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Noah and Ham’s sin Gen. 9:20-25 “And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.’ Noah becomes the first saint to be drunk. Now we look at the consequences. What did Ham do? This has been a focus of controversy. Some say he molested his father when he was incapacitated being drunk. That I believe is a reach into what it does not say. Noah is called “a man of the soil.” This is the first time the wine is mentioned and may be the first time grapes cultivated were fermented; the fermented juice may not have been known by Noah. It may have been a matter of how they were stored. Why did Noah drink? Maybe the water was still not good. He may have drunk it at this time without the intention of becoming drunk, as he reserved the juice of the grape and did not know what the effects would produce. This is at least a reasonable assumption because of his character before and immediately after the flood. But he was a man, and men make mistakes. Maybe he thought drinking would relieve the stress he just went through, it was the greatest judgment man has seen. Certainly being chosen to build a boat to survive and watch mankind be swept away had a lasting impact on Noah. Or maybe he just messed up. Elsewhere the scripture does connect drunkenness with nakedness (Lam. 4:21, Hab. 2:15). Not since Adam and Eve do we see someone being ashamed of their nakedness. Either way he was not doing this in the open for anyone to see, least of his children. The word “saw” by Ham has the intent of gazing upon. Ham was entertained by his father’s failing, even joyful from seeing his father sin, he disrespected him And he called to his brothers to share in his own sin of entertainment. If he had only looked and stayed outside there would be no controversy. If Ham did not walk in we would not be reading this story. Which does remind us all of the old saying that God does not shine the halos of his saints. Ham looked joyfully in seeing his father in this inebriated state, he may have laughed and mocked. He wanted his brothers to join with him delighting seeing his dad naked, he was entertained so he thought they would be also. But the other sons were ashamed when Ham told them what took place. Look at the way his brothers handled the situation after Ham told them. v. 23 “But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness.” Shem and Japeth had respect and made sure they saw nothing. Ham did not participate in this covering of his father. You can say things were not right in the family after this. Ham was certainly ostracized. We next read the only words of Noah recorded in Scripture. v.24 So Noah awoke from his wine , and knew what his younger son had done to him. Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren." Ham is not included in Noah blessing his sons. What did Ham do? What we do know is that he saw his father’s nakedness and told the other brothers, by proclaiming his disgrace he exhibited his own shameless sensuality. Ham is connected twice in the record with Canaan. What happened to Shem Japeth and Ham. Shem and Japeth are blessed by Noah. Ham reaps what he sowed. The principle in the cursing of Canaan is developed the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children (Exod. 20:5, 34:6-7). Ham sinned as a son, so he was punished in his son. Yet God showed mercy as the sin of Ham was punished on one son, not all his sons. Gen. 9:18 “And Ham was the father of Canaan.” Gen 10:6-7 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. Canaan was the 4th son of Ham In Gen. 10:15-19. V.5 “Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn,” v.18 “Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed.” A grandson of Noah is the father of the Canaanites (who are mentioned over 150 times in the Bible.) Ham was the progenitor of 11 tribes who eventually inhabited the region along the eastern Mediterranean between Egypt and Syria, giving it the name “the land of Canaan.” They became a wicked, idolatrous people. Among them were the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. (Gen. 10:16-18; Judges 1:9–10) A common practice of Canaanites to make a sacrifice of an infant and bury it in the foundation of a structure in order to placate a god and assure divine blessing on a people or a project. (Unger’s Bible dictionary) Gen. 11:31-32 we find this is where Abrahams father Terah who left Ur took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, into the land of Canaan; to Haran and dwelt there. Ham becomes to focus of chapt.12. Canaan becomes the focus as it is the land defiled by evil that God took from them and gave it to his people Israel. The curse of Canaan, the Canaanites would become the slaves of the Shemites. Gen.10:31-32 “these are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.” The Genesis 10 account is the distribution of mankind into nations from Noah’s 3 sons. All of us come from one of the three sons of Noah As for Noah, he lived nearly twice the age he was when he began to build the ark (480 years old). To 950 years old, second oldest person to Methusaleh. |
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