9.1-29

Genesis

"And God... (v1)" Elohim, the same name for God He delivered of Himself in Genesis 1:1, of the root eloah (god), in the plural "elohim." Capitalized as such, this is not a reference to "gods," but to the triune, singular God of the universe, creator of the heavens and the earth. In this reference, God affirms a new beginning, but following His command to be fruitful and multiply, He can no longer command Noah, the new Adam, to have dominion over it (Gen 1:26). He has just blotted all other life from the face of the earth. Now God is commanding to "fill" the earth. And as the earth is repopulated, the beasts, birds, and fish are also different (v2). First, the fear and the terror of mankind will be on every moving thing. The Lord Yahweh uses this same language when reaffirming His covenant with Israel before they cross the Jordan to subdue the Canaanites of the Promised Land and to possess it. “No man will be able to stand before you; Yahweh your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you." (Deut 11:25). The second difference is that man is now given flesh to eat (v4), which makes sense then that they would fear man. This also coincides with the institution of animal sacrifice, so eating flesh would prevent waste. God affirms that "never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh" with a rainbow in the cloud. This persists today as part of His everlasting covenant (v16). Then Noah began to be a man of the land and planted a vineyard (v20), completing the image of Adam in the garden (Gen 2:15). So too, the curse immediately follows in v21ff, and the origin of Canaan's future enmity with God's people is revealed.

CHAPTER 9

1 And 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 terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.
3 “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; as with the green plant, I give all to you.
4 “However, flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.
5 “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every living thing I will require it. And from every man, from each 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 “As for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Swarm on the earth and multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,
9 “As for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed 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 comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.
11 “Indeed I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, and there shall never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 Then God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am giving to be between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations;
13 I put My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.
14 “And it will be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will 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 never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 “So the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon 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.”

Noah’s Three Sons

18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem and 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 scattered abroad.
20 Then Noah began to be a man of the land and planted a vineyard.
21 And he drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
22 Then Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.
23 But Shem and Japheth took the garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned backward, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 Then Noah awoke from his wine, and he knew what his youngest son had done to him.
25 So he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brothers.”
26 And he said,
“Blessed be Yahweh,
The God of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.
27 “May God enlarge Japheth,
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.”
28 And Noah lived 350 years after the flood.
29 So all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.