20130729 Monday, July 29 2013
Genesis 09: The LORD's Covenant With Noah

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

Humans were created as vegetarians (coincidentally or not, the greatest human lifespans, hundreds of years, occurred before humans became meat eaters; see Genesis 5: From Adam To Noah). Animals themselves were created as vegetarians.

"1:29 And God [see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word] said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed [see also Seed-Bearing Plants: For Food Or For Folly?]; to you it shall be for meat [see When Meat Was A Vegetable]. 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so." (Genesis 1:29-30 KJV)

After the Flood, the LORD declared that "clean" birds and animals were also permissible for the human diet (see Genesis 7: The Flood for an explanation of why birds and animals are classified as "clean" or "unclean").

"9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 9:2 And the 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. 9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." (Genesis 9:1-3 KJV)

The allowance of meat-eating, along with not eating "unclean" creatures, included a command that blood was not to be consumed. Notice the connection between that command and the LORD's command that murderers are to be executed.

"9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

9:5 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.

9:6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." (Genesis 9:4-6 KJV)

As the LORD commanded to the first humans ("1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" Genesis 1:28 KJV), so too Noah and his descendants were commanded "be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein."

"9:7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein." (Genesis 9:7 KJV)

The covenant with the "seed" of Noah was a fore-picture of the righteous line that would progress through Abraham - to whom the LORD made a further "seed" covenant of the same purpose (see The LORD's Seed Covenants With The Two Men Of Iraq). The rainbow in the clouds ("the bow shall be in the cloud") sign also was prophecy of clouds, not just rainbows (see Behold, He Cometh With Clouds).

"9:8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9:9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 9:10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 9:11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

9:12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 9:15 And I will remember my 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. 9:16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

9:17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." (Genesis 9:8-17 KJV)

The infamous incident of Noah and "what his younger son had done unto him" is widely misunderstood (racists have even used it as their excuse). First, according to the Scriptures, Japheth was Noah's youngest son, not Ham.

"9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 9:19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread." (Genesis 9:18-19 KJV)

Ham, who was Noah's second-born son, not Noah's youngest son (Shem was Noah's firstborn son, Japheth was Noah's youngest son) "saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without."

"9:20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 9:23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness." (Genesis 9:20-23 KJV)

Canaan was Ham's youngest son: "10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan." (Genesis 10:6 KJV). The curse was put upon Canaan, "his [i.e. Ham's] younger son."

"9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

9:26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

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

Noah's family was of the last generations of humanity before the LORD reduced human longevity at the time of the Flood ("6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." Genesis 6:3 KJV; see also What Makes Physical Life Possible?)

"9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 9:29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died." (Genesis 9:28-29 KJV)

Fact Finder: Who actually committed the sin against Noah, Ham or Canaan? What were the long-term consequences of the curse?
See The Sin Of Canaan