you must think twice. Consider the fact that the person has been created in God’s image. Mark the degree of honor accorded him by God! Think on the fact that he has received authority over all creation. Then you will give up your murderous intent.”(4) -St. John Chrysostom
Out of God’s goodness and loving kindness, he creates a covenant and promise with Noah and the generations even after him, that he would not flood the world again.
“God’s purpose, therefore, was to eliminate all apprehension from Noah’s thinking and for him to be quite assured that this would not happen again. He said, remember, ‘Just as I brought on the deluge out of love, so as to put a stop to their wickedness and prevent their going to further extremes, so in this case too it is out of my love that I promise never to do it again, so that you may live free of all dread and in this way see your present life to its close.’ Hence he said, ‘Behold, I make my covenant,’ that is, I form an agreement. Just as in human affairs when someone makes a promise he forms an agreement and gives a firm guarantee, so too the good Lord said, ‘Behold, I make my covenant.’ God did not say that this massive disaster might come again to those who sin. Rather he said, ‘Behold, I make my covenant with you and your offspring after you.’ See the Lord’s loving kindness: not only with your generation, he says, do I form my agreement, but also in regard to all those coming after you I give this firm guarantee.”(4) -St. John Chyrsostom
Women's Prayer Group In Christ 