20 And Noah H5146 began H2490 to be an husbandman, H376 H127 and he planted H5193 a vineyard: H3754
Thorns also H6975 and thistles H1863 shall it bring forth H6779 to thee; and thou shalt eat H398 the herb H6212 of the field; H7704 In the sweat H2188 of thy face H639 shalt thou eat H398 bread, H3899 till H5704 thou return H7725 unto the ground; H127 for out of it wast thou taken: H3947 for dust H6083 thou H859 art, and unto dust H6083 shalt thou return. H7725
And he called H7121 his name H8034 Noah, H5146 saying, H559 This same shall comfort H5162 us concerning our work H4639 and toil H6093 of our hands, H3027 because H4480 of the ground H127 which the LORD H3068 hath cursed. H779
And what man H376 is he that hath planted H5193 a vineyard, H3754 and hath not yet eaten H2490 of it? let him also go H3212 and return H7725 unto his house, H1004 lest he die H4191 in the battle, H4421 and another H312 man H376 eat H2490 of it.
The mouth H6310 of a righteous H6662 man is a well H4726 of life: H2416 but violence H2555 covereth H3680 the mouth H6310 of the wicked. H7563
Moreover the profit H3504 of the earth H776 is for all: the king H4428 himself is served H5647 by the field. H7704
Look H7200 not upon me, because I am black, H7840 because the sun H8121 hath looked H7805 upon me: my mother's H517 children H1121 were angry H2787 with me; they made H7760 me the keeper H5201 of the vineyards; H3754 but mine own vineyard H3754 have I not kept. H5201
Doth the plowman H2790 plow H2790 all day H3117 to sow? H2232 doth he open H6605 and break the clods H7702 of his ground? H127 When he hath made plain H7737 the face H6440 thereof, doth he not cast abroad H6327 the fitches, H7100 and scatter H2236 the cummin, H3646 and cast H7760 in the principal H7795 wheat H2406 and the appointed H5567 barley H8184 and the rie H3698 in their place? H1367 For his God H430 doth instruct H3256 him to discretion, H4941 and doth teach H3384 him.
Who G5101 goeth a warfare G4754 any time at G4218 his own G2398 charges? G3800 who G5101 planteth G5452 a vineyard, G290 and G2532 eateth G2068 not G3756 of G1537 the fruit G2590 thereof? G846 or G2228 who G5101 feedeth G4165 a flock, G4167 and G2532 eateth G2068 not G3756 of G1537 the milk G1051 of the flock? G4167
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 9
Commentary on Genesis 9 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 9
Ge 9:1-7. Covenant.
1. And God blessed Noah—Here is republished the law of nature that was announced to Adam, consisting as it originally did of several parts.
Be fruitful, &c.—The first part relates to the transmission of life, the original blessing being reannounced in the very same words in which it had been promised at first [Ge 1:28].
2. And the fear of you and the dread of you—The second part re-establishes man's dominion over the inferior animals; it was now founded not as at first in love and kindness, but in terror; this dread of man prevails among all the stronger as well as the weaker members of the animal tribes and keeps away from his haunts all but those employed in his service.
3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you—The third part concerns the means of sustaining life; man was for the first time, it would seem, allowed the use of animal food, but the grant was accompanied with one restriction.
4. But flesh … the blood … shall ye not eat—The sole intention of this prohibition was to prevent these excesses of cannibal ferocity in eating flesh of living animals, to which men in the earlier ages of the world were liable.
5. surely your blood of your lives will I require—The fourth part establishes a new power for protecting life—the institution of the civil magistrate (Ro 13:4), armed with public and official authority to repress the commission of violence and crime. Such a power had not previously existed in patriarchal society.
6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood … for in the image of God made he man—It is true that image has been injured by the fall, but it is not lost. In this view, a high value is attached to the life of every man, even the poorest and humblest, and an awful criminality is involved in the destruction of it.
Ge 9:8-29. Rainbow.
13. I do set my bow in the cloud—set, that is, constitute or appoint. This common and familiar phenomenon being made the pledge of peace, its appearance when showers began to fall would be welcomed with the liveliest feelings of joy.
20. And Noah … planted a vineyard—Noah had been probably bred to the culture of the soil, and resumed that employment on leaving the ark.
21. And he drank of the wine, and was drunken—perhaps at the festivities of the vintage season. This solitary stain on the character of so eminently pious a man must, it is believed, have been the result of age or inadvertency.
24. This incident could scarcely have happened till twenty years after the flood; for Canaan, whose conduct was more offensive than that even of his father, was not born till after that event. It is probable that there is a long interval included between these verses and that this prophecy, like that of Jacob on his sons, was not uttered till near the close of Noah's life when the prophetic spirit came upon him; this presumption is strengthened by the mention of his death immediately after.
25. Cursed be Canaan—This doom has been fulfilled in the destruction of the Canaanites—in the degradation of Egypt and the slavery of the Africans, the descendants of Ham.
26. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem—rather, "Blessed of Jehovah, my God, be Shem,"—an intimation that the descendants of Shem should be peculiarly honored in the service of the true God, His Church being for ages established among them (the Jews), and of them, concerning the flesh, Christ came. They got possession of Canaan, the people of that land being made their "servants" either by conquest, or, like the Gibeonites, by submission [Jos 9:25].
27. God shall enlarge Japheth—pointing to a vast increase in posterity and possessions. Accordingly his descendants have been the most active and enterprising, spread over the best and largest portion of the world, all Europe and a considerable part of Asia.
he shall dwell in the tents of Shem—a prophecy being fulfilled at the present day, as in India British Government is established and the Anglo-Saxons being in the ascendancy from Europe to India, from India over the American continent. What a wonderful prophecy in a few verses (Isa 46:10; 1Pe 1:25)!