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Genesis 9

Aqualung

Tasty
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon allthat moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of te sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blook thereof, shall ye not eat.
5 And surely your blook of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9 And I, behol, I establish my convenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said,This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the could:
15 And I will rememeber my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and th ewaters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasgin covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard.
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren
26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and CAnaan shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
The part I like the best aobut this one is that God gave us permission to eat meat. :D

What do you make of the red part?

What do you make of the blue part? Why would Noah have cursed his son for making what seems to be a mistake? Noah passed out naked, so he curses his son. What's with that?
 

michel

Administrator Emeritus
Staff member
Well, the KJV with defender's notes explains the three verses in this way:-


9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

(The profoundly scientific truth that "the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11) is here mentioned for the first time. This, as well as the other principles of the Edenic mandate and the Noahic covenant, is still in effect and should be observed by Christians especially. The blood, both in symbol and in reality, is "the life of the flesh." Thus, it is appropriate to offer in sacrifice (until the offering of Christ) but never to consume, either as food or as a religious ritual.)

9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

(If the blood of animals is to be regarded as too sacred to be eaten, since it represents the "life" (or "soul"--Hebrew nephesh) of the animal and is acceptable as a substitutionary sacrifice for man's sins, how much more sacred is the blood of man himself. His blood represents his life and, since he alone is "in the image of God," the Creator of life, man's blood is not even to be shed, let alone eaten. If either man or beast slays a man, that man or that animal is, judicially, to be slain himself, the reason being the divine sacredness of human life.)

9:6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

(This establishment of capital punishment, administered judicially by man, has never been changed or withdrawn. It is still God's law today and forms the basic authorization of the institution of human government. It implies also the enactment and enforcement of regulations for those human activities (stealing, adultery) which if unrestrained, would lead to murder. It does not stipulate the form, but only the fact of government. It extends the primeval mandate by giving man the responsibility to control not only the animals but his own society also. The original commission had authorized the natural sciences and technologies; this new extension incorporated in God's covenant with Noah authorizes the social sciences and their technologies (psychology, law, sociology, anthropology, political science, government, police, criminology). Although capital punishment is the proper prerogative of human society ("every man's brother") as far as strict justice is concerned, mitigating circumstances (especially sincere repentance and restitution) may warrant extension of mercy in individual cases. Nevertheless, the basic right of governments to exact capital punishment as penalty for murder cannot legitimately be abrogated as far as God is concerned. This is clear even in the Christian dispensation. The eating of meat (1 Timothy 4:3,4), the abstinence from blood (Acts 15:19,20) and the authority of the governmental sword (Romans 13:4; Acts 25:11) were reaffirmed to the early church, making it clear that the Noahic mandate still applied.);)
 

Aqualung

Tasty
Good explaniation
michel said:
This is clear even in the Christian dispensation. The eating of meat (1 Timothy 4:3,4), the abstinence from blood (Acts 15:19,20) and the authority of the governmental sword (Romans 13:4; Acts 25:11) were reaffirmed to the early church, making it clear that the Noahic mandate still applied
true. very true.
 
Pretty much when ever you eat meat, make sure it is well done...Personally, I eat meat well done cause I don't want to eat bloody meat.
 

joeboonda

Well-Known Member
Uncovered his nakedness is a euphemism for sex, but it said he SAW the nakedness of his father. And Noah did not curse Ham, but he cursed Ham's son, Canaan, just to be specific.:)
 

joeboonda

Well-Known Member
Actually, I just went through a dozen versions, at Biblegateway.com, and guess what? They all say that He SAW the nakedness of his father, NONE say anything close to him UNCOVERING the nakedness of his father. You are wrong. Lol, I just picking at you a bit, okay?
Mike
 

joeboonda

Well-Known Member
evearael said:
Isaiah 57:8 & Lamentations 1:8 use it the same way.

I am just playing around, but the Lamentations 1:8, you are right, Isaiah, eh, maybe.
If I get time I will compare the 2 phrases, saw and uncovered, and see what all they entail. Again, I was just 'funnin'.
 

evearael

Well-Known Member
No worries! I believe debating the meaning of specific verses is not only great fun, but it actually strengthens faith. I look forward to hearing your opinions!
 

joeboonda

Well-Known Member
From looking at Leviticus, they seem to enterweave together in meaning at times. However, from the context of Genesis 9, as Ham's brothers walked backward, carrying a blanket and laid it on Noah, NOT LOOKING UPON HIM, I think this would suggest that Ham probably just looked upon or saw Noah passed out naked. It does not infer anything more, and since Ham's brothers made sure to walk backward and not look upon Noah, I don't think it means more than what it says. But I wasn't there, lol.
 
evearael said:
No worries! I believe debating the meaning of specific verses is not only great fun, but it actually strengthens faith. I look forward to hearing your opinions!

Bravo...Spoken like a true debator. I applaud you.
 

joeboonda

Well-Known Member
evearael said:
No worries! I believe debating the meaning of specific verses is not only great fun, but it actually strengthens faith. I look forward to hearing your opinions!

That's Cool Evearael! So many people make it, well, NOT fun, they get mad when debating or discussing verses, religions, etc. ya know. Its nice to just study and learn things with each other and enjoy it.
 

Karl R

Active Member
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren
26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and CAnaan shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant
.
I'm reminded of the scene in "Dogma" where Bettoney (The Last Scion) tells the angel, "You do know that I work at an abortion clinic."
And the angel replies, "And Noah was a drunk."

Rabbi Kushner described the bible as a biography about godly people trying to live godly lives, sometimes succeding and sometimes failing. This is an obvious example of a godly person seriously failing. He did something wrong (got drunk), and in his embarassment did something even worse (cursed his grandchild).

God doesn't require us to be perfect to do his will. God has used imperfect people before. We just have to be available.
 

lunamoth

Will to love
Karl R said:
God doesn't require us to be perfect to do his will. God has used imperfect people before. We just have to be available.

:clap

"You must spread frubals around before giving karma to Karl R."

lunamoth
 

EnhancedSpirit

High Priestess
from: http://www.ldolphin.org/canaan.html

It is hard to see why he should be cursed rather than his father, who actually did the wrong. But we note the following. First, it is a biblical principle (whether liked by us or not) that the sins of the fathers are visited on the children even to the third and fourth generations (Exod. 20:5). Second, the punishment, though inflicted on Canaan, was appropriate to Ham since he reaped exactly as he had sown. He sinned as a son and was punished in his son. Third, the assigning of the punishment to Canaan may have been (as is so often the case in God's judgments) a function of the mercy of God, who could have cursed Ham and all his descendants but instead restricted the punishment to only this fourth part, Canaan being only one of Ham's four sons.
 
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