Genesis 9:1
_Blessed, with fecundity. Barrenness was deemed a curse. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed, with fecundity. Barrenness was deemed a curse. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fear, &c. God confirms the dominion of man over all the animals, though he must exercise it now by compulsion; they will not obey always without reluctance, as they would have done in the state of innocence. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Meat. The more religious, at least, had hitherto abstained from flesh, being content with herbs, &c.: which had been expressly granted. Now, the salt waters of the deluge had vitiated the earth, its plants were no longer so nutritive. (Menochius) --- God gives leave to eat flesh meat, but with some... [ Continue Reading ]
_With blood. This was a matter of indifference in itself, like the forbidden fruit. But God gave the prohibition, to keep people at a greater distance from imbruing their hands in the blood of others, which nevertheless we know some have drunk! He would also assert his dominion over all things; the... [ Continue Reading ]
_At the hand; a Hebrew idiom. God orders an ox to be stoned, which had slain a man, Exodus xxi. 28. --- Man, (hominis) every man, (viri) brother. By these three terms, God inculcates a horror of bloodshed; because we are all of the same nature, ought to act like generous men, and to consider every i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shed. God had not subjected Cain to this law of retaliation, as he was the first murderer, and the earth was unpeopled. (Haydock) --- Here he declares, that it is just to inflict such a punishment on the offender. (Menochius) --- Judges are hence authorized to punish murderers with death. (Calmet)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Soul...in birds, &c. The covenant of God is made with animals, only in as much as they are subservient to man. (Du Hamel) --- The Egyptians adored most of them; and many oriental nations, and even philosophers, pretended they had intelligent souls, and could speak a rational language, which some of... [ Continue Reading ]
_My rain bow. This had been from the beginning; but it was not before appointed for a sign that the earth should no more be destroyed by water. It is styled God's bow, on account of its beauty and grandeur. (Menochius) (Ecclesiasticus xliii. 12.) --- "As the rain-bow, which makes its appearance in t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remember; or I shall cause men to reflect, when they see the rain-bow, of the horrors of the deluge, and of my gracious promises and covenant._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Chanaan, who, it seems, is here mentioned to his shame, having first discovered and told his father that Noe was drunk. He was probably but young at the time, being born after the deluge._... [ Continue Reading ]
_A husbandman. Hebrew, literally "a man of the earth." (Haydock) --- To till, perhaps with a plough, which he is said to have invented. (Menochius)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Drunk. Noe by the judgment of the fathers was not guilty of sin, in being overcome by wine; because he knew not the strength of it. (Challoner) --- Wine, Though vines had grown from the beginning, the art of making wine seems not to have been discovered; and hence Noe's fault is much extenuated, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither ought we to be so quick-sighted in discovering the faults of any: which we often represent as real, when they are only apparent. (Haydock)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cursed be Chanaan. The curses, as well as the blessings, of the patriarchs were prophetical: and this in particular is here recorded by Moses, for the children of Israel, who were to possess the land of Chanaan. But why should Chanaan be cursed for his father's fault? The Hebrews answer, that he, b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Enlarge Japheth. His name signifies latitude or enlargement. (Worthington) --- May he, God, according to some; but more probably Japheth, of whom the rest of the sentence speaks. (Haydock) --- This was verified by the extensive dominion of the children of Japheth, both in the islands and on the con... [ Continue Reading ]
He died, having witnessed the attempt of his children to build the tower of Babel, (we may suppose with disapprobation) and having been concerned in the dispersing of nations. Some imagine he travelled eastward, and founded the empire of China, which is denied by others. (Haydock) --- The fathers co... [ Continue Reading ]