Genesis 9

CHAPTER 9

God’s Covenant With Noah (9:1–17)

1–3 A covenant is a formal agreement or treaty. The Hebrew word for “covenant” means “to cut,” and it refers to the cutting of sacrificial animals (Genesis 15:9–18). The basis of the covenant is the shed blood—the death—of the sacrificed animal; the blood is called the blood of the covenant (Exodus 24:8; Mark 14:24). The shed blood “seals” or “ratifies” the covenant agreement. Thus the basis of God’s covenant with Noah was the blood of the animals Noah sacrificed after leaving the ark (Genesis 8:20). In the same way, the basis of the new covenant is the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on our behalf⁴⁰ (Hebrews 9:15,22).

God had said earlier that He would establish His covenant with Noah (Genesis 6:18), and in these verses we are told the details of this covenant. Just as God had blessed Adam and Eve at the dawn of the earth’s creation and told them to be fruitful (Genesis 1:28), so here at the dawn of the earth’s “re-creation” God blessed Noah and his family and told them to be fruitful (verses 1,7). God also reaffirmed mankind’s dominance over the animal world, and for the first time permitted humans to eat the flesh of other living creatures (verses 2–3).

4–7 However, Noah and his family had their side of the covenant to abide by. They were not to eat meat with the lifeblood still in it (verse 4); later on, the law of Moses would specifically require that the blood be drained from a slain animal before it was eaten (Leviticus 17:13–14). Since blood represents life,⁴¹ which is God’s gift, to not eat blood shows respect for that gift. Furthermore, because God has given humans a higher order of life—in the image of God—He places special value on human life, and in order to deter murder He demands that a murderer be executed: by man shall his blood be shed (verse 6). This is the origin of capital punishment (Exodus 21:12). According to the law of Moses, even an animal that killed a human was to be put to death (Exodus 21:28). In this covenant with Noah, we also see God giving to mankind the responsibility for civil government and the administration of justice.

8–11 Notice that God established this covenant not only with Noah but also with all the living creatures that were in the ark. And as He had done before (Genesis 8:21), God promised never again to cut off their lives by sending a flood (verse 11).

12–17 God reaffirmed His covenant with a sign, a rainbow (verse 13). Not only would the rainbow give encouragement to Noah and his family (and to ourselves), but it would also “remind” God of His promise never again to send a flood to destroy life on earth.⁴²

The Sons of Noah (9:18–29)

18–19 Of Noah’s sons, Japheth was the oldest; his descendants are listed in Genesis 10:2–5. Ham was the youngest son, and from his descendants came the Canaanites, who settled in what was to become the “promised land” (Israel). Ham’s descendants are listed in Genesis 10:6–20. Shem was the middle son: God chose Shem’s line through which to establish the Hebrew nation, God’s “chosen people.” The descendants of Shem are listed in Genesis 10:21–31.⁴³

20–23 These verses give an account of Noah becoming drunk and engaging in some kind of improper or immodest behavior: he lay uncovered inside his tent (verse 21). But worse than that, Noah’s son Ham saw it and went out and told his two brothers about his father’s shame. Instead of protecting his father’s honor, he besmirched it. In so doing, Ham dishonored his father and violated what was to become one of the major commands in Scripture: Honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12). But Japheth and Shem covered their father’s nakedness (verse 23)—his shame—and as a result, they gained their father’s blessing (verses 26–27).

24–29 But Ham was not blessed. Instead, Noah pronounced a curse on Ham’s youngest son, Canaan (verse 25). Noah must already have observed an evil disposition in Canaan, much like that of his father Ham. This curse was fulfilled centuries later when the Israelites (descendants of Shem) invaded the land of Canaan and subjugated the ungodly Canaanites living there; many of them became, in effect, slaves of the Israelites.