Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Genesis
Book: Genesis
Chapter: 9
Overview:
God blesses
Noah, and grants
Flesh for
Food.
(1-3) Blood, and
Murder forbidden.
(4-7) God's
Covenant By the
Rainbow.
(8-17)
Noah plants a vineyard, is drunken and mocked
By Ham.
(18-23)
Noah curses
Canaan, blesses
Shem, prays for
Japheth, His
Death.
(24-29)
1-3 The blessing of
God is the cause of our doing
Well.
On him
we depend, to him we should be thankful. Let us not forget the
advantage and pleasure we have from the labour of beasts, and
which their
Flesh affords. Nor ought we to be less thankful for
the security we enjoy from the savage and hurtful beasts,
through the fear of
Man which
God has fixed
Deep in them. We see
the fulfilment of this promise every
Day, and
On every side.
This grant of the animals for
Food fully warrants the use of
them, but not the abuse of them
By gluttony, still less
By
cruelty. We ought not to pain them needlessly whilst they live,
nor when we take away their lives.
4-7 The main reason of forbidding the
Eating of
Blood,
doubtless was because the shedding of
Blood in sacrifices was to
keep the worshippers in mind of the great
Atonement; yet it
seems intended also to check cruelty, lest men, being used to
shed and feed upon the
Blood of animals, should grow unfeeling
to them, and be less shocked at the idea of shedding human
Blood.
Man must not take away his own
Life. Our lives are
God's,
and we must only give them up when he pleases. If we in any way
hasten our own
Death, we are accountable to
God for it. When
God
requires the
Life of a
Man from him that took it away unjustly,
the murderer cannot render that, and therefore must render his
own instead. One time or other, in this world or in the next,
God will discover murders, and punish those murders which are
Beyond Man's power to punish. But there are those who are
ministers of
God to protect the innocent,
By being a terror to
evil-doers, and they must not
Bear the
Sword in vain, Ro 13:4.
Wilful
Murder ought always to be punished with
Death. To this
Law there is a reason added. Such remains of
God's image are
still upon fallen
Man, that he who unjustly kills a
Man, defaces
the image of
God, and does dishonour to him.
8-17 As the old world was ruined, to be a monument of
Justice,
So this world remains to this
Day a monument of
Mercy. But
Sin,
that drowned the old world, will burn this. Articles of
agreement among men are sealed, that what is promised may be the
more solemn, and the doing of what is covenanted the more sure
to mutual satisfaction. The
Seal of this
Covenant was the
Rainbow, which, it is likely, was seen in the clouds before, but
was never a
Seal of the
Covenant till now it was made
So. The
Rainbow appears when we have most reason to fear the
Rain
prevailing;
God then shows this
Seal of the promise, that it
shall not prevail. The thicker the
Cloud, the brighter the
Bow
in the
Cloud. Thus, as threatening
Afflictions abound,
encouraging consolations much more abound. The
Rainbow is the
reflection of the beams of the
Sun shining upon or through the
drops of
Rain: all the
Glory of the seals of the
Covenant are
derived from
Christ, the
Sun of
Righteousness. And he will shed
a
Glory On the tears of his saints. A
Bow speaks terror, but
this has neither string nor arrow; and a
Bow alone will do
little hurt. It is a
Bow, but it is directed upward, not toward
the
Earth; for the seals of the
Covenant were intended to
comfort, not to terrify. As
God looks upon the
Bow, that he may
remember the
Covenant,
So should we, that we may be mindful of
the
Covenant with
Faith and thankfulness. Without
Revelation
this gracious
Assurance could not be known; and without
Faith it
can be of
No use to us; and thus it is as to the still greater
dangers to which all are exposed, and as to the new
Covenant
with its blessings.
18-23 The drunkenness of
Noah is recorded in the
Bible, with
that fairness which is found only in the
Scripture, as a case
and proof of human weakness and imperfection, even though he may
have been surprised into the
Sin; and to show that the best of
men cannot stand upright, unless they depend upon Divine
Grace,
and are upheld thereby.
Ham appears to have been a bad
Man, and
probably rejoiced to find his
Father in an unbecoming situation.
It was said of
Noah, that he was perfect in his generations, ch.
6:9; but this is meant of sincerity, not of a sinless
Perfection.
Noah, who had kept sober in drunken company, is now
Drunk in sober company. Let him that thinks he stands, take heed
lest he fall. We have need to be very careful when we use
God's
good creatures plentifully, lest we use them to excess, Lu
21:34. The consequence of
Noah's
Sin was shame. Observe here
the great evil of the
Sin of drunkenness. It discovers men; what
infirmities they have, they betray when they are
Drunk; and
secrets are then easily got out of them. Drunken porters keep
open gates. It disgraces men, and exposes them to contempt. As
it shows them,
So it shames them. Men say and do that when
drunken, which, when sober, they would blush to think of. Notice
the care of
Shem and
Japheth to cover their
Father's shame.
There is a
Mantle of
Love to be thrown over the faults of all,
1Pe 4:8. Beside that, there is a robe of reverence to be
thrown over the faults of parents and other superiors. The
blessing of
God attends
On those who honour their parents, and
his
Curse lights especially
On those who dishonour them.
24-29 Noah declares a
Curse On Canaan, the son of
Ham; perhaps
this grandson of his was more guilty than the
Rest. A servant of
servants, that is, The meanest and most despicable servant,
shall he be, even to his brethren. This certainly points at the
victories in after-times obtained
By Israel over the
Canaanites,
By which they were
Put to the
Sword, or brought to pay
Tribute.
The whole continent of Africa was peopled mostly
By the
descendants of
Ham; and for how many ages have the better parts
of that country lain under the dominion of the
Romans, then of
the Saracens, and now of the Turks! In what wickedness,
ignorance, barbarity, slavery, and misery most of the
inhabitants live! And of the
Poor negroes, how many every
Year
are sold and bought, like beasts in the market, and conveyed
from one quarter of the world to do the work of beasts in
another! But this in
No way excuses the
Covetousness and
barbarity of those who enrich themselves with the product of
their sweat and
Blood.
God has not commanded us to enslave
negroes; and, without doubt, he will severely punish all such
cruel wrongs. The fulfilment of this
Prophecy, which contains
almost a history of the world, frees
Noah from the suspicion of
having uttered it from personal
Anger. It fully proves that the
Holy
Spirit took occasion from
Ham's
Offence to reveal his
secret purposes. "Blessed be the
Lord God of
Shem." The
Church
should be built up and continued in the posterity of
Shem; of
him came the Jews, who were, for a great while, the only
professing people
God had in the world.
Christ, who was the
Lord
God, in his human nature should descend from
Shem; for of him,
as concerning the
Flesh,
Christ came.
Noah also blesses
Japheth,
and, in him, the isles of the
Gentiles that were peopled
By his
seed. It speaks of the
Conversion of the
Gentiles, and the
bringing of them into the
Church. We may read it, "
God shall
persuade
Japheth, and being persuaded, he shall
Dwell in the
tents of
Shem." Jews and
Gentiles shall be united together in
the
Gospel Fold; both shall be one in
Christ.
Noah lived to see
two worlds; but being an
Heir of the
Righteousness which is
By
Faith, he now rests in
Hope, waiting to see a better than
either.