INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 9
In this chapter we have an account of God's blessing Noah and his
sons, being just come out of the ark, with a renewal of the blessing
of propagating their species, and replenishing the earth, the dominion
over the creatures, and a freedom from the fear of them; with liber... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD BLESSED NOAH AND HIS SONS,.... With temporal blessings, not
spiritual ones; for though some of them were blessed with such, yet
not all, particularly Ham:
AND SAID UNTO THEM, BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY, AND REPLENISH THE EARTH;
depopulated by the flood: this is a renewal of the blessing on Ad... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FEAR OR YOU, AND THE DREAD OF YOU, SHALL BE UPON EVERY BEAST
OF THE EARTH,.... This is a renewal, at least in part, of the grant of
dominion to Adam over all the creatures; these obeyed him cheerfully,
and from love, but sinning, he in a good measure lost his power over
them, they rebelled a... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY MOVING THING THAT LIVETH SHALL BE MEAT FOR YOU,.... That is,
every beast, fowl, and fish, without exception; for though there was a
difference at this time of clean and unclean creatures with respect to
sacrifice, yet not with respect to food; every creature of God was
good then, as it is now,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT FLESH WITH THE LIFE THEREOF, [WHICH IS] THE BLOOD THEREOF, SHALL
YOU NOT EAT. This is the only exception to the eating of flesh; it was
not to be eaten with the blood in it, which is said to be its life;
not that the blood is of itself the life, but because it is a means of
life, and that being... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SURELY YOUR BLOOD OF YOUR LIVES WILL I REQUIRE,.... Or "for surely
your blood", c. o and so is a reason of the preceding law, to teach
men not to shed human blood; or though, "surely your blood", as Jarchi
and Aben Ezra; though God had given them liberty to slay the
creatures, and shed their blo... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSO SHEDDETH MAN'S BLOOD, BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED,.... That
is, he that is guilty of wilful murder shall surely be put to death by
the order of the civil magistrate; so the Targum of Jonathan,
"by witnesses the judges shall condemn him to death,''
that is, the fact being clearly proved by... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YOU, BE YE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY,.... Instead of taking away the
lives of men, the great concern should be to multiply them; and this
indeed is one reason of the above law, to prevent the decrease and
ruin of mankind; and which was peculiarly needful, when there were so
few men in the world as o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SPAKE UNTO NOAH, AND TO HIS SONS WITH HIM,.... Not only what
is contained in the preceding verses, but in the subsequent ones:
SAYING; as follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND [I], BEHOLD, [I] ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU,.... Not the
covenant of grace in Christ, but of the preservation of the creatures
in common, a promise that they should not be destroyed any more by a
flood; to which promise it seems an oath was annexed, as appears from
Isaiah 54:9 which passage... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WITH EVERY LIVING CREATURE THAT IS WITH YOU,.... This is a further
proof that this was not the covenant of grace, but of conservation,
since it is made with irrational as well as rational creatures:
OF THE FOWL, OF THE CATTLE, AND OF EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH WITH YOU;
the birds of the air, the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU,.... This is repeated to
denote the certainty of it, as well as to lead on to the particulars
of it:
NEITHER SHALL ALL FLESH BE CUT OFF ANY MORE BY THE WATERS OF A FLOOD;
neither man nor beast, at least not all of them, and especially by
water:
NEITHER SHA... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAID, THIS IS THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT WHICH I MAKE BETWEEN
ME AND YOU,.... Meaning the bow in the cloud, and which might be
formed in the cloud at this time, that Noah might see it, and know it
when he saw it again, and seems to be pointed unto: "this is the
token"; or sign of the covenant... [ Continue Reading ]
I DO SET MY BOW IN THE CLOUD,.... Or "I have given", or "have set it"
p; which seems as if it was at that instant set; this is the same we
call the "rainbow": and so Horace q calls it "arcus pluvius": it is
called a "bow", because of its form, being a semicircle, and a
"rainbow", because it is seen... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, WHEN I BRING A CLOUD OVER THE EARTH,.... Or
"cloud a cloud" u, cause the clouds to gather thick in the heavens,
and to hang over the earth ready to pour down great quantities of
water; by reason of which the inhabitants might dread another flood
coming upon them: wherefore... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL REMEMBER MY COVENANT WHICH IS BETWEEN ME AND YOU, AND EVERY
LIVING CREATURE OF ALL FLESH,.... See Genesis 9:11
AND THE WATERS SHALL NO MORE BECOME A FLOOD TO DESTROY ALL FLESH; this
is repeated to remove those fears which would naturally arise, upon
the gathering of the clouds in the hea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE BOW SHALL BE IN THE CLOUD,.... Not whenever there is a cloud,
but at some certain times, when that and the sun are in a proper
position to form one, and when divine wisdom sees right there should
be one; then it appears and continues for a time, and as the cloud
becomes thinner and thinner,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAID TO NOAH, THIS IS THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT,.... Which is
repeated for the greater confirmation and certainty of it, since the
fears of men would be apt to run very high, especially while the flood
was fresh in memory;
WHICH I HAVE ESTABLISHED BETWEEN ME AND ALL FLESH THAT IS UPON THE
E... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SONS OF NOAH, THAT WENT FORTH OF THE ARK, WERE SHEM, AND HAM,
AND JAPHETH,.... These were born before the flood, and went into the
ark with Noah, and came out with him; see Genesis 5:32
AND HAM [IS THE] FATHER OF CANAAN; this is observed for the sake of
the following history, concerning the... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE THE THREE SONS OF NOAH,.... And his only ones; and if he had
any more, they left no posterity behind them, since it follows,
AND OF THEM WAS THE WHOLE EARTH OVERSPREAD, with inhabitants, by them
and their posterity only: Berozus z indeed says, that Noah, after the
flood, begat more sons,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOAH BEGAN TO BE AN HUSBANDMAN,.... Or "a man of the earth" c, not
lord of it, as Jarchi, though he was, but a tiller of the earth, as he
had been before the flood, and now began to be again; he returned to
his old employment, and which perhaps he improved, having invented, as
the Jews d say, in... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE DRANK OF THE WINE, AND WAS DRUNKEN,.... Either not being
acquainted with the strength of it, as is thought by many; or having
been used to weaker liquor, as water; or through the infirmity of his
age; however, he was overtaken with it, and which is recorded, not to
disgrace him, but to cautio... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HAM, THE FATHER OF CANAAN, SAW THE NAKEDNESS OF HIS FATHER,....
Which, had it been through surprise, and at an unawares, would not
have been thought criminal; but be went into his father's tent, where
he ought not to have entered; he looked with pleasure and delight on
his father's nakedness: Ha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHEM AND JAPHETH TOOK A GARMENT,.... Who were the two brothers Ham
told what he had seen, and who, no doubt, reproved him for his ill
behaviour, and then took a garment, a coat of their own, very
probably, some large garment fit for the purpose;
AND LAID IT UPON BOTH THEIR SHOULDERS; one part o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOAH AWOKE FROM HIS WINE,.... From his sleep, which his wine
brought on him; when the force and strength of that was gone, and when
not only he awaked, but came to himself, and was sober;
AND KNEW WHAT HIS YOUNGER SON HAD DONE TO HIM; either by revelation,
as some, or prophecy, as Ben Gersom, o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID,.... Not in a drunken fit, as some profane persons would
suggest, for he was awaked from his wine; nor in the heat of passion,
but by inspiration, under a spirit of prophecy:
CURSED [BE] CANAAN; or, "O cursed Canaan", or rather, "Canaan is", or
"shall be cursed" q; for the words are eit... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, BLESSED BE THE LORD GOD OF SHEM,.... Shem was blessed
before Japheth, because he was the first and principal in advising and
conducting the affair before ascribed to them, as Jarchi on Genesis
9:23 suggests; and though the words are in the form of an ascription
of blessedness to God, th... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD SHALL ENLARGE JAPHETH,.... Or give him a large part of the earth,
and large dominions in it, as his posterity have had; for, as Bochart
r observes, to them belonged all Europe, and lesser Asia, Media,
Iberia, Albania, part of Armenia, and all those vast countries to the
north, which formerly the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOAH LIVED AFTER THE FLOOD THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS. So that
he not only saw the old world, and the wickedness of that, and the
destruction of it for it, but an increase of wickedness again, the
building of the tower of Babel, the confusion of languages, the
dispersion of his offspring, and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE DAYS OF NOAH WERE NINE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS,.... He
lived twenty years more than Adam did, and within nineteen of
Methuselah, and his age must be called a good old age; but what is
said of all the patriarchs is also said or him,
AND HE DIED: the Arabic writers say w, when the time of... [ Continue Reading ]