†. Gen 9:20b . . was the first to plant a vineyard.
Was Noah the first ever to plant a vineyard? I strongly suspect verse 20
means that he was just the first one to raise grapes in the new world; not
the first ever in all of history.
†. Gen 9:21a . . He drank of the wine and became drunk,
(chuckle) Looks like gramps liked to pull a cork now and then.
Although drunkenness is a sin of excess (Eph 5:18) in Noah's day it wasn't a
transgression because God had not yet ruled on it. God might frown on
Noah's drunkenness as unbecoming; but really couldn't legally arraign him
because it was not yet against the law to get hammered.
†. Gen 9:21b . . and he uncovered himself within his tent.
Noah was indoors, and in the privacy of his own home: so nobody should be
all that shocked at him taking his clothes off. The focus of this incident isn't
upon Noah anyway, but upon his wicked son Ham.
Noah's home at this point in time was a tent; which isn't the typical domicile
of a man who farms. Nomads live in tents, farmers life in houses. Vineyards
take time to grow to maturity and a nomad isn't likely to wait around long
enough for that. So why was he living in a portable shelter instead of a
permanent building? At this particular time, Noah's home was probably
under construction. No doubt he put a higher priority on his livelihood than
on his quality of life. A nice home is a senseless luxury when there's no food
on the table.
†. Prv 24:27 . . Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after
that, build your house.
†. Gen 9:22a . . Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's
nakedness
gasp! Didn't anyone ever teach that boy to knock first? What if his mom had
been naked in there too?
†. Gen 9:22b . . and told his two brothers outside.
Ham wasn't just a little kid who stumbled into his parents' bedroom. He was
a grown man, married, and quite possibly by this time his son Canaan was
already born. Catching his dad naked was probably an innocent enough
accident; but Ham couldn't let it go. No, he just had to broadcast it and
make sport of his dad. Good grief, you'd think he would at least pull the
covers so no one else would see his dad in that condition.
Ham didn't seem to respect his dad very much. It's a very black-hearted
demon seed who takes pleasure in the shame and misfortune of their
parents. I wonder if that's what Ham felt as he gazed down at his dad. Did it
actually make him feel good to see the old gentleman in disgrace?
So although the Flood wiped out sinful people, it didn't wipe out sin did it?
No, sin survived, and stowed away aboard the ark within the very family of
Noah; the most righteous man on Earth; before the Flood and after the
Flood. (cf. Ezk 14:13-20)
†. Gen 9:23 . . But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against
both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father's
nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did
not see their father's nakedness.
Good lads! Those two men respected their dad and did the right thing by
him. It's only too clear that Ham despised his father. You know, when you
love people, you won't demean them, nor ridicule them, nor wish them
disgrace, nor do anything at all that might tarnish their reputation. Love
reveals itself by always looking out for the best interests of others.
Ham's act is seen even more reprehensible when juxtaposed with the Flood.
Noah's ark saved Ham's bacon, and this is how his son repaid the favor?
When Noah got off the ark, he reciprocated God's kindness with gratitude
and burnt offerings. Ham reciprocated his father's kindness with mockery
and public disgrace. There are those among the Serpent's seed, as were
Cain and Ham, who hate good simply for the very good's sake; viz: good
disgusts them.
†. Gen 9:24-25a . .When Noah woke up from his wine and learned
what his youngest son had done to him, he said: Cursed be Canaan;
I'd be curious to know exactly how Noah "learned" what his youngest son
had done to him.
On the surface it appears Noah is reacting to Ham's conduct. But it's more
likely he was just tardy on sharing prophetic insight into his sons' futures;
and Ham's behavior served to light a fire under him to take care of neglected
patriarchal duties. I believe this is a version of Isaac's wake-up call in the
up-coming stolen-blessing incident.
Some expositors have wrangled with Gen 9:25a and tried to figure out just
exactly why Noah leveled a curse at Ham's son rather than at Ham. After all,
Ham is the one on record who mocked his naked dad, not Noah's grandson
Canaan. And Canaan wasn't Ham's only son; he had Cush, Mizraim, and Put
too; but they aren't stated to be cursed.
I seriously don't think that "cursed" in regards to Canaan was like we
typically think of a hex, or an evil spell, a damning, a jinx, or an
imprecation. A cursed item in the Bible is often just simply something that
lacks goodness: for example the bitter waters of Marah (Ex 15:23). The
waters were intrinsically bitter; in other words; the waters were naturally
bad waters rather than made bad by an act of God. Such would be Canaan:
a naturally-bad man from whom no one could expect anything good to come
from.
A cursed person can mean that they are just simply a bad apple. There's no
need to put a hex on an apple to make it go bad when it's already bad. That
is what Noah saw about Canaan. He was, and would be, a demon seed who
would engender a whole progeny of demon seeds; same as Cain did prior to
the Flood.
Noah simply stated the obvious: that his grandson was both incorrigible and
irreverent; and would never have respect for anything dear to God's heart
just as Mr. Esau, whom we'll visit on down the line here in Genesis. God
despised that boy before he was even born (Rom 9:10-13). It's just a fact of
life that some people come into the world with one foot already in hell before
they're even old enough to eat solid food. They're the "black sheep" of
humanity; and every generation seems to have its share of them. From what
I've seen in my 68 years on this planet; far too many of those black sheep
end up in Washington, and as Wall Street financiers and corporate CEO's.
†. Gen 9:25b . . the lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers.
That's a very derogatory remark, and more likely a colloquialism rather than
a literal prediction; sort of like the one God made regarding the Serpent;
that it would crawl on its belly and eat dirt; viz: henceforth be regarded the
lowest sort of filth imaginable. Well, that was Noah's prediction regarding
Canaan; and it came true. The people of the land of Canaan became so
abhorrent that God, in Deut 7:1-5 and Deut 18:9-14, commanded Yhvh's
people to drive them out, to exterminate them, to reject their religions, and
to avoid assimilation.
†. Gen 9:26a . . And he said: Blessed be Yhvh, the god of Shem;
Yhvh (The Lord) is said to be Shem's god. But Yhvh is not said to be the god
of either Ham or Japheth. Shem is the only one of the three brothers of
whom it is said "Yhvh, the god of" perhaps implying that the Bible's God
didn't become Shem's god just because the family he was born into
worshipped that particular god, rather because Shem personally chose the
Bible's God to be his god. A lot of adults are in a religion simply because
that's the one they grew up with.
†. Gen 9:26b . . let Canaan be a slave to them.
The pronoun "them" would refer to the peoples that would descend from
Shem.
Cont.
/
Was Noah the first ever to plant a vineyard? I strongly suspect verse 20
means that he was just the first one to raise grapes in the new world; not
the first ever in all of history.
†. Gen 9:21a . . He drank of the wine and became drunk,
(chuckle) Looks like gramps liked to pull a cork now and then.
Although drunkenness is a sin of excess (Eph 5:18) in Noah's day it wasn't a
transgression because God had not yet ruled on it. God might frown on
Noah's drunkenness as unbecoming; but really couldn't legally arraign him
because it was not yet against the law to get hammered.
†. Gen 9:21b . . and he uncovered himself within his tent.
Noah was indoors, and in the privacy of his own home: so nobody should be
all that shocked at him taking his clothes off. The focus of this incident isn't
upon Noah anyway, but upon his wicked son Ham.
Noah's home at this point in time was a tent; which isn't the typical domicile
of a man who farms. Nomads live in tents, farmers life in houses. Vineyards
take time to grow to maturity and a nomad isn't likely to wait around long
enough for that. So why was he living in a portable shelter instead of a
permanent building? At this particular time, Noah's home was probably
under construction. No doubt he put a higher priority on his livelihood than
on his quality of life. A nice home is a senseless luxury when there's no food
on the table.
†. Prv 24:27 . . Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after
that, build your house.
†. Gen 9:22a . . Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's
nakedness
gasp! Didn't anyone ever teach that boy to knock first? What if his mom had
been naked in there too?
†. Gen 9:22b . . and told his two brothers outside.
Ham wasn't just a little kid who stumbled into his parents' bedroom. He was
a grown man, married, and quite possibly by this time his son Canaan was
already born. Catching his dad naked was probably an innocent enough
accident; but Ham couldn't let it go. No, he just had to broadcast it and
make sport of his dad. Good grief, you'd think he would at least pull the
covers so no one else would see his dad in that condition.
Ham didn't seem to respect his dad very much. It's a very black-hearted
demon seed who takes pleasure in the shame and misfortune of their
parents. I wonder if that's what Ham felt as he gazed down at his dad. Did it
actually make him feel good to see the old gentleman in disgrace?
So although the Flood wiped out sinful people, it didn't wipe out sin did it?
No, sin survived, and stowed away aboard the ark within the very family of
Noah; the most righteous man on Earth; before the Flood and after the
Flood. (cf. Ezk 14:13-20)
†. Gen 9:23 . . But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against
both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father's
nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did
not see their father's nakedness.
Good lads! Those two men respected their dad and did the right thing by
him. It's only too clear that Ham despised his father. You know, when you
love people, you won't demean them, nor ridicule them, nor wish them
disgrace, nor do anything at all that might tarnish their reputation. Love
reveals itself by always looking out for the best interests of others.
Ham's act is seen even more reprehensible when juxtaposed with the Flood.
Noah's ark saved Ham's bacon, and this is how his son repaid the favor?
When Noah got off the ark, he reciprocated God's kindness with gratitude
and burnt offerings. Ham reciprocated his father's kindness with mockery
and public disgrace. There are those among the Serpent's seed, as were
Cain and Ham, who hate good simply for the very good's sake; viz: good
disgusts them.
†. Gen 9:24-25a . .When Noah woke up from his wine and learned
what his youngest son had done to him, he said: Cursed be Canaan;
I'd be curious to know exactly how Noah "learned" what his youngest son
had done to him.
On the surface it appears Noah is reacting to Ham's conduct. But it's more
likely he was just tardy on sharing prophetic insight into his sons' futures;
and Ham's behavior served to light a fire under him to take care of neglected
patriarchal duties. I believe this is a version of Isaac's wake-up call in the
up-coming stolen-blessing incident.
Some expositors have wrangled with Gen 9:25a and tried to figure out just
exactly why Noah leveled a curse at Ham's son rather than at Ham. After all,
Ham is the one on record who mocked his naked dad, not Noah's grandson
Canaan. And Canaan wasn't Ham's only son; he had Cush, Mizraim, and Put
too; but they aren't stated to be cursed.
I seriously don't think that "cursed" in regards to Canaan was like we
typically think of a hex, or an evil spell, a damning, a jinx, or an
imprecation. A cursed item in the Bible is often just simply something that
lacks goodness: for example the bitter waters of Marah (Ex 15:23). The
waters were intrinsically bitter; in other words; the waters were naturally
bad waters rather than made bad by an act of God. Such would be Canaan:
a naturally-bad man from whom no one could expect anything good to come
from.
A cursed person can mean that they are just simply a bad apple. There's no
need to put a hex on an apple to make it go bad when it's already bad. That
is what Noah saw about Canaan. He was, and would be, a demon seed who
would engender a whole progeny of demon seeds; same as Cain did prior to
the Flood.
Noah simply stated the obvious: that his grandson was both incorrigible and
irreverent; and would never have respect for anything dear to God's heart
just as Mr. Esau, whom we'll visit on down the line here in Genesis. God
despised that boy before he was even born (Rom 9:10-13). It's just a fact of
life that some people come into the world with one foot already in hell before
they're even old enough to eat solid food. They're the "black sheep" of
humanity; and every generation seems to have its share of them. From what
I've seen in my 68 years on this planet; far too many of those black sheep
end up in Washington, and as Wall Street financiers and corporate CEO's.
†. Gen 9:25b . . the lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers.
That's a very derogatory remark, and more likely a colloquialism rather than
a literal prediction; sort of like the one God made regarding the Serpent;
that it would crawl on its belly and eat dirt; viz: henceforth be regarded the
lowest sort of filth imaginable. Well, that was Noah's prediction regarding
Canaan; and it came true. The people of the land of Canaan became so
abhorrent that God, in Deut 7:1-5 and Deut 18:9-14, commanded Yhvh's
people to drive them out, to exterminate them, to reject their religions, and
to avoid assimilation.
†. Gen 9:26a . . And he said: Blessed be Yhvh, the god of Shem;
Yhvh (The Lord) is said to be Shem's god. But Yhvh is not said to be the god
of either Ham or Japheth. Shem is the only one of the three brothers of
whom it is said "Yhvh, the god of" perhaps implying that the Bible's God
didn't become Shem's god just because the family he was born into
worshipped that particular god, rather because Shem personally chose the
Bible's God to be his god. A lot of adults are in a religion simply because
that's the one they grew up with.
†. Gen 9:26b . . let Canaan be a slave to them.
The pronoun "them" would refer to the peoples that would descend from
Shem.
Cont.
/
