This was Noah’s failure, coming after the success in his work, which He experienced under God’s blessing (v. 1). Noah became drunk with the wine from his vineyards, and he was careless, becoming naked without realizing it. In spiritual experience, because of our fallen nature we must be covered whenever we come into God’s presence (Gen. 3:7, 21; Exo. 20:25-26; 28:40-43). Spiritually, our covering is Christ (Luke 15:22; Gal. 3:27; Psa. 45:13). To be naked spiritually is to lose Christ as our covering in the presence of God (cf. Rom. 13:14).

As the father of his family and the leader of mankind, Noah was God’s deputy authority on earth. Although Noah had failed, Ham’s descendants were cursed because Ham exposed the failure of God’s deputy authority (v. 22) and thus touched God’s government in a wrong way. Shem and Japheth were blessed because they respected God’s government, covering the failure of the deputy authority and not looking at it (v. 23). The failure of a leader in God’s government is always a test to us. To expose a leader’s failure causes us to be negatively involved with God’s government and thus to lose God’s blessing — see Deut. 27:16 (cf. Eph. 6:2-3); Num. 12:1-10 and notes; 2 Sam. 15:10; 18:14-15. If we remain in a right position under God’s government, a leader’s failure will become our blessing.

The rainbow signifies God’s faithfulness in keeping His covenant. God Himself is faithfulness (1 Cor. 1:9; 1 John 1:9). He is faithful to His word, and His word is His covenant. The rainbow is seen again at the end of the Bible (Rev. 4:3), indicating that God’s faithfulness will remain forever. See note Rev. 4:3^3c, note Rev. 21:19^1a, par. 2, and note Ezek. 1:28^1a.

In order to assure mankind that there would never again be a flood to destroy them and the earth, God made a covenant with Noah, with his seed, and with every living animal (vv. 9-17). See note Gen. 8:22¹ and note Rev. 4:6^1a.

See note Gen. 1:26^3d.

This was the beginning of human government. In the garden, before the fall, man was directly under the rule of God. After the fall, man was under the rule of his own conscience (Gen. 3:7-10). However, the rule of human conscience did not work well, and man fell further into wickedness (Gen. 6:5, 11). Thus, after the flood, God authorized man to rule over other men, and human government began (Rom. 13:1 and note Rom. 13:1³ and note Rom. 13:1⁴).

At that time Noah was the deputy authority under God. This was a shadow of the kingdom of God, the reality of which is the church life in God’s New Testament economy, and the manifestation of which will be the kingdom in the millennium (see note Matt. 5:3^4b in and note Heb. 12:28^1a).

Before the fall God ordained that man should eat only the plant life, the nourishing, generating life (Gen. 1:29). After the fall man needs to eat not only the plant life but also the animal life, which involves the shedding of blood and implies the need for redemption (Heb. 9:22). See note John 6:51² in and note Exo. 12:8¹.

This brought “resurrected” mankind back to God’s original purpose, which was that man express God and represent Him (see note Gen. 1:26^3d through note Gen. 1:26^5f). In the church life in Christ’s resurrection we have been brought back to the beginning for the expression and representation of God.

A tent is a place where people may dwell, rest, and have peace and enjoyment. Japheth’s dwelling in the tents of Shem indicates that if Japheth and his descendants would be blessed and enjoy God as their rest, peace, enjoyment, and salvation, they must believe in the God of the Jews (cf. John 4:22). When the Lord Jesus came as a seed of Abraham and a descendant of Shem, He became the tent, the tabernacle (John 1:14), which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate tent of Shem, the tabernacle of God with men for eternity, in which numerous Old Testament and New Testament saints from all the nations will dwell to participate in the eternal blessing of the eternal life (Rev. 21:3 and note Rev. 21:3^1b).

Shem, Noah’s first son, was the forefather of the Hebrews, the Jews (Abraham was a descendant of Shem — Gen. 11:10-26). In Noah’s prophetic word concerning his three sons in vv. 25-27, Shem was blessed to have God as his God.