Genesis 9:20-28 Devotional

Let’s look at this passage backwards!

v28-29: How blessed was Noah? – he was blessed with a full long life, even after the flood (Noah is one of the oldest people who ever lived)

v24-27:

Who was the youngest son of Noah? – Ham, who was the father of Canaan

This youngest son did something wrong, therefore Noah cursed this son’s descendants!

Canaan was cursed: - to be a slave to his father’s brothers

Blessings to Shem – blessed by God and Canaan will be his slave

3 Blessings to Japheth:

Territory will be great; living quarters will be built by his brother Shem; Ham’s descendants will be slaves to Japheth

How can we find out if the curses and the blessings happened? – follow Scriptures or “google” Ham, son of Noah

What did Shem and Japheth do to deserve blessings? – v23 – they didn’t look at their father’s naked body and then covered it

And so, why do you think Ham’s descendants were cursed? – Ham sinned because he “rejoiced” in Noah’s naked body, and so his sin carried on to his descendants (a curse back to Ham)

Did Noah do anything wrong? – he shouldn’t have gone drunk (lost self-control)

Can “man” actually set the future by blessing and cursing people? – YES, sins can be carried down to future generations BUT blessings as well as an individual turns to God

Why was this story told in the Bible? – losing one’s self-control leads to sin (losing self-control either by intake of substances or by lust on one’s own