1God blesseth Noah, granting him animal food, but forbidding the eating of blood, and murder. 8God's covenant signified by the rainbow. 18The earth is repeopled from Noah. 20He planteth a vineyard, is drunken, and mocked by Canaan, whom he curseth, and blesseth his other sons. 28His age and death.
1AND God 1blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Bea fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
1 God renews the blessing, which in Gen. 1:28 He had pronounced upon mankind, to show that the maintaining and multiplying of mankind, together with all the dominion and power which man had retained after the fall over the unreasonable creatures, as well as before the flood, depended on His blessing.
a Gen. 1:28; 8:17.
2And 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 2moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
2 Or, creeps, and moves itself as an unreasonable creature.
33Every moving thing 4that liveth shall be meat for you; even as 5theb green herb have I given you all things.
3 That is, all manner of edible creatures, upon the earth, in the air, and in the waters.
4 Forbidden by this law is, to eat what dies either of itself or an ill death.
5 Hebr. verdure, or, the green of the herb, as Gen. 1:30. That is to say (after the common opinions) above the green herb, and the fruits, which I formerly appointed for your food, I do now give you likewise all kinds of edible living creatures.
b Gen. 1:29.
4Butc flesh 6with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
c Lev. 3:17; 7:26; 17:14; 19:26; Deut. 12:23.
6 God forbids the eating of the bloody flesh, thereby to deter men from all cruelty and disposition of killing, and murdering one another. Compare Lev. 3:17; 17:11; Deut. 12:23.
5Andd surely your blood of 7your lives will I 8require; at the hand 9of every beast will I require it, and 10at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
d Exod. 21:12, 28.
7 That is, of your persons, or your physical life.
8 That is, avenge, either by the order instituted by Me, or else without it.
9 See Exod. 21:28.
10 Let him be what he will, of high or low degree, rich or poor, man or woman, seeing man is his brother or sister and neighbor.
6Whosoe sheddeth man’s blood, 11by man shall his blood be shed: for 12inf the image of God made he man.
e Lam. 4:13; Mat. 26:52; Rev. 13:10.
11 Here the office of the authorities is established, and the sword delivered into his hands, for the punishment of evil doers, Rom. 13:1, etc.
12 See Gen. 1:27. And though the image of God is impaired and broken since the fall, nevertheless God has, for considerable reasons, left some remainder thereof in man, which He will not have violated, but ordains here the punishment of such violation.
f Gen. 1:27.
7And you,g be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
g Gen. 1:28; 8:17.
8¶And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
913And I, behold,h I establish my covenant with you, and with your 14seed after you;
13 That is, as for Me, to assure you on My part, that I will no more destroy all men and beasts as such, so I do bind Myself to you by promises, and give you the ensuing pledge or token thereof.
h Isa. 54:9.
14 That is, with your posterity, which shall be propagated and born by and of you. Thus the word seed is frequently taken. See Gen. 12:7; Exod. 28:43; Lev. 22:4; Deut. 4:37; 1 Sam. 24:22; 1 Kings 2:33; John 8:33; Rom.1:3; 11:1; 2 Tim. 2:8.
10And 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.
11And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall 15all flesh be 16cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
15 That is, all people and what is living, stirring and moving upon earth.
16 See Gen. 8:21, 22. Understand this of such a flood, whereby the entire earth shall be covered with water unto the destruction of all men and beasts that have their abode and maintenance upon the earth. Insomuch that here are to be excepted particular floods and inundations of lands.
12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, 17for perpetual generations:
17 Hebr. to generations of eternity, that is, as long as the world shall endure. See also verse 16.
13I do set 18my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
18 Understand the rainbow, which though in its nature it is a sign of rain, yet by the ordinance of God, it is an assured testimony, that the world shall not perish again by rain and a general deluge of waters.
14And it shall come to pass, 19when I bring a cloud over the earth, 20that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
19 Hebr. when I cloud a cloud over the earth; that is, when I am drawing clouds together about it.
20 Or, and.
15And 21I 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.
21 That is, I shall perform what I have promised. See Gen. 8 on verse 1. The same here, the next verse.
16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember 22the everlasting covenant between 23God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
22 See Gen. 8:21, 22 and Gen. 9 on verse 12. Hebr. the covenant of eternity.
23 That is, Myself.
17And 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,i and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of 24Canaan.
i Gen. 6:10.
24 Of whom the Canaanites originated, and the land of Canaan was named after him; which land became afterwards the inheritance of the Israelites, descending from Shem.
19These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth 25overspread.
25 Namely, with inhabitants.
20And Noah 26began to be an 27husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
26 Or, being a man of the earth, beginning to plant.
27 Or, country man. Hebr. a man of the earth, or, of the ground, that is, one who husbanded or tilled the ground. Also Gen. 25:27 a man of the field, that is, one who keeps to the field more than to the house, or home. 1 Sam. 16:18 a man of war, that is, a warrior. Prov. 6:11, a man of the shield, that is, such a one who does practice shields and arms in war, etc.
21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and 28he was uncovered within his tent.
28 Namely, ignorantly, or unawares in the sleep of drunkenness, and not by premeditated intention.
22And Ham, the father of 29Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
29 This is again repeated here to the further punishment of Ham and to the comfort of the Israelites whom God was leading by Moses into the land of the Canaanites.
23And 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.
24And Noah awoke from his 30wine, and 31knew what his younger son had done unto him.
30 That is, of the sleep into which he was fallen by drinking wine.
31 Either by an instinct from God; or by the revelation of his two other sons; or also by his own inquiry.
25And 32he said, 33Cursed be 34Canaan; 35a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
32 Not as a sinful man by carnal passion or amazement, but as a prophet, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
33 That is, hateful before God, contemptible among men, unhappy upon earth, both in himself and all his.
34 Do not only understand the son, but father Ham also, together with the sons’ offspring.
35 That is, the most vile and abject slave. Thus vanity of vanities, Eccl. 1:2 is said wickedness of wickedness, Hosea 10:15, for the highest and most enormous, etc. Compare the annotation at Lev. 2 on verse 3.
26And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of 36Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
36 Shem is named here in an extraordinary manner, not only because he is first commended for the honor showed to his father, verse 23, but likewise for that the Messiah and the people of God should come forth out of his loins. See Gen. 10 on verse 21.
2737God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell 38in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
37 Other, God allure, or, persuade Japheth. Understand this as a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles (Japheth’s posterity) which would be brought about by the pleasing and persuasive preaching of the Holy Gospel.
38 That is, his descendants shall come in and be admitted into the communion of God’s church.
28¶And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.