Hey everyone, welcome back to PvBibleAlive. I’m Bruce Hays, the pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Wichita, Kansas. And we are continuing today with our study in the Bible book of Genesis, chapter 8. This is the continuing story of Noah and the worldwide flood.
If you were going to title this chapter, you could title it with the first four words of verse 1; “And God remembered Noah.” That’s a comforting thought, “God remembered Noah.” If you can imagine what kind of year Noah has had. It began with the storm of all storms. As God called Noah and his family into the ark, closed and sealed the door, the sky became dark, and torrential rains began to fall from heaven. The ground started giving way, and tremendous fissures burst open spewing water from up under the earth’s surface.
In those early hours, while the water accumulated, animals ran by the ark in fear, and men, women, and children ran to the side of the ark in hopes of a final boarding, only to be swept away by the growing tsunami of waters that rushed in from the sea to overflow all the land.
And inside the ark, with a huge lurch, the occupants felt the vessel lifted from the ground and carried high above the rising waters.
I’m sure, in those first moments, Noah and his family were overwrought with fear. In the one hundred years building the ark, it all seemed to be a simple academic exercise. Taking measurements of boards, cutting, hammering. The animals just started coming toward the end, and there was a lot of work to do in a few days. Each animal was taken to their pen, and food was carried into the barge.
But now, much of the strenuous work was over, and there were probably moments when this family thought they might be in a floating coffin.
For forty days, they could barely hear their own voices over the thunderous stampede of rain and waves crashing against the top and sides of the boat.
And then one day, the rain stopped, the thunder and lightning ceased. The little family was given a reprieve from the torrent. But they have a new storm brewing; the emotional storm inside their hearts that tittered between gratitude for their lives, and despair.
Despair about all the lives that drowned outside. Despair about the beautiful world that was now lost. Despair about the future. Would they still survive? And if they did finally land this vessel, would the world that remained be able to sustain them?
And they had a year of confinement to think those thoughts, accompanied by the ebb and flow of oceanic waters lapping against the wooden vessel.
And then Scripture says, “And God remembered Noah.”
That’s what our study today is about. God remembered Noah. Even though Noah and his family seemed to be as isolated as any people could ever be. Floating on an ocean that cover the entire earth, God still knew where they were. Even though it felt like their lives were being pushed about by the randomness of the wind and waves, God was directing those waves and wind, to keep that boat safe, and to bring it to its eventual landing place.
In today’s study, I want you to be reminded, that God remembers you. If I am entirely truthful with you, I have to tell you that sometimes I feel like I’m in that boat, bobbing on the surface of an endless ocean. Nobody hears me, nobody sees me.
But the way I feel, is not the way it is. God knows where I am.
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
So let’s continue with this story of Noah, and God’s watch care over him.
8 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
So, let me remind you of what I said as we started this study. I told you that I wasn’t going to give you a deep word by word study of this text. But that I wanted to accomplish two things. First, I wanted you to come away with a good understanding of each of the passages we read. I wanted you to know what it is about. And number 2, I wanted to address any questions or confusions that might arise regarding any part of the story. Well the first phrase that we read in this text is; “And God remembered Noah.”
Now, at first blush, that may not sound so comforting. I mean it can sound like Noah and his family are floating around on this boat for a year, and God is off, running the solar system somewhere, and suddenly remembers them, like, oh my goodness I left something on the stove.
But that is not what we are talking about here. Scripture says
Jesus said, “Your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” (Matthew 6:8 NLT)
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” (Psalm 139:17–18 NLT)
The phrase “God remembered Noah” is written from man’s perspective, not God’s. It’s as though, when Noah finally stepped off of that ark onto dry land, that he said, “God remembered us.”
Compare those circumstances to something maybe you can relate to. If sometime in the distant past, a young lady goes with her family on a vacation trip. And while on vacation, they have a chance meeting with a young man. They don’t have many days during their trip, but the young lady is, to use an old word, “smitten” with the young man. But she wonders if he even knows she exists.
Later, when the family has returned home, they get a letter from the young man. He writes all the perfunctory things that you write in a letter to the family, and then finally at the end of the letter he writes, “Tell Olivia that I enjoyed our brief conversation under the oak tree, and that I hope I can come and visit her in the Fall.”
At that moment, do you know what Olivia thinks? She thinks, “He remembered me.” From her perspective, she thinks maybe he forgot her, or didn’t care for her as she cared for him. But in reality, he didn’t forget her. In fact, from his perspective, he has had her on his mind from the moment he first met her.
That’s the same with God. He didn’t forget Noah, it’s just that when Noah was finally released from the ark, Noah thought, “God remembered me.”
So, in those final days on the ark, this is what happened.
2 and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
So all the sources of incoming water were stopped, and God began the process of evaporation with a wind passing over the earth.
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
As I noted in the last study, this implies that the rain fell for 40 days, then the underground sources of water continued to feed the swelling oceans for 150 more days. But after those 190 total days, the water sources ceased their input, and evaporation, and the settling of the land caused the waters to move toward their current configurations.
We don’t know the mechanism that started the flood. Some postulate that it could have been a huge comet or asteroid passing close to the earth. But whatever it was, it would seem that before the flood, most of the land was relatively level, and most of the water was in one great sea.
Some scientists have actually proposed that very thing. That there was once just one “supercontinent” comprised of all the continents we know today. Now they propose that this “supercontinent” (they call it Pangea) slowly broke apart, and over billions of years, gave us what we know today. This theory was proposed because scientists noticed a couple of things. First they noticed that the 7 continents; Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America, could be roughly fit together like a puzzle. They also noticed that, for example the North American continent is moving away from the European continent. Now it’s not moving very quickly, less than an inch a year.
Those two things taken together indicated to some that these continents, billions of years ago, were one continent.
Well, if there was in fact one supercontinent, by the Biblical account, it was not billions of years ago, it was thousands, and the continents separated during the worldwide flood.
So, when it says in Scripture that the waters “abated,” it means that the great tectonic plates pushed together in some places, creating mountains and canyons, and pulled apart in other places. And this coupled with evaporation created the earths landscape as we know it today. The waters ran down to the lowest areas bounded by the continents.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
This mountain range has been identified since the middle ages with the mountain of the same name in modern Turkey. In the Persian language Mount Ararat is called, “the mountain of Noah.”
Hold on! If these mountains didn’t exist before the flood, how can they already be called the mountains of Ararat? Well this is a good place for us to remember how we got the Bible. The Bible, and more specifically the first five books of the Bible began as real live events in history. And because these events were considered sacred, the stories were passed down from one generation to the next. Now we don’t know exactly how they were passed. It could have been a “word of mouth” or oral tradition. Or it may have been passed down in some early written form.
Nonetheless, traditionally Moses was the one who compiled these stories into the “Pentateuch,” the first five books of the Bible.
So when we read here that the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, the mountains would have received their name after the flood. So when Moses records this history, he is simply identifying the mountainous area where Noah landed.
And all of this that we read is a look back at the narrative of the greatest environmental judgment the earth has ever seen.
That’s why I don’t get worked up about supposed ice caps melting, or rising temperatures. After the flood the earth was a radically different place than before the flood. It was scarred. It was in a state of progressive decay.
And the Bible says that it will remain that way until the return of Christ.
And only then will the earth return to a pristine state. Now I have no problem with efforts to preserve creation to the best of our ability. But we are living on a sin corrupted world. We cannot become overly consumed with “saving mother earth,” our efforts should be spent in knowing Father God.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
Now the Ark finds a resting place, on the top of a mountain, but they are still surrounded by water. They can’t leave the ark until they know that there is adequate land to restart their lives.
5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
So after they had been on the ark for 9 months, they can see the tops of mountains. But, they will not likely live in the mountains, they will seek for a place in the plains and lowlands, but those are still under water.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
So what happened here? Noah can see mountains, and the ark is set and stable on the top of one of those mountains. But he doesn’t yet know if there is any habitable land out there. And what will make it habitable? Well, principally, vegetation. The wild animals cannot be released until they know that there is adequate vegetation growing for their nourishment. And there has to be some place for he and his family to plant seed, and raise flocks and herds. So Noah releases a raven.
Now let me answer a question that nobody asked. If God sent away one male raven, and there were only two on the ark, leaving the female raven, how did ravens not go extinct? Well obviously animals procreated while on the ark.
You might think that could go without being said, but there is a very old Jewish tradition that says that the raven was sent out because he had violated God’s commandment that the animals not copulate while on the ark.
This is a fanciful notion, and it’s not found anywhere in Scripture. We do know that some animals will not breed in captivity. But that does not indicate a command from God, rather it is a instinctive safeguard against overpopulation.
So Noah decides to release a raven. Now what is he hoping for? He releases a raven first and later a dove. So what’s the difference between a raven and a dove. A raven is an omnivore, it will eat both meat and plants. In fact, a raven will eat about anything, dead animals, bugs and garbage included. So it’s possible that Noah released the raven first, because he wanted to see if the waters had receded enough to expose food for the raven. And since the raven would eat anything, then this would be an adequate first test to see if the land could sustain the carnivores and omnivores he had on the ark. Well, the raven didn’t return to Noah. It’s likely that Noah saw this bird flying back and forth after he released it. But he didn’t come back. So, Noah gathers that at least this small omnivore can be sustained by the exposed land. Then he sends a second bird, this time a dove.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
Now the dove is generally an herbivore. It does occasionally eat bugs, etc. But it principally subsists on seeds, berries, fruit, growing things. So it is a second test for Noah. If the dove returns, it will return because it can’t find anything to eat. As the water recedes, the remaining ground will again sprout grass, bushes, etc, that could sustain a dove. But this dove found none on that first flight, so it returned to the ark.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
Now a typical seed can break out of the soil anywhere from 24 hours to 10 days after it’s planted. So the fact that this dove brings an olive leaf indicates that there is fertile soil exposed and plants have begun to pop out of the ground. But the dove returns to Noah, indicating that the bird still didn’t get any nourishment from those plants.
An olive leaf. This has been a sign of God’s peace from that time until now. Extending the olive branch means offering peace to an enemy. This olive leaf became a symbol for Noah that he would pass on to successive generations. God was letting Noah know that judgment had ended, that grace was extended to him and his family, that the earth and humanity would be given a second chance.
12 And Noah stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him anymore.
So now the bird has found adequate seeds, etc, to survive and thrive, and does not return to the ark.
13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
I imagine that that was one of the greatest sights that anyone can imagine. For an entire year, you see nothing but the inside of this wooden boat, animals, and water. And now the see land and sunshine.
15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
That had to be a sight. All those animals running off into the world. And in the gratitude of that moment, Noah begins picking up rocks and putting them in a pile. Maybe his three sons look at him and wonder what he is doing. And he tells them he is building an altar.
Jewish altars might be built as a raised pile of earth, or unchiseled stones. After they were built, firewood was placed on top, a sacrificed animal was laid on top of the wood, and the animal was burned as a atonement sacrifice to God.
20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
So, here’s where that 7th animal comes in. Remember that clean animals were brought on the ark in 7’s. That means that there was an adequate number of domesticated animals to begin a farm after the flood. And the 7th animal, probably male, was sacrificed by Noah as an atonement and offering of thanksgiving.
Now obviously, there would have been more than seven of some of the animals. But Noah chose one of the animals from each of the kinds of domesticated animals, I bet he would have chosen the best; bull, goat, oxen, chicken, pigeon, deer, gazelle, antelope, duck, turkey, goose, pheasant, quail, etc. And he prepared them, and sacrificed them.
21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
This is a statement from God about the sinful nature of humankind; the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, man’s nature is selfish. And so God, in His grace, promises not to repeat this kind of destruction. Why? Because He knows, that regardless of how good Noah is, or whatever man and woman God starts with, their nature will draw them away from Him. And successive generations will lead to progressive societal decay. So here’s His promise;
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
We began this chapter with the phrase, “God remembered Noah.” And the chapter ends with a statement of God’s favor; vs 22
So let’s pick up with chapter 9
9 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
As chapter 9 commences, we have God doing something else that is gracious. He already plans the redemption of mankind by sending His own Son into the world to die. But in the meantime, He introduces some things that help stem the tide of evil in the world. Man’s heart is corrupt, so there needs to be some safeguards in place to protect man from man. And animal from man.
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea;
From the beginning, it would seem that man and animals had a more congenial relationship. Maybe all animals acted like domesticated pets; fearless around people. But after the flood, because man’s nature was sinful, they tended to use and abuse animals, so it was necessary to protect the lesser creatures. God implanted in animals an instinctive fear of men. So many animals avoid people. But God also now permitted the slaying of animals for food, and reiterated to Noah and his family that they are allowed to manage animal populations.
into your hand are they delivered.
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Now this is restated later as a law for the nation of Israel. They were to drain the blood of an animal before eating it. Well, why does He forbid the eating of blood?
Well, it is really a symbolic commandment. As He just said, 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
The blood of an animal was the source of its life. Later on God would establish rules regarding sacrifices in His temple. The blood of the animal was to be drained, and then sprinkled on God’s mercy seat. (Symbolic of the throne of God in heaven.) In other words, the blood was the offering of the life of the animal in place of the life of the sinner seeking forgiveness. This imagery is carried forward in Scripture to Jesus shedding His blood on the cross. And that blood signifies the giving of His life, in place of our lives, as payment for our sins.
So, this beginning of reverence for the blood of an animal sets the precedent for reverence for the blood shed in the final sacrifice; Jesus Christ.
Now after God commands them not to eat blood, He pivots to speak of the sin of murder.
5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
This is the second protective measure God takes to insure that humankind’s evil nature doesn’t lead to the universal corruption that it did before the flood. God institutes law. And this is a universal law that crosses the boundaries of all nations, tribes and ethnicities. “Do not commit murder.” And if you do murder, you must be put to death. God instituted a law that created the first balance of powers among men.
It always amuses me here in the United States to hear people complain that those in government cannot get along. They want someone who can reach across the aisle and work together for a common good. Instead, the executive branch fights the legislative branch, which fights the judicial branch. Republicans fight Democrats. State government fights with federal. Cities fight with the state. And somehow people think that if we could just sit down together and agree, we’d accomplish great good.
But my friends, the entire reason our founding fathers made our system the way they did was so that the power of government would be distributed among many people, so no one person could push their selfish will on the rest. That’s what a balance of powers is.
And the first one was instituted here after the flood. God said, “Don’t murder, if you did, I give others the authority to take your life.” It was an insurance policy against the evil nature of men. It put a selfish motive behind not murdering. I better not murder, because if I do, someone may kill me.
It is a protection from God and it has been woven into law in many forms, throughout history.
7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth.
God promises no more worldwide floods. Of course there are local floods. And we know that God said He would destroy the earth at the end of time, by a fire. But He won’t flood the entire earth again.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
Now we come to a question that I introduced back in the early chapters of Genesis. Remember that during the week of creation it said that God watered the Garden with a mist that came up from the ground and that it had not yet rained on the earth. (Genesis 2:5-6)
5 No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground, 6 but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground.
I mentioned then that some taught from that Scripture, that the earth had never experienced rain until the flood. And frankly, I used to believe that. But, with recent study, I’ve changed my mind. I agree with an author on Answers in Genesis who stated that the Genesis 2 passage did not necessarily mean that it didn’t rain until the flood, only that it didn’t rain until the creation week was over.
But that leaves us with another question. The passage we just read seems to imply that the rainbow was a brand new thing after the flood. The appearance of the rainbow was a sign to Noah and all generations that followed that God wouldn’t flood the entire earth again.
Now, scientifically, we know what makes rainbows. They are made when light shines through water droplets in the air. The light bends and separates according to its component wavelengths. Upon exiting the droplet, each wavelength produces a different color.
So, what is the explanation for the rainbow first appearing after the flood? Well, I can’t say for sure, but I think a simple reading of the text indicates that the rainbow was brand new after the flood. And since it is reasonable, Biblically and logically to conclude that water droplets in the air were not brand new, then God must have changed something to make rainbows possible.
Maybe God changed the nature of light, or the nature of water. I don’t know, but I just take the Scripture at its word.
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
Now as we conclude chapter 9 of Genesis, we come to a story that isn’t usually taught in children’s Bible study classes. And it not often studied in Adult Bible groups. Preachers don’t typically choose this as a text for a sermon. So there is a good chance you may not know this story. Which is a shame, because it shows that mankind, even Noah and his sons, are still flawed human beings. They are still carrying the baggage of the sin nature on their backs. Let’s read it.
18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
So every human race finds its origin here in the sons of Noah.
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken;
It appears that Noah was familiar with the fermenting of grapes. So he made wine, and got drunk.
Now here is a question that I consider with this passage. “Was Noah’s drunkenness a sin?” Now, I didn’t ask if what happened next was a sin. Was the drunkenness itself a sin? I’ve heard this passage taught as though Noah committed a great sin. But I’m not convinced. You see, later God gives specific commands about the use of wine, and drunkenness. In the book of Deuteronomy, a son is considered wicked for being a glutton and a drunkard.
They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”
But at this time, right after the flood, the commandments of God could be numbered on one hand. You can say that God forbad polygamy, murder, eating blood, and that He instituted sacrifices for atonement. But we don’t know how specific His commandments were regarding certain behaviors. We know that God said the earth was corrupt and violent before the flood, and that the imagination of men’s hearts were only evil continually.
But how was that “evil” defined? We don’t know for sure. But the text reads as though Noah knew what he was doing. “He made wine.” Then he imbibed enough to make himself drunk. Noah is 600 years old. He probably has enough experience with intoxicating drink to know that overdoing it brings bad results. And that’s exactly what happens.
and he was uncovered within his tent.
So what does that mean? Well if we want to think the worst of Noah, it means he got drunk and started taking all his clothes off for no reason. If we want to give him the benefit of the doubt, he got drunk, and in that state, decided to bathe, or change clothes, and passed out on his bed after disrobing.
But what happens next sets the course for the family of man for generations to come.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
What happened? Well here’s all we know from the text. Ham went into his father’s tent and saw his father passed out naked on his bed. Ham tells his brothers. They take a garment, and walk backwards into their father’s tent covering him in such a way that they don’t see him naked. When Noah wakes up from his stupor he hears what Ham did and curses, not Ham, but Ham’s son Canaan.
What? What did Ham do? What did Ham’s son do?
There seem to be a lot of unanswered questions here. And there are. But let me see if I can take the few pieces we have of this puzzle and figure out what is missing.
But before I do so, let me tell you what I don’t believe about this incident. The Talmud, which is a collection of Jewish teachings on the Old Testament Scripture, compiled anywhere from 1500 to 1800 years ago proposed a number of sins that Ham committed here. One Rabbi proposed that Ham, saw his father’s nakedness, and castrated him. Another Rabbi said that Ham sodomized his father, while a third proposed that he did both. A fourth Rabbi said that “to see the nakedness” of his father meant that he raped Noah’s wife, or his own mother.
Now, I don’t believe any of that. Number one, because it’s not in the text. And as I read the book of Genesis, I find that it doesn’t obscure sin. It doesn’t hide sin. It comes right out and states what happened in all its unvarnished ugliness. Number two, I think if Ham had done any of those things, there would have been far more done to him than a tongue lashing.
So what did he do? And why was Canaan cursed? Well there is another Rabbi who proposed this idea. That Canaan, Ham’s son was the first to see Noah passed out naked on his bed, and that he told his father, Ham. And Ham told his brothers.
Now the picture seems a little clearer. Just think of it like this. If you had a friend who did the same thing that Noah did. Say you were on a camping trip. And your friend drank too much and passed out naked in their tent, with the door of the tent wide open. Would you say you were a good friend, if you went and told somebody else about it? Is it loyalty to your friend to start advertising your shame to the whole camp grounds? Or would a friend find a blanket to cover your friend, and would close the entry to the tent so you would not be exposed?
Of course it is the latter. But it would appear that possibly Ham’s son saw Noah passed out naked on his bed, and instead of covering him, ran off to tell his father. Possibly it was a joke to them. They may have already had an antagonistic relationship with Noah, and thought this act brought him down off of his high horse. Then Ham, instead of covering his father, goes to share the joke with his brothers Shem and Japheth.
Now they do not think it is a joke. They use the utmost discretion to cover their father without causing him anymore shame.
That, I think, fits the story better than some of the more extreme interpretations.
And so Noah awakes, and curses Canaan, the grandson, and thus curses the lineage of Ham as well.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
I believe there is a primary truth that can be easily gleaned from this story. That is that man is sinful. And no matter how he tries, he cannot shake his sinfulness.
Asks the question, the leopard change his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.
In other words, mankind is as capable of being good, as a leopard is capable of removing the spots from his fur. That’s an interesting analogy, because I don’t know any leopards who want to change their fur, and even if they did, they don’t have the intellectual capacity to do it.
The same is true of people. Most of us are blindly ignorant of our sins, we don’t feel a need to change, and even if we do, we don’t have the knowledge or ability to accomplish that change. That’s what this story of Noah and his sons teaches us.
Let’s pray,
Heavenly Father,
We, like Noah, are exposed as sinners. Whether our sin was the result of over-indulgence, or ignorance, we stand guilty before you. Help us Lord to see ourselves. We are fools and blind men. We need you to teach us and make us to see. Teach us Lord, open our eyes, we pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.