GENESIS
CHAPTER 9
Noah and his sons commanded to multiply and fill the earth—They are given dominion over all forms of life—Death penalty decreed for murder—God shall not again destroy the earth by a flood—Canaan cursed; Shem and Japheth blessed.
1 AND God blessed Noah and his sons, [ A blessing of increase in posterity. ] and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. [ Since Noah and his family are the only humans on earth it is fitting that the Lord issue the same command to them that he did to Adam and Eve. Mos 2:28; Abr 4:28; ]
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, [ Prior to the fall man had dominion over th eanimals by using love and kindness; after the fall man ruled with savage ferocity, he killed them mamed them harnsessed them... ] and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the 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.
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.
6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: [ The law of capital punishment. ] for in the image of God made he man.
9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, [ God re-establishes his covenant with Noah. What is are those covenants? The only one talked about in Gen is that God promises he will never do this again, and that's it. However; in the JST 9:15, so we kind of got to look at the footnotes here, he says, "I will establish my covenant with you, which I made unto your father, Enoch, concerning your seed." And then he goes on in 11:3, to talk about, "The remnants of your posterity." So this is going back to Moses 7. But basically it's this covenant that was given with Enoch, that out of Enoch's descendants and out of Noah's descendants, all nations would come from that, from this blessing of going out and multiplying, replenishing the earth. And that was a promise given to Enoch, and given to Noah. And this was part of the covenant. He was promised this, that all of these nations would come from this. And we get one more promise. One more promise, if we keep going in JST 9:21-23, he says, "When men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth." And it's crazy. I don't think we think of this covenant after the flood, as including these extra things, that Noah's posterity would include all the nations, but also this idea that we have this promise that all of Noah's posterity, which, when you think about it is us; we're included in this, that this covenant included, "If we're righteous, Zion will return," and everything that Zion means: peace, and righteousness and a certain lifestyle and a way of living and treating each other, and loving each other. And this is part of this whole covenant. ] 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 [ The token is the part that you can see in order to establish that the covenatant is in place in this case the ability to see the rainbow. So the token or sign of the covenant that he made with Noah is shown forth with the rainbow. So when we see the rainbow we need to remember 1) that God will not flood the earth again, 2) the covenant that God gave Enoch, that all the nations of the earth will come from this covenant - you and I 3) There will come a time when men are righteous again and the city of Zion will return to the earth. ] which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow [ Why the rainbow? Anciently, the archer’s bow was a symbol of divine power. Additionally, prophets have likened the glory of the Lord to the rainbow, as in the vision of Ezekiel: “As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was . . . the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” ] 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 cloud:
15 And I will remember [ Keep - it is not God who breaks his covenants it is man. Interesting thought. If the Lord uses covenants to work with and help man to get back to him; do covenants not also teach us how to be like God? When Gos makes a covenant he cannot break it or he would cease to be God, so if we are here to learn then that is part of what we need to learn. when we make a covenant we cannot break it - that is if we want to be like God, and if we are to be a God someday we need to learn how to do that now. ] my covenant, which bis between me and you [ Reviewing the JST 9:15-25 will show that the covenant that the Lord is speaking of here is the same covenant that the Lord made with Enoch. See Moses 7:50-52. ] and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters 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 everlasting 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, [ The ability to see the rainbow yeilds the promised covenant that the Lord will not destroy the earth by water again. vs 15. ] 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, [ Signifies name or renown; and his indeed was great in a temporal and spiritual sense. Abrahma will come through this lineage. The finest regions of Upper and Middle Asia allotted to his family, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Persia, &c., to the Indus and Ganges, and perhaps to China eastward. The chief mark of Shem was of a spiritual nature. ] and Ham, [ "signifies burnt or black, and this name was peculiarly significant of the regions allotted to his family. To the Cushites, or children of his eldest son Cush, were allotted the hot southern regions of Asia, along the coasts of the Persian Gulf, Susiana or Chusistan, Arabia, &c.; to the sons of Canaan, Palestine and Syria; to the sons of Misraim, Egypt and Libya, in Africa.
The Hamites in general, like the Canaanites of old, were a seafaring race, and sooner arrived at civilization and the luxuries of life than their simpler pastoral and agricultural brethren of the other two families. The first great empires of Assyria and Egypt were founded by them, and the republics of Sidon, Tyre, and Carthage were early distinguished for their commerce but they sooner also fell to decay; and Egypt, which was one of the first, became the last and basest of the kingdoms ] and Japheth: [ signifies enlargement; and how wonderfully did Providence enlarge the boundaries of Japheth! The Gentiles will come through this lineage. His posterity diverged eastward and westward throughout the whole extent of Asia, north of the great range of Taurus, as far as the Eastern Ocean, whence they probably crossed over to America by Behring's Straits from Kamtschatka, and in the opposite direction throughout Europe to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; from whence also they might have crossed over to America by Newfoundland, where traces of early settlements remain in parts now desert. Thus did they gradually enlarge themselves till they literally encompassed the earth, within the precincts of the northern temperate zone, to which their roving hunter's life contributed not a little. Their progress northwards was checked by the much greater extent of the Black Sea in ancient times, and the increasing rigour of the climates: but their hardy race, and enterprising, warlike genius, made them frequently encroach southwards on the settlements of Shem, whose pastoral and agricultural occupations rendered them more inactive, peaceable. and unwarlike; and so they dwelt in the tents of Shem when the Scythians invaded Media, and subdued western Asia southwards as far as Egypt, in the days of Cyaxares; when the Greeks, and afterwards the Romans, overran and subdued the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians in the east, and the Syrians and Jews in the south; as foretold by the Syrian prophet Balaam] and Ham is the father of Canaan. [ Note that Ham is called out and mentioned specifically here. Why? There must have been signifigance in that it was specifically mentioned and nothing mentioned with the other son's. We learn why in Abr 1:21-24 Ham married Egyptus who was a descendant of Cain and as such the descendants of Ham and Egyptus could not hold the priesthood even though they were righteous (we know this or they would not have been permitted on the ark). Abr 1:26-27 Their seed however had certain restrictions placed upon it specifically the restriction concerning the priesthood - see vs 25-27 were that curse is repeated and reconfirmed ]
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; [ The first mention of wine that had an intoxicating power. Whether he knew what he had created before he drank it or if this was just by acident either way the introduction to alcohol has been completed. How quickly does Satan work to place tools for destruction into the lives of man? ] and he was uncovered within his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, [In Lev. 18:7 it states the “nakedness of your father" is in fact the nakedness of your mother. In Deut. 27:20 a similar statement is made, but is inclusive of your father’s wife, which may or may not be the mother. And in Ezek. 22:9-11 the men of Israel are indicted for various acts of lasciviousness, some associated with idolatry, including adultery, fornications, and incest: And in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness. In thee have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for [menstruation]. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. So “discovering [i.e., uncovering] their father’s nakedness” an act of sexual immorality. To lend further credence to this reading, note in v. 21 when it says “he was uncovered within his tent”, the “his” in the KJV is in fact gender ambiguous in Hebrew and can just as fairly be translated “her” as “his”. The “his” is simply a traditional translation. Taking all of this together with the statements of Abr. 1 and elsewhere in the Law, it is safe to conclude the offense Ham committed was that of incestuous lust for Noah’s wife, presumably, but not necessarily, his own mother. The text does not indicate that he had relations with her, only that he “saw” her. Going from the level of righteousness where Ham “walked with God” (see Moses 8:27-30) to this level of wickedness might make Ham eligible for distinction as “Perdition”. The account of Noah’s “nakedness” and the role his sons played in the event is a puzzling one, especially the part in which Noah awakens and pronounces a curse upon Canaan, the son of Ham (see Genesis 10:6), who does not even seem to be present at the time. Most members of the Church are aware that a priesthood garment, symbolic of the covenants made in the temple, is worn by those who have participated in the endowment ceremony in the temple. This garment is a representation of the coat of skins made by the Lord for Adam and Eve after the Fall (see Genesis 3:21; Moses 4:27). The idea of a garment made of skins that signified that one had power in the priesthood is found in several ancient writings. Hugh Nibley discussed some of these ancient writings and their implications for the passage in Genesis: “Nimrod claimed his kingship on the ground of victory over his enemies [see Genesis 10:8–10; Reading 4-21]; his priesthood, however, he claimed by virtue of possessing ‘the garment of Adam.’ The Talmud assures us that it was by virtue of owning this garment that Nimrod was able to claim power to rule over the whole earth, and that he sat in his tower while men came and worshiped him. The Apocryphal writers, Jewish and Christian, have a good deal to say about this garment. To quote one of them: ‘the garments of skin which God made for Adam and his wife when they went out of the garden and were given after the death of Adam . . . to Enoch’; hence they passed to Methuselah, and then to Noah, from whom Ham stole them as the people were leaving the ark. Ham’s grandson Nimrod obtained them from his father Cush. As for the legitimate inheritance of this clothing, a very old fragment recently discovered says that Michael ‘disrobed Enoch of his earthly garments, and put on him his angelic clothing,’ taking him into the presence of God. . . . “Incidentally the story of the stolen garment as told by the rabbis, including the great Eleazer, calls for an entirely different rendering of the strange story in Genesis [9] from the version in our King James Bible. They seemed to think that the ’erwath of Genesis [9:22] did not mean ‘nakedness’ at all, but should be given its primary root meaning of ‘skin covering.’ Read thus, we are to understand that Ham took the garment of his father while he was sleeping and showed it to his brethren, Shem and Japheth, who took a pattern or copy of it (salmah) or else a woven garment like it (simlah) which they put upon their own shoulders, returning the skin garment to their father. Upon awaking, Noah recognized the priesthood of two sons but cursed the son who tried to rob him of his garment.” (Lehi in the Desert and the World of Jaredites, pp. 160–62.) Therefore, although Ham himself had the right to the priesthood, Canaan, his son, did not. Ham had married Egyptus, a descendant of Cain (Abraham 1:21–24), and so his sons were denied the priesthood. ] and told his two brethren without. [ So Ham tells his brothers who are outside the tent to come see their father in such an embarassing state. ]
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, [ There is some suggestion from translation that Shem and Japheth, made a copy of the garment of their father, put it upon themselves and then returned the original coat of skins back to their father. We obvioulsy do not have the entire story here. but since the mention is made of a garment there is addional credience to the fact that indeed the cursing had something to do with the garment or coat of skins. ] and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; [ They did the right thing rather than disrespecting their father theu covered him being carefule not to look upon him. The complete opposite of Ham. This gives us a little more clue into the life of Ham. He has a little problme with obedience and respect. I suppose that there was a pretty headed discussion about marring Egyptus but he did it anyway. Now he disrespects his father when the opportunity permits. ]and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
25 And he said, [ Who is the one doing the cursing? Noah voiced the curse. Was it under the direction of the Lord, or perhaps in a moment of anger he used the priesthood in a way that might be considered "over doing it" much in the same manner as Moses was commanded to speak to the rock, but struck it instead (he was still able to perform the miracle even though he was directly disobeying a commandment of God.... ). The example of Moses I think demonstrates that priesthood power can be misused by imperfect people. So Noah, in his anger, may have used the sealing power to curse Ham and Canaan in a manner that hindsight might say was a bit extreme. ] Cursed be Canaan; [ Why Ham’s son Canaan receives the curse rather than Ham himself? This is something else that needs further study. Ham's son, is a curiosity. Canaan was the fourth son of Ham, and Noah singled him out specifically for the curse. I don't see any other references in scripture to explain this, but I think it's reasonable to assume that Canaan had committed his own sins and may have been party to the act that Ham had committed against Noah. For Noah to single Canaan out as a direct consequence of Ham's actions suggests Canaan was involved in some way. ] a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. [ Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan, the lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers.” And he did not curse Ham. But rather his son, because God had already blessed the sons of Noah. [The Dead Sea Scrolls., Wise, Abegg and Cook, Harper Collins, 1996, page 273] This Dead sea Scroll fragment indicates the reason Canaan was cursed was because Ham had already been blessed by God, presumably as one who walked with God, so out of deference to this Noah curses Canaan. This agrees with the statement in Abr. 1:26 concerning the blessings and cursing dealt out to Ham: Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him [via his lineage] with the blessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood. (Abraham 1:26) Thus Noah curses Canaan, son of Ham. This type of lineage-based curse is common to the Bible as it is plain that children tend to walk in the footsteps of their parents, so as long as the bad example of a parent persists to influence their offspring they are cursed (cf. Exod. 20:5). It is worth noting these types of lineage-based inter-generational curses answer the sins of the children upon the heads of the rebellious parent (cf. 2 Ne. 4:6, D&C 68:25). ]
26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; [ Shem means - "The appointed one" Noah has made his second son here the Grand Patriarch here. Why we are not told. This will not be the last time that the second son is the Grand Patriarch. Either way Shem is the grand Patriarch. ] and Canaan [ It is significant to note that the land of Canaan is also the land that was promised to Abraham. The word “Canaan” comes from the Hebrew word “kana,” which according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance means: “bring down low, into subjection, under, humble self, subdue. A primitive root; properly, to bend the knee; hence, to humiliate, vanquish -- bring down (low), into subjection, under, humble (self), subdue.
This definition of the word Canaan fits well with the curse that Noah put upon his grandson Canaan. In other words, out of all the lands inherited by Noah’s descendants, the land of Canaan represented a people most humbled, humiliated, brought low, vanquished, and put into subjection. In a way, the people who inherited that land could be considered the sheep who needed the most shepherding, but they were still very much remembered and loved by their patriarch, Noah. ] shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, [ Japheth must be righteous as he is given a blessing but is not the one through whom the birthright will flow apparently. Japheth is “enlarged,” but blessed to dwell in Shem’s tents. This gives the impression that Japheth’s seed increases the most out of all his brothers, and his people spread the furthest throughout the earth, covering the greatest amount of land. Still, they are in subjection as “servants” to Shem and his posterity, who are like a “tent” providing shelter and protection for all of Japheth’s seed. ] and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; [ The imagery of a tent is very significant in the scriptures and connotes temples and priesthood authority. This would make sense, given that Shem was the great high priest after the Order of the Son of God. ] and Canaan shall be his servant.