Genesis (Pt. 19) The Curse on Canaan
Text: Genesis 9:18-29
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
Now when we read Genesis, we should always keep in mind that it is written as a book of history. In-other-words; it falls into the genre of historical writings, and it is meant to be taken as factual, literal history. Now the author of Genesis was Moses, but he wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now what that means is that the Holy Spirit basically, somehow, told Moses what had happened and Moses wrote about these events, using his own words and his own writing style, while the Holy Spirit made sure that all the details were factually correct and that the wording was specifically used for a reason, although it was still in Moses’ own style.
Now the reason I’m telling you this, is because when we read Genesis, we have to 1st of all read it as history – we have to read it in the context in which it was written, but then we must also understand that within this literal history, there are profound spiritual truths that are taught. For example; if we take our text this morning, we see Moses stumble, and then we see Moses’ son Ham stumble as well. There were probably a thousand other historical events that the Holy Spirit could’ve inspired Moses to write about; I mean, Noah lived 350 years after the flood. Moses could’ve no-doubt, written about all kinds of things. Instead He focuses in on Noah’s sin, and then the sin of Noah’s son, Ham. Keep in mind that over 1000 years have gone by since Adam fell and sinned in the garden. The flood has wiped out all human life except for Noah and his family. But the Holy Spirit is wanting us who read this history… to know that the war between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman is still raging on. It’s still being fought. It’s a different world now after the flood, but this spiritual battle is still taking place.
So as we look at verses 18 & 19 we see Noah and his sons come out of the ark. God has shown Himself faithful and preserved them through the flood, and they get to work fulfilling the creation ordinance of “filling the whole earth.” And again, this is one of those proof texts where we have to say macro evolution and the Bible are not compatible. Either all of mankind is descended from Noah, or the Bible is wrong. That’s the options we have.
Verses 20 and 21; Noah plants a vineyard, makes some wine and gets drunk. Now a lot of folks will tell you that Noah got off the ark and it was like he said, “Woah, I’m glad that’s over. I’m gonna’ have a drink.” But that’s not what happened at all. Basically; Noah planted a garden, and this may have been a year after the flood, it may have been 50 years after the flood, we’re not sure exactly how long after the flood it was, but we know it was at least long enough for Noah to plant the garden, for the crops to grow and for the grapes to ferment in order to make wine. Now this is interesting, because back in verse 18, it makes a distinction between Noah’s sons. It says there was Shem, Ham and Japheth, and then it points out Ham as being the father of Canaan. So right there we know that the Bible is setting us up to get something here. It does the same thing again in verse 22 – Ham, the father of Canaan. So it’s intended for us to see the connection between Ham and Canaan, and the connection between the curse and Canaan.
Let’s go on here. Noah gets drunk, and then Ham… the NKJV says, “Saw the nakedness of his father…”
Now the principle; or the lesson we can learn here is that sin will bring you to disgrace, but not only that, it can also become the occasion for others to sin as well. No sin is an island unto itself. It always affects someone else; usually those who are closest to us. We like to say to ourselves, “Oh my sin isn’t hurting anyone.” But that’s not reality. And Noah’s sin of drunkenness, leads to an even worse sin committed by his son Ham. Now I want you to understand what Noah means when he says Ham “Saw” his father’s nakedness, so turn with me to Leviticus 20:17 (Read). Now, if you look at that verse, and the verses around it, you see that it’s not talking about accidently seeing your sibling without their clothes on. What this is, was Moses being discreet. You see; he knew that he was going to have to read this out to all the people of God who were gathered in the assembly, and so he uses a little discretion here. So he’s not just talking about “looking,” there’s actual incest involved. And that’s the same thing we’re seeing back in our Genesis text in regards to the sin of Ham.
So right here we see a warning against abusing alcohol. We see a warning against dishonoring your father or mother. Parental authority doesn’t come from the fact that they are older than you, and it doesn’t come from the fact that they feed and clothe you. It comes from God. God set this system of authority into place for a reason, and all of us should honor our parents if they are living, and their memories if they have already gone on to the Lord. And, we see a warning against immorality.
Now I want you to notice here, that Ham fully expected his brothers, to at the very least, mock their father, but that’s not what they did. And this is a lesson on how we should treat those in authority who have stumbled. They showed their father respect, even though he had fallen into sin, and had stumbled in his walk. And it’s interesting, because there is no doubt that Noah had sinned, but then in verses 24-27 God actually uses him to prophesy against Ham and Canaan. This is the 1st time in Scripture we see God use a man to prophesy – prior to this point, God Himself had given all prophesy. Noah was still God’s man… he was still chosen by God. And in Noah’s prophesy we see both a curse and a blessing. The curse is that Canaan, Ham’s son, will suffer the consequences for his father’s sin. Now people say that’s not fair. But that’s reality. How many times do we see parents who are into alcohol and drugs and their kids wind up doing the same things? How many times do we see parents fall into certain behavioral patterns and then, their kids fall into those same behavioral patterns? We see it all the time right? Whether those patterns are good or bad. And so here, Ham sinned against his father, so Ham’s own son bears reproach for Ham’s sin – for his breach of family, his own family would falter. But also… if you look ahead in history, we see that this curse on Canaan is in anticipation of Canaan’s sin. In Genesis 15 Moses tells the Israelites to drive the Canaanites out of the land! The Israelites had been in Egypt for around 400 years or so, and Genesis 15:16 says part of the reason is because “the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete…” So Israel had been separated from Canaan, Canaan was living in immoral sin, idolatry and rebellion, and God had given them some 400 years or so to repent. But they won’t and they don’t, so God frees the Israelites from Egypt and brings them to the land of Canaan, not only as a fulfillment of His promise to Abraham, but as judgment upon the Canaanites. The people of Canaan were guilty of their own sin. Their religion included child sacrifice, idolatry, immoral sexual behavior, and divination. And so in this prophesy, a curse is pronounced on Canaan, but also in this prophesy we see God’s grace as well.
First of all, not all of Ham’s children are cursed, only the Canaanites. We see that Shem is blessed, and actually verse 26 suggests that Shem is already in covenant with the Lord. In verse 27 we also see Japheth is blessed in Shem; and in case you didn’t know it, most of us here are descendants of Japheth. If you’re of European descent, then most likely you’re a descendant of Japheth. And so Moses is prophesying about how Gentiles would be grafted into this covenant through Christ.
In verses 28 & 29 we see Noah’s obituary; and basically it’s the same thing that we’ve read before in Genesis chapter 5… remember Genesis 5 where it says, “So and so lived for so long and then he died.” Well here it’s the same thing, Noah lived 950 years and then he died. So this pattern of living and dying continues, as the war between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman continues on.
The name “Noah” means “Rest” and if you remember; Noah’s father named Noah, Noah because he will give us rest. In a sense Noah did that, but not in the ultimate sense. Sin still existed. Noah could only curse Canaan, but he couldn’t change his heart. Only Jesus Christ can break that cycle of sin and misery that is passed on from generation to generation.
Now there’s one other important thing I want you to notice here, and again it has to do with God’s grace. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 1:1-16 (Read), now I want you to look back at verse 5 where it says, “Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab.” Now we read about Rahab in the Book of Joshua. If you remember, she was the harlot who hid the spies when they came to spy out the city of Jericho. And guess what? Rahab was a Canaanite. So Rahab, a Canaanite was the great – great, great – great, great – great, grandmother of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in Christ, even the Canaanites can be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
When it comes down to it, it’s not going to matter if you can trace your lineage to Shem, Ham, or Japheth. It’s not physical blood lines that save anyone. It’s whether you’re in the family of God. It’s whether you’ve been BORN AGAIN, by an incorruptible seed. That’s why Christ came. Because we ALL like sheep had gone astray.
Our only hope is found in Him.
Let’s Pray
