Noah. And the flood. Genesis 9

 

Genesis 9 A new beginning

1  And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth – They are the only people on earth, and with the blessing of God they are to change that. This is very similar to what God told Adam and Eve in Genesis 1, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” He doesn’t repeat the second part, but I am persuaded that it still remains.

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.
God introduces a change in the relationship between people and animals: they will now be afraid of us. This obviously applies to the wild or undomesticated animals. It would seem that in the antediluvian world animals and people got along swimmingly.

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.
Another change, this time in the diet. Pre-flood man was vegetarian, here God gives the race permission to eat meat as well. Perhaps that is one reason He put the fear of man into them. However, the blood of the animal is off-limits.

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.
Both man and beast will be held accountable for spilling the blood of a man. Accountable to who? First of all, to God (v 5). Second, in v 6 He introduces capital punishment for murder, that is, the murderer’s fellow men shall take his life. I’ve always been told this is the institution of human government. I admit the text does not mention government, but I am inclined to believe that is the intent.

for in the image of God made he man – This was true at the very beginning, and is true here in chapter 9, and is still true today. However, the image of God has been deeply marred by sin, but through Jesus Christ the image of God is restored: Ephesians 4:19-24  "But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

8  And God spoke 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.
God establishes a covenant with man and beast, Never again shall life on earth be destroyed by a flood. This is an unconditional covenant. We don’t have to do anything, this is God’s promise to us.

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.

The token or sign of the covenant is the rainbow. When we see a rainbow after the rain we are reminded, God will never again send so much rain as to wipe out all life on earth. This is so much the work of God that it all depends on God seeing the rainbow: I will look upon it; I will remember my covenant.

The question is, Had they seen the rainbow before this? Did God take an existing phenomenon and sanctify it, or is this a brand new thing? Good discussion question!

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.
They were very successful at be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth!

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.
Oh my! What I find interesting is Noah is not rebuked, chastised, or corrected for this. The only fault mentioned is in v 22. I am not saying this was not a fault or sin on Noah’s part, only that he is not called out for it. Interesting. Another discussion!

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.

Ham saw the nakedness of his father while his brothers refused to look upon him. But v 22 says, “knew what his son had done unto him”, as if something had happened. Something serious enough that Noah pronounced a curse on him!

Noah was drunk, Noah was lying around the house naked. He’s responsible for that. Ham was responsible for his actions, Noah’s being passed out drunk was no excuse.

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.
Noah pronounces a curse on Ham by cursing his son Canaan: He shall be the lowest of servants to his brethren. Then he pronounces a blessing on Shem and Japheth. What is he talking about? Or better, Who is he talking about. Shem is the father of the Hebrews, of Israel. Japheth is the father of the Gentile nations. Canaan is the father of Canaan, the seven nations living in the promised land. Ah, the back story for the Book of Joshua!

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.
And now Noah goes the way of his fathers before him, he died.

Thus we have reached the end of Noah in Genesis (actually, he is mentioned two more times in chapter 10). He was righteous, whole-hearted, and he walked with God. He was a man of faith and patience. The over-enjoying of his vineyard showed he was just a man, subject to the same weaknesses as the rest of us.

Next Week: Noah in the rest of the Old Testament