This Is Perhaps One of the Ugliest As Well As One of the Most Delicate Passages in The

NOAH SINS

Genesis 9:18-29

This is perhaps one of the ugliest as well as one of the most delicate passages in the Old Testament, one in which some would say that we shouldn’t teach it in an auditorium setting because it is so delicate and ugly.

• But because we believe what the apostle Paul wrote when he said, “All scripture is profitable” we press on…and I believe God wanted us to know about what takes place here.

This bizarre incident took place sometime after the flood…not immediately and we know that because when Shem, Ham, and Japheth left the ark they were not fathers yet.

• There were only 8 on the ark (Noah, his boys, and their wives).

Now, we know this happened long enough after the flood that not only did Ham have a son, he actually had 4 sons and Canaan was the youngest (10:6).

• So, we are not exactly sure how soon this story happened after the flood but it was some time.

Now, one of the things that convinces me that the Bible was not concocted by a bunch of men trying to create their own religion is that the Bible depicts its heroes, warts and all.

• And that is true of Noah.
• If you look at vs. 21 we are told that “Noah drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside of his tent.”
• This whole ugly story starts with Noah drinking and I am not going to say a lot about that.

What I will say is, this is the first time in the Bible that drinking and getting drunk are mentioned and it is in the context of shame and disgrace.

• And down through the centuries drinking and drunkenness continues to produce “ugly stories.”
• “Ugly stories” that more often than not result in more “ugly stories.” (Abuses of wife, children; broken homes; shattered dreams; poverty; immorality; loss of respect; loss of life and the taking of innocent lives; addiction; drugs; and even imprisonment).
• You can be sure that at the bottom of every bottle of alcohol is the potential for an “ugly story” and that fact should be deterrent enough not to drink.
• I am not going to say any more than that. I think the lesson on drinking is pretty obvious.

I am going to say though that there are two very important implications to pick up on from Noah’s sin.

First: Anyone can sin.

• It is almost shocking to us to read that Noah, a man“who found favor in the eyes of God”, committed this sin after all that he has been through.
• And he doesn’t commit this sin as a young man. He commits this sin well late in life.
• And I think it is significant that many key figures in the Bible experience their most serious moral lapses in their later years.
• David was not 22 when he committed adultery. He was in his 50s.
• The Bible says that in his old age Solomon allowed his foreign wives to turn his heart toward other gods.
• We have all heard sermons titled, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.”
• It may be that we need to hear more sermons, “Remember you creator in the days of middle-age.” And even, “Remember your Creator in the days of your old age” because anyone can sin.

The second implication from this story is: Everyone does sin.

• Rom 3:23 …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
• That includes Noah.

This reminds me of the story of the retired preacher who needed a lawnmower. So he drove to the store to buy a lawnmower and on his way he saw a sign in front of a house that said, “Used lawnmower for sale.” So, he knocked on the door and a little boys came to the door and said, “I will go around back and get it.” So a little bit later the retired preacher hears this lawnmower rumbling around the side of the house and it is idling just fine. And the little boy cranks it up and he goes back and forth across the yard several times. Everything seems to be working fine. So the preacher buys the lawnmower for $25. The preacher feels pretty good about it. He got a great deal. Well, the next day he gets the mower out to mow and he tries to start it…and he pulls and he pulls and he pulls on the rope and nothing happens. About that time the boy rides by on his bicycle. The preacher is kind of frustrated and says, “Son, do you know how to start this thing?” “Sure do. You got to cuss it!” The preacher says, “I not saying that I ever cussed but if I did it has been so long ago I have forgotten how.” And the little boys says, “Just keep pulling on that rope and it will come back to you.”

I am sure there have been times in your life when maybe like Noah you think, “Well, I’ve got sin behind me now.”

• Well, let me tell you, you will be amazed at how strong and how quick sin can come back.
• And even though you are older now when that temptation to sin does arise we all need to remember that there are still serious consequences for sin just like there was for Noah.

Now, look at vs. 22: And Ham, the father of Canaan(this is the second time we are told that Ham was the father of Canaan), saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

Now, what exactly did Ham do? What was it that caused Noah to curse, not Ham, but Ham’s son, Canaan?”

Well, I don’t know much about it but I understand that when you are drunk the alcohol kind of produces an artificial heat. (Football games where it is 22 degrees below zero and some guys are out there cheering without their shirts on?

• That is not tea in that cup they are holding. (Why men try to get a woman to drink…make her want to take her clothes off.”

So Noah is drunk and he takes off his robe because he is uncomfortable and he falls into a drunken stupor.

• And then Ham sees his father’s nakedness and tells his two brothers outside.

Now, evidently when Moses recorded this, the Hebrews immediately understood what Ham did.

• Our problem is we read this and we don’t grasp what it was that he did that was so bad.

I can tell you that there are many different opinions.

• Some say Ham committed a homosexual act on his father; some say Ham disfigured his father, and some say that Ham had relations with his mother while Noah was drunk and Canaan was the offspring.”
• And most of those opinions are based on vs. 24 where it says that, “Noah woke up from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him.”

I guess it is possible that something like that could have happened but I don’t think that is what happened.

• The reason I say that is because whatever it was that Ham did the remedy was simply to cover Noah’s nakedness by his other two sons.

Most likely Ham’s sin was the way he reacted to the discovery of his father lying naked in his tent because the Hebrew word in vs. 22 for “saw” is a word that could be translated, “to gaze upon with joy; to look upon with satisfaction” and apparently what it was, was Ham enjoyed catching his “righteous” father in a state of degradation…and then he couldn’t wait to tell his brothers.

• You see, the unrighteous always like to find the righteous in sin.
• And so perhaps there was something about Noah’s morality and purity that Ham resisted and when He saw Noah in that compromising position Ham enjoyed it.

Fortunately Ham’s brothers took no delight in their father’s condition and so they took a garment and backed up and covered their father.

• And what these two boys do is a lesson for us: When someone is caught in sin we don’t need to join in with others to proclaim it…and we should do all we can to conceal it.
• Remember what Peter says in 1 Peter 4: Love covers a multitude of sins.You might say that is what these boys did.
• When someone sins we don’t need to make matters worse.

So, Noah wakes up from his wine and he knows what his youngest son had done to him and a spirit of prophecy comes over him…and he curses, not Ham, but Ham’s son Canaan. Why? Why would he curse Canaan?

Well, most people would go to the passage in Exodus that says, “The sins of the father are visited on their children” and say that is why Canaan was cursed.

• But there is a verse in Ezekiel that says that “God will not let the son bear the guilt of his father.”
• Sons can share in the consequences of their father’s sin but not in the guilt of their father’s sin.
• So, Canaan wasn’t punished because of what his father did no more than you or I are punished for what our parents may have done.
• So, why was Canaan cursed?

Well, how many times have you heard “Like father, like son?”

• Evidently Noah recognized in Canaan the same inclination towards perversion that lived in his father Ham.

• Canaan was apparently cursed, not so much because of what his father did, but because he acted like his father. He possessed the same perversion.
• You might say he followed his father’s example.

And that is why it is so critical for parents today to be constantly aware of the example you put forth for your children.

• Children often imitate their parents. (smoke; drink; crude talk; rude; immoral, etc.)
• By your actions you may unlock an inclination in your children that sends them down the wrong path that leads them to who knows what.

In fact, let me show you something. Lev 18:1-5. Moses has just led the children of Israel out of Egyptian captivity and he is about to lead them into the land of Canaan. Look what he says:

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'I am the LORD your God. 3'You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. 4'You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God. 5'So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD.

Now, God goes on in Leviticus 18 to lists the practices of Canaan. It is x-rated. They are things that you would not believe are in the Bible. God says, “You are not to sleep with your mother or your daughter.”

• “I don’t want you to go sleep with a woman and then sleep with her daughter.”
• “I don’t want you to lay down with your neighbor’s wife.”
• “I don’t want you to sleep with your sister.”
• It gets worse. He says, “I don’t want a man to lie down with a man like he lies down with a woman.”
• He says, “I don’t want a man or a woman having sexual relations with animals.”
• “And I don’t want you taking your kids to the erotic temples of the Canaanites and burning them as sacrifices.”

You are probably not going to like what I am about to say but this all started with a drunk who uncovered himself…and a son who delighted in his father’s nakedness…and a son who followed his father’s example.

And do you know what happens to the Canaanites? God will use the descendants of Shem, the Hebrews, as His flood to bring judgment on the Canaanites.

Sometimes people ask, “How can God be a God of love when He had all those people in the Old Testament killed?”

• Think about what these people were doing…and God gave them hundreds of years to change…and they didn’t…and the Bible tells us that they didn’t come under God’s judgment until “their iniquity was full.” (Gen. 15:16) In other words, God didn’t bring judgment on them until they reached a point of no return.
• The truth is, these people only have themselves to blame for what happened to them.

And that is why it is so critical for parents today to be constantly aware of the example you put forth for your children.

And let me also say this: Just because your father did something that doesn’t mean that it was right…or that you should do it.

• Jesus says in Matthew 10:37 that we are to “love Him more than or father or mother.” Sometimes we must do what Jesus says instead of what our father said.

Now, back to Genesis 9:25: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants he shall be to his brothers; He also said,"Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. 27 "May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant."

This was all fulfilled by the Shemites when Joshua and the Hebrews moved into Canaan and conquered the land.

• And it was fulfilled by the Japhethiteswhen the Medes and the Persians came in and conquered the Phoenicians and the Canaanites.
• And then the Greeks and the Romans who were Japhethites came in and subdued the Shemites or the Jews.
• Once again, the word of God is sure. If He says it you can be sure it will happen.

Now, let me close with this. I am sure that Noah deeply regretted this last chapter in his life.

• But what is interesting is that Noah is not remembered in the Bible primarily for this incident.
• In 2 Peter 2 He is remembered as a “preacher of righteousness” and in Hebrews 11 it ways “He was a man who lived by faith.” That is how he is remembered.

And someone might say, “How can that be?”

• Well, remember Genesis 6:8: Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
• When it says that “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” that speaks of grace…and grace is where God gives you what you don’t deserve.
• Noah wasn’t sinless…none of us are...but he was reckoned as being righteous…he was justified because of his faith in God.

And this same thing is true for us today. 1 John 1:7-10 “If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

• Just because we sin…and we will…that doesn’t mean that we are lost again.
• The blood of Christ continues to cleanse us of that sin.
• What we must do is repent of that sin and resume our walk with God.
• You found favor in the eyes of the Lord when you were baptized and because of Christ’s cleansing blood…your occasional sin does not take that away from you.