Genesis 9 — God blesses Noah

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Richard Agee discusses the significance of the Hebrew word “blessed” in Genesis 9, which means “to kneel,” emphasizing humility and worship. He also delves into the story of Job, highlighting Job’s sanctification of his children and the implications of their actions. He explores the names of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their meanings, particularly focusing on the curse placed on Canaan as a consequence of his grandfather’s humiliation. Mr. Agee also touches on the establishment of a covenant with Noah and the broader implications of understanding Hebrew names and phrases.

God’s Blessing and the Meaning of “Blessed”

“And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1 NAS95)

The Hebrew word used here for “blessed” is bārak, which literally means “to kneel.” Reading this in the English feels really weird. Did God kneel before Noah and his sons and blessed them?

Here’s another way to think about this word. Our current president, Barak Obama’s first name also means to kneel or to be humble before God. That’s an appropriate attitude and posture for worship, isn’t it?

So if God is the one “kneeling” to Noah, what does that mean? It means that God is bestowing His essence or His promise upon Noah and his sons. The greatest thing that God bestowed on mankind was His Son, Yeshua. When Yeshua came to minister on earth, He completely humbled Himself, condescended to us so that we may have eternal life.

When we say the Shema and say “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the world…” we usually stand but really we should be kneeling, because we are giving God something of ourselves to God. We are giving Him our loyalty and our blessing, in a sense.

When translators go through and translate this word from the Hebrew to English, they often fluctuate between translating it as “bless” and “praise” but many people don’t know that there are five places in the Scriptures where this word is translated as “curse” rather than bless or praise, which is the opposite of its standard meaning.

You can’t curse when you kneel. How can you bestow a curse? You can’t. When God told Abraham in Gen. 12 that He would bless those who blessed Abraham and curse those who cursed Abraham, the Hebrew word translated as curse is completely different.

“And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”” (Genesis 12:3 NAS95)

The word translated as “curse” means that God will condemn anyone who treats Abraham with disrespect.

I think it’s important because the blessing here that God gives Noah is active.

The English word worship means to pay homage to something or someone. How does God pay homage to us? He did this when He gave His Son Yeshua for us. God didn’t create us in dishonor. He created mankind in honor at the beginning. God didn’t make a mistake when He created Adam. God created Adam in His own image, that is how God honored Adam and Adam was expected to honor God by acting like Him. He was supposed to act in the same way God acts.

Job’s Sacrifice and the Use of “Blessed” and “Curse”

“When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.” (Job 1:5 NAS95)

The word that the translators translated as “curse” is the same word we read in Genesis 9:1, which is bārak. The translators must have asked that in the context of the thought, how can it mean that they blessed God, it makes more sense to turn the word into a curse rather than using the word blessed.

But let’s look at what Job is actually doing rather than what the children might have been doing. What Job is doing is giving whole burned offerings to God and he is bringing them because his children might have sinned. We can’t bless God when we are sinning.

What does Job know about his own children that he would make these sanctification offerings on their behalf? They were not just eating food together, they were also drinking, probably excessively.

Understand what’s going on here, basically what the verse says is that while Job’s children were sinning, they may have blessed God but their “blessing” of God would not accepted by God because they were sinning So, Job sanctified them, with the whole burnt offerings.

Job was the great-grandson of Esau and as the patriarch of the family, he was also the priest of the family.

What does Job’s name mean? According to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, the basic meaning the name Job is “to be hostile to,” “to be or treat as an enemy.” Job became known as a hated one, or a persecuted one. That’s what he is. Job wasn’t his name, that’s what he became known as, the hated one or the cursed one.

Who hated Job? Who persecuted and cursed Job? The Devil did. The devil hated Job. The Book of Job is the story of a man who was hated and persecuted by the Devil.

I always like to study the names of the people recorded in the Scriptures, because it doesn’t tell me their actions. It tells me who they are and what happened to them.

How do we know that the Devil hated Job? Just a few verses later we read:

“Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.”” (Job 1:9-11 NAS95)

We see the Hebrew word bārak again, translated here in Job 1:11 as “curse.” But the Devil actually says that Job will “kneel to Your face.” What does that mean?

What the Devil is saying to God is if He afflicts Job and curses Job, then Job will not bless God to His face. What did Job actually do once the Devil got a hold of him? Job blessed God and paid homage to Him.

The Meaning of “Every Moving Thing”

““Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.” (Genesis 9:3 NAS95)

The Hebrew word that is translated in the NASB as “every moving thing” is the word ramas, which means “creeping” or “walking on all fours.” The moving thing is a thing that moves fast and includes, reptiles. Anything that moves real fast, that is a creepy thing.

Let’s look at this verse from a spiritual point of view rather than a literal point of view and where does your mind go? What human, on a spiritual level is going to “eat” the Serpent? The Messiah.

Remember when God cursed the Serpent and told the Serpent he would eat the dust of the earth? Who was made from the dust of the earth? Adam, so, on the spiritual level, Yeshua is the reversal of the curse.

Noah’s Curse on Canaan and Its Implications

“Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.” (Genesis 9:18-19 NAS95)

Why is Canaan’s name mentioned here but none of the other grandson’s of Noah are mentioned in this verse? Let’s read a little further.

“Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.” (Genesis 9:20-21 NAS95)

More literally, it’s saying that Noah became a “husband” a tiller of the soil, a farmer and he drank some of the wine he made and became tipsy and he was uncovered in the privacy of his tent. Then we are told that Ham entered Noah’s tent.

What does Ham’s name mean? It means hot as in tropically hot. In other words, reason why Ham ended up being known by this name is because he and his descendants lived in the tropical areas. He liked the tropics. That’s how he got his name. That wasn’t his name when he was born, that was the name given to him afterwards. People were given a name for who they are and what they do.

The name Canaan means forcibly humiliated. This wasn’t his original name but it is the name that be became known as later, after this incident. That is what he became, he became humiliated. He did something underhanded and that is how he became known by the name Canaan.

“Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.” (Genesis 9:22 NAS95)

The word in Gen. 9:21 translated as “uncovered” and the word translated as “nakedness” in Gen. 9:22 are not the same Hebrew word, not at all. The word undercover simply means unclothed or nude, but the word translated as nakedness means disgraced or shamed.

What did Ham see? He did not see his father’s nudity. He saw what happened to his father, that his father was disgraced or humiliated. Noah was violated, not by Ham, but by Canaan. Ham witnessed the sexual violation of Noah by Canaan. He probably saw the act of his son doing it to his own father. That is why Noah curses Canaan.

“When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.” (Genesis 9:24 NAS95)

The word “knew” here means that Noah came to understand what had been done to him and comes to the knowledge of it. Noah was physically damaged by what had happened, but he also became mentally damaged by what had happened once Shem told him what had happened to him.

Shem and his brother Japeth were so horrified and ashamed on behalf of their father that they walked in backwards with a blanket to cover him. Ham was so horrified by what he saw that he just froze up. Shem and Japeth chose not to see. Ham had no choice but to see his father’s humiliation at the hands of his own son.

Shem and Japheth: Guardians of Knowledge and Growth

Shem was given his name, meaning “name,” because he was the one through whom the name of God would be revealed to all generations. His descendants would preserve and pass down the knowledge of God throughout history. The name “Shem” reflects his legacy—not necessarily what he was called at birth, but what he accomplished. He ensured that the knowledge of God’s name endured across generations.

The other son is called Japeth, which means the one who expands. The people who expanded the furthest away from the center of civilization were the people of Japeth, they expanded their territory far away from the others.

These names are documented to illuminate our shared history and the legacy of our ancestors. They serve to educate and provide valuable lessons that deepen our understanding of where we come from.

Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy