Genesis 9:22 Komentář

Both the world and the church were now again reduced to a family, the family of Noah, of the affairs of which this chapter gives us an account, of which we are the more concerned to take cognizance because from this family we are all descendants. Here is, I. The covenant of providence settled with Noah and his sons (Gen 9:1-11). In this covenant, 1. God promises them to take care of their lives, so that, (1.) They should replenish the earth (Gen 9:1, Gen 9:7). (2.) They should be safe from the insults of the brute-creatures, which should stand in awe of them (Gen 9:2). (3.) They should be allowed to eat flesh for the support of their lives; only they must not eat blood (Gen 9:3, Gen 9:4). (4.) The world should never be drowned again (Gen 9:8-11). 2. God requires of them to take care of one another's lives, and of their own (Gen 9:5, Gen 9:6). II. The seal of that covenant, namely, the rainbow (Gen 9:12-17). III. A particular passage of story concerning Noah and his sons, which occasioned some prophecies that related to after-times, 1. Noah's sin and shame (Gen 9:20, Gen 9:21). 2. Ham's impudence and impiety (Gen 9:22). 3. The pious modesty of Shem and Japheth (Gen 9:23). 4. The curse of Canaan, and the blessing of Shem and Japheth (Gen 9:21-27). IV. The age and death of Noah (Gen 9:28, Gen 9:29).

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 9 In this chapter we have an account of God's blessing Noah and his sons, being just come out of the ark, with a renewal of the blessing of propagating their species, and replenishing the earth, the dominion over the creatures, and a freedom from the fear of them; with liberty to eat flesh, only it must not be eaten with blood; with a providential care and preservation of their lives from men and beasts, by making a law that that man or beast should die that shed man's blood, Gen 9:1 and after repeating the blessing of procreation, Gen 9:7 mention is made of a covenant God made with Noah, his sons, and all the creatures, that he would drown the world no more, the token of which should be the rainbow in the cloud, Gen 9:8 the names of the sons of Noah are observed, by whom the earth was repeopled, Gen 9:18 and seem to be observed for the sake of an event after recorded; Noah having planted a vineyard, and drank too freely of the wine of it, lay down uncovered in his tent, which Ham seeing, told his two brothers of it, who in a very modest manner covered him, Gen 9:20 of all which Noah being sensible when he awoke, cursed Canaan the son of Ham, and blessed Shem and Japheth, Gen 9:24 and the chapter is concluded with the age and death of Noah, Gen 9:28.

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father,.... Which, had it been through surprise, and at an unawares, would not have been thought criminal; but be went into his father's tent, where he ought not to have entered; he looked with pleasure and delight on his father's nakedness: Ham is represented by many writers as a very wicked, immodest, and profligate creature: Berosus (i) makes him a magician, and to be the same with Zoroast or Zoroastres, and speaks of him as the public corrupter of mankind; and says that he taught men to live as before the flood, to lie with mothers, sisters, daughters, males and brutes, and creatures of all sorts; and that he actually did so himself, and therefore was cast out by his father Janus, or Noah, and got the name of "Chem", the infamous and immodest: and told his two brethren without; he went out of the tent after he had pleased himself with the sight; see Hab 2:15 and in a wanton, ludicrous, and scoffing manner, related what he had seen: some of the Jewish Rabbins (k), as Jarchi relates, say that Canaan first saw it, and told his father of it; and some say (l), that he or Ham committed an unnatural crime with him; and others (m), that he castrated him; and hence, it is supposed, came the stories of Jupiter castrating his father Saturn, and Chronus his father Uranus: and Berosus (n) says, that Ham taking hold of his father's genitals, and muttering some words, by a magic charm rendered him impotent: and some (o) will have it that he committed incest with his father's wife; but these things are said without foundation: what Noah's younger son did unto him, besides looking on him, we are not told, yet it was such as brought a curse on Canaan; and one would think it would be more than bare sight, nay, it is expressly said there was something done, but what is not said, Gen 9:24. (i) Antiqu. l. 3. fol. 25. 1. (k) In Bereshit Rabba, sect. 36. fol. 32. 1. (l) Some in Jarchi. (m) Pirke Eliezer, c. 23. Some Rabbins in Ben Gersom & Jarchi in loc. (n) Antiqu. l. 3. fol. 25. 1. (o) Vander Hart, apud Bayle Dict. vol. 10. Art. "Ham", p. 588.

For another mystery was accomplished and predicted in the days of Noah, of which you are not aware. It is this: in the blessings wherewith Noah blessed his two sons, and in the curse pronounced on his son's son. For the Spirit of prophecy would not curse the son that had been by God blessed along with [his brothers]. But since the punishment of the sin would cleave to the whole descent of the son that mocked at his father's nakedness, he made the curse originate with his son. Now, in what he said, he foretold that the descendants of Shem would keep in retention the property and dwellings of Canaan: and again that the descendants of Japheth would take possession of the property of which Shem's descendants had dispossessed Canaan's descendants; and spoil the descendants of Shem, even as they plundered the sons of Canaan. And listen to the way in which it has so come to pass. For you, who have derived your lineage from Shem, invaded the territory of the sons of Canaan by the will of God; and you possessed it. And it is manifest that the sons of Japheth, having invaded you in turn by the judgment of God, have taken your land from you, and have possessed it. Thus it is written: "And Noah awoke from the wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him; and he said, Cursed be Canaan, the servant; a servant shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. May the Lord enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the houses of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant."

Now the three sons of Noah were Shem, Ham and Japheth, from whom again the race was multiplied: for these were the beginning of mankind after the flood. Now of these one fell under a curse, and the two (others) inherited a blessing by reason of their works. For the younger of them, who was called Ham, having mocked his father, and having been condemned of the sin of impiety because of his outrage and unrighteousness against his father, received a curse; and all the posterity that came of him he involved in the curse; whence it came about that his whole race after him were accursed, and in sins they increased and multiplied. But Shem and Japheth, his brothers, because of their piety towards their father obtained a blessing. Now the curse of Ham, wherewith his father Noah cursed him, is this: Cursed be Ham the child; a servant shall he be unto his brethren. This having come upon his race, he begat many descendants upon the earth, (even) for fourteen generations, growing up in a wild condition; and then his race was cut off by God, being delivered up to judgment. For the Canaanites and Hittites and Peresites and Hivites and Amorites and Jebusites and Gergasites and Sodomites, the Arabians also and the dwellers in Phœnicia, all the Egyptians and the Libyans, are of the posterity of Ham, who have fallen under the curse; for the curse is of long duration over the ungodly.

When Christ says, “I am the true vine,” the blood of Christ is assuredly not water but wine. We are redeemed and made alive by his blood. But in the cup it is not wine as such that redeems but his blood. This is declared by the sacrament and testimony of all the Scriptures. For we find this even in Genesis also, in respect of the sacrament prefigured in Noah. That he drank wine was to them a precursor and figure of the Lord’s passion. Noah was made drunk by this wine, was made naked in his household, was lying down with his thighs naked and exposed, and the nakedness of the father was observed by his second son and was told abroad but was covered by two, the eldest and the youngest, and other matters which it is not necessary to follow out. It is enough for us simply to embrace the understanding that Noah set forth a type of the future truth. Noah did not drink water but wine and thus expressed in advance the figure of the passion of the Lord.

Noah cursed Canaan, saying, “Cursed be Canaan. A slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.” But what sin could Canaan have committed even if he had been right behind his father when Ham observed the nakedness of Noah? Some say that because Ham had been blessed along with those who entered the ark and came out of it, Noah did not curse Ham himself, even though his son, who was cursed, grieved him greatly. Others, however, say from the fact that Scripture says, “Noah knew everything that his youngest son had done to him,” it is clear that it was not Ham who observed his nakedness, for Ham was the middle son and not the youngest. For this reason they say that Canaan, the youngest, told of the nakedness of the old man. Then Ham went out and jokingly told his brothers. For this reason then, even though it might be thought that Canaan was cursed unjustly in that he did what he did in his youth, still he was cursed justly for he was not cursed in the place of another. Noah knew that Canaan would deserve the curse in his old age, or else he would not have been cursed in his youth.

After the deluge Noah drank and became drunk in his own house, and his thighs were uncovered and he was exposed in his nakedness. The elder brother came along and laughed; the younger, however, covered him up. All this is said in type of the Savior, for on the cross he had drunk of the passion: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me.” He drank and was inebriated, and his thighs were laid bare—the dishonor of the cross. The older brothers, the Jews, came along and laughed; the younger, the Gentiles, covered up his ignominy.

When Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father's nakedness was uncovered, he told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a cloak, laid it upon their shoulders, and walking backward, covered their father's nakedness; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's private parts. Ham, who saw his father's nakedness and laughed, signifies the Jewish people, who, contradicting and incredulous, rather despised the passion of our Lord and Savior than honored it, rejoicing in their relief at seeing it as contemptible rather than salvific. He also told his brothers outside what had happened to their father because through him the secret of the Lord's passion prophesied was made manifest and somewhat public, reaching the gift of the second generation; hence the Apostle says: "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23). Furthermore, the two brothers, the eldest and the youngest, signify those to whom it was subsequently added: both Jews and Gentiles are called to Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Both the eldest and youngest carry the sacrament of the Lord’s past and completed passion as if it were a single cloak from behind, not looking at their father's nudity because they do not consent to Christ's killing, but still honoring it with a veil, as if knowing from whom they were born, so that they could be sons of mercy who were previously sons of wrath. The middle son, that is, the Jewish people, is called the middle because he neither held the apostles’ primacy nor was the last to believe among the Gentiles, saw his father's nakedness because he agreed to Christ's death. It is aptly said of the two brothers that they covered their father's modesty with their faces turned away, as if displeased with the deed of the wicked vine; that vine, namely the Jewish nation, is mystically signified as having degenerated from paternal nobility at the time of the Lord’s passion and offered vinegar to the thirsting Lord on the cross instead of wine; for He thirsted for the faith and love of that people, but they, instead of the sweetness of faith and the fervor of love, gave Him the sharpness of hatred and unbelief.

God blesses Noah and his sons, Gen 9:1. The brute creation to be subject to them through fear, Gen 9:2. The first grant of animal food, Gen 9:3. Eating of blood forbidden, Gen 9:4. Cruelty to animals forbidden, Gen 9:5. A man-slayer to forfeit his life, Gen 9:6. The covenant of God established between him and Noah and the whole brute creation, Gen 9:8-11. The rainbow given as the sign and pledge of this covenant, Gen 9:12-17. The three sons of Noah people the whole earth, Gen 9:18, Gen 9:19. Noah plants a vineyard, drinks of the wine, is intoxicated, and lies exposed in his tent, Gen 9:20, Gen 9:21. The reprehensible conduct of Ham, Gen 9:22. The laudable carriage of Shem and Japheth, Gen 9:23. Noah prophetically declares the servitude of the posterity of Ham, Gen 9:24, Gen 9:25; and the dignity and increase of Shem and Japheth, Gen 9:26, Gen 9:27. The age and death of Noah, Gen 9:28, Gen 9:29.

And Ham, the father of Canaan, etc. - There is no occasion to enter into any detail here; the sacred text is circumstantial enough. Ham, and very probably his son Canaan, had treated their father on this occasion with contempt or reprehensible levity. Had Noah not been innocent, as my exposition supposes him, God would not have endued him with the spirit of prophecy on this occasion, and testified such marked disapprobation of their conduct. The conduct of Shem and Japheth was such as became pious and affectionate children, who appear to have been in the habit of treating their father with decency, reverence, and obedient respect. On the one the spirit of prophecy (not the incensed father) pronounces a curse: on the others the same spirit (not parental tenderness) pronounces a blessing. These things had been just as they afterwards occurred had Noah never spoken. God had wise and powerful reasons to induce him to sentence the one to perpetual servitude, and to allot to the others prosperity and dominion. Besides, the curse pronounced on Canaan neither fell immediately upon himself nor on his worthless father, but upon the Canaanites; and from the history we have of this people, in Lev 18:6, Lev 18:7, Lev 18:24, Lev 18:29, Lev 18:30, Lev 20:9, Lev 20:22-24, Lev 20:26; and Deu 9:4; Deu 12:31, we may ask, Could the curse of God fall more deservedly on any people than on these? Their profligacy was great, but it was not the effect of the curse; but, being foreseen by the Lord, the curse was the effect of their conduct. But even this curse does not exclude them from the possibility of obtaining salvation; it extends not to the soul and to eternity, but merely to their bodies and to time; though, if they continued to abuse their liberty, resist the Holy Ghost, and refuse to be saved on God's terms, then the wrath of Divine justice must come upon them to the uttermost. How many, even of these, repented, we cannot tell.

COVENANT. (Gen 9:1-7) And God blessed Noah--Here is republished the law of nature that was announced to Adam, consisting as it originally did of several parts. Be fruitful, &c.--The first part relates to the transmission of life, the original blessing being reannounced in the very same words in which it had been promised at first [Gen 1:28].

These divine purposes of peace, which were communicated to Noah while sacrificing, were solemnly confirmed by the renewal of the blessing pronounced at the creation and the establishment of a covenant through a visible sign, which would be a pledge for all time that there should never be a flood again. In the words by which the first blessing was transferred to Noah and his sons (Gen 9:2), the supremacy granted to man over the animal world was expressed still more forcibly than in Gen 1:26 and Gen 1:28; because, inasmuch as sin with its consequences had loosened the bond of voluntary subjection on the part of the animals to the will of man-man, on the one hand, having lost the power of the spirit over nature, and nature, on the other hand, having become estranged from man, or rather having rebelled against him, through the curse pronounced upon the earth-henceforth it was only by force that he could rule over it, by that "fear and dread" which God instilled into the animal creation. Whilst the animals were thus placed in the hand (power) of man, permission was also given to him to slaughter them for food, the eating of the blood being the only thing forbidden.