Genesis 9:1-7: a reflection

1God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. 2The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that moves along the ground, and all the fish of the sea, are delivered into your hand. 3Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As I gave you the green herb, I have given everything to you. 4But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat. 5I will surely require accounting for your life’s blood. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man. 6Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image. 7Be fruitful and multiply. Increase abundantly on the earth, and multiply in it.”

After the flood, God renews his blessing on Noah and his sons, telling them to be fruitful and fill the earth. But he also gives a solemn word about the value of human life: Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. God requires an accounting for every human life, and the reason he gives is weighty: because human beings are made in his own image. Human life is sacred because it bears the likeness of God.

Notice the ground God gives for the sanctity of human life: the image of God. It is not merely that human life is useful, or that society functions better when life is protected; it is that every human being bears the image of God, and so to attack a human life is to violate one made in God's own likeness. This gives every person an inviolable worth, and makes the taking or harming of human life a grave thing in God's sight, an assault on his image.

That truth shapes how we regard and treat every human being. Because each person bears God's image, each has a sacred worth that we are to honor and protect, not diminish or destroy. This calls us not only to refrain from violence, but to treat every human life, including the weak, the unwanted, the inconvenient, as sacred, as bearing God's image. Regard the life of every person as sacred, for each is made in the likeness of God. Be an agent of protecting and honoring human life, not of harming it; and let the truth that every person bears God's image govern how you treat them all, from the greatest to the least.

Lord, after the flood you underlined the sacredness of human life, requiring an accounting for it, because you made human beings in your own image. Let that truth shape how I regard and treat every person. Human life is sacred not merely because it is useful, but because each person bears your likeness; to attack a human life is to violate one made in your image. This gives every person an inviolable worth. Help me treat every human life, including the weak, the unwanted, and the inconvenient, as sacred, as bearing your image. Keep me not only from violence, but make me an agent of protecting and honoring human life, not of harming it. Let the truth that every person bears your image govern how I treat them all, from the greatest to the least. Give me reverence for the life you have made in your likeness.