translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: GEN

label: NET study note

text: See the notes on the words “humankind” and “likeness” in Gen 1:26 , as well as J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis – A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26.


text: The disjunctive clause (conjunction + pronominal subject + verb) here indicates a strong contrast to what has preceded. Against the backdrop of the warnings about taking life, God now instructs the people to produce life, using terms reminiscent of the mandate given to Adam ( Gen 1:28 ).


text: On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.


text: The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת ( qeshet ) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis , 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.


text: The concluding disjunctive clause is parenthetical. It anticipates the following story, which explains that the Canaanites, Ham’s descendants through Canaan, were cursed because they shared the same moral abandonment that their ancestor displayed. See A. van Selms, “The Canaanites in the Book of Genesis,” OTS 12 (1958): 182-213.


text: The epithet a man of the soil indicates that Noah was a farmer.


text: For the second time (see v. 18 ) the text informs the reader of the relationship between Ham and Canaan. will explain that Canaan was the ancestor of the Canaanite tribes living in the promised land.


text: For more on the curse, see H. C. Brichto, The Problem of “ Curse ” in the Hebrew Bible (JBLMS), and J. Scharbert, TDOT 1:405-18.


text: Cursed be Canaan . The curse is pronounced on Canaan, not Ham. Noah sees a problem in Ham’s character, and on the basis of that he delivers a prophecy about the future descendants who will live in slavery to such things and then be controlled by others. (For more on the idea of slavery in general, see E. M. Yamauchi, “Slaves of God,” BETS 9 [1966]: 31-49). In a similar way Jacob pronounced oracles about his sons based on their revealed character (see ).