Read with Me
Genesis 9:18-29 (HCSB)
Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.
Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.
When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said:
Canaan will be cursed.
He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.
He also said:
Praise the LORD, the God of Shem;
Canaan will be his slave.
God will extend Japheth;
he will dwell in the tents of Shem;
Canaan will be his slave.
Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood. So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died.
Listen with Me
As Moses wrote down this history, inspired and directed by God’s voice, he was journeying toward the land of Canaan with the Israelites with the command to conquer the land and to wipe out the Canaanite people. Canaan was named after one of Ham’s sons who had moved there after the dispersion from Babel, and whose descendants had spread throughout the area.
The Canaanites were a morally corrupt people who worshiped many false gods, including Baal and Asherah. The reason for their corruption was that they came from bad roots. Moses was given the history of those bad roots in this part of the history.
This all happened a while after the flood as people were reproducing, and as a new society was taking shape. Noah, now in his seventh century of life, had settled into agriculture as his means of livelihood. And as part of that, he planted a vineyard. And to preserve the juice of the grapes, he fermented it into wine.
Some have conjectured that Noah drank to excess due to depression and loneliness brought on by the great emptiness of the world, or possibly by the death of his wife. Others surmise that viniculture was a new thing, and that Noah was unfamiliar with the effect that the alcohol would have when it was drunk to excess. But both these conjectures and arguments miss the key point. Moses is simply reporting that the initial cause of this event was that Noah had over consumed wine, grew overheated and stripped off his clothes, and then fell asleep naked and uncovered in his tent.
The key to this event was not Noah’s actions but Ham’s reaction to them. When Ham went into his father’s tent and saw him lying naked, he didn’t just cover him up, or back out and leave him in peace. Instead, he laughingly shared what he had seen with his brother’s. Keep in mind that this was no faux pas of a teenager. Ham was already more than 100 years old at this time.
Shem and Japheth, Ham’s older brothers, were respectful in dealing with their father. They chose to cover him up, and they did it in such a way that they never even saw his nakedness. This earned them a great blessing and prophecy of future power and prosperity from their father when he awoke. He foretold prestige and a vast expansion of their territory.
But Noah was angry with his youngest son, Ham, because of his disrespect. Noah knew Ham’s character, and that his actions had been in line with that poor character. But Noah also noted that Canaan, one of Ham’s sons, shared those same moral deficiencies. And he foresaw the path that Canaan and his descendants would take – a path that would lead to God’s judgment and to their conquest and destruction at the hand of a group of Shem’s descendants, the Israelites. Thus, Noah’s curse, while instigated by Ham’s actions, was not directed at him, but at his son, Canaan.
Moses finished this section by noting that Noah lived 350 years after the flood, a total life span of 950 years.
Pray with Me
Father, it is true not only that our actions have consequences, but also that our actions spring from our character. And our character has more far-reaching effects for our families than our actions themselves. In this case, it would be centuries before the curse on Canaan became a reality. But by then, the evil that had been seen in Ham’s heart had spread and grown to impact millions of people. Lord, help me to keep a close eye on my heart, on my character, not just on my actions. And help me to immediately repent any time I find evil, or even compromise, there so that I don’t affect others in my circle of influence. Amen.