We’ve reached the end of the the longest section in Genesis so far. The genealogy in chapter 5 took us from Adam to Noah, and the last three chapters have told the major event in Noah’s life: the flood. Noah and his immediate family survived on the ark by God’s grace, are commissioned to restart humanity by God’s grace, and are promised protection from a future flood also by God’s grace.

The slate of the earth is mostly clean and Noah’s sons have a new start. Yet I can’t help but ask on our behalf, Why is this final part of chapter 9 included in Genesis? The story could easily skip from 9:17 to the next Book of Generations in 10:1. Tell us the names of Noah’s sons, how long Noah lived after the flood, his total lifespan, and then the fact that he died. That’s the pattern. That’s all we need on our way through the next ten generations until Abram.

Noah lives 350 more years after the flood but this is the one story we need to know? We haven’t heard one word from Noah’s mouth in almost three full chapters, and this is what we’ve been waiting for?

So again, why are these verses included? What are we supposed to learn? How is the argument of Genesis moved forward by this material?

Let’s talk about a few possible answers before going through the passage. Then we can come back to it at the end as well.

One possibility could be that we’re supposed to learn that no man is perfect. Noah was righteous in his generation, he walked with God (6:9), he obeyed God regarding everything about the ark (6:22; 7:5, 16). But Noah was in no way sinless. God saved humanity through Noah but Noah was not a/the savior; he needed grace himself. Even after such a dramatic deliverance experience, after winning a huge battle of faith, Noah falls. The Bible is not afraid to record and reveal the sins of the godly. The only Man who never failed stands out for that very reason.

Another possibility for the inclusion of this part could be to illustrate the post-flood wickedness of man. We already heard God’s verdict that man’s heart was still evil (Genesis 8:21) and this story opens the stage curtain. Noah sinned, and even more so, Ham sins by dishonoring his father and his descendants are cursed. Apparently, watching God’s judgment on sin may be a deterrent, or it may not be.

A third possibility, and the one I believe best explains the point of the paragraph, is that these verses foreshadow the family feuds that follow in the rest of the book of Genesis and human history.

The statement of verse 19 introduces the comprehensiveness of chapter 10, while 20–27 prepare for the selectiveness of the rest of the Old Testament, from 11:10 on. (Kidner)

Here is the (re)beginning of the conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Both seeds survived through Noah’s sons and Noah’s offspring behave according to their nature and represent people groups who generally behave the same as well. Some are blessed, some are cursed, and the hostility ordained by God (3:15) will continue through Noah’s sons. This is the seed of such conflict.

Noah’s Descendants (verses 18-19)

We’re beginning the transition to the next major section in Genesis and Moses returns to genealogical interests.

The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. (Genesis 9:18–19)

We’ve been introduced to Noah’s sons plenty already. They were named at the end of chapter 5 and are mentioned again by name in 6:10 before building the ark and in 7:13 before entering the ark. Now they are named as those who went forth from the ark. All three made it on and off. We’ll see plenty more of them and their descendants in all of chapter 10. So why bring them up again?

It is, at the least, to show that we’re all related. Humanity is family. Every man, woman, and child has value as created by God as an image-bearer. And every man, woman, and child shares a common ancestry all the way back to Genesis 9. Shem, Ham, and Japheth are the last population bottleneck: from these people of the whole earth were dispersed, families that make up clans that make up tribes that make up nations. The river of civilization splits into three rivers, but not in Pittsburgh (besides, there three rivers join into one).

Obviously the top of the family tree was long, long ago from the branches where we sit, but international conflict is large scale sibling conflict. More people are involved but the same principles cause sin. In this sense, we can talk about “the brotherhood of man,” and brothers fight. We’re all family and family is messy.

The parenthesis in verse 18, (Ham was the father of Canaan) is an important signal for the rest of the paragraph. It’s repeated in verse 22 and carries the plot in verse 25 as well as verses 26 and 27. Canaan and his people become a big problem.

Noah’s Dishonor (verses 20-23)

Even good things can cause trouble, and trouble caused by good things is no less a problem.

Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. (9:20–23)

There is some irony in that the man we associate with water become a man associated with earth. Moses goes out of his way to connect Noah with Adam in this respect: Noah began to be a man of ha adama whereas God formed Adam from ha adama, from  the soil or ground.

The fact that Noah because a “man of the soil” also connects with his father’s prophecy. Lamech hoped that Noah would bring relief from the LORD’s curse on ha adama (Genesis 5:29). In one sense, God fulfilled that hope by pruning much of the sinfulness from off of the face of the land in the flood. But in another sense, God fulfilled Lament’s hope by giving man the gift of wine from the soil.

That Noah planted a vineyard means that things were fruitful. A vineyard was a sign of blessing, not of need. Grapes are great but they are not vital. Here Noah apparently has enough food and clothing and shelter that he can spend his time developing viticulture—the science of growing grapes, as well as viniculture—the science of making wine (Waltke). This is a relieving luxury.

Maybe you’ve heard of Veni, vidi, vici: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” This is viti, vini, inebriari: “I grape, I wine, I drunk.” There’s been a new interest, or a liberated interest, in wine and beer among many of us. The psalmist praises God that:

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
and wine to gladden the heart of man, (Psalm 104:14–15)

But the gladdening, relieving, blessing of wine does not remove the messy, ugly, indecency of drunkenness. God always prohibits drunkenness.

Noah drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. It’s possible that Noah was not aware of the inebriating affects of wine. Even if he wasn’t the first man to make wine, he was at the beginning of his work with it. Maybe he was testing the product and got carried away. Whether or not it was a rookie mistake, it was wrong. Though he was in his tent rather than out in public, he was caught with his pants off and his guard down. Drunkenness, even in the privacy of one’s home, is an anti-image bearing state. Drunkenness impairs relationships and responsibilities.

His son, however, did even greater wrong: Ham…saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Because of the different response of Shem and Japheth, and because of the response of Noah, we know that something was especially sinful about Ham’s act. There are a number of options suggested by commentators, from the possibility that Ham castrated Noah or that he committed some type of homosexual act with his father, or even that Ham committed incest with his mother (since Leviticus 18:6-19 uses the description of uncovering the nakedness of one’s father as a reference to lying with one’s mother).

However, the story doesn’t say any of those things. It specifically states that Ham saw the nakedness. Ham gained a type of peeping pleasure from the view and a type of pleasure from mocking what he saw. Shem and Japheth responded the opposite. They went out of their way not to look. They walked backward and covered the nakedness. Again, their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. The antidote to Ham’s act was not to look and then to cover, both literally and figuratively. Shem and Japheth showed discretion. Rather than further expose or embarrass Noah, they honored their father by their elaborate efforts toward modesty.

Noah’s Declaration (verses 24-27)

Here are the only words of Noah in the Bible.

When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, (9:24)

Somehow Noah knew, somehow he learned what had happened to him. And when Noah awoke from his wine he responded with a curse and blessings. Initially, it may seem thick for Noah to start throwing criticism at anyone else, but it demonstrates the dreadfulness of the dishonor.

Against Canaan (verse 25)

The result of the curse is mentioned three times, once to Ham about Canaan and once each in the blessings to Shem and Japheth. It’s the first curse made by a man.

he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” (9:25)

The obvious question is why Noah curses Canaan rather than Ham. Ham is the one who did the looking, why does Canaan take the cursing? Is Canaan the offspring of Ham and Ham’s mother? It doesn’t seem so. Perhaps it is because Ham was Noah’s youngest son, so the curse would fit for Ham’s youngest son.

He will be a servant of servants to his brothers. The “servant of servants” is a common Hebrew expression for the ultimate, such as “the lord of lords” or “king of kings.” To be a “servant of servants” is the ultimate in humiliation, the lowest of the low.

From Ham come the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and, of course, the Canaanites (see Genesis 10:6-13). But it was Canaanites who gave the Israelites unique trouble. That said, God enabled the Israelites to conquer the Canaanites and take over the Promised Land. There was all kinds of conflict but the Canaanites who weren’t killed became servants their Hebrew brothers.

For Shem and Japheth (verses 26-27)

These two sons are given a blessing for showing honor to their father.

He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.” (9:26–27)

Noah actually blesses the LORD and then connects Shem to the LORD. Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem.

Eventually, Japheth’s descendants will dwell in the tents of Shem, they will be united together.

What is true for both Shem and Japheth is that Canaan [will] be [their] servant.

Noah’s Death (verses 28-29)

Here is the usual genealogical epitaph and the last piece of transition to the next Generation (toledot) introduced in 10:1.

After the flood Noah lived 350 years. All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. (9:28–29)

Two chronological facts are given. First, we learn how long Noah lived after the flood: 350 years. Second, we learn how long on earth Noah lived in sum: 950 years. Noah lived a little longer than Adam, and Noah’s life overlapped with Abram’s by about 50 years, though the two of them never met. Adam, Noah, and Abram are the three primary characters in Genesis, and Adam and Noah are the two key men in chapters 1-11.

Conclusion

It is sort of a sad way to end the Book of Noah (6:9-9:29). It’s at best an embarrassing situation that ends with son’s destined to fight.

In terms of morals from the story, remember that yesterday’s victory doesn’t guarantee today’s. Believing and obeying God isn’t only day by day, it’s moment by moment. Noah did everything that God commanded, Noah saw God’s judgment, Noah received a personal recommission from God to image Him, and still let his guard down one evening with generational consequences.

We also get an early lesson, a pre-Mosaic law lesson, to honor one’s father and mother (see Exodus 20:12). Ham’s failure and dishonoring look and tell led to generations of bitterness between brothers.

But the point of the story, much bigger than individual morality, is the need for a savior who will crush the serpent’s head. The seed of conflict was the sin of one brother. But that sin came because Ham represented the seed of the serpent. Nations war and families feud over generations because hostility reigns on earth.

The fulfillment of Noah’s prophecy depends on Christ. Christmas is the celebration that the seed of the woman has been born! Jesus was born to crush the serpent, to destroy the works of the devil far as the curse is found.

Jesus was born to forgive fallen men. All have sinned and deserve judgment. All need blood atonement. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of righteousness.

Jesus was born to reconcile man to God, and to reconcile feuding families and family members. This is good news of great joy which will be for all the people, of every tribe, tongue, and nation—peace among men, whether from Ham, Shem, or Japheth, Isaac or Ishmael, Jew or Gentile.

Today his church includes the Ethiopian eunuch (Ham), Peter and Paul (Shem), and Cornelius (Japheth). (Waltke)

The problem is not family. The solution is not to get rid of families (regardless of Plato’s humanistic argument in his Republic). The Noahic covenant is good, but, by itself, it just preserves sinner-brothers to keep on sinning against each other. We need something better, more particular.

Salvation from sin and bitter rivalry and drunkenness and hostility is in Jesus Christ. He “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—so that in Christ Jesus the blessings of Abraham might come to the Gentiles” (Galatians 3:14).