1. Did God spare humanity from total destruction because Noah and his three sons were righteous or because Noah was righteous? Because Noah was righteous. Not his sons. Noah’s wife, his three sons (Shem, Ham, Japheth), and their wives were saved because Noah lived a life pleasing to God. We do not know for sure what the lifestyles of Noah’s sons were prior to the flood. We do know they were well up in age by the time the flood hit. They were not children. They were not teenagers. They were grown men old enough to make their own decisions … their own choices – good or evil.
2. Noah raised three sons in a culture of evil prior to the Flood. What do you think the odds were that all three would grow up being righteous like him? Children are not born saints. Noah’s children were raised in a Godly home. He passed on to them a knowledge of God that his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, passed on to him. But, Noah’s three sons lived in a world of evil that offered a lot of temptations. At some point, Noah’s three sons would be put in a position to make a choice – follow God or follow the world. Given the spiritual environment of the world, Noah would be lucky if one of his sons chose Godliness. Today, I’m going to make the argument that prior to the flood, two sons chose Godliness and one did not. This son was spared from death by the Flood, not because of his conduct, but because of his father Noah’s relationship with God. This son experienced God’s salvation. Not unusual for God to do this. Ex. Abraham and Lot; Moses and children of Israel. After the Flood, this son of Noah had an opportunity at a second chance at life. To put away the old (sin), and start anew (Godliness). Read Genesis 9:1. God blessed him.
Read Genesis 9:18-28
3. What was Noah’s occupation after the Flood? Farmer and wine producer. Raised a vineyard for eating and drinking.
4. What happens to Noah in verse 21? He gets drunk from the wine. Goes to his tent where he lays down without any clothes on. How far Noah has fallen from the man who was described in Genesis 6:9 as a righteous man, blameless in his time.
5. Why did Noah do this? Possibilities - 1) A post-Flood celebration that got out of hand. 2) The negative effects of fermented wine were not known until after the Flood. Noah suffered the innocent results of something he was not aware of. (Weak argument given that people got drunk prior to the flood.) 3) Noah experiencing survivor’s guilt - a mental condition that occurs when a person perceives him- or herself to have done wrong by surviving a traumatic event when others did not. The impact of the Flood event - the deaths of thousands – began to sink in. Noah may have become depressed. Turned to alcohol to numb the emotional pain. Whatever the reason, it was not proper behavior. A drunken person exhibits embarrassing behavior.
Moses, the author of Genesis, does not focus anymore on Noah’s shortcoming. Reason - once Noah entered his tent that should have been the end of the story. Why? The tent was a place of privacy. No one was to enter into a man’s tent uninvited. Not even family.
6. What happens in verse 22? Ham entered the tent and saw his father lying inside drunk and naked. He left the tent and told his two brothers standing outside what he saw.
7. What did Shem and Japheth do in verse 23? They entered the tent walking backwards so that they would look upon their father’s nakedness and covered him with a garment.
8. What did Ham do that was so wrong? The three brothers were probably aware that their father was drunk before he entered his tent. All three standing outside tent. Ham chose to violate his father’s privacy. Ham entered the tent uninvited and saw his father in an undignified state. Ham was not ashamed by what he saw. He did nothing to preserve the dignity of his father. Apparently, Ham was amused by what he saw. Noah – the great man of God now a nude drunk. He walked out of the tent and told his brothers standing outside. “You two need to go inside and check out the old man. Ha, ha, ha. He’s a sight to behold.” Disrespectful behavior on the part of Ham towards his father. Not respecting his father's privacy and the disrespectful behavior showed a lack of honor by Ham for his father. “Honor your father and mother.” Honor – to revere; high respect (heavy, weighty.) Even though Noah was acting like an embarrassing fool, he was still Ham’s father and deserving of honor. On the other hand, Shem and Japheth honored/respected their father. They took a garment Noah should have been wearing, placed it on their shoulders, walked backwards into the tent, covered Noah without looking, and left the tent.
9. How does one honor their parents? It’s not just by saying “yes sir” or “no sir.” Honor can be expressed by how the children lead their lives.
Ham – dishonored his father; Shem and Japheth – honored their father. Do you think this was the only time that Ham dishonored his father? I don’t. I would argue (even though I have no evidence to support my argument; pure speculation) that Ham had a pattern of dishonoring his father going back to the pre-Flood years. He did not respect his father’s teachings concerning God and Godliness. After the Flood, Ham’s dishonor for his father continued. Shem and Japheth honored their father pre- and post-Flood.
10. After Noah woke up from his drunken stupor and realized what Ham had done, what did Noah proceed to do? Proclaim curses and blessings. 1) Curses Canaan – one of the sons of Ham. Canaan will be a servant his brothers (other sons of Ham) 2) Blesses God of Shem. Identifies the close relationship between God and Shem and his descendants (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the nation of Israel, David, Jesus.) Noah adds “let Canaan serve Shem.” 3) God would enlarge Japheth (his descendants? his lands?) Noah identifies the close bond that Shem and Japheth and their descendants will share. Japheth will live in Shem’s tents. Canaan will serve Japheth and his descendants.
11. Whose name does Noah not say? Ham. Why? This is a big deal. To be denied a blessing by your father in Old Testament days was like being cut out of the will. Essentially, these verses are Noah’s last will and testament. By denying Ham his blessing, Noah cut him out of the will. What Ham did was so egregious, so dishonorable, so disrespectful, so sinful, Noah chose not to acknowledge his son’s existence. It was as if Ham had never been born.
12. Ham had four sons. Why did Noah curse Canaan and not his brothers as well? Noah lived long enough to see his grandsons become adults. He got to see they type of men they became. Followers of God or followers of evil. Noah saw in Canaan the same moral flaws that he saw in Ham. Noah saw in Canaan the same dishonorable/sinful traits that his father Ham had. Indeed, Canaan learned these traits from his father. There are consequences to sin. For Ham, he did not receive the blessing of his father. For Canaan, it would be servitude to his brothers and uncles. Unfortunately, the legacy of sin did not stop with Canaan. It continued through his descendants. Read Genesis 10:15-19. Canaan’s descendants may have founded Sodom and Gomorrah. Because of their sinfulness, they would be cursed.
Application:
In your family (parent, child, aunt, uncle, cousin, nephew, niece), are you living a life that is spiritually honorable?
Parents – do your children honor/respect you as a Christian parent? Are you living a lifestyle that is worthy of their honor/respect?
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8 comments:
When the bible talks about noah's "nakedness" it is referring to his wife. Ham had sexual relations with his mother and this was why Noah cursed him.
That is absolutely not true! If you think it is give "exact" scripture reference with that "exact" statement about Noah having relations with his wife. Nowhere does it say that at all!
Leviticus 18:8 "nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness."
I'm not sayingo the idea is true and Ham slept with his mother. I am saying in this passage from Leviticus it defines what your father's nakedness meant.
I'm not sayingo the idea is true and Ham slept with his mother. I am saying in this passage from Leviticus it defines what your father's nakedness meant.
Where did you read that it had anything to do with Noah's wife?
The study
Let us not over look the fact that the Leviticus writings were many generations after noah and the flood. These were written to guide God's people in the way they should walk separate from the world they were to live in. And they were designed based on the past human history and our vile actions before God! Just because Noah found favor before God, does not mean all his generations did. It is so sad that after the flood man still sinned before God, we learned nothing. And to that end here we are today. Let us me mindful of our presence before God always, and walk accordingly. His grace be with you
Rather, the sinfulness of mankind after the flood shows all mankind that we are unable to save ourselves by living a righteous life. Only Jesus did that and He did not need to be saved. But all mankind needed Him to save us through His righteous, sin free life and atonement for our sins through His death and redemption of our bodies through His resurrection. In Him our salvation is secure. If mankind had not fallen in this world, there would still ever be the possibility of falling at some point in history, therefore, no security. But in and through Jesus we have that security of salvation and the guarantee (down payment) of the Holy Spirit to assure us of that we are children of God when the evil one tries to tempt us into doubt or accuse us of our sin. Praise the Lord that he has done it all for us! Thankful He chose us before we could choose Him!
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