Genesis 18
The last time we were in the book of Genesis we covered the passage where God established His covenant with the world that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood. He placed a rainbow in the sky as a reminder of His promise to us. A promise that’s based entirely on His faithfulness. And our God is so faithful. Faithful enough to give humanity a second chance at existence through the family of Noah.
[Read Genesis 9:18-19.]
Man now has a second chance. A second chance to live as the Lord had created them to live. God had been faithful to man by bringing him through the flood alive and well and able to start over. God showed Himself faithful to man. So the question now is, will man return the favor? Will man return faithfulness for faithfulness?
[‘Unfaithful’ parents of basketball team illustration.]
Well as we’re going to see tonight there will always be a struggle for man to be faithful towards our faithful God. No matter how wonderful, loving, awesome and faithful God is, man will always struggle in his faithfulness to God. And it started in the new world with none other than Noah himself.
I. Noah’s unfaithfulness to God and family
[Read Genesis 9:20-21.]
Now let’s look at what’s really going on here. Noah went back to being a farmer probably like he was before the flood. I’m sure he planted many kinds of food, but his planting a vineyard is highlighted here for obvious reasons. The juice from the grapes were fermented, Noah drank too much and became intoxicated. Now there’s some debate as to whether Noah did this purposely or carelessly.
Now while this is the first use of the term wine in the Bible, there’s good reason to think that people drank wine before the flood.
[Read Matthew 24:38.]
This verse gives the impression of feasting without care in the days before the flood. And of course what brought on the flood? The extreme wickedness of man. So there’s a good chance that people before the flood had learned how to ferment fruit juice to make a beverage that would lead to intoxication.
Now there are medicinal and hygienic purposes for alcohol, but just about everyone knows that if you drink too much you’re going to get loopy!
So again, did Noah purposely intend on getting drunk or did he carelessly drink too much and ended up drunk. You know what, either way it was sin. You can tell if the wine you’re drinking is getting to you and its time to stop. (Not that you should start in the first place!)
[My experience drinking two beers at Grandpa’s funeral.]
So to say that Noah accidentally became intoxicated to me is a stretch. At the least, Noah carelessly drank too much wine from his own vineyard and became drunk. Not just buzzed, not just tipsy, not just sleepy – drunk.
So drunk that he got naked and laid down in his tent totally uncovered. Now the text doesn’t indicate that anything sexual or perverted was going on. He was probably just overheated from the alcohol and carelessly got naked and laid down to sleep it off. But I tell you what, drunkenness will cause you to do things that you would never do if you were sober, and here’s a prime example of that.
And because of Noah’s unfaithfulness to God in becoming drunk he was also unfaithful to his family. His drunkenness caused him to bring shame and embarrassment to his family. Not to mention his poor leadership in this area of life. This wasn’t a sin that was solely against the Lord. This was unfaithfulness to God and to family. And sadly, one of Noah’s son’s didn’t handle the situation very well.
II. Ham’s unfaithfulness to family and God
[Read Genesis 9:22.]
At first glance this doesn’t look like that big of a deal. I mean, Ham walks into his dad’s tent and finds him drunk and naked and then goes to tell his brothers. But when you think about it, it really is a big deal. Especially when you understand what the text really says.
When we look at how the words are put together in the Hebrew it doesn’t just mean Ham glanced over and saw his dad laying there naked. It means he looked intently, or gazed at his father. Now I’m not suggesting anything sexual or perverted, but it’s almost as if he looked at the situation with some sort of satisfaction. Kind of like a, “Ha, ha, look at you now dad.”
And to then go and tell his brothers about it as if to cause further embarrassment to his father. It just seems that Ham was relishing in his father’s disgraceful situation.
It stands in stark contrast to other situations like when Joseph was going to ‘put Mary away secretly’ when he found out she was pregnant so that she wouldn’t be publicly humiliated. Joseph was upset, but didn’t want to embarrass Mary needlessly.
But Ham seemed to seek out his brothers to join in the mockery of good ol’ dad. I tell you what, that’s not being faithful to your family. You want to protect your family from things like that. You want to come along side your family when someone gets off track. Not go out and air everyone’s dirty laundry just to get your kicks.
And in being unfaithful to his family, Ham was unfaithful to God. God wants us to honor, respect and cherish the family He allows us to be born into. I know it’s tough sometimes to be thankful for certain family members. But when we’re unfaithful to our family we’re unfaithful to God who wants us to love our family.
So Ham didn’t handle the situation to well – but his brothers reacted in differently. So let’s look at:
III. Shem and Japeth’s faithfulness to family and God
[Read Genesis 9:23.]
No doubt Shem and Japeth were embarrassed by the situation. No doubt they were troubled, discouraged, and maybe even a little confused. But was rose to the top of their emotions was their faithfulness to their father. They took a bad situation, probably not knowing why their father would do something like this, and turned it around into an act of faithfulness.
Could they have joined in the mockery of their father with Ham?
Could they have left their father there exposed and decided for him to deal with his own problems?
Could they have distanced themselves from their dad so that their personal reputations wouldn’t be connected to his?
But they loved their dad. And the best thing for that situation was to cover him up to save him from further humiliation.
Now just as a side-bar, there are times for ‘tough-love’ in a family. There are times when you need to separate yourself from the sinful lifestyle of other family members before that lifestyle take you over.
But faithfulness to each other ought to guide our actions – not selfishness. Ham saw his father’s situation as something he could exploit for himself. Shem and Japeth just saw their father as needing their help; So that’s what they gave him. Look at the verse again.
[Read Genesis 9:23.]
This amazing act of love and faithfulness was also an act of faithfulness to the Lord. For when we honor our family, we honor the Lord. I know the ten commandments hadn’t been written yet, but God’s principles for living have been established in eternity past. Shem and Japeth knew the right thing to do and they did it! Much to the contrast of their brother Ham’s actions. Ham was unfaithful, Shem and Japeth were faithful.
And their actions seemed to be a precursor for what their descendants would be like. Because so often in the Scriptures we see how our actions influence our legacy in our families.
IV. Like father, like son, like nation
[Read Genesis 9:24-27.]
Noah wakes up from his drunkenness and realizes what’s happened. We don’t know how he found out, but he did. I can’t imagine the shame he must have felt.
Now I don’t think that Noah’s prophecy here is some kind of reaction to the events that came forth in a rage. As a matter of fact, we have no idea of how he delivered these words. He could have uttered them in anger. He could have uttered them in sadness. And he could have even uttered them in some sort of disbelief or anguish.
But we do know that what’s said here is prophetic because it happened just as Noah said.
God blessed and increased the descendants of Shem and Japeth, but the descendants of Ham, the Canaanites, always lives in opposition and servitude of the other nations. All the way to their ultimate extinction.
From the line of Shem came the Israelites who of course the Savior of the world was brought through. The Israelites that still exist today. God’s chosen people. A people that have been under attack for centuries but who still stand as a testimony of God’s faithfulness to His people, (even though most reject His Son). But one day many Jews will come back to God and will be instrumentally used of Him in the last days. The line of Shem has been blessed by God.
From the line of Japeth come many, many of the other nations that cover the globe.
[Read Genesis 9:27.]
And where it says that Japeth will dwell in the tents of Shem it refers to the friendliness between the nations that come from the line of Shem and the line of Japeth.
The faithfulness of God has continued to be with the nations that came from the faithful Shem and Japeth. But like father, like son, like nation. Ham’s descendants, specifically the Canaanites, would be a cursed people.
The Canaanites were a despised people by the Jews because of their personal wickedness. Not to mention disputes over the land they occupied throughout the years. Eventually the prophecy would come true where the Canaanites would be enslaved by other kingdoms and even the Jews under Joshua would defeat and subdue them into servitude.
The Canaanites were cursed not just because of Ham’s sin, but because they followed in his footsteps of unfaithfulness. And today the Canaanites are no more. Like father, like son, like nation. Ham’s legacy is one of unfaithfulness.
This is a sad way to start out in the new world. But just because the opportunity was there for humanity to live as God had created us to live, man’s heart was still sinful and prone to wander. Our tendency sometimes is towards unfaithfulness even though God has never been unfaithful to us.
And that’s the challenge for us tonight. Are we faithful with the families and the opportunities that the Lords has given to us? What kind of legacy are we leaving behind?
Look how this chapter ends.
[Read Genesis 9:28-29.]
Noah had 950 years to be faithful. We have 80, 90 maybe even 100. Will we be faithful to the end with the families and the opportunities that our faithful God has given us?
I tell you what, you know why they call dogs “man’s best friend”? Because a dog is faithful! And I’ve got one of the most faithful dogs on the planet. No matter what we do, or don’t do, he’s still always happy to see us and loves being around us. Now don’t get me wrong, we don’t abuse our dog or anything like that. But sometimes we do some things to our dog that a person just wouldn’t take.
- Keep him locked up in a crate for a few hours while we’re gone.
- Drop him off at a kennel while we’re on vacation and not even call him once!
- Forget to feed him one night.
- Step on his tail, step on his foot, fall over him…yell at him!
No matter what, Nike is always faithful in his love for us. Would we be as faithful as a
dog! You know what I’m saying.
Will our legacy point to the fact that we were faithful people?
