GENESIS 9

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

I. This is a continuance of Gen. 8:21,22.

A. Blessing upon Noah and Sons - men always carry the genealogy.

B. ERA advocates deny that God gives these blessings to men as head of families.

1. I Cor. 11:3 - They deny this (Eph. 5:22-33).

2. Rom. 1:26 - They go with this.

II. Gen. 8:21,22 - God made the promise to Himself. Now He reveals to men these promises.

A. They are again put in charge of the earth, like the original creation blessings (Gen. 1:28).

1. God took charge of the earth during the flood.

2. God did things that no man had the authority or ability to do.

3. Now that the earth has been "cleansed" of the pre-flood sins, God places man back in control.

B. Gives them the command to fill the earth with people.

1. Ps. 127:5 - Happy is the man that has lots of children.

2. Many people believe happiness lies in material things, not in their children.

3. Many people believe making their children is to give them material things, not of themselves.

4. We should limit our families to the size we can afford to take care of, I Tim. 5:8, always remembering that God gives us children, whether we plan them or not.

C. 1:28 - man before sin commanded to "subdue" the earth.

1. This word isn't included in these commands to Noah.

2. Man, with a sinful nature, can't "successfully" (according to God) subdue the earth.

3. Man can't even subdue himself, much less others.

4. Rev. 2:27, 19:15 - Christ will subdue the earth and rule with a rod of iron.

a. All the commands God gives us are fulfilled in Christ.

b. Salvation.

1. Eph. 2:8,9 - Saved by grace.

2. John 6:37 - We don't come to God, He comes to us.

3. John 15:26 - God chooses us.

c. Service.

1. Gal. 2:20 - We live by the grace of God.

2. Eph. 2:10 - We're in the bride by grace, not by our works.

D. The earth is not a paradise (Gen. 2:8), but a wilderness.

1. This is the result of sin.

2. More than we deserve -- we deserve hell!!

Verse 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.

I. Fear and dread now replaces subjection.

A. Gen. 1:28 - man, without sin, had dominion by love. man, with sin, retains control by fear.

1. "wild" animals have a natural fear of man.

2. "domesticated" animals often retain a certain amount of fear.

a. Cows will move out of your way because of fear.

b. Most wild animals will avoid you if they can.

B. The animals were subject to Noah during the flood, so the change from love to fear is after the flood is ended.

1. Gen. 6:20 - The animals coming to Noah.

2. Gen. 8:15-19 - The animals obeyed Noah when he told them to leave the ark.

Verse 3 and 4, Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

I. God takes care of food.

A. Apparently man ate only herbs before the flood.

1. Man could have eaten meat before the flood, but not at the command of God.

2. Perhaps man needed more solid nourishment because his strength is less after the flood. This is demonstrated because people started dying sooner.

B. There is no distinction between clean and unclean animals.

1. If the "thing" "lives", man can eat it.

2. Remember the basic distinction between clean and unclean animals still exists, but this is no reason to eat or not to eat.

3. Personal preference is all that is necessary.

II. The only restriction on eating meat (verse 4).

A. Do not eat the blood of animals. It's not healthy.

B. I Sam. 14:32 - Saul's army eating raw meat is a sin.

C. Some barbarians ate and still eat live animals.

D. This is in no way talking about blood transfusions.

III. John 6:53-58 - We are saved if we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ.

A. Salvation is spiritual, not fleshly.

1. Some would partake of the blood of animals in an effort to "save" their souls. It's impossible to do anything in the flesh to save the soul.

2. Devil worship involved the drinking the blood of the sacrifice, mixed with alcohol, and sometimes drugs.

a. Mike Warnke - the Satan Seller.

b. Sometimes they cut off pieces of a persons body and passed it around for all to eat a little part of. Like a joint of a little finger or a part of an ear.

B. Some always try to do something outward to satisfy the spirit.

1. Lost people trying to do something in the flesh to save the spirit.

2. Saved people trying to work int he flesh to please God.

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

I. The unnecessary shedding of man's blood will be judged by God.

A. Either in this life, or the life to come.

B. Suicide - taking ones own life.

1. This is a sin.

2. The person will pay for this in the after life.

3. Suicide does not cause a person to go to hell.

C. Ex. 21:28 - The animals that kill a person shall be killed. It would probably be a good thing to do today.

D. Murderer - God demands the murderer to give his life for the life of the murdered.

II. The method God has chosen to avenge the unnecessary shedding of blood.

A. By man.

1. Lev. 24:21 - He that killeth a man shall be put to death.

2. Ex. 21:14.15 - The murderer shall be killed by man.

B. Gen. 4:8-16 - Before the flood, God apparently took care of the punishment of evil doers Himself.

1. Now He has given this authority to men.

2. Rom. 13:1-8 - Later, God gave this responsibility and authority to governments.

a. Luke 23:39-43 - Even if the government didn't punish people according to the Bible, Jesus didn't rebel.

b. Capital punishment is a deterrent to crime today.

 

YEAR NUMBER OF MURDERS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

1959 8,580 49

1960 9,140 56

1961 8,600 42

1962 8,400 47

1963 8,256 21

1964 9,850 15

1965 10,950 7

1966 12,090 1

1967 13,250 2

1968 14,830 0

1969 15,860 0

1970 17,030 0

1971 17,860 0

1972 18,696 0

1973 19,000 0

1974 21,191 0

 

c. Deut. 19:11-13 - Don't pity the murderers when they are killed by the proper authority.

d. Ex. 20:13 - Thou shalt not murder, not kill.

C. Man's blood shall be avenged because he is created in God's image. (Gen. 1:26,27)

1. Eccl. 3:18-21 - An animal and man's body may both return to dust at death, but man, not animals, is created in God's image.

2. Rev. 19:11-16 - God's blood will be avenged upon those that do not trust in Him.

D. Anyone who doesn't believe in capital punishment is directly against God's will.

E. These things are all blessings. (verse 1).

1. Blessings of a place to live and raise a family.

2. Blessings of animals being afraid. (Animals won't try to take over the rule of the earth.)

3. Blessings of food.

4. Blessings of health.

5. Blessings of protection from evil men.

6. Blessings of many children.

Verse 7, And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

I. Compare to verse 5 and 6. Speaking to Noah and sons in particular.

II. The end of the blessing is the same as the beginning.

A. Shows God's love for His people.

B. Shows Noah the importance of filling the earth.

C. This, like os many things in this life, didn't happen immediately.

1. Not like it is on T. V.

2. See chapter 10 for the fulfilling of the command.

Verse 8-17 - The covenant of the Bow.

Verse 8, And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, God spoke to the men of the families. This is God's method. Today, modernistic people are trying to change God's methods, but this will never work. The E. R. A. people would probably object, as they would object to all of God's ways.

Verse 9, 10, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 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. God makes the covenant not only with Noah, but with all living creatures as well. Animals gave their lives during the flood because of man's sins. Never again will this be required of them.

Verse 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. The covenant is that man will not be destroyed again by water. This is proof that the flood in Noah's day was universal and not local. There have been local floods since Noah. Men have died in this local floods, and if God meant that there would no longer be any local floods, He was either unable to stop local flooding, or He was a liar. Neither is true. God meant there would never again be a universal flood which would destroy all of mankind.

II Peter 3:1-10 - This gives good meaning to this passage, because God has "reserved" the world to be destroyed by fire. (Verse 7).

Verse 12-17, 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: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 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. 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. 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. The token of the covenant.

A. A perpetual covenant to all generations - This covenant will never end.

B. The rainbow is this token.

C. God tells here how the rainbow is formed.

1. Science says that since they know how the rainbow is formed that their knowledge ruins the rainbow as a "token" of the promise.

2. Science has only agreed with the Bible as to how the rainbow is formed.

3. God says it's made in the clouds.

D. Two things are necessary for a rainbow to be visible.

1. rain (wrath).

2. sun (mercy).

3. The rainbow has no strings and no arrows.

Verse 18-29, And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 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. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

I. Verse 18,19

A. The descendants of the three sons of Noah filled the earth.

B. The filling of the earth is described in chapter 10 and 11.

II. Verse 20-29

A. For a living - no factories.

1. Old enough to know better: older Christians can fall.

2. Had been faithful in days past.

3. A while after the flood because youngest son of Ham (Canaan) was born.

Time: Before Babel and Peleg.

Verse 20 – Noah began to be an husbandman. I take this to mean that before the flood, Noah was not a husbandman – mainly because his time was taken up by building the ark. It might be mentioned that many times people stay out of trouble when they are busy doing what God commands them to do, but they often get into trouble after obedience when they do what they want to do. Noah’s job was over at this point, he had been very successful because of his obedience, but now in this part of his life, he is doing what he wants to do, therefore plants this vineyard and drinks of the wine and gets drunk. There is nothing wrong with planting a vineyard, nor of drinking wine, but getting drunk is certainly not in the Lord’s will.

Verse 21 – Noah got drunk on the wine he grew. This shows that any faithful person can become faithful if left to himself. It is a warning to all. Just because we have been faithful in the past does not mean we will be faithful in the future. I do not know that Noah was planning on getting drunk when he planted the vineyard – there is no scripture that reveals that. But we do see how sin can creep up on the people of God.

I have heard it said that Noah did not know he would get drunk, because before the flood the fermentation process did not produce intoxicating wine. I have never found a scripture that states that wine before the flood not intoxicating.

Noah was drunk and uncovered in his tent. It is wrong for a person to get drunk, but it should be noted that Noah has never been drunk before – at least the Bible never states he was drunk before. Noah was also in his tent. He was not with anybody, but was private in his drinking. It may have been that Noah knew the wine would make him drunk and was trying to hide his drinking. If Ham had not come into the tent, he would not have sinned, but because he did come into the tent, sin came.

Verse 22 – Ham looked on the nakedness of his father. There is no record of way Ham went into his father’s tent, or of what took place inside the tent. I personally believe there was pleasure for Ham to see the nakedness of his father, and he believed his brothers would also enjoy seeing the nakedness of their father. It should also be noted that Ham was married, and should have taken pleasure in the nakedness of his wife, not in the nakedness of his father. It could be that Ham remembered the sins of the world before the flood and this memory was pleasing to him. It does seem Ham did something to his father, although this not recorded. Verse 24 records that when Noah awoke from his wine; he knew what his younger son had done to him. So I conclude something happened, most likely some sort of homosexual activity.

What Ham told his two brothers is not recorded, but it is likely he did not tell them of any wrongdoing on his part. It is not human nature to reveal any of our sins, but it is our sinful nature to reveal the sins of others. Shem and Japheth did not rebuke Ham in any way, perhaps because they did not think it was their responsibility, but perhaps because they did not know of any wrongdoing. The knowledge of Ham’s wrongdoing came from Noah when he remembered what was done to him.

Verse 23 – Shem and Japheth covered the nakedness of their father. They were very careful to cover him without seeing his nakedness. The Biblical laws concerning nakedness were not given until Leviticus 18, but the heart of these two men already knew what God would give later in Leviticus 18. It is obvious that looking at nakedness increases the likelihood of sin, so it is good to keep your eyes from seeing that which you do not want to be involved in. I believe another reason Shem and Japheth took such great pains to not see their father’s nakedness was so others could see their actions. Both Shem and Japheth were married, and wanted their wives, children, nephews and nieces to understand their need to be pure. If my thinking is correct, there were many children born at this time. My reasoning is that Noah cursed Canaan, who is the fourth and youngest son of Ham. Also Canaan had to be of an age to understand what it meant to be naked. If Canaan committed some sort of homosexual act with Noah (and we are not told this), he must have been at least a young man.

Verse 24 – When Noah awoke; he knew what his son had done to him. I have heard it said that when a person is drunk, they do not remember what they did when they were drunk. I do not know all about that, but I do know that Noah remembered. There is no doubt in his mind about what happened, but the scripture does not say what happened.

Verse 25 – Noah curses Canaan.

Noah spoke this curse as prophecy, being led of God. Noah was not in a drunken rage, because he has waked from his drunkenness.

It is remarkable that Noah cursed Canaan and not Ham. Some believe it was Canaan who committed the sin against Noah, and not Ham, but this is not what the Bible says. It is very important to understand that the sins of the father are often matured in the lives of the children, just as the blessings of the parents are matured in the lives of their children. This behooves all parents to be right before God, because God can curse their children. A part of the meaning I Corinthians 7:14 is that children are sanctified by the obedience of the parents.

Cursed be Canaan. This passage does not state that black people (Negro’s or the inhabitants of Africa) are cursed of God, as is taught and believed by many. Some have taught that Negro’s are supposed to be slaves, but the Bible does not teach this. Ham (and his descendants except for Canaan) did settle in Africa, but Canaan did not. Canaan settled in the area called by their name. The nation of Israel will come to the land of Canaan (their promised land). It will be revealed in the Bible that the inhabitants of the land of Canaan became very, very wicked, therefore God allowed Israel to take over their land. Genesis 15:16 states that Israel will go into the land of Egypt because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Verse 26 – Blessings upon the God of Shem. There can be no greater blessing upon a person than to bless his God. We might think Shem did nothing to deserve such a blessing, but he did. He was faithful to not look on the nakedness of his father. There are no such blessings upon Japheth even though he did exactly the same thing Shem did. This reveals that the blessings of God are of grace, not of works.

Canaan shall be his servant. This verse further explains the curse on Canaan, and how the descendants of Shem will overtake them in the land they will settle in.

Verse 27 – Blessings upon Japheth. This blessing is different from the blessing upon Shem. Japheth will dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall also be his servant. This blessing is upon Japheth, and not upon the God of Japheth. Japheth will be servant to Shem. The descendants of Japheth will dwell in the largest part of the earth, filling most of Europe. When the Bible states that Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Shem, it means the descendants of Japheth will constantly be under the control of the Jews, not directly, but indirectly because the entire world is affected by what God does with the nation of Israel, his chosen people.

Verse 28 – It is amazing to understand that Noah lived 350 years after the flood. Therefore he saw world before the flood and the world after the flood. Noah knew all about the wickedness before the flood and how God finally determined to destroy them all with a worldwide flood of water. Noah also lived long enough to see the people after the flood travel away from God and attempt to build the tower of Babel, where God once again stopped men from their sinful ambitions. What did Noah think of all this? I do not know, but it seems to me he would see the graciousness of God in keeping men alive. Remember also, that Noah would remember his episode with the wine and how Ham looked on his nakedness.

Verse 29 – Noah comes to the end of his life. Noah lives 950 years, which is certainly a long time, but he comes to the day of his death. Noah was a sinner, just like everybody else. Death comes to him, just as death comes to the righteous and the wicked.