GENESIS CHAPTER NINE OVERVIEW
Overall what is happening in this chapter is God blesses Noah and sets restrictions and order the life on earth. Noah sins, Ham mocks and Noah curses. (The sin of man continues.)
Thomas Coke (1801) – Genesis 9
God blesses Noah and his sons: permits them to eat flesh: forbids blood: constitutes the rain-bow the sign of his covenant: Noah is drunk and uncovered in his tent; he blesses Shem and Japheth, and curses Canaan.
Matthew Henry (1714) – Genesis 9
Both the world and the church were now again reduced to a family, the family of Noah, of the affairs of which this chapter gives us an account, of which we are the more concerned to take cognizance because from this family we are all descendants. Here is:
I. The covenant of providence settled with Noah and his sons (see Genesis 9:1-11). In this covenant:
1. God promises them to take care of their lives, so that,
(1.) They should replenish the earth (see Genesis 9:1, Genesis 9:7).
(2.) They should be safe from the insults of the brute-creatures, which should stand in awe of them (see Genesis 9:2).
(3.) They should be allowed to eat flesh for the support of their lives; only they must not eat blood (see Genesis 9:3-4).
(4.) The world should never be drowned again (see Genesis 9:8-11).
2. God requires of them to take care of one another's lives, and of their own (see Genesis 9:5-6).
II. The seal of that covenant, namely, the rainbow (see Genesis 9:12-17).
III. A particular passage of story concerning Noah and his sons, which occasioned some prophecies that related to after-times,
1. Noah's sin and shame (see Genesis 9:20-21).
2. Ham's impudence and impiety (see Genesis 9:22).
3. The pious modesty of Shem and Japheth (see Genesis 9:23).
4. The curse of Canaan, and the blessing of Shem and Japheth (see Genesis 9:21-27).
IV. The age and death of Noah (see Genesis 9:28-29).
KEY EVENT
God’s covenant with Noah.
KEY VERSE
Genesis 9:15 “…and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
KEY CROSS-REFERENCE
Deuteronomy 7:9 "Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments…”
KEY THOUGHT
The covenant is now signed and sealed by a visible token, the rainbow; a glorious object, and a constant assurance of God's remembrance of us, and of our security from the descending waters.
Observe:
1. As we are apt to be affected with visible objects; God therefore, not only in the covenant of nature, but of grace, hath instituted visible signs for our greater comfort and confidence.
2. The cause of the bow in the clouds, is the refraction of the beams of the sun. Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, sits with the rainbow round about his throne, and therefore his people are safe from fear of evil.
3. The sign of our security in the cloud, should ever awaken our thankfulness, and lead up our minds from temporal promises thus fulfilled, to conclude the certainty of the eternal promises, which are yet in hope.
Thomas Coke
ANOTHER THOUGHT
Noah stepped out of the boat onto an earth devoid of human life. But God gave him a reassuring promise. This covenant had three parts:
(1) Never again will a flood do such destruction;
(2) as long as the earth remains, the seasons will always come as expected;
(3) a rainbow will be visible when it rains as a sign to all that God will keep his promises.
The earth's order and seasons are still preserved, and rainbows still remind us of God's faithfulness to his word.
Life Application Study Bible (2004)
KEY QUOTE
“Noah lived to see two worlds (pre-flood – post-flood), but, being an heir of righteousness, which is by faith, when he died he went to see a better one than either.” Matthew Henry
