Genesis Chapter 9 Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Genesis 9:1
God blessed Noach and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.”
At the end of Genesis Chapter 8, we saw that Noah had built an altar and presented offerings to God. Now we see that God blessed him and his sons for that.
God reassured them that He had set them apart and would show favor to them. The command to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth renewed the purpose given to humanity at the beginning of creation.
Genesis 9:2–3
The fear and dread of you will be upon every wild animal, every bird in the air, every creature populating the ground, and all the fish in the sea; they have been handed over to you. Every moving thing that lives will be food for you; just as I gave you green plants before, so now I give you everything.
Have you ever wondered how we got from animals walking up to enter the ark to the world today, where animals are afraid of and avoid people? We see the answer here in that they were now given to man as food.
Animals can sense many things, and they knew that it was dangerous to be around men after this. The relationship between humanity and the animal world changed after the flood as God gave animals to people for food.
Genesis 9:4
Only flesh with its life, which is its blood, you are not to eat.
With this new start, God gave animals to man for food, but people were told that the blood could not be in the meat when it was eaten. The blood contains life.
God is the only One who can create life, and so blood is reserved for Him. This principle becomes important throughout Scripture, especially in the later sacrificial system, where blood is connected with the covering and forgiveness of sin.
Genesis 9:5–6
I will certainly demand an accounting for the blood of your lives: I will demand it from every animal and from every human being. I will demand from every human being an accounting for the life of his fellow human being. Whoever sheds human blood, by a human being will his own blood be shed; for God made human beings in his image.
God created every drop of blood, and He knows all of the life on this earth. This passage speaks to the fact that He is the owner of His creation, and nobody has the right to take the blood, or life, of a fellow human being.
Human life has value because people are made in the image of God. The command against murder is rooted in that truth. Life is not valuable because of wealth, ability, status, or usefulness; it is sacred because its Creator made humanity in His own image.
Genesis 9:7
And you people, be fruitful, multiply, swarm on the earth and multiply on it.
Once again, God’s instruction for Noah and his family was to repopulate the earth. The family that had been preserved through the flood now carried the responsibility to begin again and fill the world according to God’s purpose.
Genesis 9:8–11
God spoke to Noach and his sons with him; he said, “As for me—I am herewith establishing my covenant with you, with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock and every wild animal with you, all going out of the ark, every animal on earth. I will establish my covenant with you that never again will all living beings be destroyed by the waters of a flood, and there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
God promised everything on the earth that there would never be a flood like the one they had just experienced. What a wonderful God!
Imagine what it would be like to live through the flood and then wonder every time it rained whether it was going to happen again. Everything would be living in a constant state of fear, and that is not God’s desire.
This covenant extended beyond Noah and his family to their descendants and to every living creature. God gave a promise of stability after the judgment, assuring creation that the flood would not be repeated as a worldwide destruction.
Genesis 9:12–15
God added, “Here is the sign of the covenant I am making between myself and you and every living creature with you, for all generations to come: I am putting my rainbow in the cloud—it will be there as a sign of the covenant between myself and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth, and the rainbow is seen in the cloud; I will remember my covenant which is between myself and you and every living creature of any kind; and the water will never again become a flood to destroy all living beings.”
God gave us a sign in the sky to help us remember His promise. God knew that over time the covenant would be forgotten by people, so He put a rainbow in the sky to remind us of the promise when rain comes.
The rainbow is not merely a beautiful feature in the sky. In this passage, it is specifically identified as the sign of God’s covenant with the earth and every living creature.
Genesis 9:16–17
The rainbow will be in the cloud; so that when I look at it, I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of any kind on the earth. God said to Noach, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between myself and every living creature on the earth.”
We cannot fully understand the mind of God, and so we sometimes fear that God will forget things. But He does not want us to live in fear of a worldwide flood.
This promise is repeated twice. The number two is associated with the legal witnesses required to establish something as truth. God’s covenant is stated again so that Noah, his family, and all generations after them can rest in the certainty of His word.
Genesis 9:18–19
The sons of Noach who went out from the ark were Shem, Ham and Yefet. Ham is the father of Kena’an. These three were the sons of Noach, and the whole earth was populated by them.
Every one of us is related in the sense that all people can trace their ancestry back to one of these three men, the three sons of Noah. Racial prejudice is ridiculous because of this fact.
Another thing to notice is that only the son of Ham is mentioned. As we see later, Shem and Yefet had sons and daughters as well, but they are not mentioned here. The attention given to Kena’an prepares the reader for the events and consequences that follow.
Genesis 9:20–21
Noach, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank so much of the wine that he got drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.
Noah had been a farmer, so after the flood he planted a vineyard. The question is why. In Hebrew, the word for vineyard is not used unless there is a significant number of grape vines, and the purpose of a vineyard is to raise enough grapes to make wine.
We see that Noah had the intent to make wine instead of food, and then we see the effects of that intention in the fact that he got drunk. When we see that he lay naked in his tent, we may ask what the big deal is.
But if we remember from Genesis Chapter 3, nakedness was associated with the disobedience of Adam and Havah. This theme of nakedness being associated with sin continues throughout the Torah.
What we see from this passage is that Noah had the intent to get drunk, and he carried that intent for a period of time. You do not simply plant a grapevine and have fruit the next day, or even the next year. A vineyard takes time to develop.
Genesis 9:22–23
Ham, the father of Kena’an, saw his father shamefully exposed, went out and told his two brothers. Shem and Yefet took a cloak, put it over both their shoulders, and, walking backward, went in and covered their naked father. Their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father lying there shamefully exposed.
We see two very different reactions to the situation. Ham brought shame and embarrassment to his father by going and telling the other boys instead of covering Noah and keeping his shame hidden.
In Hebrew, this act is known as lashon hara, which literally means “the evil tongue.” It is what we would call gossip. The other boys showed proper respect and covered their father.
These different reactions would have lasting consequences for their children and even down to people today. Ham is a picture of the way the devil reacts to our sin, wanting to tell it to everyone. Shem and Japheth are a picture of Christ covering our sin with His blood.
Genesis 9:24–25
When Noach awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. He said, “Cursed be Kena’an; he will be a servant of servants to his brothers.”
When Noah sobered up and found out what Ham had done, he pronounced a curse on Ham’s middle son, Kena’an, or Canaan. Cursed is not some type of hex or witchcraft. It is the opposite of blessed, which is the state of being shown the favor of God.
Noah knew God’s desire for children was that they would honor their mother and father. Because Ham dishonored his father, Noah declared that God’s blessing would be removed from Ham’s son.
This should be a reminder to all of us who have children that our actions have a direct impact on the future of those children. Sin never remains isolated; its effects reach families and generations.
Genesis 9:26
Then he said, “Blessed be ADONAI, the God of Shem; Kena’an will be their servant.”
Notice that Noah said “the God of Shem.” Shem was the oldest, and through him would come Abraham, the father of Israel.
The removal of God’s protection from Kena’an was fulfilled when Israel, the descendants of Shem, left Egypt and took possession of the land of Canaan.
Genesis 9:27
May God enlarge Yefet; he will live in the tents of Shem, but Kena’an will be their servant.
Here we see the future of Yefet, or Japheth, whose name in Hebrew means “extend.” In him, we see a picture of the Gentiles united to live with the Jews and rule the world during the millennial reign.
The blessing points forward to the way God’s plan would extend beyond one family and one people to reach the nations of the earth through the line of Shem and the Messiah who would come from it.
Genesis 9:28–29
After the flood Noach lived 350 years. In all, Noach lived 950 years; then he died.
There was a period of 350 years in which Noah and his sons increased in number on the earth as they had been told. The number 350 is significant: three is associated with the earthly display of God’s will for man, while fifty is associated with the Year of Jubilee.
Although the Jubilee had not been established at this point in the Torah, it would later become a year of rest for the land and its people after seven cycles of sabbatical years. After forty-nine years, the fiftieth year would be the Jubilee.
In the fact that Noah lived 350 years after the flood, we see that it is God’s will for all people to enter into His rest at the appointed time. The fact that Noah lived a total of 950 years is also significant because the number nine is associated with eternity and Noah’s final rest with God.