And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
[2] And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
[3] Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
[4] But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
[5] 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.
[6] Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
[7] And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
[8] And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
[9] And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
[10] And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
[11] And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
[12] And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
[13] I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
[14] And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
[15] And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
[16] And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
[17] And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
[18] And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
[19] These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
[20] And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
[21] And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
[22] And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
[23] And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
[24] And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
[25] And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
[26] And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
[27] God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
[28] And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
[29] And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
Commentary On Genesis Chapter Nine
As we look upon the scene before us, we find Noah, his family, and the various creatures which are now beginning to disembark from the ark of God as they enter a radically altered new world in which they shall live. The changes which are implemented are a staggering divergence from the original creation of God. Until now it would seem that man and beast lived together in relative peace without fear of one another. Until now it would seem that the basic diet of all things was vegetables and fruits which God had given in Eden, The Garden of God. Take note of the following commandment of God. It is written.
“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
(Genesis 9:1-7)
[2] And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
[3] Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
[4] But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
[5] 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.
[6] Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
[7] And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
The command to multiply and fill the earth is reiterated. God’s desire for man to procreate has never altered. It is for this purpose that the institution of marriage between a man and a woman was first deployed in Eden, The Garden of God. It is noteworthy that the first institution which God ordained upon this earth, and among the societies of humanity, was that of the family. It is the family which has been the basic building block of any and all civilizations which have ever existed upon the earth. It is therefore the family unit which has always been in the crosshairs of The Evil One as he seeks to either usurp God’s place in a society or destroy that which he cannot successfully subjugate unto himself.
One has but to look at the headlines of the day to observe the malevolent attacks which he is behind that are aimed directly at the family unit. The destruction of the lines of authority in this most basic unit of human existence are obvious. Fathers are presented as something akin to the resident village idiot who bumbles his way through every situation which comes up. Mothers are presented either as cunning or quick in their ability to outsmart the man of the home. Should the thought of a woman in subjection to the authority of a husband in the home ever be presented it is wrongfully made to show that subjection equals slavery or that the result of such a position is abuse which is to be endured.
The children of our “modern” societies have been led to believe that they have the authority to declare to their parents what they will and will not do, what they will and will not tolerate from them, and what they expect to be given without the necessity of having to earn it, with impunity. None of these conditions have ever been advocated nor blessed by the God who designed the blueprint for mankind to flourish and be nurtured under His Divine care upon the earth. All of these conditions constitute a direct perversion which is the goal of the Evil One who desires to be worshipped as a god or destroy whatever does not engage in such worship.
The first command of God unto the family coming from the ark was a reiteration to be fruitful. To do so required that the blueprint for the family be followed as it was in the beginning. To facilitate the continued existence of mankind upon the face of this brave new world, other changes were wrought concerning how mankind was now to relate to the other components of God’s creation. Fear was introduced into the animal kingdom. This was fear of humanity, which apparently had not been present before. Certainly, none of the creatures which had been under the control and care of Noah and his family would have possessed fear of these people due to their close proximity and the continued feeding and grooming of them which occurred during the many months which they spent together inside the ark.
This fear was now a necessity for the continued survival of the various creatures which would roam the earth. There was no food source available for the humans due to the indescribable devastation which had been wrought upon the earth. The eating of meat was now to be allowed by God and therefore an animal without fear would be subject to easy slaughter. There is however one particular prohibition connected with this matter. No blood was to be consumed with the flesh of whatever was being eaten.
Take careful note of the fact that God holds the taking of the innocent life of a human to be particularly offensive unto Him. It is so much so that any creature who engages in the taking of human life is mandated to be killed. God does indeed hold to the exercise of capital punishment. It is the right of He who created all things to decree what is to be done in recompense for crimes against human beings and therefore to oppose this mandate is in fact to be in direct opposition to the righteous decree of God. Often, in the name of mercy those who oppose the execution of a murderer take the stand that all life is equally precious and therefore the life of the criminal ought not to be forfeited. In doing so they have frequently quoted one of the ten commandments, or rather misquoted it, so that, ” Thou shalt not commit murder” ” becomes, ” Thous shalt not take a human life.”
The great, glaring inconsistency in this position is that they quote the Law of Moses which was not even in existence when THIS mandate was given by the same God who spoke to Moses. Before us now is the basis of respect for all human life as God Himself sets it forth. Of all the creatures which were created to live upon this earth, only man is referred to as being made in the image of God.
It is this distinction from which humanity draws its dignity. While humanity now possesses a shattered, and distorted, image of The Living God it is still there and for this reason man holds intrinsic value which is not to be ignored without consequence.
Having established this key principle by which the infant society of humanity was to be governed, God now sets out to reassure those who have just come through the deluge which ended the world as they knew it before entering into the ark that He will never again employ this method of worldwide judgment upon the sins of humanity. He did not covenant to never judge the world again. He only promised that this method would not be used. Why would such a covenant be necessary at this time?
To answer this, it is necessary to place oneself in the situational context of those exiting the ark of God. The only previous rainstorm ever to be experienced upon this planet before their emergence destroyed all life. It had been an isolated event in the experience of humanity. Now, however, the deployment of something we know as the Hydrological Cycle was to be made. Rain would be formed as the vapors rose from the surface of the great seas, moved inland to form clouds, and then as the mountain ranges were encountered the water would form droplets which would fall to the earth to return to the seas via rivers and lakes.
This was now to be the normal manner in which the earth, which had been watered by a mist rising from the ground before was to be irrigated, thereby nourishing the plants and animals which it bore. What you think when you saw the sky begin to darken once more overhead if you were among the little group coming from the ark? The answer is obviously that it was about to flood again!
For this reason, God instituted the promise of the rainbow which He placed in the skies to be viewed during, and after, each rainstorm which came upon the earth from that day forward. It is written.
“And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
(Genesis 9:8-17)
[9] And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
[10] And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
[11] And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
[12] And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
[13] I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
[14] And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
[15] And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
[16] And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. [17] And God said unto Noah, this is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
In many of our “modern societies this symbol of the faithful, unchanging covenant of peace which was established by God with humanity has been perverted into a symbol of something dark and sinister. It has been twisted to convey the hubris of those who not only do things which God detests, but who also demand that the rest of humanity recognize their actions as acceptable and not to be the subject of objection.
The rainbow has nothing to do with the acceptance of perversions foisted upon us. It will forever represent that which is a covenant between man and God regarding the trustworthiness of God Himself. With this assurance established, mankind began to move out from the ark. It is written.
“[18] And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
(Genesis 9:18-23)
[19] These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
[20] And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
[21] And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
[22] And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
[23] And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.”
Recorded in these passages is the origin of the various roots of the three main branches of the ethnicities of humanity. Although there are today many nations, tribes and kingdoms, they may all be traced back to this point where the three sons of Noah are noted. Recorded here also is the tragic testimony to the truth that although these are those who came through the judgement of God upon the entire world, they still possessed the fallen, sinful nature of Adam. The drunkenness of Noah and the ensuing degrading events at the hand of one of his descendants leaves no doubt that sin was still very active in the world.
Here is further testimony to the truth that the choosing of Noah and his family by God for deliverance from the deluge was entirely based upon the grace of God Himself. The fact that these events are recorded in Scripture ought to serve as warning unto us that even the “best” among us is still not worthy to stand before God apart from His grace and that grace alone.
The actions of Shem and Japeth are those of men who hold a certain degree of honorable intentions. It would appear that the actions of Ham were not. Noah is without excuse in allowing himself to become intoxicated until he became incapacitated by his drunkenness. In doing this he allowed himself to be placed in a position of extreme vulnerability which was acted upon by one of his descendants. The implication is that there were acts of immorality involved which God chose not to specify but yet note in passing in the Scriptures. It is written.
“
[24] And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
(Genesis 9:24-29)
[25] And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
[26] And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
[27] God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
[28] And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
[29] And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
The dawning awareness that he had been mistreated by Canaan while in this drunken stupor is evidenced through the severity of the pronouncement of the curses upon Canaan and his descendants. The term, “younger son”, is better translated, “Younger one”. We often speak of our grandchildren as our youngest ones even today.
Take note that we stand at a juncture where the various root cultures of the branches of humanity are being established. Soon we shall see the spreading of these into various parts of the world and note that certain ones will defile themselves before Gods to the point that they will be conquered and removed from the place which they settle in God’s own timing. Take careful note of the fact that it was Canaan which was the forebearer of a cursed race. As we move forward it will become evident that the land which Israel shall be led to conquer and possess will indeed be the land of … Canaan.
When we arrive at those portions of Scripture that deal directly with this, we shall discuss the causes for such actions in more depth but for now, note that it began here, when sin reared its head as the sons of Noah came down from the Mountains of Ararat.
As we leave this chapter in the history of humanity take note that even those who may go through tremendous, supernatural, encounters with God are still capable of actions which one would not think possible given their firsthand knowledge of God’s faithful character and His holy nature. Let us take care to make certain that we, who certainly have not walked as closely with God as did Noah, are ever aware that it is only by the grace of God that we stand before Him!