Bible Commentaries
Genesis 9

Verse 1

9:1 And God {a} blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

(a) God increased them with fruit, and declared to them his counsel as concerning the replenishing of the earth.

Verse 2

9:2 And the {b} 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.

(b) By the virtue of this commandment, beasts do not rage as much against man as they would, yea and many serve his purposes by it.

Verse 3

9:3 Every {c} moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

(c) By this permission man may with a good conscience use the creatures of God for his needs.

Verse 4

9:4 {d} But flesh with the life thereof, [which is] the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

(d) That is, living creatures, and the flesh of beasts that are strangled: and by this all cruelty is forbidden.

Verse 5

9:5 {e} 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.

(e) That is, I will take vengeance for your blood.

Verse 6

9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, {f} by man shall his blood be shed: for in the {g} image of God made he man.

(f) Not only by the magistrate, but often God raises up one murderer to kill another.

(g) Therefore to kill man is to deface God’s image, and so injury is not only done to man, but also to God.

Verse 9

9:9 And I, behold, I establish my {h} covenant with you, and with your {i} seed after you;

(h) To assure you that the world will never again be destroyed by a flood.

(i) The children which are not yet born, are comprehended in God’s covenant with their fathers.

Verse 13

9:13 I do set my {k} bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

(k) By this we see that signs or ordinances should not be separate from the word.

Verse 15

9:15 And I will remember my {l} 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.

(l) When men see my bow in the sky, they will know that I have not forgotten my covenant with them.

Verse 17

9:17 And God said unto Noah, {m} This [is] the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that [is] upon the earth.

(m) God repeats this often to confirm Noah’s faith even more.

Verse 19

9:19 These [are] the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth {n} overspread.

(n) This declares what the virtue of God’s blessing was, when he said, increase and bring forth in Genesis 1:28.

Verse 21

9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was {o} drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

(o) This is set before us to show what a horrible thing drunkenness is.

Verse 22

9:22 And Ham, the father of {p} Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and {q} told his two brethren without.

(p) Of whom came the Canaanites that wicked nation, who were also cursed by God.

(q) In derision and contempt of his father.

Verse 25

9:25 And he said, {r} Cursed [be] Canaan; a {s} servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

(r) He pronounces as a prophet the curse of God against all those who do not honour their parents: for Ham and his posterity were cursed.

(s) That is, a most vile slave.

Verse 27

9:27 God shall {t} enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

(t) He declares that the Gentiles, who came from Japheth, and were separated from the Church, should be joined to the same by the persuasion of God’s Spirit, and preaching of the gospel.