Genesis 9
Promises, Promises, Promises
OR
What Could Happen When Your Youngest Child Catches You Drinking
Verses 1-7: We begin with a brief restatement of the commands & promises that God gave to Noah at the end of Chapter 8. God commissions Noah, Ham, Shem, and Japheth (along with their wives) to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1, ESV) However, the next verses further pollute the original ideas & constructs behind Creation: God tells Noah that all of the animals will fear humans. Yes, every animal will be scared of humans – beasts of the field, birds of the air, insects on the ground, fish in the sea. No animal will be immune from fearing humanity, to the point of God declaring that all plants and animals will be forced to serve as food for humanity. God told Noah that every animal on the earth would be delivered into humanity’s hands, to be used as food or resources.
The further we walk from the Garden of Eden, the further we walk from the original intentions that God seemed to have set out for His Creation in the beginning. Look at verses 5 & 6: “From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” It’s easy to see where conservative Christians get their reasoning behind their support of the death penalty – God said that when someone kills another, they get to be killed for committing that murder.
It doesn’t make sense to me – God didn’t kill Cain for killing Abel. It seems that God is changing His mind on this issue, but when I look into it, God is really just saying what’s going to happen on the earth, post-Flood. This is God’s way of letting us know that, due to sin’s increasingly strong presence in the world, He was placing a very high value on life, with strong deterrents to taking the life of another. One commentary I read on these verses said that this injunction by God created a civil magistrate to dispense with this new-fangled concept of capital punishment (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown), while another remarked that these verses began the tradition of Israeli blood vengeance (the family was responsible for redeeming the life of their lost family member) as well as capital punishment (IVP Bible Background Commentary).
Again, it doesn’t make sense to me and it won’t make sense to the kids, especially to those of us who do live under the law of grace, according to the precepts and commands of Jesus. But the best way to explain it is, as I stated earlier, that, the further humanity walked from the Garden, the further that humanity walked from what God intended in the Garden. God didn’t intend for humans to kill and eat animals, but he says here that it’s OK. God didn’t intend for humans to kill each other, but here he says that humans were supposed to avenge the life of the slain by slaying the slayer. These were perilous times, perilous days before the coming of the Ten Commandments and the law book that is Leviticus. In the Ten Commandments, we have God telling us not to kill; yet in Leviticus, there are all these injunctions telling us when/how/why it’s necessary to kill someone who sinned against the law. Already, I can’t wait for Jesus to come onto the scene…
Verses 8-17: After 7 verses that totally changed how humanity would be dealing with each other and with the animal life of Creation, God speaks forth a beautifully detailed promise to Noah and his progeny. God promises Noah that never again will He kill off all of creation; anything that was on the ark with Noah fell under the purview of this promise. Never again would God issue floodwaters to wipe away the face of the earth & all the creatures upon it. The rainbow was then sent by God as a sign for all future generations that He would never again destroy Creation. When the rainbow is seen in the clouds, this would be God’s way of continually reminding Himself and humanity that He does love us and wouldn’t send waters to destroy us ever again.
Verses 18-29: From here, we get to read a rarely commented upon section of the story of Noah’s life. Noah became a farmer after the Flood and planted a vineyard, a common practice in a time when there was no water treatment facilities or even a knowledge that purifying your water was a necessity. Noah begin drinking the wine from the grapes in his vineyard, got drunk on that wine, and then laid naked in his tent (sounding much like a participant in parties that I’ve been to). Ham (one of Noah’s sons) walked into his dad’s tent, saw Noah naked, and told his brothers. His two brothers, Shem & Japheth, went into the tent, walking backwards with a blanket so as to cover Noah’s nakedness, so that they might preserve their father’s dignity.
When Noah awoke to find himself covered, he knew that Ham had found him and told his brothers about it. Noah proceeded to curse Canaan (Ham’s son – why wasn't Ham himself cursed) and bless the two brothers. We’re not sure what the details truly are and what caused Noah to react as such. Two commentaries that I read felt that pronouncements by Noah were the result of an accumulation of transgressions against Noah or Ham and his descendents. The conjecture is that how else would Noah have known who it was that would have caused his nakedness.
Or, in other words, Noah, as the patriarch, was making predictions concerning the futures of those of his lineage who he felt were already headed in the wrong direction. It’s as if Noah is speaking into existence a series of self-fulfilling prophecies – one set speaks ill about a son and his children while the other set blesses two sons and their descendents. But this was common practice in Israeli households, a practice that Moses’ readers/listeners of the Pentateuch would be familiar with. Fathers blessed the children they wanted to bless, especially the first-borns, and dealt with younger children in a lesser manner, a practice to be ultimately understood and subsequently abused by Jacob.
Inspiring and funny people these patriarchs – they simply are NOT as superhuman and super-spiritual as we often proclaim them to be. And I like it that way – we need to be reminded that average people can live for God, since we’re all dirty and flawed on some level. We don’t come to God already perfect; we stumble towards God so that we might be perfected.
Noah’s righteousness & walk with God saved 8 people and pairs of all the animals & creatures on the earth. Our righteousness & walk with God come from our understanding that we can’t be righteous unless we walk with God no matter what’s going on around us. Noah walked alone on the earth, saving 7 other people. We should thank God that He hasn’t asked us to walk alone; we have our friends, families, and church bodies alongside us.
OR
What Could Happen When Your Youngest Child Catches You Drinking
Verses 1-7: We begin with a brief restatement of the commands & promises that God gave to Noah at the end of Chapter 8. God commissions Noah, Ham, Shem, and Japheth (along with their wives) to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1, ESV) However, the next verses further pollute the original ideas & constructs behind Creation: God tells Noah that all of the animals will fear humans. Yes, every animal will be scared of humans – beasts of the field, birds of the air, insects on the ground, fish in the sea. No animal will be immune from fearing humanity, to the point of God declaring that all plants and animals will be forced to serve as food for humanity. God told Noah that every animal on the earth would be delivered into humanity’s hands, to be used as food or resources.
The further we walk from the Garden of Eden, the further we walk from the original intentions that God seemed to have set out for His Creation in the beginning. Look at verses 5 & 6: “From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” It’s easy to see where conservative Christians get their reasoning behind their support of the death penalty – God said that when someone kills another, they get to be killed for committing that murder.
It doesn’t make sense to me – God didn’t kill Cain for killing Abel. It seems that God is changing His mind on this issue, but when I look into it, God is really just saying what’s going to happen on the earth, post-Flood. This is God’s way of letting us know that, due to sin’s increasingly strong presence in the world, He was placing a very high value on life, with strong deterrents to taking the life of another. One commentary I read on these verses said that this injunction by God created a civil magistrate to dispense with this new-fangled concept of capital punishment (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown), while another remarked that these verses began the tradition of Israeli blood vengeance (the family was responsible for redeeming the life of their lost family member) as well as capital punishment (IVP Bible Background Commentary).
Again, it doesn’t make sense to me and it won’t make sense to the kids, especially to those of us who do live under the law of grace, according to the precepts and commands of Jesus. But the best way to explain it is, as I stated earlier, that, the further humanity walked from the Garden, the further that humanity walked from what God intended in the Garden. God didn’t intend for humans to kill and eat animals, but he says here that it’s OK. God didn’t intend for humans to kill each other, but here he says that humans were supposed to avenge the life of the slain by slaying the slayer. These were perilous times, perilous days before the coming of the Ten Commandments and the law book that is Leviticus. In the Ten Commandments, we have God telling us not to kill; yet in Leviticus, there are all these injunctions telling us when/how/why it’s necessary to kill someone who sinned against the law. Already, I can’t wait for Jesus to come onto the scene…
Verses 8-17: After 7 verses that totally changed how humanity would be dealing with each other and with the animal life of Creation, God speaks forth a beautifully detailed promise to Noah and his progeny. God promises Noah that never again will He kill off all of creation; anything that was on the ark with Noah fell under the purview of this promise. Never again would God issue floodwaters to wipe away the face of the earth & all the creatures upon it. The rainbow was then sent by God as a sign for all future generations that He would never again destroy Creation. When the rainbow is seen in the clouds, this would be God’s way of continually reminding Himself and humanity that He does love us and wouldn’t send waters to destroy us ever again.
Verses 18-29: From here, we get to read a rarely commented upon section of the story of Noah’s life. Noah became a farmer after the Flood and planted a vineyard, a common practice in a time when there was no water treatment facilities or even a knowledge that purifying your water was a necessity. Noah begin drinking the wine from the grapes in his vineyard, got drunk on that wine, and then laid naked in his tent (sounding much like a participant in parties that I’ve been to). Ham (one of Noah’s sons) walked into his dad’s tent, saw Noah naked, and told his brothers. His two brothers, Shem & Japheth, went into the tent, walking backwards with a blanket so as to cover Noah’s nakedness, so that they might preserve their father’s dignity.
When Noah awoke to find himself covered, he knew that Ham had found him and told his brothers about it. Noah proceeded to curse Canaan (Ham’s son – why wasn't Ham himself cursed) and bless the two brothers. We’re not sure what the details truly are and what caused Noah to react as such. Two commentaries that I read felt that pronouncements by Noah were the result of an accumulation of transgressions against Noah or Ham and his descendents. The conjecture is that how else would Noah have known who it was that would have caused his nakedness.
Or, in other words, Noah, as the patriarch, was making predictions concerning the futures of those of his lineage who he felt were already headed in the wrong direction. It’s as if Noah is speaking into existence a series of self-fulfilling prophecies – one set speaks ill about a son and his children while the other set blesses two sons and their descendents. But this was common practice in Israeli households, a practice that Moses’ readers/listeners of the Pentateuch would be familiar with. Fathers blessed the children they wanted to bless, especially the first-borns, and dealt with younger children in a lesser manner, a practice to be ultimately understood and subsequently abused by Jacob.
Inspiring and funny people these patriarchs – they simply are NOT as superhuman and super-spiritual as we often proclaim them to be. And I like it that way – we need to be reminded that average people can live for God, since we’re all dirty and flawed on some level. We don’t come to God already perfect; we stumble towards God so that we might be perfected.
Noah’s righteousness & walk with God saved 8 people and pairs of all the animals & creatures on the earth. Our righteousness & walk with God come from our understanding that we can’t be righteous unless we walk with God no matter what’s going on around us. Noah walked alone on the earth, saving 7 other people. We should thank God that He hasn’t asked us to walk alone; we have our friends, families, and church bodies alongside us.
posted by APN | 8:22 PM
2 Comments:
Newton,
Excellent commentary. Truly.
Have I already asked if you've read the Book of Enoch? Do you want to?
There's a typo in paragraph four, line 1. (Do = Who) I only point it out because there are so few others, I know you would want to rectify it.
God bless, always keep reading, and forever pray for discernment.
-ju
Do you have a copy of Enoch?? I would like to read through it, but I think I would prefer to have an external commentary to peruse through along with it as Enoch I is considered part of the Pseudographia, possessing considerably less canonical standing than the Apocrypha.
BTW, I've always meant to ask you -- what is your background spiritually/denominationally?? I've seen that you have had a link to the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals, which leads me to think about why you would be inclined to have such a link on your blog? Feel comfortable commenting??
But regardless -- Thank you VERY much for your comments and input. It is duly appreciated and welcomed.
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