Blessings and Directives
G-d tells Noach to leave the ark with his family and makes it clear that they are now allowed to be intimate.
G-d tells Noach that all of the animals should also should come out of the ark, if not willingly, then he should take them out. They are all instructed to mate as well but only outside of the ark as they too were forbidden from mating within the ark.
So they all exited the ark and agreed to the condition that they would only mate with their own species.
Noach built an altar to G-d, sacrificing from the kosher animals of which he had taken seven pairs of each of these species for this purpose.
G-d smelled the pleasant smell from the altar and made an oath with himself to never again curse the earth and hurt all living things on account of mankind, as man is born with an evil inclination.
G-d says that as long as the earth exists, so will the different seasons exist as well (Which teaches us that throughout the flood there were no seasons, the planets didn’t function, thus day and night were indistinguishable from one another). Six seasons are alluded to in the text, each of which lasts for two months:
- Seedtime: This lasts for half of Tishrei, Marcheshvan and half of Kislev
- Cold: This is more severe than winter and lasts for half of Kislev, Teves and half of Shevat
- Winter: This is the time for sowing barley and beans which ripen fast. This season lasts for half of Shevat, Adar and half of Nissan
- Harvest: This lasts for half of Nissan, Iyar and half of Sivan.
- Summer: This is the time when figs are gathered and dried in the fields and lasts for half of Sivan, Tammuz and half of Av.
- Heat: This is the end of the summer, more severe than the summer itself, when the world is the hottest, and lasts for half of Av, Elul and half of Tishrei.
G-d blesses Noach and his sons:
- To be fruitful and multiply and fill up the earth.
- To have all of the animals fear him so long as he is alive, as they have been given into his hands.
G-d gives them permission to eat all animals. This is in contrast to Adam who was only permitted to eat vegetation, not animals. However, G-d gives the caveat, they may not eat a limb that was cut off from a living animal (even after that animal dies), nor may they eat the blood of a living animal.
Although they are allowed to kill animals, G-d specifies that they are not allowed to commit suicide, even if they do so via strangulation (meaning, no “blood” was officially shed).
During the generation of the flood, G-d let the animals attack humans freely as punishment for their sins. After the flood then, G-d had to instruct them to no longer harm humans.
G-d says that anyone who kills another person intentionally without witnesses, will be killed, and anyone who kills another person unintentionally and doesn’t go into exile (seeing as there are no witnesses to sentence him to exile) nor does he beg to be forgiven for his sin (since even unintentional sins must be atoned) will be punished. Rashi cites the gemara Makkos (10b) where an example of how this would work is given, where there are two men, one of whom has killed someone intentionally and the other who killed someone unintentionally. G-d will cause them to meet at the same inn, whereby the one who killed unintentionally climbs a ladder and falls on the one who killed intentionally. Thus the intentional killer meets his punishment of death and the unintentional killer will meet his punishment as he will be sent into exile for this.
If there are witnesses to someone killing another person, the killer is to be killed, as man was created in the image of G-d.
G-d now repeats his directive to Noach to be fruitful and multiply. According to the simple meaning of the text, the first time G-d says this (see above), this was a blessing, whereas here he means it as a commandment. The Midrash (Yevamos 63b) understands the reason for the repetition here to show the contrast of one who begets children to one who kills.
Chumash "On the Go" 