Genesis — Chapter 9

AND GOD BLESSED NOE AND HIS SONS. AND SAID TO THEM: INCREASE AND MULTIPLY, AND FILL THE EARTH. — The same blessing given to Adam and Eve (Gen. 1:28) is now renewed for Noe. As Adam was the beginning of the first world, so Noe is the beginning of the second world. The blessing is a real conferral of fecundity and lordship over the earth, renewing the divine order of creation.

AND LET THE FEAR OF YOU AND THE DREAD OF YOU BE UPON ALL THE BEASTS OF THE EARTH. — Before the Flood, wild beasts had overcome their natural instinct to fear man (because of man's sins); now God renews and strengthens this natural instinct. The fear is also linked to God's permission to now eat meat (v. 3).

AND EVERY THING THAT MOVETH AND LIVETH SHALL BE MEAT FOR YOU: EVEN AS THE GREEN HERBS HAVE I DELIVERED THEM ALL TO YOU. — Before the Flood, men (like Adam in Paradise) ate only plants. Now God permits the eating of all animals. Lapide: this permission is given because after the Flood the earth could not so quickly produce enough plant food for all men; and because man's life was now shorter and needed more strengthening nourishment. Thomas Aquinas (I-II, Q. 102, a. 6): before the Flood, the eating of flesh was also forbidden under the law of nature; now it is permitted. Note: the eating of blood remains forbidden (v. 4).

EXCEPT THAT FLESH WITH BLOOD YOU SHALL NOT EAT. — The prohibition of blood applies both because: (1) blood is the seat of the soul/life (Lev. 17:14); (2) God reserved blood for sacrifice. This prohibition existed before Moses and was confirmed by the Apostles (Acts 15:29). Lapide: this precept is a natural and divine positive law — not a merely ceremonial Mosaic law.

FOR I WILL REQUIRE THE BLOOD OF YOUR LIVES AT THE HAND OF EVERY BEAST. — God will require a reckoning for murder both from beasts that kill men and from men who kill men. The foundation of the prohibition of homicide and capital punishment.

WHOSOEVER SHALL SHED MAN'S BLOOD, HIS BLOOD SHALL BE SHED: FOR MAN WAS MADE TO THE IMAGE OF GOD. — This is the divine institution of capital punishment for murder — the first judicial law of the new post-diluvian world (Lapide, Augustine, Chrysostom). Reason: man is made in the image of God; therefore to murder a man is to attack the image of God — which demands condign punishment, even death. This law is given to Noe and through him to all humanity (not just Jews), and was confirmed by Christ and Paul (Rom. 13:4). Lapide refutes Anabaptists and sectaries who deny the right of the magistrate to punish with death.

BEHOLD I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU, AND WITH YOUR SEED AFTER YOU. — The covenant of God with Noah: God promises not to destroy the earth again by flood. This is the first solemn covenant of God with humanity after the Fall, prefiguring the covenants with Abraham and Moses, and ultimately the New Covenant in Christ's blood.

I WILL SET MY BOW IN THE CLOUDS. — The rainbow as the sign of the covenant. Lapide: this is a natural phenomenon that God consecrates as a divine sign — its natural causes (refraction of sunlight in water droplets) do not negate its being a divinely appointed sign. The rainbow does not prevent rain; it signifies that rain will not destroy the earth again. It is a perpetual memorial of God's mercy.

NOE, A HUSBANDMAN, BEGAN TO TILL THE GROUND, AND PLANTED A VINEYARD. — After the Flood, Noe returned to farming. He planted a vineyard — the first vineyard mentioned in Scripture.

AND DRINKING OF THE WINE WAS MADE DRUNK, AND WAS UNCOVERED IN HIS TENT. — Lapide: Noe did not know the strength of new wine (Chrysostom, Ambrose) — this was the first vintage from the first vineyard. His drunkenness was not morally culpable but a material act done in ignorance. He was \"uncovered in his tent\" — not in a public place, but in private. The nakedness was involuntary and accidental, not shameful.

AND CHAM, THE FATHER OF CHANAAN, SAW THE NAKEDNESS OF HIS FATHER, AND TOLD HIS TWO BRETHREN WITHOUT. — Cham's sin: he saw his father's nakedness, was not moved to compassion or modesty, and instead mocked him — going outside to tell his brothers with derision. Contrast with Sem and Japhet, who covered him without looking. Lapide: to mock the sins or infirmities of one's father is a grave sin; filial piety demands we cover them, not expose them.

CURSED BE CHANAAN, THE SLAVE OF SLAVES SHALL HE BE UNTO HIS BRETHREN. — Why is Chanaan cursed for Cham's sin? Lapide gives several reasons: (1) Cham sinned also through Chanaan his son, who aided or shared in the mockery (Chrysostom, Lyranus); (2) the curse falls on Chanaan's posterity, the Canaanites, who inherited Cham's lust and irreverence — they were later expelled and enslaved by the Israelites (descendants of Sem) and the Greeks and Romans (descendants of Japhet), thus fulfilling the prophecy exactly (Lapide notes the historical verification).

BLESSED BE THE LORD GOD OF SEM, BE CHANAAN HIS SERVANT. — Sem is blessed because the worship of the true God was preserved primarily in his line — from Sem came Abraham, the chosen people, and ultimately Christ. This is the first explicit prophecy of the chosen line.

GOD ENLARGE JAPHET, AND LET HIM DWELL IN THE TENTS OF SEM, AND CHANAAN BE HIS SERVANT. — \"Enlarge Japhet\" = a play on Japhet's name (= enlargement, amplitude). Japhet's sons spread from Asia Minor through Europe and western Asia. \"Dwell in the tents of Sem\" = Japhet's descendants (Greeks, Romans, and ultimately all Gentiles) would eventually enter the Church of God (the tents of Sem) through faith in Christ. Lapide: this prophecy was fulfilled when the Gentiles received the faith preached by the Apostles.