Genesis 9:18-27

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 9:18-23

Here is, I. Noah's family and employment. The names of his sons are again mentioned (Gen. 9:18, 19) as those from whom the whole earth was overspread, by which it appears that Noah, after the flood, had no more children: all the world came from these three. Note, God, when he pleases, can make a little one to become a thousand, and greatly increase the latter end of those whose beginning was small. Such are the power and efficacy of a divine blessing. The business Noah applied himself to was... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 9:24-27

II. The spirit of prophecy comes upon him, and, like dying Jacob, he tells his sons what shall befal them, Gen. 49:1. 1. He pronounces a curse on Canaan the son of Ham (Gen. 9:25), in whom Ham is himself cursed, either because this son of his was now more guilty than the rest, or because the posterity of this son was afterwards to be rooted out of their land, to make room for Israel. And Moses here records it for the animating of Israel in the wars of Canaan; though the Canaanites were a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:18

And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth ,.... These were born before the flood, and went into the ark with Noah, and came out with him; see Genesis 5:32 . and Ham is the father of Canaan ; this is observed for the sake of the following history, concerning the behaviour of the one to Noah, and of the curse of the other by him, which would not have been so well understood if this remark had not been made: the father and the son, as they were,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:19

These are the three sons of Noah ,.... And his only ones; and if he had any more, they left no posterity behind them, since it follows: and of them was the whole earth overspread , with inhabitants, by them and their posterity only: Berozus F26 Antiqu. l. 2. fol. 13. 2. indeed says, that Noah, after the flood, begat more sons, and giants; and his commentator, Annius, talks of seventeen of them, among whom was Tuiscon, the father of the Germans; and the author of Juchasin F1 ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:20

And Noah began to be an husbandman ,.... Or "a man of the earth" F3 איש האדמה "vir terrie", Montanus. , not lord of it, as Jarchi, though he was, but a tiller of the earth, as he had been before the flood, and now began to be again; he returned to his old employment, and which perhaps he improved, having invented, as the Jews F4 Zohar, apud Hottinger, Smegma Oriental. p. 253. say, instruments of husbandry; it may be, the use of the plough, which made the tillage of the ground... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:21

And he drank of the wine, and was drunken ,.... Either not being acquainted with the strength of it, as is thought by many; or having been used to weaker liquor, as water; or through the infirmity of his age; however, he was overtaken with it, and which is recorded, not to disgrace him, but to caution men against the evil of intemperance, as well as to encourage repenting sinners to expect pardon: and this shows that the best of men are not exempted from sin, nor secure from falling; and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:22

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 F9 Antiqu. l. 3. fol. 25. 1. makes him a magician, and to be the same with Zoroast or... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:23

And Shem and Japheth took a garment ,.... Who were the two brothers Ham told what he had seen, and who, no doubt, reproved him for his ill behaviour, and then took a garment, a coat of their own, very probably, some large garment fit for the purpose: and laid it upon both their shoulders ; one part of it on the right shoulder of the one, and the other on the left shoulder of the other: and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father ; going backward when they came into... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:24

And Noah awoke from his wine ,.... From his sleep, which his wine brought on him; when the force and strength of that was gone, and when not only he awaked, but came to himself, and was sober: and knew what his younger son had done to him ; either by revelation, as some, or prophecy, as Ben Gersom, or by the relation of his two sons, whom, when finding himself covered with another's garment, he might question how it came about, and they told him the whole affair: some, as Aben Ezra, Ben... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:25

And he said ,.... Not in a drunken fit, as some profane persons would suggest, for he was awaked from his wine; nor in the heat of passion, but by inspiration, under a spirit of prophecy: cursed be Canaan ; or, "O cursed Canaan", or rather, "Canaan is", or "shall be cursed" F17 ארור כנען "maledictus erit Cenahan", Junius & Tremellius. ; for the words are either a declaration of what was his case, or a prediction of what it should be. It may seem strange that Canaan should... read more

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