What does Genesis 9:20 Mean?

Context Summary

Noah's sin reminds us how weak are the best of men; liable to fall, even after the most marvelous deliverances. The love of strong drink will drag a preacher of righteousness into the dust. But if our brethren sin, let us not parade or tell their faults, but cover them with the mantle of divine love. We may abhor the sin, but let us restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, remembering that we also may be tempted. See Galatians 6:1-18 :l-4. The Semitic races have been the source of religious light and teaching to the world. God has been known in their tents. The Japhetic races are the great colonizers and populators of the world, overflowing their own boundaries, and participating in the religious privileges of the Shemites. The progressive ideas of the race of Japheth, which, of course, includes the Indo-European race, have also pervaded the world. The Hamitic races, of which Canaan was one, have always gravitated downward. [source]

Chapter Summary: Genesis 9

¹  God blesses Noah and his sons, and grants them flesh for food
⁴  Blood and murder are forbidden
⁸  God's covenant, of which the rainbow was constituted a pledge
¹⁸  Noah's family replenishes the world
²⁰  Noah plants a vineyard,
²¹  Is drunken, and mocked by his son;
²⁵  Curses Canaan;
²⁶  Blesses Shem;
²⁷  Prays for Japheth, and dies