Tanak Foundations- Concepts in Genesis Chapters 9-10

Gen 9.1-29 tells us about the rebuilding of a devastated world; the sign of God’s covenant and his instructions to Noah; Noah and his sons; the sin of Ham; Noah’s curse on Canaan; the death of Noah.

v 1…And God blessed Noah and his sons (with temporal blessings) and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (depopulated because of the flood.

v 2…And the fear of you and the terror of you shall be on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all flesh of the sea (this fear was not there while on the ark), into your hand they are given (to do with as you please in use and service).

v 3…Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you (probably prohibited to Adam; clean and unclean had nothing to do with food up to this point, only what was permissible for sacrifice); I give all to you, as I gave the green plant (to Adam originally).

v 4…Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood (the only exception when eating the flesh).

v 5…And surely I will require your lifeblood (teaching men not to shed human blood; murder); from every beast I will require it (if it kills a man). And from every man from every man’s brother I will require the life of man (if a beast was to die for killing a man, how much more another man for killing another man).

v 6…Whoever sheds man’s blood, shall be shed (judicially). For in the image of God he made man.

v 7…As for you, be fruitful and multiply; populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

v 8…Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

v 9…”Now, behold (see for yourself) I myself do establish my covenant with you, and with your descendants after you (that his creatures will not be destroyed again by a global flood);

v 10…and 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 (things not mentioned).

v 11…And I establish (God makes this covenant, man has no part in it) with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off (die) by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth (a global flood).”

v 12…And God said, “This is the sign (token) of the covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations.

v 13…I set my bow (which is arched away from the earth with no arrows; mentioned three times in v 13-16) in the cloud, and it shall be a sign (token) of a covenant between me and the earth (the creatures of earth).

v 14…And it shall come about when I bring a cloud (” a cloud a cloud” or when clouds thicken) over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud (after the heavy showers),

v 15…and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and never again whall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh (on the earth).

v 16…When the bow is in the clouds, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God (Elohim; the power) and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

v 17…And God said to Noah, “This is the sign (token) of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth (God actually showed Noah what the bow will look like).

v 18…Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Ham was the father of the Canaanites (to help us understand the following story concerning his behavior, and how Canaan was cursed).

v 19…These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was populated (with inhabitants).

v 20…Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard.

v 21…And he drank of the wine and became drunk (food gets him in trouble, like Adam; probably not being acquainted with how strong it was) and uncovered himself in his tent (got negligent and did not totally cover himself, possibly in his sleep or because it was hot, etc).

v 22…And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside (in a scoffing manner; he should have covered him out of respect).

v 23…But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness (out of duty and respect).

v 24…When Noah awoke from his wine (sleep), he knew what his son had done to him (probably was told about what happened by Shem and Japheth).

v 25…So he said, “Cursed is Canaan (possibly the only son of Ham at the time; or with prophetic foresight he reveals the destiny of the nations in Canaan; what was going to happen to Canaan’s descendants; this not a curse on all of Ham’s other descendants); a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers (Shem and Japheth and their posterity).”

v 26…He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God (power) of Shem (who will be the first type of the Messiah), and let Canaan be his servant (Canaan would serve his descendants in the time of Joshua).

v 27…May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem (this will include Babylon, the Medes and the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, who will “dwell in the tents of Shem” and occupy the land of Israel; and let Canaan be his servant.”

v 28…And Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.

v 29…So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

Gen 10.1-32 gives us what is called the Tables of Nations; the descendants opf Japheth; the descendants of Ham; the descendants of Shem.  These are given to point out the coming of the Messiah.

v 1…Now these are the generations (“toldot” has a “vav” missing) of Shem, Ham and Japheth the sons of Noah: and son were born to them after the flood.

v 2…The sons of Japheth were Gomer (Germanic peoples) and Magog (Scythians), Madal (Medes), and Javan (Greeks), and Tubal (Russian peoples), and Meshech (Russian peoples), and Tiras (Thrace).

v 3…And the sons of Gomer were Ashkanaz (Armenian), and Riphath (northern Asia; Asia Minor), and Togarmah (Asia MInor).

v 4…And the sons of Javan were Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim (these nations dwelt in armenia, southern Europe and some Mediteranean islands).

v 5…Of these were the isles of the nations divided (separeted) in their lands, every one after his tongue (explained in Gen 11), after their families, in their nations.

v 6…And the sons of Ham were Cush (Ethiopia), and Mizraim (Egypt), and Put (Lybia), and Canaan.

v 7…And the sons of cuah were Seba (, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabteca, and the sons of Raamah were Sheba, and Dedan (these tribes and nations were on the aaftrican coast of the Red Sea, opposite Arabia).

v 8…And Cush begot NImrod (this is said to show he was not a god; Nimrod had pushed northward to the Mesopotamian area) and he became a mightty one on the earth.

v 9…He was a mighty hunter hunter before (in defiance of) the Lord, therefore it is said, “Like NImrod a mighty hunter before (in defiance of) the Lord.”

v 10…And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel (Babylon is described in Gen 11) and Erech (the Babylonian city “Uruk” on the left bank of the Euphrates) and Accad (northern Babylon) and Calneh in the land of Shinar (the Hebrew name of Babylon).

v 11…From that land he went forth Asshur, and built Ninevah, and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah (in Assyria),

v 12…and Resen between Ninevah and Calah; that is the great city (Nineevah and the other cities made one great city (like a “metroplex”).

v 13…And Mizraim became the father of Ludim (Lydians) and Anamim (some say the Alexandrian area) and Lehabim (Lybia) and Naphtuhim (middle Egypt);

v 14…and Pathrusim (in upper Egypt) and Casluhim (from which came the Philistines) and Caphtorim.

v 15…And Canaan became the father of Sidon, his first born (where the cccity Sidon got its name, capital of Phoenicia), and Heth (Hittites),

16…and the Jebusite anad the Amorite and the Girgashite (often mentioned as Canaanite nations);

v 17…and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite;

v 18…and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterward were the families of the Canaanite spread abroad (v 17-18 lived in the greater Mount Lebanon area).

v 19…And the border of the Canaanite (in general) was from Sidon, as you go toward Gerar, unto Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, unto Lasha.

v 20…These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their togues, in their lands, in their nations.

v 21…And unto Shem, the father of all the children of Eber (where the name Hebrew comes from; special emphasis is made here because he is through Abraham the ancestor of Israel), the brother of Japheth the elder, to him also were children born.

v 22…The sons of Shem were Elam (between Shushan in Persia to Media), and Asshur (Assyrians), and Arpachshad (Chaldeans), and Lud (possibly Lydians of Asia MInor), and Aram (Arameans)

v 23…And the sons of Aram were Uz (connected to Edom-Job 1.1), and Hul,, and Gether, and Mash (all unidentified).

v 24…And Arpachshad begot Shelah and Shelah begot Eber.

v 25…And unto Eber were born two sons, the name of one was Peleg, for in his days was the earth divided (the languages were confused, or it may refer to when a system of canals were brought into Babylonia), and his brother’s name was Joktan (the father of the Arabians).

v 26…And Joktan begot Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah;

v 27…and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah;

v 28…and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba;

v 29…and Ophir (famous for its gold in 1 Kings 9.28 and 22.49), and Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

v 30…And their dwelling (territory) was from Mesha as far as Sephar (southern Arabia), unto the mountain to the east (possibly the Ararat region -see Gen 11.2).

v 31…These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

v 32…These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations; and of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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