Table of Contents
An Exposition on the
FIRST TEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS
And Part of the Eleventh
by John Bunyan
CHAPTER IX.
Ver. 1. 'And God blessed Noah, and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful and
multiply, and replenish the earth.'
Noah having thus waded through these great temptations, and being made also to partake
of the mercy of God, in preserving and saving him from the evil thereof, and being brought
to partake of the beginning of a new world, while the ungodly that were before the flood
were perished for their iniquity: he receiveth now from the mouth of the Lord, before whom
he walked before the flood, laws and ordinances, as rules by which he should still govern
his life before him. But mark, Before he receiveth these rules and commandments, he
receiveth blessing from God; blessing, I say, as that which should yet fore-fit him to do
his will.
'And God blessed Noah.' Blessed him with spiritual and special grace; for without that,
no man can walk, with God's acceptance before him. He blessed him with grace suitable to
the work he was now to begin; to wit, for the replenishing and governing the new world God
had brought him to: so that Noah did not without precedent qualifications take this work
upon him. God also gave Caleb and Joshua another spirit, and then they followed him fully.
That of David is for this remarkable, 'Who am I, [said he] and what is my
people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come
of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.' 'O Lord our God, saith he, all this store
that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name, cometh of thine
hand, and is all thine own' (1 Chron 29:10-16). So is faith, love, strength,
wisdom, sincerity, and all other good things wherewith and by which we walk with God,
worship him, and do his will: all which is comprised in these words, 'I will give them an
heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be
their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart' (Jer 24:7). 'A new heart
also will I give them' (Eze 36:25-29). And again, 'I will put my fear in their hearts,
that they shall not depart from me' (Jer 32:37-40).
'And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth.' After he had blessed him, then he tells him what they should do;
namely, 'Be fruitful, and multiply.' This he spake with respect to the seed that he and
his sons should beget, therewith to people the world; which was now the remaining part of
his work, and he had three arguments to encourage him thereto. First, He was delivered
from the wicked and sinners of the old world: 2. He was made the heir of a new world; and
3. Was to leave it as an heritage to his children.
This therefore should teach us, who are brought into the kingdom of Christ, that new
world that hath taken its beginning in the word of the gospel, not to be idle, but to be
fruitful, and to labour to fill the world with a spiritual seed to God: for as Noah, so
are we made heirs of this blessed kingdom; and shall also, as that good man, leaven, when
we sleep in Jesus, this spiritual seed to possess the kingdom after us.
Ver. 2. 'And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the
earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and
upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.'
These words seem to be a promise of what shall be a consequence of their putting into
practice what was commanded in the verse before; namely, of their being fruitful, and of
their 'multiplying in the earth.' Hence note, That the faithful observation of God's word,
puts majesty, and dread, and terror upon them that do it: Therefore it is said, that when
the church is 'fair as the moon, and clear as the sun, she is terrible as an army
with banners' (Cant 6:4,10). The presence of godly Samuel made the elders of Bethlehem
tremble; yea, when Elisha was sought for by the king of Syria, he durst not engage him,
but with chariots and horses, and an heavy host (2 Kings 6:13,14). Godliness is a
wonderful thing, it commandeth reverence, and the stooping of the spirits, even of the
world of ungodly ones (Acts 5:13).
'And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast.' This is true in
the letter; for because there is upon man, as man, more of the image and similitude of
God, than there is upon other creatures; therefore the beasts, and all the creatures, are
made to stoop and fall before them; yea, though in themselves they are mighty and fierce.
Every kind [or, nature] of birds, and of serpents, and things in the sea, is tamed, and
hath been tamed by mankind (James 3:7).
But to allegorize the word, for by the word, ungodly men are beasts; then, as I said
before, godliness puts such a majesty and dread upon the professors of it, that their
enemies are afraid of them; yea, even then when they rage against them, and lay heavy
afflictions upon them. It is marvellous to see in what fear the ungodly are, even of godly
men, and godliness; in that they stir up the mighty, make edicts against them; yea, and
raise up armies, and what else can be imagined, to suppress them; while the persons thus
opposed, if you consider them as to their state and capacity in this world; they are most
inconsiderable; but as a dead dog, or a flea (1 Sam 24:14). O but they are clothed with
godliness! The image and presence of God is upon them! This makes the beasts of this world
afraid. One of you shall chase a thousand.
'Into your hands are they delivered.' That is, the beasts, birds, and fish of the sea
(as David saith) to be for the service of man. But again, This is also true in a higher
nature; for taking these beasts, &c. for men, even they are delivered into the hand of
the church, by whose doctrine, power and faith, they are smitten with severest judgments
(2 Cor 2:15,16). Laying all that reject them even in the depth of death, and smiting them
'with all plagues as often as they will' (Rev 11:6). The world is therefore in our hand,
and disposed of by our doctrine, by our faith and prayers, although they think far
otherwise, and shall one day feel their judgments are according.
Ver. 3. 'Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb
have I given you all things.'
From these words some would insinuate, that before the flood men lived only upon herbs,
not eating flesh; as here they have authority granted to do: but, in mine opinion, such
should be mistaken, for this reason, if there were no other: because they offered
sacrifice before; sacrifices, I say, as types and representatives to the church, of the
death and sufferings of Christ. Now, of such sacrifices the offerers used to eat, as is
clear by the lamb of the passover, and many other offerings: so that these words seem to
be but a renewing of their former privileges, not a granting new liberty to the world.
'Every moving thing.' This must be taken with this restriction, That is wholesome and
good for food: for by the law of nature, nothing of that is forbidden to man, though for
some significations many such creatures were forbidden us to use for a time (Deu 14).
'Even as the green herb.' For which they expressly had liberty granted them, in the
first chapter of this book (v 29). And this liberty might afresh be here repeated, from
some scruple that might arise in Noah, &c. He remembering that the world before might,
for the abuse of the creatures of God, as well as for the abuse of his worship, be drowned
with the flood; for sometimes the abuse of that which is lawful to one, may be a snare,
abuse and stumbling to another (1 Cor 7:1; 8).
Ver. 4. 'But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof shall ye
not eat.'
This law seems to be ceremonial, although given long before Moses was; as also some
sacrifices and circumcision were (John 7:22). Wherefore we must seek for the reason of
this prohibition. 'Whatsoever man [saith God] there be of the house of Israel, -
that eateth any manner of blood, I will even set my face against that soul that eateth
blood, and will cut him off from among his people.' Why? 'For the life of the flesh is
in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your
souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore
I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood' (Lev 17:10-12). Again,
As here the prohibition is only concerning blood; so in another place, the word is as well
against our eating the fat; 'It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations,
throughout all your dwellings, that ye neither eat fat nor blood.' And the reason
rendered, is, For 'all the fat is the LORD'S' (Lev 3:16,17).
So then the meaning, the spiritual meaning, seems to be this, That forasmuch as the
blood is the life, and that which maketh the atonement; and the fat, the glory, and the
Lord's; therefore they both were to be offered to the Lord. That is, we ought always to
offer the merit of our salvation to God, by a continual acknowledgment, that it was
through the blood of Christ; and we ought always to give him the glory thereof, and this
is the fat of all our performances (Isa 25:6). Now this is so blessed a thing, and calleth
for that grace, that every professor hath not, every one cannot ascribe to the blood of
the Lamb, the whole of his reconciliation to God; nor offer up the fat, the glory, which
is God's, to the Lord for so great a benefit: this is the benefit of a peculiar people,
even of 'the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, [or they that are justified, or just
thereby; (For so Zadok signifies)] that kept the charge of my sanctuary, when the children
of Israel went astray from me; they shall come near to me, to minister unto me, and they
shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God' (Eze
44:15).
Wherefore, for men to ascribe to their own works the merit of their salvation, or to
take the glory thereof to themselves; it is as eating the blood and the fat themselves,
and they shall be cut off from the people of God.
Ver. 5. 'And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast
will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother, will I
require the life of man.'
These words are spoken to the church, which then resided in this family: Not but that
God will avenge the blood that is wrongfully shed, though the person murdered be most
carnal and irreligious. 'A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person,
shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him' (Pro 28:17).
But I say, these words respect the church in a more special and eminent way. 'Surely
[saith God] your blood of your lives will I require.' Thus also David insinuates the
thing: 'when he maketh the inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: [the saints and
godly in special,] he forgetteth not the cry of the humble,' the afflicted (Psa 9:12).
'At the hand of every beast will I require it.' The beasts are here also to be taken
for men, to whom they are frequently likened in scripture; and that because they have cast
off human affections; and, like savage creatures, make a prey of those that are better
than themselves. Ignorance therefore or brutishness, O thou wicked man! will not excuse
thee in the day of judgment; all the injuries that thou doest to the people of God, shall
for certain be required of thee.
'At the hand of man will I require it.' By man here, we may understand, such as
have greater placed and shew of reason wherewith they manage their cruelty, than those
that are as the natural beast: for all persecutors are not brutish alike; some are in
words as smooth as oil; others can shew a semblance of reason of state, why they should
see 'the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes' (Amos 2:6). These act, to
carnal reason, like men, as Saul against David, for the safety of his kingdom; but these
must give an account of their cruelty, for blood is in their hands.
'At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.' This word brother
may reach to all the apostatized hypocrites that forsake or betray the godly, for brother
shall betray the brother to death (Matt 10:21). Such are spoken of in Isaiah, 'Your
brethren that hated you, [saith God,] and that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let
the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed' (Isa
65:5). So that let them be as vile as the brute, or as reasonable in appearance as men, or
as near in relation as a brother; neither their ignorance, nor their reason, nor their
relation to the saints, shall secure them from the stroke of the judgment of God.
Ver. 6. 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image
of God made he man.'
In these words we have both a threatening and a command; and the same words carry both:
'By man shall his blood be shed,' there is the threatening; 'By man shall his blood be
shed,' there is the command. For as they threaten, so they instruct us, that he is worthy
of the loss of his own blood, that doth wickedly shed the blood of another (Matt 26:52;
Rev 13:10). Blood for blood, equal measure: As he also saith elsewhere, An eye for an eye,
a tooth for a tooth (Exo 21:24), wound for wound, burning for burning (Lev 24:20; Deu
19:21).
'For in the image of God made he man.' This seems as the reason of this equal law;
because no man can slay his neighbour, but he striketh at the image of God. It is counted
a heinous crime for a man to run his sword at the picture of a king, how much more to shed
the blood of the image of God? 'He that mocketh, or oppresseth, the poor reproacheth his
Maker; but he that honoureth him, hath mercy on the poor' (Pro 14:31; 17:5). And if so,
how much more do they reproach, yea, despise and abhor their Maker, that slay and murder
his image! But most of all those do prove themselves the enemies of God, that make the
holiness, the goodness, the religion and sobriety that is found in the people of God, the
object of their wrath and hellish cruelty. Hence murder is, in the New Testament, imputed
to that man that hated holy and godly man: 'He that hateth his brother, is a murderer; and
ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him' (1 John 3:15).
Ver. 7. 'And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth,
and multiply therein.' Thus he doubleth the blessing and command, of multiplying and
increasing the church in the earth, for that is the delight of God, and of Christ.
Ver. 8, 9. 'And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I
establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you.'
God having thus blessed them, and given them laws and judgments to walk by, for the
further confirmation of their hope in God, he propoundeth to them the immutability of his
mind, by the establishing of his covenant with them; for a covenant is that, which not
only concludeth the matter concerned between the persons themselves; but it provideth
remedy against after temptations, and fears, and mistrusts, as to the faithful performance
of that which is spoken of. As Laban said to Jacob, 'Now therefore [said he] come thou,
let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee' (Gen
31:44). Thus also the apostle insinuates; where making mention of the promise and oath of
God, he saith, this promise and oath are both immutable, that 'we might have a strong
consolation, [or always ground for great rejoicing] who have fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before us' (Heb 6:18).
This covenant therefore, it was for the encouragement of Noah and his sons, that they
might walk before God without fear. Yea, it was to maintain their hope in his promise of
forgiveness, though they should find their after-performances mixed with infirmities; for
so he had told them before, namely, 'That he would not again destroy the earth for man's
sake, albeit the imagination of man's heart be evil from his youth. I will establish my
covenant with you, and with your seed after you.'
Ver. 10. 'And with every living creature that is with you: of the fowl, of the
cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to
every beast of the earth.' These words respect the whole creation (see chapter 8); for all
the things in the world, devils only excepted, have a benefit by this covenant of God. And
hence it is, that not man only, but 'every thing that hath breath,' is commanded to
'praise the Lord' (Psa 150:6): But observe it; as for the sin of man, they before were
destroyed by the flood; so now by reason of the mercy of God to man, they are spared, and
partake of mercy also. This is intimated by these words: 'Every creature that is with you;
every beast of the earth with you.'
Ver. 11. 'And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off
any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the
earth.'
This is the sum of the covenant, as it respecteth the letter, and the type, and the
whole creation in general. But yet as to the spirit and gospel of it, the Holy Ghost must
needs have a further reach, an intention of more glorious things, as may further be shewed
anon.
'And I will establish my covenant with you.' For you that are men, and especially the
members of the church, have the most peculiar share therein.
'Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood.' For because of
my covenant which I establish with you, I will spare them also, and give them the taste of
my mercy and goodness.
'Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.' This covenant
therefore, is not of that nature as the covenant was which was made with Adam, to wit, a
covenant of works, as the only conditions of life; for by that was the ground, for man's
sin, accursed, accursed, and accursed again. But now the Lord goeth another way, the way
of grace, and forgiveness of sins: Wherefore now, not the curse, but the mercy of God,
comes in on the back and neck of sin, still sparing and forgiving man, the great
transgressor, and the beast, &c. and the earth, for the sake of him.
Ver. 12, 13. 'And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make
between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual
generations. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant
between me and all the earth.'
So then, the way to find out the covenant, what that is, it is to see if we can find
out this token of it; to wit, the BOW, of which the rainbow is but a type. I find then by
the scriptures, where this BOW is mystically spoken of, that the Lord Jesus Christ himself
is encompassed with the bow. The first is this:
'And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a
throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was
the likeness, as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw, as the colour of amber,
as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even
upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the
appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that
is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round
about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD' (Eze
1:26-28), the man, the Lord's Christ, &c.
The second scripture is this. 'I was in the Spirit: and, behold a throne was set in
heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper
and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like
unto an emerald' (Rev 4:2,3). In these two texts there is mention of the rainbow, that
was, not to be the covenant, but the token or sign thereof. Now then the covenant itself
must needs be the man that was set in the midst of the bow upon the throne; for so he
saith by the prophet, 'I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine
hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people' (Isa 42:6). The
covenant therefore is Jesus Christ the Saviour, whom the bow in the clouds was a sign or a
token of. So then the sum of the text is this, That God, for the sake of the Lord Jesus
Christ, will not again all the days of the earth, bring an universal judgment upon the
creature, as in the days of Noah, and of the old world he did; for Christ by the worth of
his blood and righteousness hath pacified the justice of the law for sin. So then the
whole universe standeth not upon a bottom of its own, but by the word and power of Christ
(Heb 1:2,3). 'The earth [said he] and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up
the pillars of it' (Psa 75:3).
Quest. But how must Christ be reckoned of God, when he maketh him the poize
against all the sin of the world.
The prophet tells us thus: He shall be the covenant of the people, or he shall be
accounted the conditions and worth of the world; He shall be the covenant, or works, or
righteousness of the people; for, He as the high-priest under the law, is set for the
people to Godward; that is, he standeth always in the presence of God, as the complete
obedience of the people. So then, so long as the Lord Christ bears up his mediatorship,
God in justice will neither destroy the world, nor the things that are therein.
In this covenant therefore, the justice as well as the mercy of God is displayed in its
perfection, inasmuch as without the perfection of the mediator Christ, the world could not
be saved from judgment.
Ver. 14. 'And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow
shall be seen in the cloud.'
By these words the Lord looks back to the flood that before had drowned the earth; for
in these clouds there was no bow, no token of Christ, or of the mercy of God. But now,
saith God, I will do far otherwise; from henceforth when I bring a cloud, and there be
showers of rain on the earth, these clouds shall not be as the other. But 'my bow shall be
therein.'
The cloud then that here is spoken of, must be understood of the judgment of God for
sin, like those before, and at the overthrow of the world; only with this difference, they
were clouds, judgments without mercy, but these judgments mixed therewith; and often the
clouds are thus to be understood. Job when he curseth his day, saith, 'Let a cloud dwell
upon it' (3:5). So the judgments of God upon Zion, are called the covering of a cloud (Lam
2:1). So in Joel also, to the darkness of clouds, are the judgments of the church compared
(2:2); yea, that pillar that went before the children of Israel, it being a judgment to
the people of Egypt, goes under this epithet, as a term most fit to express this judgment
by, 'it was a cloud and darkness to them' (Exo 14:20).
And now to the cloud in hand, the cloud in which is the bow, the cloud of rain,
although by the mercy and grace of God it is so great a blessing as it is, yet it
sometimes becomes a judgment, it comes for correction, as a rod to afflict the inhabitants
of the world withal (Job 37:13). Thus it was in the days of Ezra, and very often both
before and since (10:12-14).
'The bow shall be seen in the cloud.' This is the mercy of God to the world, and that
by which it hath been hitherto preserved; 'The bow shall be seen in the cloud.' You know I
told you of the bow before, that it was a sign or token of the covenant of God with the
world, and that the covenant itself was Christ, as given of God unto us, with all his good
conditions, merit, and worth. So then, in that, God 'set this bow in the cloud,' and
especially in the clouds that he sends for judgment, he would have the world remember,
that there comes no judgment as yet on the world, but it is mixed with, or poized by the
mercy of God in Christ.
'The bow shall be seen in the cloud.' This may respect God, or the world, that is, the
seeing of the bow in the cloud; if it respect God, then it tells us he in judgment will
remember mercy; if it respect the world, then it admonisheth us not to despond, or sink in
despair under the greatest judgment of God, for the bow, the token of his covenant, is
seen in the judgments that he executeth.
When the vision of the ruin of Jerusalem was revealed to the prophet Ezekiel, he saw
that yet Christ sat under the bow (1:28).
When antichrist was to come against the saints of God, the commission came from Christ,
as he sat 'under the bow' (Rev 4:3). This John did see and relate, of which we should take
special notice: for by this token God would have us to know that these clouds, though they
come for correction, yet not to destroy the church.
My bow shall be seen in the cloud.
Ver. 15. 'And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you, and
every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy
all flesh.'
'And I will remember my covenant.' Much like this is that of the Lord to Israel, when
they are under all, or any of those forty judgments mentioned (Lev 26). If they shall
confess their iniquity, [saith he,] and the iniquity of their fathers, &c., 'Then will
I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant
with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land' (Lev 26:40-42). His usual way
in other sayings is, to begin with Abraham, but here he ends with him; and the reason is,
because there, as it were, the great promise of the Messiah to that people began, 'Saying,
in thy seed shall all nations be blessed.'
'And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you.' We read not here
of any compact or agreement between Noah and God Almighty; wherefore such conditions and
compacts could not be the terms between him and us. What then? why that covenant that he
calls his, which is his gift to us, 'I will give thee for a covenant,' this is the
covenant which is between God and us: 'There is one God, and one mediator between God and
man, the man Christ Jesus.' This then is the reason why all the waters, why all the
judgments of God, and why all the sins that have provoked those judgments, cannot become a
flood to destroy all flesh.
Ver. 16. 'And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may
remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is
upon the earth.'
'And the bow shall be in the cloud.' this is a kind of a repetition; for this he had
told us before, saying, 'I do set my bow in the cloud,' and 'the bow shall be seen in the
cloud': which repetition is very needful, for it is hard for us to believe that Christ and
grace are wrapped up in the judgments of God (1 Peter 1:12). Wherefore it had need be
attested twice and thrice. 'To write the same things to you,' saith Paul, 'to me indeed is
not grievous, but for you it is safe'(Phil 3:1).
'And I will look upon.' A familiar expression, and suited to our capacity, and spoken
to prevent a further ground of mistrust; much like to that of God, when he was to send the
plague upon Egypt:
'The blood, saith God, [of the Lamb,] shall be to you for a token upon the houses where
ye are: and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be
upon you, to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt' (Exo 12:13).
'And I will look upon it that I may remember.' Not that God is forgetful, 'He is ever
mindful of his covenant.' But such expressions are used to shew and persuade us that the
whole heart and delight of God is in it.
'That I may remember the everlasting covenant.' This word covenant is also the sixth
repetition thereof; my covenant, the covenant, a covenant, and the everlasting covenant. O
how fain would God beat it into the heads of the world, that he hath for men a covenant of
grace.
'The everlasting covenant.' Because the parties on both sides are faithful, perfect,
and true; the Father being the one, and the Son of his love the other; for this covenant,
as I said before, is not a compact and agreement betwixt God and the world, but his Son,
as his gift to men, is set for them to Godward (Zech 9:11). So that what conditions there
are, they are perfectly found in Christ, by whose blood the covenant is sealed and
established, and indeed becomes everlasting, hence it is called 'the blood of the
everlasting covenant' (Heb 13:20). And again, the New Testament is said to be in this
blood. Besides, the promises are all in Christ, I mean the promises of this covenant; in
him they are yea, and in him amen, to the glory of God the Father: now they being all in
him, and yea and amen no where else, the covenant itself must needs be of pure grace and
mercy, and the bow in the cloud, not qualifications in us, [but] the proper token of this
covenant.
Ver. 17. 'And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have
established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.'
Behold a repetition of all things that were essential either to the covenant itself, or
to our faith therein, the making of the covenant, the looking on the
covenant, and the token of the covenant; how often are they mentioned, that we
might be more fully convinced of the unchangeable nature of it. As Joseph said unto
Pharaoh, 'For that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice, it is because the
thing is established by God' (Gen 41:32).
'And God said unto Noah.' Where God loveth, he delighteth to apply himself to such, in
a more than general way; he singleth out the person, Noah, Abraham, and the like. 'I know
thee by name,' saith he to Moses, and 'thou hast found grace in my sight.'
'This is the token of the covenant.' It still wants beating into people's heads, where
they should look for the covenant itself, to wit, the throne which the rainbow compasseth
round about; for that is the token of the presence of the Messias, and thither we are to
look for salvation from all plagues, and from all the judgments that are due to sin: The
Lord for Christ's sake forgave you, this is the token of the covenant.
'Of the covenant which I have established.'
This word 'I,' as also hinted before, doth intimate that this covenant is the covenant
of grace and mercy, for a covenant of works cannot be established; that is, settled
between God and men, before both parties have either by sureties, or performance ratified
and confirmed the same. Indeed it may be so established, as that God will appoint no
other; but to be so established, as to give us the fruits thereof, that must be the
effects of his being well pleased with the conditions of those concerned in the making
thereof. But that is not the world, but the Son of God, and therefore it is called his
covenant, and he 'as given to us of God,' is so reckoned our condition and worth (Zech
9:11).
'Which I have established.' To wit, upon better promises than duties purely commanded,
or than the obedience of all the angels in heaven. I have established it in the truth and
faithfulness, in the merit and worth of the blood of my Son, of whom the rainbow that you
see in the cloud is a token.
Ver. 18. 'And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and
Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.'
By these words Moses is returned again to the history of Noah. 'And the sons of Noah
that went forth of the ark.' If these words, 'that went forth of the ark,' bear the
emphasis of this part of the verse, then it may seem that Noah had more children than
these; but they were not accounted of; for they being ungodly, as the rest of the world,
they perished with them in their ungodliness. These only went in, and came out of the ark
with him; * to wit,
* That absurd jumble, called 'The Koran,'
mentions a fourth son of Noah, named Kinan, who refused to enter the ark with his family,
preferring to trust them on the top of a mountain, where they all perished. See the
chapter entitled 'Hod.'--Ed.
'Shem, and Ham, and Japheth.' The names thus placed are not according to their birth;
for Japheth was the elder, Ham the younger, and Shem the middlemost of the two.
Shem therefore takes the place, because of his eminency in godliness (9:24); also,
because from him went the line up to Christ (10:2). For which cause also the family of the
sons of Judah, though he was but the fourth son of Israel, was reckoned before the family
of Reuben, Jacob's first born; or before the rest of the sons of his brethren (1 Chron
2:3). Sometimes persons take their place in genealogy, from the fore-sight of the
mightiness of their offspring. Thus was Ephraim placed before Manasseh; for 'truly [said
Jacob] his younger brother shall be greater than he' (Gen 43:17-20). And he set Ephraim
before Manasseh.
Ham is the next in order; not for the sake of his birthright, or because he was much,
if anything, now for godliness; but for that he was the next to be eminent in his
offspring, for opposing and fighting against the same.
Shem and Ham therefore the two heads, or chief, from whence sprang good and evil men,
by way of eminency. 'Ham is the father of Canaan,' or of the Canaanites, the people of
God's curse, whom the sons of Shem who afterwards sprang from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
were to cut off from the earth, for their most high abominations.
Japheth comes in, in the first place, as one that at present was least concerned either
in the mercy or displeasure of God; being neither, in his offspring, to be devoutly
religious, nor yet incorrigibly wicked, though afterwards he was to be persuaded to dwell
in the tents of Shem.
Ver. 19. 'These are the three sons of Noah; and of them was the whole earth
overspread.'
Thus though Noah's beginning was small, his latter end did greatly increase.
Ver. 20, 21. 'And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a
vineyard:--And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his
tent.'
This is the blot in this good man's scutcheon; and a strange blot it is, that such an
one as Noah should be thus overtaken with evil! One would have thought that Moses should
now have began with a relation of some eminent virtues, and honourable actions of Noah,
since now he was saved from the death that overtook the whole world, and was delivered,
both he and his children, to possess the whole earth himself. Indeed, he stepped from the
earth to the altar; as Israel of old did sing on the shore of the red Sea: But, as they,
he soon forgat; he rendered evil to God for good. *
* Faithful is the record of Holy Writ. No excuse
is offered for the sin of this great patriarch. Grapes eaten from the vine, or after
having been dried, are nutritious, like grain from the ear of corn; pressed out and
fermented, they lose that nutriment--acquire a fiery force--mount to the brain--lead
reason captive--and triumphs over decency: the most enlightened man becomes the
savage.--Ed.
Neither is Noah alone in this matter: Lot also being delivered from that fire from
heaven that burnt up Sodom and Gomorrah, falls soon after into lewdness with the children
of his body, and begetteth his own two daughters with child (Gen 19:30-36).
Gideon also, after he was delivered out of the hands of his enemies, took that very
gold which God had given him, as the spoil of them that hated him, and made himself idols
therewith (Judg 8:24-27). What shall I say of David? and of Solomon also, who after he had
been twenty years at work for the service of the true God, both in building and preparing
for his worship, and in writing of Proverbs by divine inspiration; did, after this, make
temples for idols; yea, almost for the gods of all countries? Yea, he did it when he was
old, when he should have been preparing for his grave, and for eternity. 'It came to pass,
when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods:--For
Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians; and after Milcom, the
abomination of the Ammonites.--He did also build an high place for Chemosh, the
abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem; and for Molech, the
abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which
burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods' (1 Kings 11:4-8).
All these sins were sins against mercies; yea, and doubtless against covenants, and the
most solemn resolutions to the contrary. For who can imagine, but that when Noah was
tossed with the flood, and Lot within the scent and smell of the fire and brimstone that
burnt down Sodom, with his sons, and his daughters; and Gideon, when so fiercely engaged
with so great an enemy, and delivered by so strange a hand; should in the most solemn
manner both promise and vow to God. But behold! now they in truth are delivered and saved,
they recompense all with sin. Lord, what is man! 'How - abominable and filthy is man,
which drinketh iniquity like water' (Job 15:16). Let these things learn us to cease from
man, 'whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?' (Isa 2:22).
Indeed, it is a vain thing to build our faith upon the most godly man in the world,
because he is subject to err; yea, far better than He, was so.
If Noah, and Lot, and Gideon,and David, and Solomon, who wanted not matter from
arguments, and that of the strongest kind; as arguments that are drawn from mercy and
goodness be, to engage to holiness, and the fear of God; yet after all, did so foully
fall, as we see: let us admire grace, that any stand; let the strongest fear, lest he
fearfully fall; and let no man but Jesus Christ himself be the absolute platform and
pattern of faith and holiness. As the prophet saith, 'Let us cease from man.' But to
return:
'And Noah began to be an husbandman.' This trade he took up for want of better
employment; or rather, in mine opinion, from some liberty he took to himself, to be remiss
in his care and work, as a preacher. For seeing the church was now at rest, and having the
world before them, they still retaining outward sobriety, poor Noah, good man, now might
think with himself, 'I need not now be so diligent, watchful and painful in my ministry as
formerly; the church is but small, without opposition, and also well settled in the truth;
I may now take to myself a little time to tamper with worldly things.' So he makes an
essay upon husbandry. 'He began to be an husbandman.' Ha, Noah! it was better with
thee when thou wast better employed! Yea, it was better with thee, when a world of ungodly
men set themselves against thee! Yea, when every day thy life was in danger to be
destroyed by the giants, against whom thou wast a preacher above a hundred years! For then
thou didst walk with God; Then thou wast better than all the world; but now thou art in
the relapse!
Hence note, That though the days of affliction, of temptation and distress, are harsh
to flesh and blood; yet they are not half so dangerous as are the days of peace and
liberty. Wherefore Moses pre-admonished Israel, That when they had received the land of
Canaan, and had herds, and silver and gold in abundance, that then their heart be not
lifted up to forget the Lord their God. Jesurun kicked when he was fat. O! When provender
pricks * us, we are apt to be as the horse or mule, that is without understanding (Deu
8:10-15).
* To prick--to incite--to spur--to dress oneself
for show; thus it was commonly used in Bunyan's time, but in this sense has become
obsolete.--Ed.
'He planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine, and was drunken.' Although in the
course of godliness, many men have but a speculative knowledge of things; yet it is not so
in the ways of this world and sin, the practical part of these things are lived in by all
the world. They are sinners indeed, 'He drank of the wine.'
'He drank of the wine, and was drunken.' The Holy Ghost, when it hath to do with sin,
it loveth to give it its own name: drunkenness must be drunkenness, murder must be murder,
and adultery must bear its own name. Nay, it is neither the goodness of the man, nor his
being in favour with God, that will cause him to lessen or mince his sin. Noah was
drunken; Lot lay with his daughters; David killed Uriah; Peter cursed and swore in the
garden, and also dissembled at Antioch. But this is not recorded, to the intent that the
name of these godly should rot or stink: but to shew, that the best men are nothing
without grace; and, 'that he that standeth, should not be high minded, but fear.' Yea,
they are also recorded, for the support of the tempted, who when they are fallen, are oft
raised up by considering the infirmities of others. 'Whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience, and comfort of the
scriptures might have hope' (Rom 15:4).
'And he was uncovered within his tent.' That is, he lay like a drunken man, that
regarded not who saw his shame. Hence note, how beastly a sin drunkenness is; it bereaveth
a man of consideration, and civil behaviour; it makes him as brutish and shameless as a
beast; yea, it discovereth his nakedness to all that behold.
'And he was uncovered.' That is, lay naked, Behold ye now, that a little of the fruit
of the vine, lays gravity, grey hairs, and a man that for hundreds of years was a lover of
faith, holiness, goodness, sobriety, and all righteousness; shamelessly, as the object to
the eye of the wicked, with his nakedness in his tent.
'He was uncovered within his tent.' The best place of retirement he had, but it could
not hide him from the eye of the ungodly; it is not therefore thy secret chamber, nor thy
lurking in holes, that will hide thee from the eye of the reproacher: nothing can do this
but righteousness, goodness, sobriety and faithfulness to God; this will hide thee; these
are the garments, which, if they be on thee, will keep thee, that the shame of thy
nakedness do not appear (Rev 16:15).
Ver. 22. 'And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his
two brethren without.'
Ham was the unsanctified one, the father of the children of the curse of God. He saw
the nakedness of his father, and he blazed abroad the matter. Hence note, That the wicked
and ungodly man, is he that doth watch for the infirmities of the godly: as David says,
They watched for my halting. Indeed, they know not else how to justify their own
ungodliness; but this, instead of excusing them of their wickedness, doth but justify the
word against them; for by this they prove themselves graceless, and men that watch for
iniquity. 'Let them not say in their hears [said David] Ah! so would we have it' (Psa
35:25). Ammon said, 'Aha! against the sanctuary when it was profaned; and against the land
of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when it went into
captivity' (Eze 25:3). The enmity that is in the hearts of ungodly men, will not suffer
them to do otherwise; when they see evil befall the saint, they rejoice and skip for joy
(Eze 26:2; 36:2).
'He saw the nakedness of his father.' Hence note, That saints can rarely slip, but the
eyes of the Canaanites will see them. This should make us walk in the world with jealous
eyes, with eyes that look round about, not only to what we are and do, but also, how what
we do is * resented in the world (Gen 13:7). Abraham was good at this, and so was Isaac
and Jacob (34:30); for they tendered more the honour and glory of God, than they minded
their own concerns.
* To resent--to consider as an injury or
affront--to take ill.--Ed.
'He saw the nakedness of his father.' Who was the nearest and dearest relation he had
in the world; yet neither relation nor kin, nor all the good that his father had done him,
could keep his polluted lips from declaring his father's follies, but out they must go;
the sin of his own defiled heart must take place of the fifth commandment, and must rather
solace itself in rejoicing in his father's iniquity, than in covering his father's
nakedness. Wicked men regard not kindred; and no marvel, for they love not godliness. He
that loveth not God, loveth not his brother, or father: nay, he 'wrongeth his own soul'
(Pro 8:36).
'And told his two brethren without.' He told them, that is, mockingly, reflecting not
only upon Noah but also upon his brethren; to all of whom himself was far inferior, both
as to grace and humanity.
Ver. 23. 'And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their
shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were
backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.'
Shem and Japheth did it: This is recorded for the renown of these, as the action of Ham
is for his perpetual infamy.
They 'took a garment, and went backward, and covered their father, and saw not his
nakedness.' Love will attempt to do that with difficulty, that it cannot accomplish
otherwise. I think it might be from this action, that the wise man gathereth his proverb
from. 'Hatred stirreth up strifes; but love covereth all sins' (Pro 10:12). Indeed, Ham
would fain have made variance between his father and his brethren, by presenting the folly
of the one, to the shame and provocation of the other. But Shem, and his brother Japheth,
they took the course to prevent it; they covered their father's nakedness.
Ver. 24. 'And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto
him.'
By these words more is implied than expressed; for this awaking of Noah, not only
informeth us of natural awaking from sleep, but of his spiritual awaking from his sin. He
awoke from his wine. As 'Ely said to Hannah, How long wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy
wine from thee' (1 Sam 1:14). By which words he exhorteth to repentance. It is said of
Nabal, That his wine went from him, as many men's sins forsake them, because they are
decayed, and want strength and opportunity to perform them. Now this may be done, where
the heart remaineth yet unsanctified: but Noah awoke from his wine, put it away, or,
repented him of the evil of his doing. 'A just man falleth seven times, and riseth
up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief' (Pro 24:16). Wherefore they have cause
to say to all the Hams in the world, 'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I
shall arise' (Micah 7:8); but your fall, is a fall into mischief.
'He knew what his younger son had done unto him.' Whether this was by revelation from
heaven, or through the information of Japheth and Shem, I determine not; but so it was,
that the good man had understanding thereof: which might be requisite upon a double
account; not only that he might now be ashamed thereof; but take notice, that he had
caused the enemies of God to reproach; for this sinks deep into a good man's heart, and
afflicteth him so much the more.
Ver. 25. 'And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto
his brethren.'
By these words one would think that Canaan, the grand-child of Noah, was the first that
discovered his nakedness; but of this I am uncertain: I rather think that Noah, in a
spirit of prophecy, determined the destruction of Ham's posterity, from the prodigiousness
of his wicked action, and of his name, which signifieth indignation, or heat; for names of
old were ofttimes given according to the nature and destiny of the persons concerned. 'Is
not he rightly called Jacob?' (Gen 27:36). And again, 'As his name is, so is
he' (1 Sam 25:25). Besides, by this act did Ham declare himself void of the grace of God;
for he that rejoiceth in iniquity, or that maketh a mock, as being secretly pleased with
or at the infirmities of the godly, he is declared already, by the Spirit of God, to be
nothing (1 Cor 13).
'A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.' This was accomplished when
Israel took the land of Canaan, and made the offspring of this same Ham, even so many as
escaped the edge of the sword, to be captives and bondsmen, and tributers unto them.
Hence note, that the censures of good men are dreadful, and not lightly to be passed
over, whether they prophesy of evil or good; because they speak in judgment, and according
to the tenor of the word of God.
Ver. 26. 'And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his
servant.'
Shem seems by this to be the first in that action of love to his father: and that
Japheth did help through his persuasion; for Shem is blessed in a special manner, and
Canaan is made his servant.
Hence note, That forwardness in things that are good, is a blessed sign that the Lord
is our God: Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. It is said of Hananiah, That 'he was a
faithful man, and feared God above many' (Neh 7:2). Now such men are provocations to good,
as I doubt not but Shem's was to Japheth: As Paul saith of some, 'Your zeal hath provoked
very many' (2 Cor 9:2).
Ver. 27. 'God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.'
In the margin, it is 'God shall persuade': And it looks like a confirmation of what I
said before, and is a prophecy of that requital of love that God should one day give his
posterity, for his kindness to Noah his father. As if Noah had said, 'Well, Japheth, thou
wast soon persuaded by Shem to shew kindness to me thy father, and the Lord shall
hereafter persuade thy posterity to trust in the God of Shem.'
'God shall enlarge.' This may respect liberty of soul, or how great the church of the
Gentiles should be; for Japheth was the father of the Gentiles (Gen 10:5).
If it respect the fist, then it shows that sin is as fetters and chains that holds
souls in captivity and thraldom. And hence, when Christ doth come in the gospel, it is 'to
preach deliverance to the captives, - and to set at liberty them that are bruised' (Luke
4:18).
'God shall persuade.' That is, God shall enlarge him by persuasion; for the gospel
knows no other compulsion, but to force by argumentation. Them therefore that God brings
into the tents, or churches of Christ, they by the gospel are enlarged form the bondage
and thraldom of the devil, and persuaded also to embrace his grace to salvation.
Ver. 28. 'And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.'
He lived therefore to see Abraham fifty and eight years old: He lived also to see the
foundation of Babel laid; nay, the top stone thereof: and also the confusion of tongues.
He lived to see of the fruit of his loins, mighty kings and princes. But in all this time
he lived not to do one work that the Holy Ghost thought worthy to record for the savour of
his name, or the edification and benefit of his church, save only, That he died at nine
hundred and fifty years; so great a breach did this drunkenness make upon his spirit.
Ver. 29. 'So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.'
