and mind shapes within itself, what it imagines, what it thinks, what it plans, is evil from the earliest days of youth. Since the Fall all men are naturally depraved and corrupted, inclined only to that which is evil. There is only one way of effecting deliverance from this inherited disposition toward everything that is evil, namely, through the obedience and merit of Jesus Christ the Savior. As for the earth: V. 22. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and

summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. That is the promise, that is the order of God, who fixes the laws of nature and, according to circumstances, changes or suspends them as He finds best. The human race, but not the great Creator, is dependent upon the order and upon the laws of nature. The consideration of the goodness and of the patience of God, therefore, should be an earnest incentive to us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

The Covenant of God with Noah. Noah's Sin.

GOD BLESSES NOAH AND HIS SONS. - V. 1. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. This is a repetition and a confirmation of the blessing of creation, chap. 1, 28. As founders of the new human race, Noah and his sons received the assurance of God's blessing for the propagation of their kind. Note that the blessing of the Lord is incidentally a command; it is His will that the human race should be propagated, that man and woman, in holy wedlock, should be fruitful and multiply. The modern criminal limiting of offspring is a blasphemous perversion of God's order of creation. V. 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. This is an extension and a confirmation of the order of God by which man was given dominion over the animals. Before the Fall all creatures willingly placed themselves under the direction of man, as the lord of creation. But now the fear of man and the dread of man was to keep the animals and the birds and the fishes in check, because sin with its consequences has dissolved the bonds of willing subjection, man having lost his natural power over nature, and nature, in turn, being constantly on the verge of rebellion against man. God gave them under the hand of man, but man is constantly obliged to resort to force to maintain his superiority. V. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. In the early days of the human race God had restricted man to a vegetarian diet, chap. 1, 29, but now everything that lived and moved, all animals, were included in the food which was at man's disposal. Thus was the eating of flesh formally legalized and, at the same time, commended. V. 4. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. Although the eating of flesh was permitted, yet a restriction is

added to the concession, namely, that excluding flesh as food while the living blood was still coursing through the veins, whether this referred to pieces cut out of the living animal or to the eating of blood. This provision was added to prevent man's degeneration to coarse and brutal barbarism, or even savagery. V. 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. V. 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man. While the blood and the life of animals is in the power of man, he is strictly forbidden to shed that of his fellow-man. The blood of every person with reference to his soul (since the life is in the blood) the Lord will require at the hands of man and of every beast. Thus the life of man is here safeguarded against beasts as well as against fellow-men. The killing of every human being will be punished by the Lord, but not directly or immediately, as He had promised in the case of Cain. He that sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. The punishment of murder is laid into the hands of the government, which shall punish the murderer by requiring his life in exchange for that which he took. This is, as Luther remarks, the first command regarding the authority of the government in the wielding of the sword. In these words the temporal government is authorized, and the authority from God to use the sword is conferred. For in the image of God made He man: murder is a violation of the image of God in man, which the Lord intends to restore in all those that are renewed in faith, and which He wants all men to put on. In a wider sense, therefore, man bears even now the image of God, since he is a rational creature and has an immortal soul. V. 7. And you, be ye fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. Cp. v. 1; chap. 1, 28. The emphatic repetition is not without significance, especially in view of the situation as it now exists.

THE RAINBOW A TOKEN OF THE COVENANT.

V. 8. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, v. 9. And I, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you, v. 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. The Lord here addresses both Noah and his sons, although the latter occupied a subordinate position. He established, set up, confirmed, a covenant, by giving the promise of the covenant, of the realization of future happiness. Not only with Noah, his sons, and their descendants did God establish this league, but also with the irrational beasts, especially those that had found refuge in the ark, with all animate beings over whom He had given them dominion, whether birds, or mammals, or any other beings on the earth. V. 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 resolution which God had determined upon within Himself, chap. 8, 21, which He now made known to man as His covenant: there should be no new destruction to cut off all flesh in a sudden catastrophe; the end of the earth should not be brought about through a deluge, to cause the universe to perish. V. 12. 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: v. 13. I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. In confirmation of His words God gave to man a special token, or sign, for everlasting generations, to last as long as the earth stands. This token was to be a reminder of the covenant which the Lord now established between Himself and all living beings. It is the rainbow, God's bow, which is the sign of His covenant. He did set it in the rain-clouds, thus establishing that law of nature which causes the refraction of the light-rays when they pass through drops of water. V. 14. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; v. 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. V. 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. In speech which is modeled strongly after that of men, and by a repetition of thought which emphasizes the bow and the covenant of God and the relation between the two again and again, the Lord impresses the significance of His act upon Noah and his sons.

Whenever dark clouds do arise for a rainstorm on the earth, and whenever this beautiful phenomenon of the rainbow appears, then God has given His promise to remember His eternal covenant not to destroy all living flesh with another flood. V. 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. Whenever we see the rainbow in the clouds, we should remember the covenant of God toward all flesh, the fact that He is at peace with His creatures, so far as their outward existence is concerned. The token of God's covenant with which He has connected His promises really guarantees His goodness and grace, possessing power and significance not only for men, but also before God. Every appearance of the rainbow should cause a prayer of thanksgiving to arise to our lips, praising the goodness and mercy of God. It may be remarked in this connection that the changing of the laws of nature indicates that the atmosphere and the climate of the earth before the Flood must have differed materially from that which now obtains, an assumption which is sustained by biological discoveries during the last centuries.

NOAH'S SIN. - V. 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. V. 19. These are the three sons of Noah; and of them was the whole earth overspread. Since Noah had no more sons after the Flood, his three sons may be said to have been the progenitors of the human race since that great catastrophe. Attention is called thus early to Canaan, the son of Ham, since he and his descendants entered into very significant relations with the chosen people of God. The entire population of the world may trace its descent from the three sons of Noah. V. 20. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard; v. 21. and he drank of the wine and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. Noah, as a husbandman, as a tiller of the soil, now devoted himself to the cultivation of the vine: he planted a vineyard. But in making use of the product of his labors he forgot the caution which is essential in the life of every Christian. He drank of the wine, of the fermented juice of the grape, which is here mentioned for the first time, and he partook of the liquor to excess. He became intoxicated and lay in his tent in a drunken stupor, uncovered to the gaze of every passer-by. Scripture is not silent concerning the sins of the believers, but relates many of them for the purpose of warning us against the dangers of sin. V. 22. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. This act on the part of Ham, enjoying the shame of his father in making it a matter of scornful joking over against his brothers, showed both a lack of the proper respect toward

his father and a proneness toward indecency, in short, a bold and impious disposition of mind. He had evidently forgotten the earnest piety which he had learned from his father. V. 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. Even though Noah had sinned, it was not the business of the sons to make mockery of the fact. Shem and Japheth did what filial reverence demanded of them when they covered the shame of their father without so much as looking at him. Thus they also showed the chasteness of their mind. This behavior may well serve as a lesson for our day and age, when sexual matters are always kept in the foreground, either by prurient speech and behavior or by shameless exposure of nakedness.

THE CURSE UPON CANAAN. · V. 24. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. As the intoxication wore off, Noah awoke to soberness and found out what Ham had done, probably by reason of the dress which covered him. It was doubtless with deep humiliation that he became fully aware of the rôle which he had played. But to this was added just anger at the disrespect of Ham. V. 25. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. The curse strikes Canaan, because he followed his father in his sinful, wicked disposition. Therefore his offspring, his whole generation, should be cursed by being servants of servants to the brothers of Ham and their descendants. The

sons of Canaan in Palestine were either annihilated or became servants of the children of Israel; and his later descendants in Africa were, for many centuries, the slaves of the Japhetic peoples. It has been only through the power of the Gospel that their lot has been changed, and that they have become partakers of the glories of salvation and of the blessings which attend Christianity. V. 26. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. The Lord Jehovah, the true, living God, was to be the God of Shem. From the descendants of Shem the Lord chose the people to whom He entrusted His oracles, the Messianic prophecies. From the descendants of Shem, from the children of Israel, the promised Seed of the woman, Jesus Christ the Savior, was born. V. 27. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. The blessing of God came upon Japheth and his descendants, chiefly the European nations. They have been spread out far and wide; they have had the destinies of the world in their hands, under God. But the highest distinction of these peoples was that they partook of the blessings of Shem, that they became partakers of the one salvation, in Christ. Like a refrain the fact of Canaan's servitude is predicted three times, showing that his curse indeed would be heavy and longenduring. V. 28. And Noah lived after the Flood three hundred and fifty years. V. 29. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died. Holy man though he was, and distinguished above all men of his time, he yet, as a sinner, was subject to death: he went the way of all flesh.

The Genealogical Tree of the Seventy Chief Nations after the Flood.

THE SONS OF JAPHETH.-V. 1. Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and unto them were sons born after the Flood. V. 2. The sons of Japheth, who in this chronological table is named first, as the oldest, while in the other table Shem is mentioned first, as the progenitor of the children of Israel: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. The descendants of these men have been identified respectively, and with some show of probability, as the Cimmerians of Asia Minor, with whom the Cymry of Wales and Brittany and the Cimbri of ancient Germany are related, as the Scythians of Southern Russia, as the Medes south of the Caspian Sea, as the Graeco-Italian family of nations, and as the Iberians, Georgians, and Armenians of Asia Minor. V. 3. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and

Togarmah, whose descendants were probably the Askanians in Northern Phrygia, the Celts, or Gauls, and the major part of the Armenian nation. V. 4. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim, from whom the Aeolians of Greece (Thessaly), the ancient Spanish nations, the Cyprians and the Carians, and the Dardanians, or Trojans, are possibly descended. V. 5. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. From the Japhetites there have descended and then have separated themselves the nations along the Mediterranean Sea, each one according to its own language, according to its generations in its nations.

THE SONS OF HAM. V. 6. And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. Their descendants are to be found later in Ethiopia, Egypt, Libya, and the land of Canaan. V. 7. And the sons of Cush:

Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. Their descendants afterward lived in Northeastern Africa, in Arabia, and along the Gulf of Persia. V. 8. And Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth. V. 9. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. V. 10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. One son of Cush is here singled out on account of his extraordinary ability and mighty conquests. This was Nimrod, whose feats of hunting were not only so unusual as to become proverbial among all the nations of his day, but who also established a great kingdom on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, with Babylon as its capital and other mighty cities, the ruins of which have in part been discovered. But his work was undertaken over against God, in opposition to Jehovah, in the haughtiness and pride of his own mind, a fact which also made him a tyrant toward men, as the text implies. V. 11. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, v. 12. and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; the same is a great city. Out of the land of Babylon Nimrod, not satisfied with his conquests, marched forth into the land toward the north, which was afterwards known as Asshur, or Assyria. Here he built the great city of Nineveh, which consisted of four quarters, Nineveh proper, the southern section, Rehoboth, the eastern section, Calah, toward the north, and Resen, in the center. So great was this complex of cities that it was afterward described as having a circumference of four hundred and eighty stadia, or about fifty-five miles, which agrees well with the account in the book of Jonah, chap. 3, 3.3) V. 13. And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, v. 14. and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim. These nations were afterwards found in Egypt proper, along the Mediterranean toward the northwest and northeast as far as Philistia, and on the islands of the Mediterranean.

THE SONS OF CANAAN. V. 15. And Canaan begat Sidon, his first-born, and Heth, v. 16. and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, v. 17. and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, v. 18. and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. This explains the origin of the Phenicians on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, of the Hittites, whose various branches were found

3) Cp. Barton, Archeology and the Bible,

44-58.

throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Canaan, some of them occupying the hill land of Judah in the neighborhood of Hebron, of the Jebusites, who lived in the country where Jerusalem was afterward built, of the Amorites on the mountains of Judah and far beyond the Jordan, of the Girgasites, who may have occupied the country southeast of the Sea of Galilee, of the Hivites, who lived from Gibeon to the foot of Hermon, of the Arkites, north of Sidon, of the Sinites and Zemarites, who lived well into what was later Northern Syria and Cilicia, of the Arvadites, farthest north of all these tribes, of the Hamathites, on the river Orontes. All these tribes and nations came into existence as the children of Canaan left the home of their fathers and sought their own places to live. V. 19. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. These are the general boundaries of the Canaanites, who later gave the children of Israel so much trouble: from Sidon in Phenicia to Gaza in Philistia, and including the country toward the west as far as the later location of the Dead Sea. V. 20. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

THE SONS OF SHEM. V. 21. Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. Shem is here called the father of all the children of Eber, the Hebrews in the wider sense of the word, because Eber, through his sons Peleg and Joktan, was the progenitor of two distinct series of peoples, the Joktanites of Arabia and the Abrahamites, afterward the children of Israel. V. 22. The children of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. The nations, or tribes, which descended from them were afterward found in the Persian country of Elymais, in Assyria, in Chaldea, in Lydia in Asia Minor, and in Syria, respectively. V. 23. And the children of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. These names, as found in various accounts, point to the fact that the tribes descending from Aram gradually moved toward the east and northeast. V. 24. And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. The two names Salah (sending forth) and Eber (passing over) may indicate that the emigration of tribes in one large movement, as spoken of in the next chapter, took place at this time. V. 25. And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. Eber probably took part in the great Babylonian emigration, for he named his older son Peleg (division), with reference, undoubtedly, to the division and confusion brought

about in consequence of the interference of God. V. 26. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, v. 27. and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, v. 28. and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, v. 29. and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. V. 30. And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the east. Of the thirteen names in this list several have been preserved in various parts of Arabia, and so the Arabians are the Joktanites, descendants of Shem. V. 31. These are

the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. V. 32. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the Flood. This is the Lord's own genealogical table, and it has not yet been superseded. The most careful work on the part of archeologists has rather confirmed the Biblical account in every item. All the nations of men that dwell on the earth have come from one blood, Acts 17, 26.

The Confusion of Tongues and One Line of Shem's Descendants.

THE BUILDING OF THE TOWER. V. 1. And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. Much of the explanatory matter in the preceding chapter, as well as the mention of various languages, belongs to a later period of history, being indicated there merely for the sake of offering a complete picture. The story which is now told belongs to a period only about one hundred years after the Flood, if we may assume that it occurred at the time when Peleg was born. At that time all the people of the world still had but one speech and one language. V. 2. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. From the highlands of the Ararat range the survivors of the Flood and their families moved down, by degrees, in an easterly direction until they reached the great plain where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers flow. It is a rich and fertile plain, or was in those days, and the people were constrained to give up their nomadic form of living and establish permanent sites for homes. V. 3. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. Not only Ham and Canaan had meanwhile forsaken the religion of Noah, but other members of his family had likewise turned from the living God to the vanity and pride of their own imagination. This is indicated by the manner of their speech in proposing to build a city and a tower. V. 4. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Their plans were made with care. Instead of the usual sun-dried brick they proposed to use burnt brick, which would be able to withstand the ravages of the weather so much the better. And instead of merely laying the bricks loosely, they planned to set them firmly by the use of asphalt, which is found in

large quantities near the ruins of Babylon. Just what motive prompted them to undertake the building of such a city and tower whose top should reach to the sky is shown in their words: And let us make for us a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth. An arrogant, blasphemous pride was here combined with a cringing fear of the avenging justice of the Lord. They were full of enmity toward God; their purpose was to defy His almighty power and to make this city with its tower the center of the world, to which they might return even if it should happen that the Lord would scatter them into the four winds.

THE BEGINNING OF THE VARIOUS LANGUAGES. V. 5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. God could not let this challenge to His almighty government of the world go unanswered. He made arrangements to interfere. For though it was a mighty city which the children of men were building, a city whose dimensions astonish the explorer even to-day, the foundations of whose tower and of the many other architectural adornments are a source of constant surprise, it was but as a grain of dust in the hands of the almighty God. V. 6. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. V. 7. Go to, let us go down and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. The Lord first sets forth the situation as He found it: Behold, one people they are, one connection, one association, one community, and one speech they all have. These two factors made the people strong in the pursuit of a common interest. What they had begun to do they would work for with all possible energy; and nothing would be restrained, held back, from them. The result would be the eventual destruction of true freedom, of personal life, and of the plans which God had concerning the Messiah. So God confounded their language, confused their speech, the miracle