Genesis 9: 1 – 29
A drinking problem?
9 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man. 7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.” 8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow 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; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” 18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. 20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brethren.” 26 And he said: “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.” 28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
I enjoy some small gathering with believers who are seekers. By this I mean they have all kind of questions relative to the Bible. For me I enjoy these meetings. As I was going over this chapter I thought about the many similar questions that are asked a lot. Perhaps you have experienced this same question? ‘What about those people who live on a island who never heard of our Lord Jesus. Will God send them to hell?’
What is your answer to this question? My thoughts go right to the book of Romans chapter 1 which says, “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
The reason I bring up this subject is for all of us to stop and look at how we have all gone astray like the book of Romans speaks about. Look at our country which to a large degree does not want to believe in a Creator. They want to do things without having the possibility of accountability. Yet when I look at today’s passages all mankind has to see from the hand of God that He Is still around. He gave to Noah and to us a covenant. To prove that He Is faithful in keeping this covenant He promised that when it rains we can look up and see His sign of His promise – A rainbow. People make all kind of sounds when they see the rainbow. Yet sadly they do not say ‘Wow our God Is displaying for us His promise just as He said He would.
So today we are going to look at the scripture where our Holy Loving Creator Is going to list for us His promise that He will not just wipe us all out again with a flood.
In this whole chapter our Holy God Is Elohim, the Creator, for He Is as it were beginning again, and reinstating man as His representatives on earth. Here God includes Noah’s sons in His instructions. This is different from 8.21 and previously, demonstrating that this is His official dealings with the whole of mankind. So God gives instructions to Noah, and to ‘his sons with him’. These instructions are important. The destruction of man might have been seen as annulling his position as God’s representative. Thus God as Creator renews the commission He first gave to man:
Here are some important points our Holy God spells out to Noah and his family.
• 1). Man is commanded to be fruitful and repopulate the world
• 2). Man is to have authority over creation
• 3). Man is given the right to eat of the flesh of living creatures and of plants but not of their blood
• 4). Man’s life is sacred because he is made in the image of God, and to take that life is to merit death
• 5). the further command to repopulate the world
9 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
Once again man is ‘blessed’ by the One Who created them. Mankind again has the seal of God’s approval on him
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
Man’s authority over the animals is again stressed and he is now given express permission to eat them as food. This is important statement. Remember back with Cain and Abel? What was Cain’s work?– a farmer. What was Abels? – A tender of domesticated animals. There will be a lesson forgotten right away by Noah. We will see that right away he becomes a farmer and more interestingly a keeper of a vineyard. Sin will be waiting at his door as we will soon find out.
One thing is forbidden, the eating of the blood. That is because the blood is the life. Man must recognize that what he eats, he eats as a gift from God. But he must still recognize God’s over lordship. Part therefore is forbidden him, the part that symbolizes the life God gave them, the life which He created on top of the initial creation, which belongs to God.
Now here is a good point to think about. The blood replaces the tree of knowing good and evil as the test of man’s obedience. He is not to eat the blood, whether it is in order to try to absorb the soul of the animal or its ‘power’, to share in its life, or simply through careless disregard. Rather the animal’s flesh alone is to be for food.
Here God is stressing that man and animal are distinct. They are not to be intermingled. Man is not like the beast, he is different, for he shares the nature of the heavenly. Thus he should look to Heaven for his ‘power’ and for his ‘life’. Properly observed this prohibition against eating the blood would have saved mankind from many diseases.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.
Man’s life is sacred to God. Man stands on earth as God’s representative and shares something of the heavenly, therefore to take man’s life is to rebel against the Creator. Whoever therefore takes another human’s life shall have his own life forfeit. This fact has not changed even though godless people think it can be overlooked.
The reference to every man’s brother has in mind Cain and Abel, and the thought there that every man is his ‘brother’s’ guardian. This sacredness again stresses the distinction between man and animal on the very grounds that man is made in the image of the heavenly. But the forfeiture of the murderer’s life is, under God, in the hands of man. Here then God is stressing again man’s sovereignty over the world He has given him. It is man who must carry out this jurisdiction. Man must take responsibility to act as judge under God’s instruction. It is an awesome task that He requires of man.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.”
This repeats the charge in verse 1 in order to stress its importance. Man has the responsibility and privilege of peopling the earth so that he can carry out his task of controlling and watching over it, and this is his first responsibility.
Next we come to the primary covenant around which the whole history is written. This covenant, made with Noah and his sons, is distinctive. It is not a covenant of relationship but of direct fiat from God. It is not dependent on any response from man, and included all living creatures.
The covenant was important to man’s sense of security. The Flood had demonstrated what could happen to the world and without this covenant man would henceforth live in fear of a repetition. Every gathering of clouds, every storm at sea, would have been seen as a portent. Thus God gives man the assurance that he need not fear. God will not allow it to happen again. He will keep the elements in bounds.
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
Our Holy Creator God gives His guarantee that never again will there be a cataclysm of such devastating proportions. The repetition of ‘I establish My covenant’ is a double guarantee, a double confirmation for the purpose of stress, as well as a means of reinforcing the words to anyone who hears or reads this promise.
12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow 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; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
God takes a natural phenomenon and turns it into a sign. ‘I do set my bow in the cloud’. The word for ‘bow’ is the same as later used for a ‘war bow’. Are we to see in this a suggestion that God is ceasing His adversarial position? That He has magnanimously ‘laid down His arms’? Every time man sees the rainbow he will recognize that God has ‘put down His bow’.
Our Holy God guarantees that never again will such a flood come on the earth. Never again need they fear inundations of water of such magnitude. It has been a once for all occurrence. This covenant is permanent and unchangeable. It is forever. It is God’s unconditional guarantee.
17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
It seems as though the saints who divided up the chapters for us should have stopped and then list verse 18 in the next chapter. However, they didn’t so we look at what our Holy Spirit to teach us.
18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
Sadly just a short time out of the ark the tale of woe continues, for Noah misuses that which God has given. To suggest that this is inconsistent with the earlier picture of the ‘perfect or righteous man’ is true, but this brings out not that the two are contradictory, but that even the best of men can fall into temptation and sin. The horror with which Noah views his fall and its consequences comes out in his final words.
This is a lesson for all of us who have placed our trust in The Lord Jesus Christ. Remember He said to us that He Is the Vine and we are the braches. Unless we continue to abide in Him we will suffer the consequences.
20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.
When a person gets intoxicated you do stupid and dangerous things. In a drunken state Noah lies naked in his tent, unaware of the impropriety of his situation. In his right mind he would never have done this for he knew who might enter the tent, and to be seen naked was a shameful thing ever since man’s first sin. There may be a suggestion in this that Noah once more reveals sinful man’s ‘nakedness’ by his weakness in misusing the wine, another sign of disobedience to God. And there is certainly a warning here of what carelessness with wine can do even to the ‘perfect or righteous’ man.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
The continual stress on Ham as the father of Canaan shows that by this time Canaan has been born. This event is thus some time after the end of the Flood.
I have heard many teachers say that the phrase ‘saw his father’s nakedness’ indicated something worse had happened, and they thus go on to say that this may be the first recorded homosexual act. I think this is adding a lot to the scripture that is not being listed. Please note that Ham was not to blame for finding his father naked, but he was to blame for not being discreet and dealing quietly with the situation. Instead he made a big thing of it. There was clearly something very unpleasant about his behavior. This is something our Holy God frowns upon and that is being disrespectful to parents.
We learn from the book of Leviticus chapter 18 our Holy Lord’s requirement toward sexual morality. “18 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. 3 According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. 4 You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the LORD your God. 5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD. 6 ‘None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the LORD. 7 The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness. 9 The nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or elsewhere, their nakedness you shall not uncover. 10 The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for theirs is your own nakedness. 11 The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, begotten by your father—she is your sister—you shall not uncover her nakedness. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is near of kin to your father. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is near of kin to your mother. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law—she is your son’s wife—you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are near of kin to her. It is wickedness. 18 Nor shall you take a woman as a rival to her sister, to uncover her nakedness while the other is alive.19 Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is in her customary impurity. 20 Moreover you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, to defile yourself with her. 21 And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. 23 Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.
Now the scripture is quite interesting in this chapter. Please note that our Holy Master indicates that the Israelites should not copy the degrading life style like the ‘Canaanites’ do. It talks about ‘nakedness’. Now some will say that when someone wants to unveil a person’s nakedness what else they would want to do but have sex with that person. That reason may seem logical yet if you note the teaching of nakedness and sexual activity seem to be separate. Look at verse 20 and thereafter our Precious Holy Spirit discusses specifically improper sexual acts. I will leave it to you as to your position on this situation.
23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
In contrast to Ham, Shem and Japheth act with consideration towards their drunken father and seek to preserve his dignity by acting discreetly, thus also avoiding any unpleasant thoughts that might arise. This is a good example of the importance of taking steps to avoid temptation.
24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.
After Noah’s careless abandon he has to face the unpleasant consequences. This is always the case with sin. It is quite clear that what Ham had done was looked on with the utmost seriousness.
Those who advocate that Ham did a sinful sexual act on Noah claim this verse as proof. Still I am not buying this position. It was not the discovery of his father’s condition which was Ham’s sin, but his consequent behavior.
25 Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brethren.”
Now not only is it confusing that people take the position against Ham but more confusion comes along when we now read that Noah pronounces a curse upon Ham’s son Canaan.
I think a key verse to understand all this is from verse 22 – ‘And Ham, the father of Canaan.’ The continual stress on Ham as the father of Canaan shows that by this time Canaan has been born. This event is thus some time after the end of the Flood. It is possible that Noah kept what Ham had done in his heart and that this series of curse and blessing was given some time after the event, possibly even on Noah’s death bed. Thus Ham may by then have died and this would explain why the curse is leveled at Canaan. It may also be that Noah wanted Ham to see the consequences he had brought, not only on himself but on his children.
26 And he said: “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.
This is an unusual phrase as we expect to read ‘blessed be Shem’. It arises from the fact that Noah sees the greatness of the blessing that is to be Shem’s and is consequently filled with wonder and praise to Father God. The purpose is to draw out that Shem is to be blessed because of his relationship to our Holy Master rather than just because of his own status. Shem’s descendants will be especially blessed; they will include the race through which God’s revelation will come to men. But this will be of God’s unmerited favor and goodness, and beyond anything that Shem deserves.
27 May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.”
The word ‘enlarge’ is a play on Japheth’s name. The ‘enlargement’ suggests blessing but also looks forward to the increase of the nations in the next chapter, which is of course part of that blessing.
Note that Canaan is to be servant to both. His servitude is mentioned three times to stress its completeness. But it must not be overlooked that the curse is primarily on Canaan’s descendants and not on Ham’s.
Ham receives no blessing. All that is offered to him is the curse on Canaan.
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
For Noah’s faithfulness our Holy Maker allowed Noah to live another 350 years. Yet for me I see something else. This is all that is said about Noah. He fades from the scripture. Remember it is Moses who penned these words of past history. Could it be that he was thinking about himself here a little? I mean after all we see that Noah messed up one time and then quickly disappears from God’s Holy use. Moses as you recall messed up when he got mad and struck the ‘rock’ when our Holy Lord instructed him to speak to the ‘rock’. For Moses sin he was disqualified from leading the Israelites into the Promised Land.
The apostle Paul describes what I am saying more effectively in his letter of 1 Corinthians chapter 9 when he said, “24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”
