25 and saith: `Cursed `is' Canaan, Servant of servants he is to his brethren.'
and now, cursed are ye, and none of you is cut off `from being' a servant, even hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God.'
`Cursed `is' He who is making light of his father and his mother, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
The whole of the people that is left of the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, who `are' not of the sons of Israel -- their sons who are left behind them in the land, whom the sons of Israel have not been able to devote -- he hath even lifted up `on' them a tribute of service unto this day.
And Jehovah God saith unto the serpent, `Because thou hast done this, cursed `art' thou above all the cattle, and above every beast of the field: on thy belly dost thou go, and dust thou dost eat, all days of thy life;
And Ham, father of Canaan, seeth the nakedness of his father, and declareth to his two brethren without.
Cursed `is' their anger, for `it is' fierce, And their wrath, for `it is' sharp; I divide them in Jacob, And I scatter them in Israel.
and Joshua maketh them on that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the company, and for the altar of Jehovah, unto this day, at the place which He doth choose.
and it cometh to pass, when Israel hath been strong, that he setteth the Canaanite to tribute, and hath not utterly dispossessed it. And Ephraim hath not dispossessed the Canaanite who is dwelling in Gezer, and the Canaanite dwelleth in its midst, in Gezer. Zebulun hath not dispossessed the inhabitants of Kitron, and the inhabitants of Nahalol, and the Canaanite dwelleth in its midst, and they become tributary.
All the people who are left of the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, who are not of Israel -- of their sons who have been left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel consumed not -- doth Solomon lift up a tribute unto this day.
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)!