GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 9

GRIFFIN’S COMMENTS—GEN 9 (Gen 9:1) And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

They had to start all over again. God had given this command when the first creation was finished and man appeared on the earth. Now that the world was brand new and uninhabited man had to have a decree to fill the earth with people again.

Man's life is preserved by the instrumentality of others. God's natural government of the world is carried on by means of mediation, from which we may infer that such is the principle of His moral government.

(T. H. Leale) (Gen 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.

It appears that the animals had no such fear before the flood, for they came to Noah to go into the ark with him. Adam also seemsto have been at peace with all of nature, so apparently from that time until the days of Noah there was no fear of one another. But God placed a natural dread of animals to be in the presence of man from this time forward, so when the civilized world began to penetrate the domain of the wild creatures they continued to avoid those places and found their hiding places in the wild.

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

This is the first time the Bible mentions that meat was to be allowed to be eaten. Later this would be limited to clean animals. In the account of Genesis 1 the food allowed was vegetable and fruit. Whether meat was allowed is not stated, but from the fact that it was not mentioned before, and the fact that now he stated that it may be “even as the green herb,” implies that it was not eaten before this time. But now man was both vegetarian and carnivorous.

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

The one prohibition at this time was that the blood was not be eaten with the meat becauselife is in the blood and God has a claim on that. The prohibition into eating clean and not unclean meat was not handled at this time and awaited the Law of Moses. This was a perpetual statute throughout the generations of God's people (Lev_3:17) and was included in the prohibitions to Gentiles when they became Christians (Act_15:20-29).

(Gen 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.

Man is made in God’s image and his blood then would not be allowed to be under the dominion of man, since God has claim to anything in His likeness. If anyone takes the life of a man he will have to pay the consequencesbecausehe has destroyed an image of God. Jesusis the image of God (Heb_1:3) and man is made in that image. [at the hand of every man's brother ] this appears to be in anticipation of the law of kinsman-redeemer.

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

God opened up the ruling on capital punishment here and it remains true becauseof the nature of the case. Man was created in God’s image and His image is not to be destroyed. Only He put it together and only He should put it asunder, just like marriage, what God puts together let no man is to put asunder. If He puts it together He can put it asunder without a problem.

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

The earth was now empty of men except for the family of Noah, and man did not have the long years to fill it up as he did before, so God gave man the command to scatter over the entire world and fill it up abundantly.

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Somesay today that it is now overcrowded, but according to His command that could not happen. God controls this universe and this age and would not allow anything to run counter to His purpose.

(Gen 9:8) And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, This covenant would continue throughout the generations and therefore He spoke, not only to Noah, but also to him and his sons. As God spoke to Adam and Eve of a new and different relationship after the sin in the Garden of Eden, so now He spoke to Noah through this covenant concerning a new form of relationship of human government.

(Gen 9:9) And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; God told Noah; before he ever went into the ark that He would make a covenant with him (Gen_6:18). It is the first covenant so called. It is possible that there was a covenant relationship with Adam in the Garden of Eden also though it is not called such.

He does not mention swearing with an oath at this time but we learn in Isa_54:9that He did swear to it.

(Gen 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.

It is interesting that this covenant was not only with man but also with beasts. This is one reason that what God said at the creation of man and animal back in Gen_1:26-28 could also be considered a covenant since the same type language was made wherein man and animal were given their roles and told what they could and could not eat and the work they were to do.

(Gen 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.

God gave a promise that the world would not be destroyed again by a flood. He did not say that it would never be destroyed, but that it would not be with water. The next time it will be by fire. God has kept that GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 9—PAGE 3

promise and the amount of time from that day until the days of Isaiah was used by Isaiah to say that God will continue to keep His promise (Isa_54:9) OLD TESTAMENTSURVEY2Co_3:14 * (3) THE COVENANT WITH NOAH AND THE RAINBOW Gen_9:11 All now rests upon a Covenant of grace based upon shed blood. Man had forfeited the "blessing" of God and his position as lord of creation, but grace restored and reinstated him. God made a covenant with Noah which in its scope included the beasts of the field (Gen_9:2) who are made to be at peace with man and subject to his authority (partially).

In its duration the covenant was to last while the earth remained.

(Gen_8:22; Gen_8:20; Gen_9:11).

THE RAINBOW The rainbow is produced by a joint effort of storm and sunshine. This is typical of grace, the unmerited favor of God following the dark background of a creature’s sin. As the rainbow is the effect of the sun shining on the drops of rain in a rain cloud, so Divine Grace is manifested by God's love shining through the bloodshed on Calvary.

Nature knows nothing more exquisitely beautiful than the rainbow, and heaven knows nothing that equals the loveliness of the wonderful grace of God. As the rainbow is the union of heaven and earth, so grace is the mediator between God and man.

It is a public sign as the grace which brings salvation "hath appeared to all men" (Tit_2:11). It was promised that the rainbow would not cease. So God's grace will be exhibited throughout the ages.(Eph_2:7-10).

Noah’s sin shows us it is often the smallest temptations that are the most effective. The man who is invulnerable on the field of battle among declared and strong enemies, falls easy prey to the enemy at home (David).

When the entire world was against him, Noah was able to face singlehandedly both scorn and violence; but in the midst of his vineyard, among his own people who understood him and needed no proof of his virtue, he relaxed.

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The temptations he had faced before were without. He now learned that those you face from within are much more serious. It is comparatively easy to carry clean hands in public, and then be carelessat home.

Often men in their prime or even old age fall into the sins from which they have spent a lifetime keeping themselves pure.

The heart is desperately wicked, who can know it? We have no idea how slippery sin is until we are sorely tried with the sin that does so easily beset us.

EXERCISE#4 1. How does Genesis portray the rapture?

2. What false doctrines does Gen_1:1refute?

3. Describe the way God spent three days separating and three days adding to creation until He saw His image.

4. How do the days of creation relate to the coming of Christ?

5. How does the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden compare with the cross?

6. What kind of faith did Noah have?

7. How was Noah a type of Christ?

8. How was the ark a type of salvation?

9. How do we know God is longsuffering?

10. What are the ways God tried to tell the world of judgment to come?

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NOAH'SSACRIFICEOFBLOOD What Noah did in sacrificing was the only sacrifice God would accept. It takes blood to atone for sin. Throughout the Bible blood has been the only means of remission from sins. a) Blood cried out to God (Gen_4:10-11). b) Life is in the blood (Gen_9:4-6). c) Coat was dipped in blood (Gen_37:22, Gen_37:26, Gen_37:31). d) Blood is required at the hands of those who shed it (Gen_44:22). e) There is a reward for blood (Gen_49:11). f) The Nile river was turned to blood (Exo_4:9). g) Blood provided a covering and a shelter from death (Exo_12:13).

(Gen 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: From the very beginning God has used symbols. He even told man in the beginning that the sun and moon would be for signs. He gave them two trees that were symbolical. Thus now He once more gave man a symbol of His covenant. From here we see that He constantly gave types and shadows in the Old Testament to magnify His work that He would later accomplish in the New Testament.

(Gen 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.

This bow was light broken up into its parts. No man can see light until you break it into its rays. Each color tells you something is missing in light. Put them all together and you would seeno color, and you would not see the light either, you seebecauseof the light.

RAINBOW:TYPEOFCHRIST(Gen_9:13) 1. God's promise and assurance after the offering (Gen_9:11-17--2Co_1:20) 2. God's mercy (Gen_9:11--1Co_15:17-20) 3. God's fulness (Gen_9:12--Col_2:9) 4. God's faithfulness (Gen_9:13--Heb_1:3; Heb_7:25; Heb_8:13) It takes both rain and sunshine to make a rainbow.

The only way to seea rainbow is to look through the rain.

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(Gen 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: The rainbow can only be seen when the atmosphere in which it is formed is just right. Otherwise we only view the storm around us. But when the storm is over and the clouds are at a certain distance and the departing rain is refracted just right the clouds become a prism that allows us to see God’s token of the covenant.

The spiritual application of this is profound. Every cloud of our earthly existence is adorned with a rainbow of hope and promise. Against the dark clouds of human depression and sorrow, this symbol of the throne of God and of the Rainbow Angel holding forth the Redemptive word shines through the gloom of human fears and frustrations. The proverb that, "Every cloud has a silver lining" is but a variable statement of inherent promise contained in the rainbow. It would also appear to illuminate prophecy. The primary and secondary rainbows are a perfect illustration of how divine prophecies carry within them both a primary, or immediate, and secondary, or ultimate fulfillment. Examples of this are seen in Mat_2:15; Mat_2:18and in numerous other Biblical texts. (Coffman)

(Gen 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.

There will still be floods and the rain will continue now that it has begun, but God will never allow the fountains to be opened up from below and the windows of heaven opened from above so that the entire world is covered as happened in the day of Noah. This promise is sure and Isaiah used that fact to assure God's people that after the crucifixion, the promises of God will be just that sure (Isa_54:8-10).

(Gen 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.

The bow had not been in the cloud before becausethere was no rain on the earth until after the flood. It was watered by a mist that spread over the

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earth. But now it was seen and God promised that when He seesit the sight will remind Him of His covenant with man and beast.

GOD'SLOOK(Gen_9:16) "There is an all-seeing eye watching you."

Exo_14:24; Psa_11:4Isa_49:16Luk_12:41Rev 2-3 Isa_66:2Gen_6:12 (Gen 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.

Anything God establishes or ordains cannot be changed. He ordained marriage and though man has tried through the years to get out of it, there will always be marriage becauseit was ordained of God. He ordained tithing and it remains the New Testament system, though some have tried to say that it was under the law and is done away with.

(Gen 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.

He lists Shem first, though Japheth was the first born, becauseHe is interested in the lineage of JesusChrist and our Savior came through Shem. The name Shem means name, and since the name of God is of such great importance this son would represent that name with all its fullness and the greatest name of all would come through him, JesusChrist.

(Gen 9:19) These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

All the Cainites had been destroyed in the flood, and all other Sethites for that matter. Some have spoken of a serpent seed that started with Eve and continued, but even if that were true [which it is not] those too would have been destroyed in the flood, as those who supposethe angels cohabited with man causing the giants on the earth. All human beings today have to look back to one of the three sons of Noah for their ancestors.

(Gen 9:20) And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: We do not know what Noah's occupation was before the flood, but it could very well have been the same thing. Neither do we know if this was the only thing he did, or if this was a side project. We know he was a carpenter GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 9—PAGE 8

immediately before the flood, and we do not know whether that occupation was temporary or permanent either.

(Gen 9:21) And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

If the theory of Morris, is correct this drunkennesswas caused by the ignorance of Noah that anything like this could happen. He said that the canopy over the earth before the flood would causethe temperature to remain the same worldwide and that the oxygen level would be very high and in that atmosphere nothing would ferment. Therefore Noah did not know that would happen and when he drank of it the results were drunkenness. Whatever the reason, the consequencesare what we have found ever since. That a man under the influence of alcohol will say and do things that he would not otherwise.

(Gen 9:22) And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

This is not referring to a young child seeing his father’s nakednesshere.

Ham is over a hundred years old, and whatever the extent of his wrong, he should have known better, and his brothers were more respectful. It was certainly not a caseof merely accidentally walking into the tent unexpectedly and seeing him. There has been much conjecture of the extent of what he did but nothing can be proved, other than by the act his son was cursed by Noah.

(Gen 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.

The two brothers showed more respect than Ham and did their best to hide an embarrassing situation. It appears from the history of the sons of Ham that there were more problems in his life than this episode; at least in his family there was a Nimrod, known to be a rebel who tried to conquer his brothers.

The curse pronounced on Canaan neither fell immediately upon himself nor on his worthless father, but upon the Canaanites; and from the history we have of this GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 9—PAGE 9

people, in Lev_18:6, Lev_18:7, Lev_18:24, Lev_18:29, Lev_18:30, Lev_20:9, Lev_20:2224, Lev_20:26; and Deu_9:4; Deu_12:31, we may ask, Could the curse of God fall more deservedly on any people than on these?(Adam Clarke)

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

How he knew it we have no way of knowing, unless he questioned how the cover had come to be placed over him. It is also possible that God revealed it to him through some prophetic means, or Ham could have told others and mocked his father, or the other sons may have told him. It is certain that Ham was guilty and we do not have the entire story recorded here.

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

He did not curse Ham, who committed the act, maybe becausehe was now so old that a curse on him would not make a lot of difference. Instead he cursed Ham’s son, who was young and should have many years to live under that curse.

The curse pronounced on Canaan neither fell immediately upon himself nor on his worthless father, but upon the Canaanites; and from the history we have of this people, in Lev_18:6,Lev_18:7,Lev_18:24,Lev_18:29,Lev_18:30,Lev_20:9,Lev_20:2224, Lev_20:26;and Deu_9:4;Deu_12:31,we may ask, Could the curse of God fall more deservedly on any people than on these?(Adam Clarke)

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

Here the servitude of Canaan appears to be a part of the curse placed upon him and that his servitude would be to Shem. When Israel took over Canaan, those Canaanites became servants, but that they are of the same family does not appear likely. When Canaan served Shem is not known.

Somehave said it was when Canaanites were made tributary to Israel after the land was conquered, but this would not be adequate to fulfill this prophecy.

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

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Japheth was enlarged and spread throughout Europe. The next statement is not clear. Who is the “he?” If it is Shem, when did Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem, and when did Canaan become his servant? But if the “he” is God, then we know that God has always dwelt in the tents [tabernacle] of Shem, but then who is Canaan a servant too in that case?

(Gen 9:28) And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

Noah is the last of those who lived such a long life as those before the flood. He accomplished a great work in his day, condemning the world in his faithfulness (Heb_11:7). One of the most important things about him was that he found favor with God (Gen_9:28), and in his work of salvation he was a type of Christ.

The Jewsconclude from hence, that he lived to the fifty eighth year of Abraham's life: it may be remarked, that it is not added here as usual to the account of the years of the patriarchs, "and he begat sons and daughters"; from whence it may be concluded, that he had no more children than the three before mentioned, as well as from the silence of the Scriptures elsewhere, and from the old age of himself and his wife, and especially from what is said; seeGill on Gen_9:19.

(Gill) (Gen 9:29) And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

However, even a great man like Noah cannot keep going forever. He died like all those before him, but not before he had seen how his new world turned out, and I am not sure he was pleased with the results.

Here is one who bore the cross for the long space of nine hundred and fifty years.

What a discipline in suffering as well as in doing the will of God! Time is the chief component among the forces that try patience, for patience is rather borne away by long trials than overwhelmed by the rolling wave. If tempted to murmur in affliction, or at our protracted contest with temptation and sin, let us think of those who have endured longer than we.

(T. H. Leale)

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