_A.M. 1659. B.C. 2345._ In this chapter is, (1,) The covenant of Providence settled with Noah and his sons, Genesis 9:1. In this covenant, 1, God promiseth that they should replenish the earth, Genesis 9:1. Should be safe from the insults of the brute creatures, which should stand in awe of them, 2... [ Continue Reading ]
_God blessed Noah and his sons_ He assured them of his good- will to them, and his gracious intentions concerning them. The first blessing is here renewed, _Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth_, and repeated, Genesis 9:7; for the race of mankind was, as it were, to begin again. By vir... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every moving thing_ Which is wholesome and fit for food, _shall be meat for you: That liveth_ This may be added to exclude the use of those creatures which died of themselves, or were killed by wild beasts. These, which were afterward _expressly_ forbidden to be eaten, (see Exodus 22:31; Leviticus... [ Continue Reading ]
_But flesh with the blood thereof shall ye not eat_ One meaning of this may be, Ye shall not cut off, tear away, or take any member or part of any creature for your food, while it is yet alive; but ye shall first spill its blood, and thereby put it to death in the way most easy to it. This is the se... [ Continue Reading ]
_And surely your blood of your lives will I require_ The sense is, If I am thus careful of the blood of beasts, be assured I will be much more solicitous for the blood of men, when it shall be shed by unjust and violent hands. Our own lives are not so our own that we may quit them at our own pleasur... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whoso sheddeth man's blood_ Whether upon a sudden provocation, or premeditated, (for _rash anger_ is heart-murder, as well as _malice prepense, Matthew 5:21_,) _by man shall his blood be shed _ That is, by the magistrate, or whoever is appointed to be the avenger of blood. Before the flood, as it s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold_, _I establish my covenant_, &c. We have here the general establishment of God's covenant with this new world, and the extent of that covenant.... [ Continue Reading ]
_There shall not any more be a flood_ God had _drowned_ the world once, and still it is as provoking as ever; yet he will never _drown it_ any more, for he deals not with us according to our sins. This promise of God keeps the sea and clouds in their decreed places, and “sets them gates and bars: Hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_I set my bow in the clouds_ The rainbow, it is likely, was seen in the clouds before, but was never a _seal of the covenant_ till now. Now, observe, 1st, This seal is affixed with repeated assurances of the truth of that promise, which it was designed to be the ratification of; _I do set my bow in... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Noah began to be a husbandman_ (Hebrews a _man of the earth,_) a man dealing in the earth, that kept ground in his hand and occupied it. Some time after his departure out of the ark he returned to his old employment, from which he had been diverted by the building of the ark first, and probably... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he drank of the wine, and was drunk_ It is highly probable he did not know the effect of it before. _And he was uncovered in his tent_ Made naked to his shame.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren_ To have seen it accidentally and involuntarily would not have been a crime. But he pleased himself with the sight. _And he told his brethren without In the street_, as the word is, in a scornful, deriding manner.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Shem and Japheth took a garment_, &c. They not only would not see it themselves, but provided that no one else might see it; herein setting an example of charity with reference to other men's sin and shame.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Noah knew_ Either by the information of his sons, or by divine inspiration, _what his younger son_, (Hebrews his son, הקשׂן, the _younger_, or _little_ one,) _had done unto him. Canaan_ is thought by many to be chiefly intended. 1st, Because the following curse is appropriated to him; and, 2d, Beca... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cursed be Canaan_ Canaan may be here put, by a well-known figure termed ellipsis, often used in Scripture, for the _father of Canaan_, the title given to Ham in Genesis 9:22. And although Ham had more sons, he may here be described by his relation to Canaan, because in him the curse was more fixed... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed be the Lord God of Shem_ Abraham and all his posterity were included in the descendants of Shem, as appears from the next chapter. Our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, in whom _all the nations of the earth_ are to be _blessed_, sprang from him. Well, therefore, might Jehovah be called the _Lor... [ Continue Reading ]
_God shall enlarge Japheth_ Most of the inhabitants of Europe, termed in the next chapter, _the isles of the Gentiles_, and those of the northern parts of Asia, were descended from Japheth; and if, as is generally supposed, America was peopled from the north-east of Asia, the original inhabitants of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years_ Which period, as the Jews observe, reaches to the fifty-eighth year of Abraham's age. So that we need be under no difficulty in accounting for the transmission of the original revelation made to Adam, and of other branches of divine truth, f... [ Continue Reading ]
_All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years_ Here the clause, _and he begat sons and daughters_, is omitted, whence we may infer that he had no more than the three sons already mentioned.... [ Continue Reading ]