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Matthew Henry

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

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 9:22-24

And Ham, the father of Canaan, etc. - There is no occasion to enter into any detail here; the sacred text is circumstantial enough. Ham, and very probably his son Canaan, had treated their father on this occasion with contempt or reprehensible levity. Had Noah not been innocent, as my exposition supposes him, God would not have endued him with the spirit of prophecy on this occasion, and testified such marked disapprobation of their conduct. The conduct of Shem and Japheth was such as became... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 9:22

Verse 22 22.And Ham, the father of Canaan. This circumstance is added to augment the sorrow of Noah, that he is mocked by his own son. For we must ever keep in memory, that this punishment was divinely inflicted upon him; partly, because his fault was not a light one; partly that God in his person might present a lesson of temperance to all ages. Drunkenness in itself deserves as its reward, that they who deface the image of their heavenly Father in themselves, should become a laughingstock to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 9:18-29

The threefold distribution of the human race —into the Shemitic, Hamitic, and Japhetic families. The fall of Noah was through wine; not, indeed, a forbidden product of the earth, but, like the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, representing a tremendous responsibility . I. THE FERTILITY OF SIN . It was out of drunkenness that the widespread curse of the Hamitic nations came forth. And the drunkenness is closely connected with other sins— What a picture of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 9:20-29

The future unveiled. I. A PAGE FROM HUMAN HISTORY . The prominent figure an old man—always an object of interest, as one who has passed through life's vicissitudes, and worthy of peculiar honor, especially if found walking in the paths of righteousness and peace; an old saint who had long been distinguished for the elevation of his piety, who had long maintained his fidelity to God in the midst of evil times, who had just enjoyed a special deliverance at the hand of God, and who up... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 9:22

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness . Pudenda, from a root ( עָרָה ) signifying to make naked, from a kindred root to which ( עָרם ) comes the term expressive of the nakedness of Adam and Eve after eating the forbidden fruit ( Genesis 3:7 ). The sin of Ham—not a trifling and unintentional transgression" (Von Bohlen)—obviously lay not in seeing what perhaps he may have come upon unexpectedly, but read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 9:18-29

- XXX. The Prophecy of Noah18. כנען kena‛an, “Kena‘an, bowed down.”19. נפץ nāpats, “break, scatter, spread.” פוּץ pûts, “break, scatter, flow.”20. כרם kerem, “orchard, vineyard.”21. יין yayı̂n, “wine; related: ferment.”After the blessing on the new heads of the human race has been pronounced, and the covenant with them renewed, we are prepared for a new development of human action. This appears, however, in the form of an event which is itself a meet preliminary to the subsequent stage of... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 9:22

Genesis 9:22. And Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren To have seen it accidentally and involuntarily would not have been a crime. But he pleased himself with the sight. And he told his brethren without In the street, as the word is, in a scornful, deriding manner. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:18-29

Noah and his sons (9:18-29)On one occasion Noah brought shame upon himself through becoming drunk. But God’s condemnation was concerned more with Noah’s son Ham, and particularly his grandson Canaan who tried to add to Noah’s disgrace (18-23). God announced a curse on the descendants of Ham who would come through Canaan, though not on Ham’s other descendants. The descendants of Canaan would have their land taken from them by the descendants of Shem (the nation Israel) and they themselves would... read more

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