Gênesis 9
Bob Utley · You Can Understand the Bible
Gênesis 9:1-7
9:1 "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth" Notice the three Qal IMPERATIVES: "be fruitful" (BDB 826, KB 963), "multiply" (BDB 915, KB 1176), "fill the earth" (BDB 569, KB 583). This is a second beginning for the animals (cf. Gen. 1:22) and for mankind (cf. Gen. 1:28), but notice that sin has caused a change in the command; "subdue and have dominion" may be left out the UBS Text Project, p. 15, gives "and multiply in it" a "B" rating (some doubt). The NEB makes an emendation to "and reign over it," which would then parallel Gen. 1:28). ורבו ‒ BDB 915, KB 1176, Qal IMPERATIVE ורדו ‒ BDB 915, KB 1190, Qal IMPERATIVE, as in Gen. 1:28 9:2 "fear. . .terror" Mankind has a new relationship with the animals, not peace and friendship as in Eden and the eschaton (Isaiah 11), but fear (BDB 432) and terror (BDB 369). 9:3 "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you" Mankind was originally a vegetarian (at least in the garden of Eden) but since the fall and since no crops could be produced for a while, meat was made available. Also notice that there was no distinction between clean and unclean animals as far as consumption was concerned (very different from Leviticus 11), but there was a distinction in acceptable sacrificial animals (i.e., clean and unclean, cf. Gen. 7:2ff). 9:4 "you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood" This prohibition on not consuming blood is unique to Isreal. This is the theological foundation for the sacrificial system (cf. Lev. 17:10-16; Deut. 12:16,23; Acts 15:29) and the significance of the death of Christ (Isaiah 53; John 1:29; Mark 10:45; 2 Cor. 5:21). Sin costs a life. Later in Israel's history God would mercifully substitute an animal life (i.e., Leviticus 1-7; 16). SPECIAL TOPIC: BLOOD 9:5-6 "By man his blood shall be shed" This is the first statement of "eye for eye" justice. It shows God's ordaining government the right of capital punishment. In the OT, this was accomplished by the "go'el" (kinsman redeemer). For possible NT references see Acts 25:11 and Rom. 13:4. Verse 5 is prose while Gen. 9:6 is printed in poetic parallel lines. There is a possible Hebrew word play which may even affect etymology between blood (dam) man (adam) In Assyrian the term man (adamu) is related to sanctuary (adman) Therefore, there may be a link between blood-worship-mankind (cf. Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, p. 45). SPECIAL TOPIC: BLOOD AVENGER AND KINSMAN REDEEMER ▣ "For in the image of God He made man" This shows the priority of humankind (cf. Gen. 1:26,27; 5:1,3). What an awesome privilege and responsibility. 9:7 "Populate the earth abundantly" This is parallel to Gen. 1:22,24,28; 8:17. Chapters 8-9 form a re-initiation of God's expressed will and actions in Genesis 1. This verse has four Qal IMPERATIVES, while Gen. 9:1 has three. Rabbinical Midrash says that because of the context of murder (Gen. 9:5-6) those who refuse to have children also violate this command.
Gênesis 9:8-17
9:9 "I Myself do establish" This aspect of the Noaic covenant is unconditional (cf. Gen. 9:9,11,12,17) and coming totally from God's grace. Other covenants including the Adamic the Abrahamic the Mosaic and the Davidic covenants had conditions even as this one does (vv. 4-6) See Bruce Waltke, "The Phenomenon of Conditionality Within Unconditional Covenants," in Israel's Apostasy and Restoration, pp. 123-139). See NIDOTTE, vol. 4, pp. 747-754. SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT 9:11 "and all flesh" YHWH's covenant with Noah included all life forms of Genesis 1-2 (cf. Gen. 9:15; 8:21). God's care for the animals is clearly seen in Jonah 4:11 (cf. Ps. 36:6). Animals are also held accountable for their violent actions toward humans (Gen. 9:5). God loves this earth! He will one day restore it to its original purpose (i.e., Rom. 8:18-25; Revelation 21-22). ▣ "to destroy the earth" This VERB (BDB 1007, KB 1469, Piel INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) is used several times in Genesis 1-11. Gen. 6:13 ‒ Hiphil PARTICIPLE Gen. 6:17 ‒ Piel INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT Gen. 9:11,15 ‒ Piel INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT There seems to be little difference in meansing noted by the stems. God's destruction follows the perversion of His plan (i.e., wickedness, violence, corruption, cf. Gen. 6:5-6,11-12,13). This is not the world God intended but He is not finished with it! 9:12 "sign" SPECIAL TOPIC: SIGN (OT) ▣ "living creature" This is the Hebrew term nephesh (BDB 659). See full notes at Gen. 35:18 and Lev. 17:11. SPECIAL TOPIC: NEPHESH ▣ "all successive generations" "All" ('olam), as in Gen. 9:16, means "ever-lasting." Also Rashi mentions that "generations" is misspelled in the Hebrew text. He interprets that as meaning that the covenant is only for "generations" with faulty faith (i.e., emphasizing the conditional nature even of this covenant). SPECIAL TOPIC: FOREVER ('olam) 9:13 "bow. . .a sign" The rainbow may first have appeared here. Genesis 2:5-6 implies that initially watering took place in a different way from rain (i.e., mist from the ground). It is just possible that the bow (BDB 905) was the imagery of a weapon that God has put down (i.e., will not destroy mankind in judgment). In ancient times hanging up the bow was a symbol for peace. It is also possible that God put a new meaning to a common physical occurrence (i.e., like circumcision). 9:15 "I will remember" The bow was a sign for God and mankind. This is a physical item symbolizing the fact that God does not forget (similar to the concept of "the book of life" and "book of deeds"). SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TWO BOOKS OF GOD ▣ "never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh" This does not mean no floods at all, but no "universal" flood that destroys all mankind and animal kind. 9:16 "the everlasting covenant" See SPECIAL TOPIC: FOREVER ('olam) SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT 9:17 "sign" See SPECIAL TOPIC: SIGN (OT)
Gênesis 9:18-19
9:18 "Shem" The etymology of this name can be "renown" or "name" (BDB 1028 II, KB 1548 I). ▣ "Ham" This name can mean "hot" (KB 325II). It may have reflected an ancient name for Egypt (i.e., "hot lands"). ▣ "Japheth" The etymology of this name can be "extender" or "enlarged" (BDB 834, see Hebrew word play in Gen. 9:22). ▣ "Canaan" He (BDB 488, KB 485) is mentioned for possibly two reasons: Noah's drunkenness and resulting curse will affect Canaan the Canaanites became Israel's major theological problem in later years (i.e., Moses' lifetime) SPECIAL TOPIC: PRE-ISRAELITE INHABITANTS OF PALESTINE 9:19 This was the repeatedly stated purpose of God (i.e., fill the earth). The tower of Babel was in direct defiance to this. It is interesting that modern mitochondrial DNA studies have concluded that the original humans came from north Africa, while modern philology has determined that all human languages started in northern India. Notice how geographically near this is to the biblical account. Apparently all the different races of humans are direct descendants of these three brothers. Modern DNA research has shown that humans of all races are genetically the same!
Gênesis 9:20-27
9:20 "Noah began farming" The NASB and RSV translations seem to read too much into the Hebrew wording; Noah was not the first farmer—what about Cain (Gen. 4:2) or Lamech (Gen. 5:29)? The NRSV has "Noah, a man of the soil." 9:21 "became drunk" Drunkenness (BDB 1016 I, KB 1500) is deplored over and over again in Scripture (cf. Prov. 23:29-35). Yet wine is not the problem, but mankind's misuse of it (cf. Deut. 14:26; Ps. 104:15; Prov. 31:6-7). SPECIAL TOPIC: BIBLICAL ATTITUDES TOWARD ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOL ABUSE ▣ "uncovered himself inside his tent" This has always been a difficult paragraph to interpret. I viewed a YouTube video by Dr. Michael Heiser, a Hebrew scholar, on this text which made sense of this cryptic passage. The phrases "uncovered himself" and "saw the nakedness of" are Hebrew idioms for sexual intercourse. "Inside his tent" is literally "inside her tent" in Hebrew, which would denote something happened sexually in Noah's wife's tent. Ham taking his father's wife, his mother, sexually is not only incest but an ANE attempt to take control of the family (cf. 2 Sam. 16:21-22; 20:3). The result of the sexual union of Ham and his mother was Canaan. Noah's curse on Canaan could then relate to Ham's attempt to take over the family. This curse on his offspring would put an end to this rebellion. 9:22 "saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside" Ham's sin was his irreverence for his father some type of sexual impropriety (cf. Lev. 18:6-18; 20:17-21; 2 Sam. 6:20). Hebrews were very conscious of nakedness. See NIDOTTE, vol. 4, pp. 1202-1208, #3, g. In a theological sense, this shows the continuing downward pull of the fall. Noah drunk! Ham intensely enjoying both his father's folly and nakedness! This propensity towards irreverence and abuse of sexuality becomes so evident in Canaan's descendants! The tendencies must have been evident to Noah who curses Canaan, not Ham. As a postscript, this episode has nothing, nothing to do with a biblical depreciation of the black race. Africans surely came from Ham but Canaanites were not black (i.e., wall pictures in Egypt)! SPECIAL TOPIC: RACISM 9:24 "Noah. . .knew" He possibly knew because he asked, but probably it was by the covering that Shem and Japheth placed on him. ▣ "youngest son" Ham is always listed second in the list of Noah's sons. This Hebrew word can be a superlative "youngest" or comparative "younger." 9:25 "So he said" Remember the Hebrew concept of the power of the spoken word, Genesis 1 (cf. Isa. 55:9-11), as well as the importance of the parental blessing, Genesis 49. SPECIAL TOPIC: HEBREW AND GREEK BACKGROUND OF LOGOS ▣ "Cursed be Canaan" This VERB (BDB 76, KB 91) is a Qal PASSIVE PARTICIPLE. Rabbinical Midrash says Canaan saw Noah's nakedness first and told his father, Ham, but probably Noah saw this evident disrespectful character in Ham's youngest son Canaan, the youngest son, is a way of referring to all of Ham's descendants Notice that this is not a curse by God but by an alcohol abusing Noah! It is obvious from Israel's later history that Canaanites are viewed as evil idolatrous people that must be totally destroyed (cf. Gen. 15:12-21). It is in their lands that the giants still live. It is their fertility worship that is forbidden in the book of Leviticus. SPECIAL TOPIC: RACISM SPECIAL TOPIC: TERMS USED FOR TALL/POWERFUL WARRIORS OR PEOPLE GROUPS (Giants) SPECIAL TOPIC: FERTILITY WORSHIP OF THE ANE ▣ "servant of servants" This is a Hebrew superlative meaning "lowest servant." This was fulfilled in Joshua's conquest of Palestine! 9:26-27 The "let's" of these two verses are JUSSIVES, three specific forms and one contextually implied. 9:26 "Blessed be the Lord" "YHWH" seems to be the special use of the covenant name (see note at Gen. 2:4) to recognize Shem as the Messianic line (cf. Luke 3:36). SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, D. ▣ "the God of Shem" The term for "God" here is Eloal (BDB 43), which is the SINGULAR form of Elohim. Notice both common OT names for Deity are used side by side without seeming distinction. Shem means "name" and may be a play on God's special name, YHWH (BDB 1028 II). The line of Shem is the Messianic line. This is in opposition of Gen. 11:4! SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, C. 9:27 "let him dwell in the tents of Shem" Some see this in a political sense like the domination of Roman or European culture in a spiritual sense of the inclusion of the Gentiles with the blessings of the Jews, which was also part of the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Gen. 12:3; Eph. 2:11-3:13)
Gênesis 9:28-29
9:29 Death still reigned (cf. Genesis 5)!