19 These three were the sons of Noah and from them all the earth was peopled.
And when Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Take out with you every living thing which is with you, birds and cattle and everything which goes on the earth, so that they may have offspring and be fertile and be increased on the earth.
The sons of Japheth: Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish, the Kittim and the Dodanim. From these came the nations of the sea-lands, with their different families and languages. And the sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. And Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was the first of the great men of the earth. He was a very great bowman, so that there is a saying, Like Nimrod, a very great bowman. And at the first, his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went out into Assyria, building Nineveh with its wide streets and Calah, And Resen between Nineveh and Calah, which is a very great town. And Mizraim was the father of the Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim; And Pathrusim and Casluhim and Caphtorim, from whom came the Philistines. And Canaan was the father of Zidon, who was his oldest son, and Heth, And the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite, And the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite, And the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; after that the families of the Canaanites went far and wide in all directions; Their country stretching from Zidon to Gaza, in the direction of Gerar; and to Lasha, in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim. All these, with their different families, languages, lands, and nations, are the offspring of Ham. And Shem, the older brother of Japheth, the father of the children of Eber, had other sons in addition. These are the sons of Shem: Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram. And the sons of Aram: Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash. And Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber. And Eber had two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his time the peoples of the earth became separate; and his brother's name was Joktan. And Joktan was the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah And Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah And Obal and Abimael and Sheba And Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. And their country was from Mesha, in the direction of Sephar, the mountain of the east. These, with their families and their languages and their lands and their nations, are the offspring of Shem. These are the families of the sons of Noah, in the order of their generations and their nations: from these came all the nations of the earth after the great flow of waters.
Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The sons of Japheth: Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz and Diphath and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Rodanim. The sons of Ham: Cush and Egypt, Put and Canaan. And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah and Sabta and Raama and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. And Cush was the father of Nimrod: he was the first to be a great man in the earth. And Egypt was the father of the Ludim and the Anamim and the Lehabim and the Naphtuhim And the Pathrusim and the Casluhim and the Caphtorim (from whom came the Philistines). And Canaan was the father of Zidon, his oldest son, and Heth, And the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite, And the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite, And the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite. The sons of Shem: Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram and Uz and Hul and Gether and Meshech. And Arpachshad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber. And Eber had two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his days a division was made of the earth; and his brother's name was Joktan. And Joktan was the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah And Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah And Ebal and Abimael and Sheba And Ophir and Havilah and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abram (that is Abraham). The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.
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)!