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described, in the words of St. Paul, as "the times of this ignorance" which "God
winked at," (Acts 17:30) or as those when "through the forbearance of God" sins
were passed over. (Romans 3:25, see marginal rendering) Having thus explained the
fundamental terms on which the Lord would deal with the nations of the earth during
the period between the flood and the coming of the Savior, that is, during the Jewish
dispensation, we proceed to notice, in the words which God addressed to Noah, some
other points of difference between the former and the new state of things. First of all,
the gracious announcement that, while the earth remained, seed-time and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night were not to cease, implies not only
His purpose to spare our earth, but also that man might henceforth reckon upon a
regular succession of seasons, and that he was to make this earth for the present his
home, to till it, and to possess it. Hence it was quite another matter when Noah
became an "husbandman," from what it had been when Cain chose to be "a tiller of
the ground." Next, as already stated, God renewed the blessing of fruitfulness in
much the same terms in which He had spoken it originally to Adam, and once more
conferred dominion over the lower creation. But in this new grant there was this
essential difference - that man's dominion would now be one of force, and not, as
formerly, of willing subjection. If God had at the first brought "every beast" and
"every fowl" before Adam, as it were, to do homage to him, and to receive from him
their names, it was now said to Noah and to his descendants, "The fear of you and the
dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth;... into your hand are they
delivered." Perhaps we ought also to notice in this connection that, whatever may
have been the common practice before, now for the first time the use of animal food
was expressly permitted, with the exception of the blood, and that probably for the
reason afterwards mentioned in the case of sacrifices, that the blood was the seat of
life. (Leviticus 17:11, 14) Another and most important change is marked by the
solemn prohibition of murder, with this addition, that "whoso sheddeth man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed." Such crimes were no longer to be avenged directly
by God Himself, but He delegated His authority to man. (Romans 8:1, 2) As Luther
rightly says, "In these words the civil magistracy is instituted, and the Divine right of
bearing the sword." For when it is added, as a reason why murder should be punished
with death, that God made man in His own image, it seems to convey that vengeance
might not be taken by any one at his own will, but that this belonged to those who on
earth represented the authority of God, or were His delegates; whence also they are
called in Psalm 82:6, "gods," or rather "Elohim."^23
And, as Luther rightly argues, "If God concedes to man the power over life and death,
assuredly this carries with it authority over that which is less than life, such as goods,
family, wife, children, servants, and land." Thus the words spoken by the Lord to
Noah contain the warrant and authority of those who are appointed rulers and judges
over us. In later times the Jews have been wont to speak of what they called the seven
(^)