Chapter 9

1 God blesseth Noah. 4 Blood and murder are forbidden. 8 God’s covenant, 13 signified by the rainbow. 18 Noah replenisheth the world, 20 planteth a vineyard, 21 is drunken, and mocked of his son, 25 curseth Canaan, 26 blesseth Shem, 27 prayeth for Japheth, 29 and dieth.

1. God blessed Noah and his sons. Noah and his family received a blessing that was similar to the one pronounced upon Adam and Eve after their creation (ch. 1:28). As Adam had been the progenitor of all members of the human race, Noah became the progenitor of all human beings after the Flood. The blessing consisted in both instances of a divine commission to “be fruitful” and to fill the earth. One part of the previous blessing, however, was absent from the new one, namely, the charge to “subdue it,” the earth. This omission doubtless reflects the fact that the world dominion assigned to man at the time of creation had been forfeited by sin. Sin had disturbed the relationship that originally existed between man and the animals, and they were, to a certain extent at least, released from subjection to him.

2. The fear of you. Inasmuch as sin with its consequences had loosened the bond of voluntary subjection on the part of the animals to the will of man, it was only by force that henceforth he could rule over them, through that “fear” which God now instilled in the animal creation. Nature had become estranged from man.

The fear that all land, air, and water animals were to have, would not exclude their occasional rebellion against man’s dominion over them. They would sometimes rise and destroy man. Indeed, God used them, at times, to administer divine justice (see Ex. 8:6, 17, 24; 2 Kings 2:24). However, the normal condition of the lower creatures was to become one of instinctive dread of man, which causes them rather to avoid him than to seek his presence. It is a fact that animals retreat wherever human civilization advances. Even ferocious wild beasts, unless provoked, usually avoid man and flee from him rather than attack him.

Into your hand are they delivered. This divine pronouncement has found its fulfillment in the domestication of certain animals whose help man needs, in the taming of wild animals by man’s superior will power, and in the successful reduction to impotency of harmful creatures by his inventiveness and ingenuity.

3. Meat for you. Not that man then first began to eat animal flesh, but only that God for the first time authorized, or rather allowed, him to do what the Flood had made a necessity. The wicked antediluvians were flesh eaters (CH 109). But it was not the original will of the Creator that His creatures should consume one another. He had given man plants for food (ch. 1:29). With the temporary destruction of all plant life during the Flood and the exhaustion of the food supplies that were taken into the ark, an emergency arose that God met by giving permission to eat the flesh of animals. Furthermore, the eating of flesh food would shorten men’s sinful lives (CD 373).

This permission did not imply an unrestrained and unlimited eating of every kind of animal. The phrase, “moving thing that liveth,” clearly excludes the eating of carcasses of animals that had died or been killed by other beasts, which the Mosaic law later specifically forbade (Ex. 22:31; Lev. 22:8). Though the distinction between clean and unclean animals in regard to food is not made here, it does not follow that it was unknown to Noah. That Noah was acquainted with this distinction is clear from the previous command to bring more clean than unclean beasts into the ark (Gen. 7:2), and by the fact that he offered only clean animals as his burnt offering (ch. 8:20).

This distinction must have been known to early man so well that it was not necessary for God to draw Noah’s special attention to it. It was only when this distinction had been lost through the centuries of man’s estrangement from God that new and written directives were issued regarding clean and unclean animals (see Lev. 11; Deut. 14). The immutability of God’s character (James 1:17) precludes the possibility of construing this passage as permission to slaughter and eat all creatures. Animals that were unclean for one purpose could not have been clean for another.

Even as the green herb. This implies the newness of the permission to eat flesh food, in addition to the vegetables and fruits that had originally been destined to be man’s food. Not only was the temporary absence of plant life, as a result of the Flood, the reason for God’s permission to man to supplement his vegetarian diet with meat, but probably also the fact that the Flood had so thoroughly changed this earth’s outward form and diminished its fertility that in some lands, such as the far north, it would not produce sufficient vegetarian food to sustain the human race.

4. Flesh with the life thereof. The prohibition applies to the eating of flesh with blood in it, whether of living animals, as had been the barbarous custom of some pagan tribes in the past, or of slaughtered animals from which the blood had not been properly drained. This prohibition was, among other things, a safeguard against cruelty and a reminder of the sacrifice of animals, in which blood, as the bearer of life, was held sacred. God foresaw that man, easily falling victim to superstitious beliefs, would think that, in partaking of the life-bearing fluid of animals, his own life power would be either strengthened or prolonged. For these and probably other reasons not now clear to us, the eating of flesh with the blood in it was irrevocably prohibited. The apostles considered this prohibition still binding in the Christian Era. They especially drew the attention of Gentile Christian believers to it, because these new believers, before their conversion, had been accustomed to the eating of flesh with blood in it (Acts 15:20, 29).

“Life,” nephesh (see on Gen. 2:7). To translate it “soul,” as some have done, obscures the true meaning (see Lev. 17:11). Blood is vital to life. If the circulation of blood to any part of the body is cut off, that part dies. A complete loss of blood inevitably brings death. This being true, the Hebrew word nephesh, standing parallel to “blood” in this text, should be rendered “life,” as in the KJV.

5. Your blood of your lives. The two possessive pronouns “your” emphasize the value of man’s life, nephesh, in the sight of Heaven. God would personally concern Himself with avenging the shedding of human blood, as is implied by the words, “will I require,” literally, “search after,” with a view to punishment.

At the hand of every beast. The life of man was made secure against animals as well as against other men by a solemn proclamation of the sanctity of human life. The statute that a beast which slew a man should be destroyed was later incorporated into the Mosaic code (Ex. 21:28–32). This command was not given by way of punishing the murderous beast, which is not under moral law and so cannot sin, but for the safety of men.

At the hand of man. This warning is directed against suicide and homicide. God requires the man who takes his own life as well as the one who takes the life of his fellow man to give an account of his act. The commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” is so wide in its implications that every kind of shortening or taking of life is prohibited. Man cannot give life and has therefore no right to take it, unless required to do so by a divine command. No one in possession of his mental and moral faculties, and thus responsible for his acts, can escape God’s retribution, not even the man who lays hand on himself. At the resurrection every individual will have to appear before the judgment seat of God to receive his reward (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10).

6. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood. God would avenge or inflict punishment for every murder, not directly, however, as He did in the case of Cain, but indirectly, by placing in the hand of man judicial power. The word “sheddeth” implies willful murder and not an accidental taking of life, manslaughter, for which the law made other provisions than those mentioned here (Num. 35:11). The divine injunction endows temporal government with judicial power, and places in its hand the sword. God took care to erect a barrier against the supremacy of evil, and thus laid the foundation for an orderly civil development of humanity.

7. See on v. 1.

9. I establish my covenant. To give Noah and his sons a firm assurance of the prosperous continuance of the human race, God established a covenant with them and their descendants and confirmed it with a visible sign. The covenant contemplated all subsequent posterity in its provisions, and, along with the human family, the entire animal creation.

10. All that go out of the ark. This passage does not imply, as some expositors have explained it, that certain animals had survived the Flood without having been in the ark, and that therefore there was only a partial inundation of the earth. Inasmuch as this view squarely contradicts clear statements that all land and air animals that had not found a haven of refuge in the ark had been destroyed (chs. 6:17; 7:4, 21–23), another explanation must be found. The preposition “to,” in the phrase “to every beast,” is here more appropriately rendered “of” or “with regard to” (see ch. 20:13, “of me”). The RSV, following the LXX, renders it thus: “Every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.”

11. Neither shall all flesh be cut off. This “covenant” contained but one provision and assumed the form of a divine promise. Regions might be devastated and animals and men swept away by the hundreds or thousands, but never again would there be a universal destruction of the earth by a flood. However, this promise does not imply that God is bound never to destroy the world again by another means than water. His declared plan to put an end to all wickedness at the close of this world’s history by a great destructive fire (2 Peter 3:7, 10, 11; Rev. 20:9; etc.) in no way contradicts the promise.

12. This is the token. This token God deemed necessary in order to give His creatures faith in His promises, it being an instance of His condescension to the weakness of man. Man looks for signs (Matt. 24:3; 1 Cor. 1:22), and God in His mercy and goodness has provided them, within limits, although He wants His followers to retain their faith even when no signs guide them, and to believe without visible evidence (John 20:29).

13. I do set my bow. The establishment of the rainbow as a covenant sign of the promise that there would never be another flood, presupposes that it appeared then for the first time in the clouds of heaven. This is one more indication that no rain had fallen before the Flood. The rainbow is produced by the refraction and reflection of the sun’s light through the ball-shaped raindrops on which the rays fall.

15. I will remember my covenant. The rainbow, a natural physical phenomenon, was a fitting symbol of God’s promise never to destroy the earth again by a flood. Inasmuch as the climatic conditions of the earth would be completely different after the Flood, and rains would in most parts of the world take the place of the former beneficent dew to moisten the soil, something was needed to quiet men’s fears each time rain began to fall. The spiritual mind can see in natural phenomena God’s revelations of Himself (see Rom. 1:20). Thus the rainbow is evidence to the believer that the rain will bring blessing and not universal destruction.

John saw in vision a rainbow surrounding the throne of God (Rev. 4:3). Man looks on the bow to recall the promise of God, but God Himself looks upon it to remember and fulfill His promise. In the bow man’s faith and trust meet God’s faithfulness and immutability.

The beams of holy light streaming forth from the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2), as seen by the eye of faith through the prism of life’s experiences, reveal the beauty of the righteous character of Jesus Christ. The eternal covenant between Father and Son (Zech. 6:13) assures to every humble, faithful son and daughter of God the privilege of beholding in Jesus the One altogether lovely, and, beholding Him, of being changed into His very likeness.

17. This is the token. This covenant between God and Noah brought to a conclusion the events connected with the greatest catastrophe this earth has ever experienced. The earth, once beautiful and perfect, offered a picture of utter desolation as far as the eye could reach. Man had received a lesson concerning the awful results of sin. The unfallen worlds had seen the fearful end to which man comes when he follows the bidding of Satan.

A new beginning was to be made. Inasmuch as only faithful and obedient members of the antediluvian human family had survived the Flood, there was reason to hope that the future would present a happier picture than the past. After having been saved by God’s grace from the greatest imaginable cataclysm, the descendants of Noah might be expected to apply for all future ages the lessons learned from the Flood.

18. The sons of Noah. His three sons, mentioned repeatedly in previous passages (chs. 5:32; 6:10; 7:13), are again mentioned as the heads of the nations into which the human family developed. Their names are explained in connection with the table of nations, ch. 10.

Ham is the father of Canaan. Ham’s son Canaan is mentioned here in prospective allusion to what follows. Furthermore, it must have been the purpose of Moses to direct the attention of the Hebrews of his time to the unsavory event described in the next verses, in order that they might understand better why the Canaanites, whom they soon would meet, were so deeply degraded and morally corrupt. The root of their depravity was found in their early ancestor Ham, “the father of Canaan.”

19. Of them was the whole earth overspread. This passage declares in terse but unmistakable words that all later inhabitants of this globe are descendants of Noah’s three sons. Even if we are not able to trace every nation and tribe back to one of the heads of families enumerated in the following chapter, this text states emphatically that the whole earth was populated by Noah’s descendants. The view that certain races had been spared by the Flood in remote regions of this world, and had no direct relationship with Noah’s sons, is un-Scriptural.

20. Noah began to be an husbandman. The text does not necessarily imply that Noah had not been a husbandman before the Flood, but that he began the new era as, literally, “man of the ground.” Although Noah had received license to slaughter animals and eat their meat, he felt that it was nevertheless necessary at once to till the ground and obtain food from it.

He planted a vineyard. The statement does not imply that Noah planted nothing else than a vineyard. The vineyard is mentioned to explain the following events, but not to exclude his tilling the ground for other purposes. Armenia, the country in which the ark settled down, was, in antiquity, known as a country of vineyards, as the Greek soldier-historian Xenophon testifies. The cultivation of the vine was common to the whole ancient Near East, and can be traced back to the earliest times.

Noah did nothing wrong in planting a vineyard. The vine is one of the noble plants of God’s creation. Christ used it to illustrate His relationship to the church (John 15), and honored its fruit by drinking of it the last night of His earthly ministry (Matt. 26:27–29). Grape juice is highly beneficial to the human body, as long as it is unfermented.

21. Wine. Heb. yayin, the juice of the grape. In most if not all instances the Scripture context indicates a fermented—and therefore intoxicating—drink. As a result of Noah’s use of this beverage he became “drunken.” Since drunkenness had been one of the sins of the antediluvian era, we must assume that Noah was acquainted with the evils of drinking alcoholic beverages. The record of Noah’s sin testifies to the impartiality of the Scriptures, which record the faults of great men as well as their virtues.

Neither age nor previous spiritual victories are a guarantee against defeat in the hour of temptation. Who would have thought that a man who had walked with God for centuries, and had withstood the temptations of multitudes, should fall alone? One heedless hour may stain the purest life and undo much of the good that has been done in the course of years.

He was uncovered. “Wine is a mocker” (Prov. 20:1), and may deceive the wisest of men if they are not watchful. Drunkenness deforms and degrades the temple of the Holy Spirit, which we are, weakens moral principle and thus exposes a man to countless evils. He loses control both of physical and of mental faculties. Noah’s intemperance brought shame to a respectable old man, and subjected one who was wise and good to derision and scorn.

22. The nakedness of his father. That Ham is again called the father of Canaan seems to imply that both father and son had similar unholy inclinations that revealed themselves, not only in the incident described here, but later in the religious practices of a whole nation. Furthermore, it shows that the event took place some time after the Flood, when Canaan, the fourth son of Ham (ch. 10:6), was already born. The sin of Ham was not an unintentional transgression. He may have seen his father’s shameful condition accidentally, but instead of being filled with sorrow over his father’s folly, he rejoiced in what he saw and found delight in publishing it.

23. Shem and Japheth took a garment. Ham’s two older brothers did not share his perverted feelings. Adam also had had two well-disciplined sons, Abel and Seth, and one child of sin, Cain. Although all had received the same parental love and training, sin manifested itself much more markedly in one than in the others. Now the same spirit of depravity breaks forth in one of Noah’s children, while the older sons, reared in the same home and under the same conditions as Ham, show an admirable spirit of decency and self-control. As the evil trends of criminal Cain were perpetuated in his descendants, Ham’s degraded nature revealed itself further in his offspring.

24. Noah awoke. When Noah regained consciousness and reason he learned of what had happened during his sleep, probably by making inquiry as to the reason for the garment covering him. His “younger son,” literally, “his son, the little one,” meaning “the youngest son,” refers to Ham (see on ch. 5:32).

25. Cursed be Canaan. The curse being pronounced on Canaan, Ham’s fourth son, rather than on the perpetrator of the crime himself, has been taken by many commentators as evidence that Canaan had really been the culprit and not Ham, and that he is meant in v. 24 as the youngest member of the Noachic family. The church Father Origen mentions the tradition that Canaan first saw the shame of his grandfather, and told it to his father. It is not impossible that Canaan had shared in his father’s evil deed.

Noah’s curse does not seem to have been pronounced resentment, but rather as a prophecy. The prophecy does not fix Canaan in particular or Ham’s sons in general in the bonds of an iron destiny. It is merely a prediction of what God foresaw and announced through Noah. Presumably Canaan already walked in the sins of his father, and those sins became such a strong feature in the national character of Canaan’s descendants that God later ordered their destruction.

A servant of servants. Shem has subdued Japheth, and Japheth has subdued Shem, but Ham has never subdued either.

26. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. In contrast with the curse, the blessings upon Shem and Japheth are introduced with a fresh “And he said.” After the statement of each blessing comes the announcement of Canaan’s servitude, like a minor refrain. Instead of wishing good to Shem, Noah praises the God of Shem, namely, Jehovah, as Moses did in the case of Gad Deut. 33:20). By having Jehovah as his God, Shem would be the recipient and heir of all the blessings of salvation that Jehovah bestows upon His faithful ones.

27. God shall enlarge Japheth. By a play on Japheth’s name, Noah sums up his blessing for this son in the word “enlarge,” pathach. By this, Noah indicated the remarkable dispersion and prosperity of the Japhethic nations.

He shall dwell in the tents of Shem. The personal pronoun “he” refers to Japheth and not to God, although some ancient and modern Bible commentators have understood it thus. The meaning of the utterance may have been twofold, inasmuch as Japheth’s descendants in the course of time took away many of the Shemite lands, and dwelt in them, and because the Japhethites were to participate in the saving blessings of the Shemites. When the gospel was preached in Greek, a Japhethic language, Shem’s descendant Israel, though subdued by Japhethic Rome, became the spiritual conqueror of the Japhethites and thus, figuratively, received them into his tents. All who are saved are a part of spiritual Israel and go into the holy city through gates bearing the names of the 12 tribes of Israel (Gal. 3:29; Rev. 21:12).

Prophecies such as this do not determine the fate of individuals within the group concerned, either for salvation or for condemnation. The Canaanite Rahab and the Jebusite Araunah were received into the fellowship of God’s chosen people, and the Canaanite woman was aided by the Lord because of her faith (Matt. 1:5; 2 Sam. 24:18; Matt. 15:22–28). But the hardened Pharisees and scribes had woes pronounced upon them, and Israel was rejected because of unbelief (Matt. 23:13; Rom. 11:17–20).

29. All the days of Noah. The history of Noah ends with a well-known formula from ch. 5, suggesting that the stories contained in chs. 6–9 belong to Noah’s history. Although Noah was a righteous man and walked with God, he did not attain to the spiritual stature of his great-grandfather Enoch. Having witnessed the growth and spread of a new generation and seen how rapidly it followed the wicked inclinations of its evil heart, he died.

Ellen G. White comments

1 8T 213

2, 3 PP 107

3, 4 CD 373

4 CD 393

6 PP 516

11-14SR 70

11-16PP 106

16 Ed 115; SR 70; TM 157

21-23, 25-27PP 117