GENESIS CHAPTER NINE -------------------- THE NOAHIC COVENANT -------------------- Verse 1, A renewal of the blessing given to Adam. Since the world had been depopulated by the flood. Ge 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, 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. Verse 2, Man was to have dominion over the creatures of the earth and sea as Adam did, but they would have a fear of man. At the sight of man fowls fly away, beasts run, and fish swim away, all as fast as they can. Verse 3, All is for food. Though there was a distinction between clean and unclean for sacrifice, Gill says, as yet there was no distinction made yet for the diet. "even as the green herb have I given you all things.": In the garden Adam was given every green herb to eat in the Adamic covenant. Verse 4, The only exception is the eating of flesh with the blood in it. These same laws were given under the Mosaic Economy: Le 7:26 Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, [whether it be] of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. De 12:16 Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water. De 12:23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood [is] the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh. Even under the economy of Grace: Ac 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and [from] fornication, and [from] things strangled, and [from] blood. Ac 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. The blood: The reason is more of a spiritual one! Le 17:11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul. Another reason: Gill says that the design of this is to restrain the cruelty in men, (make him less savage, so to speak), and particularly to prevent the shedding of human blood, which men might be led to do (see next verse). Verses 5-6, God has a high regard for the life of men as verse 6 declares, therefore it is no little matter when man's blood is shed, especially in an unjust manner. Even if a beast of the field was to shed man's blood, then that beast was to be slain at the hands of the civil magistrates. So to men, who shed to blood of a man, unjustly, are to be put to death, not by a mob, but by the civil magistrates. Capital punishment for capital crimes is in force under the economy of grace also: Compare Ro 13:4 Verse 7, But rather than shed man's blood, repopulate the earth as man is a rare being on the face of the earth. Only four men are alive upon the face of the whole earth at this time. Verses 8-17, The confirmation of the Noahic Covenant. This covenant is not the covenant of Grace in Christ, for that is the everlasting or eternal covenant, but the covenant to preserve life upon the earth and not to destroy all life with a flood as He has just done. Notice verse 10 includes all living creatures, including all that are their offsprings. God has sworn to this covenant with an oath according to Isa 54:9 ("I have sworn"). Note: As surely as God will not destroy the earth with a flood any more, he will have mercy on Israel again! READ: Isa 54:1-13 Many interpret this as the Church. The rainbow is a token of the covenant that God made with his creation. Did the rainbow exist before the flood? Many are divided on this, but if it did not rain before the flood, then it would seem that there would not have been a rainbow created. Gen 9:13 is the first verse in the Bible where the word "cloud" is found (including the Hebrew word it was translated from). This covenant is an everlasting covenant, not a conditional one (vs 16), but will continue till the end of the world. Verse 18, The three sons of Noah went forth, for they are the ones that repopulated the earth (see vs 19). Ham is mentioned as the father of Canaan, because of Ham's sin and the curse put on his son, Canaan. Also Canaan was Ham's youngest son, which could mean that the curse went all the way to the youngest. The vineyard: The parallel with Adam is remarkable. God had blessed Adam and told him to be fruitful and multiply; so too, Noah. Adam was placed in a garden, and now we find Noah in a vineyard. Adam transgressed in the Garden, and we see Noah's transgression connected to the vineyard. We see Adam nakedness revealed and we see Noah "uncovered" in his tent. We see Adam covered by another, so too Noah is covered by his sons (we are covered by the Son of God, who came through the seed of Shem). Almost immediately after the fall a prophecy is given, and so to almost immediately after the sin of Ham a prophecy is given concerning history. 1) Man at his best is all together vanity. 2) The danger in using wine. The first mention of wine in the Bible is in connection with drunkenness. Not that the proper use of wine is wrong, for the second place that wine appears in the Bible it is Melchizedek who brought forth bread and wine to Abram and blessed him. 3) A believer is not immune from falling into sin. The sin of Ham: verse 22. Not that he just stumbled upon his father's nakedness, but went in and looked with pleasure and immodesty. saw: ra'ah {raw-aw'} AV - see 879, look 104, behold 83, shew 68, appear 66, consider 22, seer 12, spy 6, respect 5, perceive 5, provide 4, regard 4, enjoy 4, lo 3, foreseeth 2, heed 2, misc 74; 1313 1) to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to see 1a2) to see, perceive 1a3) to see, have vision 1a4) to look at, see, regard, look after, see after, learn about, observe, watch, look upon, look out, find out 1a5) to see, observe, consider, look at, give attention to, discern, distinguish 1a6) to look at, gaze at Some have said that he taught men to do as they had before the flood, to lie with mothers, sisters, daughters, males and brutes; and that he actually did so himself. Some have said that this is what he did to Noah, because when Noah awoke from his drunkenness, he knew what his son, Ham, had done to him (vs 24). The curse: verse 25. Pink says that all of Ham's sons were cursed to some degree and that perhaps Canaan is mentioned because he is the youngest and that when the children of Israel would inherit the promised land, it would be the Canaanites whose land they would inherit. That struggle goes on today with the Palestinians. The sons of Ham: Gen 10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. The blessing on the other two sons: verse 26 and 27. Shem blessing was of a spiritual nature. It would be from his loins that Messiah would come. Jesus said, "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). Japheth received a material blessing. Ham received no blessing at all, therefore none of his descendents are blessed, but in some degree are cursed. Verses 28-29, The life span of Noah. He was 600 years old when the flood came and lived another 350 years which totalled 950 years in all.