Genesis 9:11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." Matthew Henry Commentary 9:8-17 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. The Covenant of the Rainbow …10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.

11 "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." 12God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations;… Noah's Flood—why? - creation.com Subscribe to Creation Magazine Editor’s note: As Creation magazine has been continuously published since 1978, we are publishing some of the articles from the archives for historical interest, such as this. For teaching and sharing purposes, readers are advised to supplement these historic articles with more up-to-date ones suggested in the Related Articles below. Noah's Flood—why? by Russell M. Grigg In the last two issues of Creation magazine we have shown stamps with the biblical themes of 'The Creation of the World' and 'Jonah and the Great Fish', from Palau. In this issue, the 'Noah's Ark' stamps are from the island nation of St Vincent, in the West Indies. The 'Noah's Ark' stamps from the volcanic island of St. Vincent in the eastern Caribbean Sea.

The artist has depicted the end of the Flood, with Noah's Ark resting on a mountain under a rainbow,1 and a selection of pairs of various animals, including koalas and kangaroos. Answers to various objections concerning the Flood—both scientific and practical—that skeptics have raised over the years have been published in many creationist books,2 films/videos,3 and magazines,4 so in this article we shall discuss the reasons why the Flood occurred. REASONS FOR THE FLOOD Genesis chapter 6 gives four reasons why God sent the Flood: 'The wickedness of man was great in the earth' (v. 5). 'Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually' (v. 5). 'The earth was filled with violence' (v. 11). 'The earth...was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth' (v. 12). (All the people on earth had corrupted their way.) The historical biblical record states, 'And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt' (Genesis 6:12).

This is in sharp contrast to God's declaration when he had finished creating the heaven and the earth, namely, 'And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good' (Genesis 1:31). It is astounding to consider that in the tenth generation from Adam the human race had become so wicked, evil, violent and corrupt that it was not fit to go on living. And of all mankind only four men and four women were spared, because they did not go with the great sin drift. Q: Are these reasons adequate to have warranted the wholesale destruction of the human race? A: The Bible tells us that mankind was created by God as a special being, made in God's image, to live according to the rules which God has laid down. When mankind breaks those rules judgment follows. Why? Because God, as a result of His holiness and justice, has decreed to punish the wicked and disobedient. Sometimes this punishment is evident to all in this life, but the ultimate punishment awaits the Day of Judgment. 'And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment' (Hebrew 9:27). This judgment is described in Revelation 20:11-15.

In the case of those living on earth in Noah's day, God adjudged that their deeds were such as to necessitate the penalty which He imposed. John Calvin commented, 'It [the whole earth] was not overwhelmed with a deluge of waters till it had first been immersed in the pollution of wickedness...that wickedness was too deeply seated in their hearts, to leave any hope of repentance.'5 Q: Why were the earth and animals destroyed too? A : In so far as sin is a transgression of the law, it is guilt; in so far as it is a principle, it is pollution and defilement. Calvin said, 'The earth was like a wealthy house, well supplied with every kind of provision in abundance and variety. Now, since man has defiled the earth itself with his crimes, and has vilely corrupted all the riches with which it was replenished, the Lord also designed that the monument of his punishment should there be placed: just as if a judge, about to punish a most wicked and nefarious criminal, should, for the sake of greater infamy, command his house to be razed to the foundation.

And this all tends to inspire us with a dread of sin; for we may easily infer how great is its atrocity, when the punishment of it is extended even to the brute creation.'6 WHAT OF GOD'S MERCY? God's mercy regarding the Flood is just as evident as His judgment, and is seen in the fact that God provided a way of escape for those who were prepared to believe what He had said, heed the warning He gave, and avail themselves of the means of salvation which He provided by instructing Noah to build the Ark (Genesis 6:14-16). Noah is described as 'a just man', 'perfect in his generations', who 'walked with God',7 and who 'found grace in the eyes of the Lord' (Genesis 6:8-9); he was also 'a preacher of righteousness' (2 Peter 2:5). From this it is very reasonable to conclude that his messages, perhaps preached from the platform of the partially completed Ark, included warnings of the coming judgment and invitations to his listeners to avail themselves of the one means of escape, which he was constructing.

In the event, Noah and his family alone had regard to the wrath of God, and only eight people boarded the Ark in faith and were saved—Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their three wives. RELEVANCE TO US TODAY On one occasion Jesus said, 'As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be' (Matthew 24:37). As we have seen, the days of Noah involved four types of iniquity: great wickedness, evil imaginations, violence and corruption, and these things have all become a way of life in the 1990s. When people are taught from kindergarten to adulthood through every branch of the media and the education system that the world made itself (and thus God is unnecessary or does not exist), and that they are nothing more than evolved animals, it is not surprising that they give themselves over to these sorts of behaviour.

As a result, the Ten Commandments have become the 'ten suggestions', chastity is regarded as 'neurotic inhibition', immorality has become 'the new morality', perversion is 'an alternative life style', and the only absolute left in society is that there are no absolutes.8 Violence and immorality, rather than being abhorrent in society, have become the subject of entertainment. Some films today portray more than 100 acts of violence per hour. And it seems that few films can be made these days without showing specific acts of adultery or fornication. It has become 'old-fashioned' to speak out against this, so it is little wonder that this celluloid action is emulated in real life, as happened when a film dealing with gang violence, called Boyz N the Hood opened in 800 cinemas across the USA in 1991. One man was killed and 20 other moviegoers were shot, stabbed or beaten up in a wave of copy-cat audience violence which erupted in cinemas, drive-ins, and car parks. CONCLUSION The warnings given to Noah's generation are terrifyingly relevant today. When God's mercy is rejected, then His judgment must and will fall.

But, as in the days of Noah, so now God has both given warning of the judgment to come and provided a way of salvation. The Ark was the only refuge from divine judgment then and it had to be entered by faith. As such it speaks to us of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour for sinful mankind today, whose death on the Cross must be appropriated by faith. 'For by grace are ye saved through faith' (Ephesians 2:8); 'Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved' (Acts 4:12). As the Apostle Paul declares, 'I declare unto you the Gospel...By which also ye are saved...how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that He rose again the third day' (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4). REFERENCES AND FOOTNOTES The stamps show some artistic licence—the rainbow should have red on the outside and blue (actually violet) on the inside, and the Ark shown is the traditional shape, whereas it was most likely to have been rectangular. E.g. John C.

Whitcomb, The World That Perished , Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Revised Edition, 1988. Ken Ham, Andrew Snelling, Carl Wieland, The Answers Book, Chapter 7, 'Noah's Flood: Where Did the Water Go?'; Chapter 12, 'How Did Various Animals Get from the Ark to Isolated Places such as Australia?', Creation Science Foundation, Brisbane, 1990, pp. 117-129, and 197-207. E.g. The World That Perished , Films for Christ, Mesa, Arizona. E.g. 'Does Scripture Require a Global Flood?' Creation magazine, March-May 1995, Vol. 17, No. 2, p.37. 'Amazing "Ark" Exposé': Could this be Noah's Ark?', Creation magazine, September-November 1992, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 26-38. 'The Pitch for Noah's Ark', Creation magazine, August 1984, Vol. 7 No. 1, p. 20.

'Diseases on the Ark', Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal , 1994, Vol. 8:1, pp. 16-17. 'Safety Investigation of Noah's Ark in a Seaway', Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal , 1994, Vol. 8:1, pp. 26-36. John Calvin, A Commentary on Genesis , The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1965, p. 217. Ref. 5, p. 250. It is worth noting that Noah's great grandfather, Enoch, is also described as a person who 'walked with God' (Genesis 5:22,24). Noah is thus seen as the descendant of a godly line of ancestors who reared their children in the knowledge and fear of God. From McCarthy,T.J., The Plain Man’s Guide to Newagespeak.

Note: Agent for the stamps in USA is Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation (Pauline Cinciolo), 460 West 34th St, New York, NY10001, ph: (212) 629 7979, fax: (212) 629 3350; and in Australia it is Interactive Promotions (Michael Pitt), 44 Buckingham St, Surry Hills, NSW, 2010, ph: (02) 310 1181. Hills, NSW, 2010, ph: (02) 310 1181. Related Articles Genesis 5:32-10:1 NIV - After Noah was 500 years old, he became - Bible Gateway Genesis 5:32-10:1New International Version (NIV) 32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Wickedness in the World 6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with[ a ] humans forever, for they are mortal[ b ]; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. 5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah and the Flood 9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[ c ] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[ d ] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[ e ] high all around.[ f ] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him. 7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in. 17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.

20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[ g ][ h ] 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. 24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. 8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible. 6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him. 13 By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth.

Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” 18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though[ i ] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.

And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, will never cease.” God’s Covenant With Noah 9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. 6 “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.

7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” The Sons of Noah 18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth. 20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[ j ] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan! will he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. 27 May God extend Japheth’s[ k ] territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.” 28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died. The Table of Nations 10 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. Footnotes: The World After the Flood: Genesis Bible Study Software The World After the Flood Upon leaving the ark, Noah offered a sacrifice to God. Noah gave to God one of every clean animal and bird. Remember that on entering the ark, Noah brought in seven of every clean animal and bird. Therefore, the odd animal was used in the sacrifice.

God finds Noah's sacrifice acceptable and promises to never curse the earth again nor destroy life on the earth, no matter how evil mankind becomes. God had cursed the earth when Adam and Eve sinned, bringing forth weeds and thorns (Genesis 3:17). He also cursed the earth with the flood waters, destroying every living thing on the earth (Genesis 6:13). While the earth remains, the seasons would continue to cycle. This is the first mention of seasons in the Bible. Some speculate that alterations to the earth in the flood brought on the seasons, but there is no way to prove such a point. Notice that the condition on God's promise is "while the earth remains." God is not promising that the earth will remain forever. He is saying that the seasons will not be interrupted as they were during the flood while the earth remains in existence. We know that one day, this world will be destroyed for God has promised its destruction (II Peter 3:10). With life destroyed from the earth, God once again renews his blessing to replenish the earth with life (Genesis 9:1-4).

This blessing is similar to the one given in Genesis 1:28, but the statement that man was to have dominion over the earth is omitted. Instead, God has given animals an instinctive fear of man. This corresponds with God's change in man's source of food. Up until this time, men were vegetarians (Genesis 1:29). Now, men are permitted to eat meat, but their meat would not docilely wait to be killed. God places one restriction on the eating of meat, man is not permitted to eat the blood of an animal because it contains the life of the creature. This universal law continues today (Acts 15:29). God also adds laws dealing with murder at this time (Genesis 9:5-7). Murder is to be punished by death. It does not matter if the killing was done by an animal or man. Some people object to this punishment. They wonder how killing someone could be a punishment for killing someone. They miss the point that God is not authorizing personal vengeance. The punishment of a murderer by death is carrying out a just punishment for a crime that was committed.

In the Old Law, which came much later in history, there is a commandment, "You shall not murder." However, even this commandment is punished by death when it was broken. In fact, breaking any of the ten commandments carried a death penalty (Hebrews 10:28). In the New Testament we are told that governments have the right from God to bear swords (Romans 13:4, Acts 25:11, Matthew 26:52). The right to bear implies a right to use the sword. Therefore, governments have the right to enforce their laws even to the point of imposing a death penalty. While death is a just punishment for the violation of some laws, it is permissible to give exceptions when conditions are met. For example, King David was guilty of adultery and murder, both punishable by death, but because of his repentance God forgave him of his sins (II Samuel 11 and 12).

The woman taken in the act of adultery and brought to Jesus had committed an act punishable by death, but the lack of accusers (the Old Law required at least two witnesses) and the implied repentance of the woman allowed Jesus to send her way forgiven (John 8:3-11). God then entered a covenant with all living creatures. A covenant is an agreement between two parties. In ancient times there were two basic covenants. One was made between two equal parties. In these covenants both parties would give up certain rights and gain benefits by the agreement. The other type is between two unequal parties, such as between a ruler and his subjects. This covenant is an example of the latter. Nothing is given up by mankind or the animals. Only God gives up his right to destroy his creation by another flood. In this covenant, mankind and the animals benefit from God's protection, but God does not gain any direct benefit from his promise. All covenants are sealed by some visible token. Today we exchange papers with our signatures. In the ancient days they would stack stones to form a monument or offer sacrifices of animals or both. God seals his pledge by giving the world a rainbow. Prior to this, rainbows did not exist.

Since rainbows are formed by light shining through raindrops, this is another hint that it did not rain before the flood, instead the ground was watered by morning mists. In every covenant, the terms and duration of the covenant are specified. In this covenant, God establishes a perpetual covenant that will remain in effect as long as the earth continues to exists. Notice that this covenant does not rule out the possibility of God destroying the world by some other means. The world was destroyed because its people continually sinned. We quickly learn that the flood did not wipe out sin. After the flood, Noah plants a vineyard and makes wine from the grapes he harvested. He became drunk and laid naked in his tent. One of his sons, Ham, happens to come upon him. Instead of being embarrassed for Noah, Ham gloats over Noah's weakness. Instead of trying to help Noah, Ham seeks out his brothers to laugh about his drunken father. However, Shem and Japheth did not find the situation funny. They immediately went to rectify the problem. They even refused to look at Noah in his weakness. They held a garment between them, walked in backwards so they would not see Noah's shameful condition.

Ham's sin was not his looking at his naked father, but what his action implied. Ham gloried in his father's shameful behavior, implying that he resented Noah's authority. We should not glory in another person's sin (Galatians 6:1), but rather to sorrow for them and to do something about the sin, if it is within our power. When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor, he realized what had happened. He then gave a series of cures and blessings on his sons and their descendants. The pronouncements that Noah made are more than wishful thinking on Noah's part, they are prophecies about the nature of each son and their descendants. The practice of giving blessings and curses, when the head of the household nears death, continued throughout the Old Testament. It was considered a part of one's inheritance, especially for the oldest child, as we will see when we study Esau and Jacob. Ham, for the role he played in making his father's shame public, was not even mentioned by Noah. Instead, Noah pronounces a curse on Canaan, Ham's youngest son. Noah is giving insult by ignoring Ham and his two older sons.

However, by naming the youngest son, we see that Noah is doing this on purpose and not by oversight. Further injury is made to Ham when Noah gives Ham's two brothers blessings. The actual curse is that Canaan (or his descendants) would be servants of servants. In other words, they would occupy the lowest rank in society, serving those who themselves are servants. This is not necessarily implying slavery. For example, Jesus viewed himself as the servant of all men. He served everyone, but he wasn't enslaved by anyone. People in the past have used this curse to justify slavery of black people. However, they fail to notice that the curse was directed to Canaan, whose descendants occupied the area of Israel before the Israelites conquered the land. Descendants of Ham's other children occupied the land of Africa. In the future we will learn that the Canaanites were conquered by the Israelites (descendants of Shem) and became permanent servants to the Israelites, thus fulfilling the prophecy. Shem received a blessing from Noah that emphasized his relationship with God. The nation of Israel descends from Shem and they are called God's chosen people.

Japheth's blessing centers around the word "enlarged." This is the only time this particular form of the Hebrew word appears in the Bible. There is some debate on what the exact translation should be. Other forms of the same word are translated as "persuade" or "entice." One commentator thinks the word means "open-minded" or "intellectual." We do know that Japheth's descendants occupied the area we now call Europe, where much of our modern knowledge originates from. The blessing also notes that Japheth and Shem's descendants would share a close relationship. Noah lived to the ripe old age of 950 years. To put this in perspective, consider that Noah died 58 years after Abraham was born. It is possible that Abraham had meet his famous ancestor, though we do not know where Noah settled to live after the flood. Send mail to minister@lavistachurchofchrist.org with questions or comments about this web site.

Copyright Â© 2003,2016 La Vista Church of Christ Genesis 9 CEV - God’s Promise to Noah - God said to - Bible Gateway Genesis 9Contemporary English Version (CEV) God’s Promise to Noah 9 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. 5-6 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. 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. 12-13 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. 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. Noah and His Family 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.

Question: In the Bible, what sign did God give Noah that the earth would not be flooded again?
Answer: A rainbow