Why did God institute human government and capital punishment after the Flood?
After the Flood, violence had filled the earth because there was no deterrent and no capital punishment. God therefore gave mankind responsibility to restrain the human race from killing one another, instituting human government and capital punishment to maintain law and order in a new set of circumstances.
Les teaches that Genesis 9 marks a whole different set of circumstances after the Flood, a whole new ball game. Before the Flood, man did not kill animals for food, and the wild animals did not kill to satisfy their appetites; everything ate what grew naturally. After the Flood, God blessed Noah and his sons, told them to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth, and placed fear and dread of man on every beast, fowl, and fish. He also permitted every moving thing that liveth to be food. More importantly, because violence had filled the earth and there was no deterrent, no capital punishment, and no law against these things, God gave man responsibility to keep the human race from killing each other. Les explains that God instituted human government or capital punishment so man would maintain law and order.
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.