Gen 9:1
So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth: This is the same commandment given to Adam and Eve (Gen 1:28). God wants people to populate the Earth because he wants to fill Heaven with people. If we are made in the image of God, and we feel loneliness, it's entirely possible that God does as well.
Gen 9:2
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand: God establishes the order of the animal kingdom again, putting man over the animals. It is interesting to watch videos of regular people scaring bears off just by waving their arms and shouting.
Gen 9:3
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs: The order established with Adam was different because God hadn't given Adam the animals as food. Before the flood, humans were vegetarians. Here we see God giving humans the animals as food. We can eat any moving thing that lives. Unlike what the animal rights activists want us to believe, it is not immoral to eat a cow, pig, or whatever else we want to eat. I've seen it argued that the wording "Every moving thing that lives" means we shouldn't eat anything that has died. However, I don't see that. The way I understand "every moving thing that lives" is as a general descriptor that we can eat any living thing, not that the animal has to be alive and killed by the person. Otherwise, we could never eat anything that someone else killed. Butchers and meat markets would not exist.
Gen 9:4
But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood: The only restriction we have on eating meat is that we can't eat meat that hasn't been drained of blood. Personally, I take this to mean that we shouldn't eat blood period, but I don't know for certain on that. But I also won't be eating blood sausage any time soon. This was before any covenant was established, so it seems to be a general rule.
Gen 9:5
Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man: God establishes capital punishment here. This follows God's command that we can't eat meat with blood, which seems to be God's way of saying that we need to have a respect for life, and that there are consequences for our actions.
Gen 9:6
Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man: And the reason why we should have respect for life is that we were made in the image of God. From this verse, we can expect that when we see God, we'll look like Him. I think of this from a digital perspective. If we were a sentient object within a computer program made by a man who said that they created us in the progammer's image, if we were ever able to see the programmer, we'd expect that the programmer would look like our digital self. Somehow, I expect that we look like God does in His spritual form.
Gen 9:7
And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it: The contrast here is apparent. God doesn't want us murdering each other, He wants us to fill the earth so He can populate Heaven with people.
Gen 9:8
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: God continues on, or moves onto the next topic.
Gen 9:9
And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you: This covenant includes everyone since Noah's family is repopulating the entire earth. All people are decendents of Noah.
Gen 9:10
and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth: All creatures are also part of this covenant.
Gen 9:11
Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth: God promises that He will never again kill all life on Earth by flooding it. He doesn't say anything about destroying it with fire, or the breath of His mouth, or any other means though, and we know from Peter that the earth will be burned up, and everything in it (2 Peter 3:10).
Gen 9:12
And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: Again, God is making it super clear that this covenant is for everyone and everything, and forever. God is reiterating that He will not destroy the earth through a flood ever again.
Gen 9:13
I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth: And as proof for us, God made it that when there is rain, we will see a rainbow so we can know that He will not wipe out the world with a flood ever again.
Gen 9:14
It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud: Look at the grace of God! How many times does He need to say it? He's making it abundantly clear that He will not destroy the earth through a flood ever again. And rainbows are beautiful too.
Gen 9:15
and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh: Over and over and over, God declares that He will never again destroy the earth with water.
Gen 9:16
The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth: Is there any doubt what God is saying? He will never again destroy the earth with a flood, and as proof, He left the sign of the rainbow for us to see. The language here of God "remembering" the covenant is figurative. God can't forget. He's trying to relate this covenant in a way that our limited minds can understand.
Gen 9:17
And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth: I think that God has finally gotten his point across. Anyone who tries to deny God's covenant has to be delusional (I've never actually met anyone who denies this covenant though. Instead, rainbows are explained away as naturally occuring light refraction without any mention of God.).
Gen 9:18
Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan: Shem, Ham, and Japheth are the fathers of all the nations. The bible doesn't mention that Noah had any more. The mention of Ham being the father of Canaan is because later, Israel is told to go take the land of Canaan (Deut 1:1-8).
Gen 9:19
These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated: There's no way around it, the bible says that the whole earth was populated by these three. So when we read about nephilim later, they had to come from these three (1Sa 17:4-7, Num 13:33, Deut 9:1-2).
Gen 9:20
And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard: I find it funny that one of the first things Noah does is make wine. Drinking is a highly debated topic, but I think the bible is clear that drinking in itself isn't bad, but excessive drinking where it becomes an idol is the problem.
Gen 9:21
Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent: And we see why drinking can be bad. Noah got so drunk that he passed out naked. That's definitely not good.
Gen 9:22
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside: Again, Ham is called the father of Canaan. It seems like this is to show that Ham was fairly degenerate, and passed this degeneracy down his lineage. This story isn't that Ham went for help, but that he went and mockingly told his two brothers.
Gen 9:23
But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness: Ham tried to shame Noah, but Shem and Japheth were honorable and did not make a mockery of their father. They grabbed a blanket, entered the tent backward where Noah had passed out and covered him. They did not think it was funny and treated their father as they should have, and honored him, even though getting so drunk and passing out naked is certainly not acceptable. This simple story shows the contrast between Ham and his brothers. Ham was disrespectful but his brothers were not.
Gen 9:24
So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him: It's not clear how Noah knew, but either he was told by his sons, or God told him.
Gen 9:25
Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.": This is a prophecy, and it's laid upon Ham as the father of Canaan. Ham will be a servant to his brothers.
Gen 9:26
And he said: "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant: Shem is mentioned first, as his is the lineage that Abraham will come from. Canaan will be Shem's servant.
Gen 9:27
May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant: Japheth is mentioned second. Most commentaries I have read say that Japheth fathered Europe, Asia and America. God definitely enlarged Japheth. The statement that Japheth will dwell in the tents of Shem seems to indicate that Japheth and Shem will live together and not be a hinderance to each other. A lot of commentaries also say that this is a prophecy of the grafting in of the Gentiles. Shem is the father of the Jewish lineage, and Japheth is the father of Europe, Asia and America. The dwelling together is likely that fulfillment.
Gen 9:28
And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years: There's no elaboration on his life other than how much longer he lived. It's likely that he didn't have any more children too, as his three sons are noted as the fathers of the rest of civilization.
Gen 9:29
So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died: It is interesting to note that after Noah, people live shorter and shorter lives. This seems to indicate the degredation of our genetics through inbreeding, resulting in shorter life spans.
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