Notes on Genesis 9

Gen 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

This was the second command of this nature. The first was here in the first chapter of Genesis:

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Gen 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.

Notice the work replenish. Could it be that the flood of Noah's day was the second destruction of the earth and not the first? God may have told us only things that we should know in order for us to learn to exercise faith in Him by trusting Him and believing no matter what science comes up with. Yet the theory that the earth was destroyed once before might explain the age of the earth that science seems to think it is much older than it appears to be by reading the bible at first without intensive study. It could explain the existence of the dinosaurs. Either theory shouldn't challenge anyone's faith. It could be that there was only one flood that was so violent and forceful that it caused the evidence of fossil records to appear to be older than the earth actually is. I don't care one way or another. I just wonder about the word replenish in Genesis chapter one.

Gen 9:2 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.

It is natural that undomesticated animals fear human beings. God made man in charge and not the animals. To those that think man evolved from animals, how is it that man is so different in that he can compose music, invent machines, make plans, and have a sense of right and wrong. Animals act totally on instinct unless they are trained and tamed by man. Could the similarities of man and animals simply be that the same creator created both? Could it be that man is superior because he is made in the image of God and God made man in charge?

Gen 9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

We see that there is a little change from the Genesis chapter one account of God's provision for our food. Before, mankind only ate vegetation and fruits. Now he is permitted to eat animals. Here God adds meat to the diet.

Gen 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

Blood represents life. We are not to eat blood or eat anything that still has blood.

Gen 9:5 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.
Gen 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

This law was way before the law that was given to Moses. Murder is forbidden and it is a grievous sin. If one commits murder, God allows the law of the land to put the person to death. God only has the right to take take our lives from us since He is the one who gave us life.

I believe from this one scripture, it proves that abortion is murder just as much as killing one who is alive and walking upon the earth. The unborn baby has blood which represents life.  He is a human being, a creation of God and we have no right to kill it.

Gen 9:7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
Gen 9:8 And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
Gen 9:9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
Gen 9:10 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.
Gen 9:11 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 made this covenant with all of us and this promise is true. The earth will never be destroyed by the flood. There are local floods in certain areas but no universal floods.

Gen 9:12 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:
Gen 9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

There are natural causes for the rainbow but we must remember that God set it in order and made this a sign of His covenant. Every time we see a rainbow, we can remember this promise of God. I saw one just the other day.

Why do we run from God, why do we neglect to seek Him? He is there for every one of us and we never have to be alone.
He gave us the way to overcome sin and return to His fellowship. He gave His Son to bridge that gap and bring us back to Him. We do not have to be alone. When we see the rainbow, we can remember that God is there for us and He has not forgotten us.

Gen 9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
Gen 9:15 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.
Gen 9:16 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.
Gen 9:17 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.
Gen 9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
Gen 9:19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

It would appear that Noah didn't have any more children and the whole earth was repopulated by Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Gen 9:20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
Gen 9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

Notice that God allows us to choose and make our own mistakes. His word is given to us to help us not make these mistakes but we still can make them. It would seem that Noah drank too much and this seems to be a one time event that had hazardous results. It caused one of his sons to sin.

Gen 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

Ham should have immediately covered his father and never should he have told his brothers so that they would look upon their father. Perhaps he thought it was funny and wanted to point out his father's weakness to his brothers. This was a total lack of respect that no child should have toward their parents. This also shows us the seriousness of covering our nakedness. Modesty is an important trait we should have as believers in Jesus Christ. To dress in a manner that is not modest, is the total opposite to God's will for us. I personally am not Amish or Mennonite but I do admire the way they dress. I know the way we dress do not make us holy if we are not holy in acts or deeds but it does reflect our respect for God's ways.

Gen 9:23 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.

This was respect and showed a great kindness. We don't know why Noah drank too much. Perhaps his wife died or there was he was suffering some kind of temptation or setback.

Gen 9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
Gen 9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Why he cursed Canaan is not wholly understood except that perhaps Canaan was a party to this act or Canaan inherited the same traits of disrespect that Ham had. The descendants of Canaan occupied the land which is now Israel and they did become very wicked. If they had not exceeded in wickedness, God would not have allowed Israel to destroy any Canaanites in later years. When Abraham first went to the land of Canaanite, he wasn't allowed to harm any one of them. Their iniquity hadn't yet gotten to the point that they couldn't repent and change.

Gen 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Gen 15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
Gen 15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

God promised the land of Canaan to Israel but they couldn't inherited it until the fourth generation. By that time the iniquity of Canaan had gotten to the place where they were not going to change or repent. This was what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah.
We must pray for our own country because the same things that destroyed Sodom are started here in the United States. We must fear God, not listen to the political correctness that prevails in our day. If our iniquity gets to the place that it is as bad as Canaan or Sodom, look out, we are history.

What are some of their sins?
Child sacrifice to idols, idolatry, lack of respect for life. (this could be similar to our modern day, abortion, euthanasia, killing of the disabled that went on in Nazi Germany). Rape, murder, torture, sodomy (homosexuality). Killing the servants of God, slavery, oppressing the innocent and many other things. Here is a hint in Revelation of what it will be like during the tribulation when the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth. As in Sodom, as in Canaan, as in Babylon, men refuse to repent.

Rev 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Idolatry is actually the worship of devils. It leads to all other acts of immorality and things that God didn't create or ordain that men should do. The devil tries to steal, kill and destroy. Whatever we do outside of the word of God leads to our harm. God's ways are for our good, not our destruction.  God loves us.  The devil does not and is out to destroy all he can so that they will go where he is destined to go.

Gen 9:26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Here is a prophecy of the time Israel enters and takes over the land of Canaan.

Gen 9:27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Here is a prophecy that the gospel or salvation will come from the seed of Shem (the Jews from which came Jesus) and Japheth (Gentile nations) will receive this gospel. The gospel is not limited to the seed of Japheth and Shem but is open to all who will believe.

Gen 9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
Gen 9:29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

It is not too much longer that the ages of men decrease rapidly because of disease, sin and the curse that is upon the earth.

Jesus came to reverse that curse. Faith in Him will bring eternal life. Our old bodies still have to die but that is good because we do not want to live eternally in these old bodies but receive a new sinless, perfect body that can never die and live eternally. Our souls are eternal. We will live one place or another in eternity. There is a literal hell. I was just thinking this morning though that if there was not a place of torment and when we died, we are separated from God and do not feel any pain or burning, it still would be hell to be without God.

To be alone and without God's presence would be hell. I never want to be separated from Him. That would be hell even if there was no fire. Yet this doesn't have to be. Jesus came to bring us back to God and get rid of the curse of sin that is separating us from Him. We can believe in Him and be filled with His spirit. We never have to be alone.

Genesis 10