Genesis 9

Genesis chapter 9

The chapter starts off with the commandment for Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply. If these remnants of mankind did not want to reproduce, then man was certainly doomed. With this also came some changes with eating. In my humble interpretation it appears that they are given a command to eat animals for the first time. With this though, they are not to eat things raw, and they are to hold life precious and not waste what God has blessed them with.

They are instructed to hold human life precious as well. In what some might consider contradictory, God tells Noah that anyone that takes human life, they themselves will have their life taken. I don't find this contradictory at all. If there is someone who has no regard for human life enough to take another life, than to have that person around is a danger to all living individuals. Almost as if treating a malignant cancer, all those that would take innocent life must themselves be die for the good of the living.

By the eleventh verse we come to the important covenant with mankind. God uses the rainbow to let man know that he will never again destroy this world with water. This covenant seems all the more real and true because the Bible says it had never rained before the flood, which also means they have never seen a rainbow before. This covenant is a forerunner to the covenant of eternal life through Christ Jesus. There is no life, no deliverance, no safety without the hand of God.

Sin never seems to be far behind even for those that serve and love the Lord. This goes to show that we are to be serious and sober in our days because we don't know when temptation or sin is there to stop us. Noah plants a vineyard and enjoys the fruits of it a little too much. It appears that Ham mocks and ridicules the naked state of Noah. Noah was a good man who got drunk. Ham on the other hand appears to possess some contrary ways about him. We can speculate if more happened, but I think it does a disservice to the message being conveyed. Ham's heart was not right and his brothers took pity on their father and covered up his discretion. Is this not the example we should also have when fellow saints sin? We should do much to remedy the situation and not advertise it abroad and make it worse.

We find out that Ham is going to be cursed by the words of Noah's prophecy. That his descendants will be servants to his brothers. So many times we think our sin is a victim-less crime, but later we see that many others are usually involved in our mistakes. We need the guidance of the Holy Ghost to help us along our Christian walks.