SEV Biblia, Chapter 9:21
y bebió del vino, y se embriagó, y se descubrió en medio de su tienda.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:21
Verse 21. He drank of the wine, &c.] It is very probable that this was the first time the wine was cultivated; and it is as probable that the strength or intoxicating power of the expressed juice was never before known. Noah, therefore, might have drunk it at this time without the least blame, as he knew not till this trial the effects it would produce. I once knew a case which I believe to be perfectly parallel. A person who had scarcely ever heard of cider, and whose beverage through his whole life had been only milk or water, coming wet and very much fatigued to a farmer's house in Somersetshire, begged for a little water or milk. The good woman of the house, seeing him very much exhausted, kindly said, ""I will give you a little cider, which will do you more good."" The honest man, understanding no more of cider than merely that it was the simple juice of apples, after some hesitation drank about a half pint of it; the consequence was, that in less than half an hour he was perfectly intoxicated, and could neither speak plain nor walk! This case I myself witnessed. A stranger to the circumstances, seeing this person, would pronounce him drunk; and perhaps at a third hand he might be represented as a drunkard, and thus his character be blasted; while of the crime of drunkenness he was as innocent as an infant.This I presume to have been precisely the case with Noah; and no person without an absolute breach of every rule of charity and candour, can attach any blame to the character of Noah on this ground, unless from a subsequent account they were well assured that, knowing the power and effects of the liquor, he had repeated the act. Some expositors seem to be glad to fix on a fact like this, which by their distortion becomes a crime; and then, in a strain of sympathetic tenderness, affect to deplore ""the failings and imperfections of the best of men;"" when, from the interpretation that should be given of the place, neither failing nor imperfection can possibly appear.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 18-23 - The drunkenness of Noah is recorded in the Bible, with that fairnes which is found only in the Scripture, as a case and proof of huma weakness and imperfection, even though he may have been surprised int the sin; and to show that the best of men cannot stand upright, unles they depend upon Divine grace, and are upheld thereby. Ham appears to have been a bad man, and probably rejoiced to find his father in a unbecoming situation. It was said of Noah, that he was perfect in his generations, ch. 6:9; but this is meant of sincerity, not of a sinles perfection. Noah, who had kept sober in drunken company, is now drun in sober company. Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. We have need to be very careful when we use God's good creature plentifully, lest we use them to excess, Lu 21:34. The consequence of Noah's sin was shame. Observe here the great evil of the sin of drunkenness. It discovers men; what infirmities they have, they betra when they are drunk; and secrets are then easily got out of them Drunken porters keep open gates. It disgraces men, and exposes them to contempt. As it shows them, so it shames them. Men say and do that when drunken, which, when sober, they would blush to think of. Notice the care of Shem and Japheth to cover their father's shame. There is mantle of love to be thrown over the faults of all, 1Pe 4:8. Besid that, there is a robe of reverence to be thrown over the faults of parents and other superiors. The blessing of God attends on those wh honour their parents, and his curse lights especially on those wh dishonour them.
Original Hebrew
וישׁת 8354 מן 4480 היין 3196 וישׁכר 7937 ויתגל 1540 בתוך 8432 אהלה׃ 168
