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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:13
The bow in the cloud, with deep joy and yet with awe must Noah have looked around him on leaving the ark. On every side signs of the mighty destruction; the earth scarcely dried, and the busy throng of men (Luke 17:27)…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:14
And it shall come to pan, when I bring a cloud over the earth. Literally, in my clouding a cloud, i.e. gathering clouds, which naturally signify store of rain (1 Kings 18:44, 1 Kings 18:45). Clouds are often used to den…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:15
And I will remember (cf. Genesis 8:1). An anthropomorphism introduced to remind man that God is ever faithful to his covenant engagements (Calvin). "God is said to remember, because he maketh us to know and to remember"…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:16
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant. Literally, the covenant of eternity. One of those pregnant Scripture sayings that have in them an almost inexhaus…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:16
The covenant renewed. I. THE AUTHOR OF THE COVENANT. God. This is evident from the nature of the case. In ordinary language a covenant signifies "a mutual contract between two (or more) parties"; cf. Genesis 21:27 (Abra…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:17
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant. Murphy thinks that God here directed the patriarch's attention to an actual rainbow; it seems more natural to conclude that from the beginning of the interview…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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 knowl…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:18-29
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:18
And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, who are here again mentioned as the heads of the nations into which the family of man developed, the writer having described the importa…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:19
These are the three sons of Noah; and of them was the whole earth—i.e. the earth's population (cf. Genesis 11:1; Genesis 19:31)—overspread. More correctly, dispersed themselves abroad. διεοπα ì ρησαν ἐ πι Ì πᾶ σαν τη…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:20
And Noah began to be an husbandman. Literally, a man of the ground. Vir terroe (Vulgate); ἀ ì νθρωπος γεωργο Ì ς γῆ ς (LXX.); Chald; נְּבַר פָלַח בְּאַרְעָא = vir colens terram; agriculturae dediturus. Cf. Joshua 5:4,…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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 walki…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:21
And he drank of the wine. יַיִן; "perhaps so called from bubbling up and fermenting;" connected with יָוַן (Gesenius). Though the first mention of wine in Scripture, it is scarcely probable that the natural process of f…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:23
And Shem and Japheth took a garment. Literally, the robe, i.e. which was at hand (Keil, Lange); the simlah, which was an outer cloak (Deuteronomy 10:18; 1 Samuel 21:10; Isaiah 3:6, Isaiah 3:7), in which, at night, perso…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:24
And Noah awoke from his wine. I.e. the effects of his wine (cf. 1 Samuel 1:14; 1 Samuel 25:37); ἐ ξεì νηψε (LXX.); "became fully conscious of his condition" (T. Lewis). And knew. By inspiration (Alford); more probably…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:25
And he said. Not in personal resentment, since "the fall of Noah is not at all connected with his prophecy, except as serving to bring out the real character of his children, and to reconcile him to the different destin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:26
And he said—not "Blessed of Jehovah, my God, be Shem" (Jamieson), as might have been anticipated (this, equally with the omission of Ham's name, lifts the entire patriarchal utterance out of the region of mere personal…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 9:27
God. Elohim. If Genesis 9:18-27 are Jehovistic (Tuch, Bleek, Colenso, et alii), why Elohim? Is this a proof that the Jehovistic document was revised by the Elohistic author, as the presence of Jehovah in any so-called E…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 10:1-32
PART II. THE POST-DILUVIAN AGE OF THE WORLD. CH. 10:1-11:26. FROM THE DELUGE TO THE CALL OF ABRAM. § 5. THE GENERATIONS or THE SONS OF NOAH (CH. 10:1-11:9). I. THE historical credibility of the present section has been…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 10:1
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah (cf. Genesis 5:1; Genesis 6:9), Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Not the order of age, but of theocratic importance (vide Genesis 5:32). And unto them were sons born (cf. Genesis…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 10:2
The sons of Japheth are first mentioned not because Japheth was the eldest of the three brothers, although that was true, but because of the greater distance of the Japhetic tribes from the theocratic center, the Hamite…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 10:3
And the sons of Gomer; Ash-kenaz. Axenus, the ancient name of the Euxine, is supposed to favor Phrygia and Bithynia as the locality possessed by Askenaz (Bochart); Iskus; equivalent to Ask, Ascanios, the oldest son of t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 10:4
And the sons of Javan; Elizhah. The isles of Elishah are praised by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 27:7) for their blue and purple; supposed to have been Elis in the Peloponnesus, famous for its purple dyes (Bochart); AEolis (Josephu…