Genesis 9:18-29

The Drunkenness of Noah; his Curse and his Blessings. In this section Genesis 9:28 f. belongs to P. If Genesis 5:32; Genesis 7:6; Genesis 9:28 f. are read together, we have an account of Noah similar to the rest of the genealogy in Genesis 5. Genesis 9:18 is from J, but not entirely from the same stratum. Genesis 9:18 f. belongs to J's genealogical table in Genesis 10. Genesis 9:20 has close points of contact with Genesis 4:17; Noah, like Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain, is represented as a culture-hero, the first to cultivate the vine and make wine, thus vindicating Lamech's prophecy and the name he gave his son. And it similarly regards the history of the race as unbroken by the Flood. The representations of Noah as in the one case a husbandman, the discoverer of the vine, and in the other as the one man worthy for his piety to be saved from the destruction of the sinful race, do not necessarily conflict. But here he is represented as the ancestor of three distinct peoples, in the Flood story he is the ancestor of all nations. It is not easy to fit this narrative either into the period before or that after the Flood. If before the Flood, why should any accursed have been spared? When the Flood took place, Noah's sons were grown up and married; here they live with their father, and the offence is that of a boy rather than a man. Further, Noah's sons were originally Shem, Japheth, and Canaan, the last being guilty of the offence. Otherwise it is inexplicable that Canaan and not Ham was cursed. Genesis 9:24 describes the offender as the youngest son, and Japheth as the second son, whereas in the Flood story, Ham is the second son and Japheth the youngest. A comparison of Genesis 9:25 with Genesis 9:26 f. shows that Canaan's brethren were Shem and Japheth. Ham the father of in Genesis 9:22 is, accordingly, a gloss, and similarly and Ham is the father of Canaan in Genesis 9:18. As to the identity of the peoples there is some dispute. Canaan probably represents the Canaanites, Shem the Hebrews, with kindred peoples, and Japheth the Hittites, rather than the Phœ nicians or Philistines; though possibly the reference is to prehistoric peoples. Ham is a larger unity of which Canaan forms a part.

Genesis 9:18 f. Here the population of the whole world is derived from Noah through three sons whose names are given as Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the order being that of age.

Genesis 9:20. While the discovery of wine is regarded as a blessing, since it refreshes and comforts man after his toil (Genesis 5:29 *), the narrator also saw its moral dangers. The description of Noah's posture and Canaan's shameless and unfilial act expresses the recoil of the hardy Hebrews from the filthy indecencies of the enervated Canaanites, to which the conduct of the two elder brothers is an emphatic rebuke. On learning of his son's deed, the father utters a curse upon him, followed by blessings on the culprit's brothers. In antiquity a curse was much more solemn than it is to-day. When the modern man curses, it is to give vent to his feelings, the only effect is the reflex one on himself. For the ancients (and among peoples of lower culture to-day) a curse was potent to achieve its own fulfilment. Once uttered, it could not be withdrawn. Aylwin supplies an excellent example in modern literature. So, too, with a blessing; it also had an inherent power of self-fulfilment, and could not be taken back (cf. Genesis 27:33). The curse dooms Canaan to be the slave of his brothers, i.e. the Canaanites are put in subjection to Shem and Japheth. It was infamous exegesis to find in this passage a justification for the enslavement of negroes. In MT of Genesis 9:26 not Shem, but Yahweh his God, is blessed. Probably we should read Bless, Yahweh, the tents of Shem (bâ rç k for bâ rû k and -' ohŏ? le for ĕ? lô hç). This is confirmed by the reference to the tents of Shem in Genesis 9:27. God (not Yahweh here) is entreated to expand (Yapht notice the play on the name) Japheth, and grant him to dwell in the tents of Shem, i.e. in friendly intercourse (not conquest).

Genesis 9:20. Translate: And Noah the husbandman began and planted.