.

3. Every moving thing that li veth, fhall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

3. That liveth, &c. God granteth here to Noah and his Sons a larger allowance for food than what he

had exprefly granted to our firft parents, chap. 1. v. 29. Those creatures which die alone, or were not legally killed, were afterwards excepted exprefly, Exod. 22. 31. Levit, 17.15. 22.8. and are not allowed in this grant. But then left the liberty of eating living creatures fhould be mifunderstood, it follows,

4. But flesh with the life thereof, which is, the bloud thereof, fhall

you not eat

4. But flesh, &c. 4.4. Though I have given you living creatures for meat, yet ye

may not eat them alive, and in their bloud. The bloud of a beaft is its life, (Deut. 12. 23. Lev. 17. 14.) and the feat of the vital fpirits. To eat a creature alive hath a great appearance of cruelty and violence, which men ought carefully to avoid, confidering the wickedness which the old World ftands charged with, chap. 6. 11, 13. Befides, this cruelty would have difpofed men to murder, which is feverely forbidden in the following words.

5. And furely your bloud of your lives will I require: at the band of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man.

5. The bloud of your lives:i.e. That bloud which fhall without juft caufe be fpilt in the death of a man. Require: i. e. Find out and punish, Pfal.

9. 12. Deut. 18. 19. with Acts 3,23. Beaft: viz. That fhall fhed man's bloud. This afterwards God made into a Law, Exod. 21. 28. Brother: So every man is to another man, which does aggravate the Sin of Murder.

6. hofo fheddeth man's bloud, by man foall his bloud be fhed: for in the image of God made he man.

6. Sheddeth: i. c.

Wittingly, and without just cause. Compare Deut. 19. 4, 12.

By man: i.e. By the Magiftrate to whom this properly belongs, (Rom. 13.4.) By witnesses according to the fentence

of

of the Judges; fays the Chaldee Paraphraft. See Numb. 35. 19,29,30. Exod. 21.12. For in the image, &c. This allo aggravates the Sin of Murder. It is a great Trefpafs upon God as it deftroys his likeness. (See ch. 1. 24.) And Selfmurder, upon this account, is forbid as well as Killing others.

7. And you, be ye fruitfull and multipy, bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

8. And God Spake unto Noah, and to his fons with him, saying,

9. And I, behold, I eftablish my covenant with and with your feed after you:

you,

10. And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattel, and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

11. And I will eftablish my covenant with you, neither shall all. flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a foud, neither fhall there any more be a floud to destroy the

earth.

11. My Covenant: Or, Promife. For it is an abfolute promife on God's part, (Ifa. 5419) that there fhall not be any more fuch a Floud to destroy the Earth.

12. And God faid, this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual

13. I do fer my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

generations.

13. Bow: i. e. The Rain-bow, as Jofephus hath it. This Bow was in its Caufes benot till now made a Promise.

14. In the cloud: There, from whence Men might reafonably have feared another Floud.

15. And

15. To destroy all flesh: Some Inundations or particular jection against God's

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 floud to destroy all flesh.

16. And the bow shall be in the

Flouds are no ob

veracity.

16. Remember: See

cloud, and I will look upon it, that the Note on ch.8. 1. I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

17. And God faid unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh, that is upon the earth.

18. And the fons of Noah that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan.

18. Of Canaan: He had other Sons befides, ch. 10.6. But

Canaan is here mentioned as the Head

of a curfed Race, and in order to the enfuing relation, (v.25.)

19. Thefe are the three fons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth over-spread.

20. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and be planted a vine

yard..

20. Began: It is not implied that

Noah was not an
Husbandman before.

Compare Luk. 12. 1. with Matt. 16. I.

21. And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent.

22. And Ham the father of Canaan faw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their fhoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father, and their faces were backward, and they faw not their father's nakedness.

MAHO

24. And

24. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger fon had done unto him. 25. And be faid, Curfed be Canaan: a fervant of fervants fhall be be unto his brethren.

25. Canaan: He

is juftly thought to be partaker in the fin with his Father,

(and 'tis not for nothing that he is twice named with him, v. 18, 22.) and then no wonder that we find him under a Curfe, (Prov.30.17.) and not his Brethren. Noah foretells the Evils which fhould befall his Off-fpring, of which we read at large in the Book of Joshua. A fervant of fervants: i. e. A mean or vile fervant. See for the phrase, Ecclef. 1.2. Thus the Lord of Lords is the fupreme Lord. 16. And be faid, Bleffed be the LORD God of Shem, and Ca naan jhall be bis fervant.

26. Lord God: Who

is the Author of all the Bleffings that Shem fhall receive,

and is therefore to be praised. Shem is here blefled, in that God is faid to be the Lord God of Shem. Compare Pfal. 144. 15.

27. God fhall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan fhall be his fer

vant.

27. God, &c. Noah fore-tells, [1] That God would give the greater part of the Earth (in proportion

to what Shem or Ham fhould poffefs) to the Sons of Japheth. This fence agrees beft with the Hebrew Text, and may be confirmed from chap. 10. [II.] That He would preferve his Church among the Off-fpring of Shem; which is expreffed by dwelling in his tents. God had his House among them, and of that Race he fent his Son, who dwelt (or pitched his Tent) among them, Joh. 1. 14. [III.] The fervile and bafe condition of Canaan's Race. And Canaan fhall be his Servant

28. And Noah lived after the floud three hundred and fifty years.

29. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

CHAP.

СНАР. Х.

The ARGUMENT.

The Original of the feveral Nations which Sprang from the Sons of Noah. The numerous Off Spring of Japheth, and their large Poffeffions. The Pofterity of Ham; and, more particularly, of Nimrod. The Children of Shem.

I.

•NOW these are the generations of the sons of Noah Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were

fons born after the floud.

2. The fons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Ja van, and Tubal, and Mefbech, and

Tiras,

2. Gomer: See E:

zek. 38.6. Hence 'tis thought the Cimbrians came. Jofephus exprefly tells us, that

the Galatians came hence, (Jofeph. Antiq. 1. 1. c.7.) Magog: Whence came the Scythians, fays Jofephus. Compare Ezek. 38. 2,3, 15. and chap. 39. 2,6. Madai: Hence the Medes (Jofeph.) Javan: From whom the Greeks fprang. Ionia (according to Jofephus) comes hence. Hence Greece is called Javan, Ifa. 66. 19. Dan. 8. 21. and ch. 10. 21. Tubal: Of whom, fays Jofephus, came the Iberians. Mefhech: It hath been thought that the Mofcovites; Jofephus exprefly affirms that the Cappadocians, fprang from Mefbech, Tiras: Hence the Thracians.

3. And the fons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Ripbath, and Togar.

mah.

3. Afhkenaz: JoSephus derives from him a People, whom he calls Prives What

ever they were, it is probable that from that People who defcended from Afhkenaz, the Germans were afterwards derived. Riphath: Whence the Paphlagonians, for fo the Riphatheans were called, fays Jofephus. Togarmah: From whom the Phrygians.