Noah and his sons
Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, are the recipients of God's blessing. This highlights the importance of family and generational continuity in God's plan. Historically, Noah is seen as a second Adam, a new beginning for humanity. The inclusion of his sons signifies the extension of the covenant promise to future generations, emphasizing the communal and familial nature of God's blessings and responsibilities.

and said to them
The phrase "and said to them" indicates direct communication from God, emphasizing the personal relationship between God and humanity. This divine instruction is not just a command but a relational dialogue, reflecting God's ongoing involvement and guidance in human affairs. It underscores the importance of listening to God's voice and aligning with His will.

Be fruitful and multiply
"Be fruitful and multiply" is a command and blessing that encourages procreation and the expansion of human life on earth. The Hebrew words "פָּרָה" (parah) for "be fruitful" and "רָבָה" (rabah) for "multiply" suggest growth, abundance, and increase. This mandate reflects God's desire for life to flourish and for humanity to participate in the creative process. It also implies a responsibility to nurture and care for the earth and its inhabitants.

and fill the earth
The command to "fill the earth" extends the mandate given to Adam and Eve, emphasizing the spread of human civilization across the globe. The Hebrew word "מָלֵא" (male) means to fill or replenish, suggesting a restoration and renewal of the earth after the flood. This phrase highlights humanity's role in populating and stewarding the earth, aligning with God's sovereign plan for creation. It also points to the diversity and richness of human cultures and societies as part of God's design.

(1) God blessed Noah.--The blessing bestowed upon Noah, the second father of mankind, is exactly parallel to that given to our first father in Genesis 1:28-29; Genesis 2:16-17, with a significant addition growing out of the history of the past. There is the same command to fill the world with human life, and the same promise that the fear of man shall rest upon the whole animated creation; but this grant of dominion is so extended that the animals are now given to man for his food. But just as there was a restriction as regards Adam's food, the fruit of the tree of knowledge being refused him, so now there is a prohibition against the eating of blood. The addition is the sanctity given to human life, with the evident object of guarding against such a disruption of the human race as was the result of Cain's murder of Abel. Thus, then, man starts afresh upon his task of subjugating the earth, with increased empire over the animal world, and with his own life more solemnly guarded and made secure.

(1) the apparently great number of passages melts away when we observe the verbally exact reference of Genesis 8:17; Genesis 9:1, 7 to Genesis 1:28; and of Genesis 48:4 to Genesis 35:11;

(2) the Elohist does not always employ his "favorite expression" where he might have done so, as, e.g., not in Genesis 1:22; Genesis 17:6; Genesis 28:14;

(3) the Jehovist does not avoid it where the course of thought necessarily calls for it (vide Leviticus 26:9), (Keil). And replenish the earth. The words, "and subdue it, which had a place in the Adamic blessing, and which the LXX. insert here in the Noachic (καὶ κατακυριεύσατε αὐτῆς), are omitted for the obvious reason that the world dominion originally assigned to man in Adam had been forfeited by sin, and could only be restored through the ideal Man, the woman's seed, to whom it had been transferred at the fail Hence says Paul, speaking of Christ: "καὶ πάντα ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ (Ephesians 1:22); and the writer to the Hebrews: νῦν δὲ οὔπω ὀρῶμεν αὐτῷ (i.e. man) τὰ πάντα ὑποτεταγμένα, τὸν δὲ βραχύτι παρ ἀγγέλους ἠλαττομένον βλέπομεν Ἰησοῦν διὰ τὸ πάθημα τοῦ θανάτου δόξη καὶ τιμῆ ἐστεφανωμένον (i.e. the world dominion which David, Psalm 8:6, recognized as belonging to God's ideal man) ὅπως χάριτι θεοῦ ὑπὲρ παντὸς γεύσηται θανάτου (Genesis 2:8, 9). The original relationship which God had established between man and the lower creatures having been disturbed by sin, the inferior animals, as it were, gradually broke loose from their condition of subjection. As corruption deepened in the human race it was only natural to anticipate that man's lordship over the animal creation would become feebler and feebler. Nor, perhaps, is it an altogether violent hypothesis that, had the Deluge not intervened, in the course of time the beast would have become the master and man the slave. To prevent any such apprehensions in the future, as there was to be no second deluge, the relations of man and the lower creatures were to be placed on a new footing. Ultimately, in the palingenesia, they would be completely restored (cf. Isaiah 11:6); in the mean time, till that glorious consummation should arrive, the otherwise inevitable encroachments of the creatures upon the human family in its sin-created weakness should be restrained by a principle of fear. That was the first important modification made upon the original Adamic blessing.

Parallel Commentaries ...