Reflections on Genesis 9

Genesis 09 (Contemporary English Version)
1. God said to Noah and his sons: I am giving you my blessing. Have a lot of children and grandchildren, so people will live everywhere on this earth.
   
2. All animals, birds, reptiles, and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them under your control,
   
3. and I have given them to you for food. From now on, you may eat them, as well as the green plants that you have always eaten.
   
4. But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it.
   
5. I created humans to be like me, and I will punish any animal or person that takes a human life. If an animal kills someone, that animal must die. And if a person takes the life of another, that person must be put to death.
   
6. (SEE 9:5)
   
7. I want you and your descendants to have many children, so people will live everywhere on earth.
   
8. Again, God said to Noah and his sons:
   
9. I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who will live after you.
   
10. This includes the birds and the animals that came out of the boat.
    
11. I promise every living creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by a flood.
    
12. The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever.
    
13. (SEE 9:12)
    
14. When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky,
    
15. I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life.
    
16. When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature.
    
17. The rainbow will be the sign of that solemn promise.
    
18. Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, came out of the boat. Ham later had a son named Canaan.
    
19. All people on earth are descendants of Noah's three sons.
    
20. Noah farmed the land and was the first to plant a vineyard.
    
21. One day he got drunk and was lying naked in his tent.
    
22. Ham entered the tent and saw him naked, then went back outside and told his brothers.
    
23. Shem and Japheth put a robe over their shoulders and walked backwards into the tent. Without looking at their father, they placed it over his body.
    
24. When Noah woke up and learned what his youngest son had done,
    
25. he said, "I now put a curse on Canaan! He will be the lowest slave of his brothers.
    
26. I ask the LORD my God to bless Shem and make Canaan his slave.
    
27. I pray that the LORD will give Japheth more and more land and let him take over the territory of Shem. May Canaan be his slave."
    
28. Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood
    
29. and died at the age of nine hundred fifty.
    
    

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    God's instructions to Noah following the flood were similar to those He gave Adam. They included the command to "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." (9:1) Also man was to have dominion over the animals, thus God placed in "every living creature on the earth" the "fear and terror" of man. Every living creature was placed under man's authority by God. God also gave all creatures to man for food along with green plants along with a prohibition, which parallel's His instructions to Noah. The prohibition in Noah's case was to avoid eating meat "with its lifeblood in it."
    
    God also, in these verses, established captial punishment. The reason given is that "God made man in His image," implying that murder is a crime against God as well as against the person killed. Some reason that this establishment of capital punishment presupposes the establishment also of government since to give the law merely to individuals would cause chaos. Though this is reasonable thinking and possibly the case, it is not stated in the passage.
    
    God then made a covenant with Noah and through him with all mankind and every living thing. He covenanted to never again wipe out all flesh with a flood. As a sign of this covenant, God placed the rainbow in the sky. It would also be a reminder, both to God and to mankind, of this covenant. When clouds form in the sky, the appearance of the rainbow dispels any fear of an all-encompassing deluge of water.
    
    Verses 18 and following give an account of an incident between Noah and his son Ham that is not totally clear at least to the modern mind. Noah became drunk on wine from his vineyards and uncovered himself in his tent. His son Ham inadvertently walked into the tent and glimpsed his father's nakedness. He then went back outside the tent and told his brothers who carefully covered their father without looking at his nakedness. When Noah awoke and learned what happened, he cursed Ham's son, Canaan. The curse stated that Canaan would be the slave of Shem, another of Noah's sons. This explains the later giving of the land of Canaan to the Israelites, descendants of Shem. However, it leaves us wondering why this seemingly innocent incident should have such strong repercussions, and why should one who was not even present (Canaan) be the recipient of this curse?
    
    In the end we have to wonder if the 'curse' was more a prohecy than a curse. When God gave the land of Canaan to the Israelites, it was because of the evil lifestyle of the Canaanites. Some suppose that Ham acted pridefully in telling his brothers of his father's nakedness as if he had triumphed over his father. As this line of reasoning follows, this prideful nature of Ham carried down through his descendants leading to a people who had turned away from God to a life of debauchery. Whatever the meaning of this incident, its has been mostly lost centuries later to a people whose customs do not have a correlation.