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creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply 18 upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his 19 wife, and his sons' wives with him: Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, [and] whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

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And Noah, full of gratitude, builded an altar unto the LORD, before he built a house for himself; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar, as an acknowledgment for his remarkable 21 preservation. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; this was pleasant and acceptable to him; and the LORD said in his heart, resolved in himself, and made known his purposes to Noah, saying, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake with such a deluge; for, or rather, though the imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every living thing, as I have 22 done. For While the earth remaineth, seed time and har→ vest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. God here obliges himself not to overthrow the general course of nature all the world over any more, though particular places may suffer; and, blessed be God, his promise hath never failed.

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REFLECTIONS.

1. ET us adore the mercy of God to Noah and his posterity. He kindly remembered him, watched over the ark, and took care that it should be settled upon a mountain, while the vallies were like a quagmire. He also remembered the beasts, to whom such a confinement must have been very disagreeable. It gives us an amiable idea of the goodness of God to other creatures, as well as to man. O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.

2. Let us wait God's time for coming out of the most confined and uneasy circumstances. In trouble the heart is ready to fret against him; but it is good to hope and quietly wait for God's salvation: so Noah waited for God's command; he would not venture to come out of himself. Let us learn in all our ways to acknowledge him and he will direct our paths; to eye his providence and follow his leadings, then we shall be safe and happy. He that believeth, shall not make haste, but wait God's time. Had Noah gone out sooner, the earth would have been damp, provisions would have been wanting for the beasts, and all might have perished together; there is nothing like having a commission from God.

3. Let us learn to pay cheerful sacrifices to God for all his mercies, especially for signal deliverances. Thus Noah did, and it was pleasing and acceptable to God. When he brings our souls out of prison, let us praise his name. If God hath pre

served us in deep waters, when the waves and billows were ready to go over us, let us bless him; for this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee: Of the few creatures that Noah had left, he is willing to sacrifice some. Let us not grudge our tribute of praise to God, who in six and seven troubles hath delivered us. The offerings of a devout and grateful heart are still acceptable to him; and if they are presented in the name of Christ, they will be a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour.

4. We should thankfully acknowledge the divine patience in bearing with the provocations of men, and continuing his mercy to the earth. Let us be thankful that he does not turn a fruitful world into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell therein; but giveth rain from heaven, and the appointed weeks of harvest. He crowneth every day with loving kindness and tender mercy; he crowneth the year with goodness, and the whole earth is full of it. He hath fulfilled his promise to this day; seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, have not ceased. And this should also confirm ou? faith in the fulfilment of those promises which are yet to come, of spiritual and eternal blessings. So God himself teacheth us to conclude in Isa. liv. 9, 10. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, nei ther shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.

CHAP. IX. 1—17.

In the two preceding chapters we had an account of the world being drowned, and restored to its original state of one family. In this, we have God's covenant with them, and the seal of it.

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ND God blessed Noah and his sons, on their coming out

A the ark, and said unto them, as he had said to Adam

and Eve, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2 And he renewed to him the dominion originally given to Adam, saying, 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, and for your 3 use are they intended. Therefore Every moving thing that liveth, which is fit for food, shall be meat for you; even as freely as the green herb have I given you all things; there 4fore it is lawful to kill and eat. But flesh with the life thereof, Ewhich is] the blood thereof, that is, raw blood, and raw flesh,

5 shall ye not eat.* And surely your blood of your lives will I require, that is, take vengeance for the shedding of it; at the hand of every beast will I require it, the beast that kills a man shall be slain, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso wilfully and unjustly sheddeth man's blood, by man, by the magistrate, shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man, and therefore such an injury to man is a 7 high affront to God, whose image he bears. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

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And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, say9 ing, And I, behold, I, the almighty and unchangeable Jehovah, establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, 10 to the latest posterity; 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, and to 11 every beast of the earth which shall hereafter inhabit it.† And I will establish my covenant with you, this my decree shall never be revoked; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a 12 flood to destroy the earth. And, to give Noah and his posterity the fullest satisfaction, God said, This [is] the token, the sensible sign or seal, of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that [is] with you, for per13 petual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, I now appoint it for this end,|| and it shall be for a token of a covenant 14 between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when

I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in 15 the cloud: And, to speak after the manner of men, I will re

member my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no 16 more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 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

•This is a positive precept, intended for their health and preservation, to prevent unnecessary cruelty in the use of the creatures, and because blood was to be offered as a ran som for man's life and instead thereof, which he had forfeited to God's justice; and to make them more fearful of shedding man's blood, as the next words show.

+ This shows that creatures are capable of being parties in a covenant and receiving benefit from it, who are not capable of understanding any thing about it.

There was a peculiar propriety in appointing the rainbow to be the token, as it ap peared at a time when their fears would be naturally most apt to rise. The Greeks call it Gaspases, to intimate its being a wonderful work of God. As the rainbow is a natural appearance, occasioned by the refraction of the sun's light in drops of falling rain, most interpreters supposed that it appeared before the flood, and was now only appointed as a voluntary sign. But others, thinking this would not have been satisfactory to Noah, are of opinion, that there was no rainbow before the deluge, and that either there were no clouds. or they had not that quality, which is requisite to produce this appearance. In this partic ular those two different theorists, Whiston and Burnet, are fully agreed. Honer seems to have had a notion that the rainbow was at first set in the clouds to be a sign to inen. Iliad xi. v. 28.

Jove's wondrous bow, of three celestial dyes,
Plic'd as a sign to man amid the skies.

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17 creature of all flesh that [is] upon the earth. And God, again said unto Noah, This [is] the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh, that [is] upon the earth. This is often repeated, to strengthen the faith of all men, and especially of Noah and his sons, whom the remembrance of that dreadful deluge had made too apprehensive of the like again.

1.

REFLECTIONS.

ET us be thankful for the divine blessing, by which the world is peopled, and so many millions raised from Noah and his three sons; so that such multitudes of inhabitants have spread over the whole earth. That this blessing of God still continues, and as one generation passeth away, another cometh; this calls for thankfulness and praise.

2. Let us bless God for impressing this fear of man upon the beasts. It is a great happiness that they have not the use of reason, thereby to confederate together and pursue their common interest. It is an instance of divine goodness, that lions, tigers, and other furious beasts, are generally found in deserts where men cannot inhabit. God in his righteous judgment sometimes makes them the scourge of nations. Thus he sent lions among the Assyrians. It is his bridle in their jaws that keeps them from making havoc of men. Let us admire his goodness, and be thankful, as Job expresses it, that we are at league with the stones of the field, and that the beasts of the field are at peace with Again,

us.

3. Let us acknowledge the liberal provision which God hath made for the sustenance and refreshment of men: that he hath not only given us herbs, but allows us to kill and feed on his creatures that the flesh of different animals hath such different taste and flavour; that there is such an agreeable variety, and that in general it is so wholesome a diet. Every creature of God is good'; let us receive them with thanksgiving; and whether we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, let us do all to the glory of God in the name of Jesus Christ.

4. Let us acknowledge the divine goodness in his tender regard for the life of man: that we are not, as the fish of the sea, or the fowls of the air, left to devour one another. We are under the protection of good laws, and spend our days secure from violence. If God hath such regard for the life of man in general, how much more for the lives of good men! Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints; and they shall be seGod will certainly verely punished who shed innocent blood. make inquisition for the blood of his saints, and will awfully Here avenge it, not only seven times, but seventy times seven. it is declared, v. 6. whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; and the gospel adds, that no murderer hath eternal

life; he shall perish for ever. Let us then be tender of the lives of our fellow creatures, and do what we can to make them easy and comfortable; for he that hateth his brother is a murderer.

5. Let us be thankful for the covenant made with man v. 9. It is a remarkable expression, I, behold, I; this speaks his condescension and goodness; I, the eternal and infinite Jehovah, establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you. Let us be thankful that he will not drown the world again; but more especially so for the new and better covenant which is established in Christ Jesus, who came to save the world. This covenant is called everlasting, that is, it shall continue as long as the world endures. But the new covenant is everlasting in a nobler sense, as it extends through eternity. And to confirm God's fidelity, he is represented both in Ezekiel and the Revelation as seated on a throne, and a rainbow round about it. Whenever we see this glorious appearance in the heavens, let us remember the everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things and sure; and rejoice that he is faithful who hath promised, and will also do it.

CHAP. IX. 18, to the end.

We have here the sin and shame of Noah; the wickedness of one of his sons; the dutiful respect of the other two; and some remarkable predictions of his concerning them.

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ND the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were

of Canaan; from whom the Canaanites descended; that accurs19 ed race, whose land God gave to Israel. These [are] the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread, and peopled anew.

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And Noah, as soon as he was settled in the earth, began [to be] 21 an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And, some years after he drank too freely of the wine which he had made, and, perhaps not knowing its strength, and before he was awure, was drunken, or in some degree intoxicated, (compare John ii. 10.) 22 and while he lay asleep he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, being told it by Canaan, (who probably first saw it, and therefore is only mentioned in the curse, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two 23 brethren without, in derision and contempt of his father. And Shem and Japheth, instead of joining with him in his indecent sport, 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 fa 24 ther's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and perceiv, ing the covering he had upon him, and inquiring the cause, he

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