September 28, 2024
We ended last time by briefly discussing the covenant sign of the rainbow. This morning we are going to begin by looking at the Covenant itself.
The Covenant God made with Noah and his descendants is the first formal covenant described in the Old Testament.
In the Hebrew language, one of the words for Covenant is “Berit.” This type of Covenant is a sacred agreement, initiated by God, that holds spiritual and moral significance and establishes a mutual commitment between God and His people. It reflects God’s love and faithfulness and serves as a framework outlining the rights, responsibilities, and promises of the parties involved. The difference with the Covenant God initiates with Noah is its scope:
1st – God blessed Noah and his family and instructed them to re-populate the earth – that instruction will be repeated in v. 7. This is the same command God gave to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28.
2nd – God gave detailed instructions regarding diet:
• All animal life will fear you – they are given into your hand.
• Everything that lives and moves will be food for you – However, you must not eat meat that still has the blood in it. This instruction foreshadows the dietary instructions God will give to Israel in Leviticus 11:1-31 and 17:10-14.
3rd – God outlined the consequences of murder – the shedding of innocent blood:
• Genesis 9:5-6 – “And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”
Again, foreshadowing the instructions he will give to Israel requiring the punishment for a crime correspond to the nature of the crime – Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Numbers 35:9-15; Deuteronomy 4:41-43; 19:1-13.
Genesis 9:8-13 - Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you ----- Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth…. This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
Life resumed on planet earth….. Will the future be different from the past?
Before diving into the next story, we are given a brief genealogy that of Noah, his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and one grandson – Canaan.
The Bible tells us Noah was a man of the soil and he that went about planting a vineyard. On average it takes about 3 years for a newly planted grapevine to produce its first crop of grapes – so obviously, some time has passed.
The story continues by telling us that upon drinking some of the wine, Noah got drunk and lay naked in his tent. What happens next adds to Noah’s shame – Ham walks in. There is some debate here amongst scholars: Some suggest that Ham simply walked in – walked right back out but then gossiped to his brothers about what he had seen. Others suggest that Ham actually did something to Noah of a sexual nature. Whatever the case, after Ham blabbed, his brother’s took a cloak walked backward into Noah’s tent and covered him.
Genesis 9:24-27 - When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."
Noah’s curse has caused us some problems. Why curse Ham’s son and not Ham himself? There is no easy answer, however, the situation might become clearer as we trace the decedents of Canaan (the Canaanites) and their critical future interaction with the Children of Israel who were descended from Shem.
• Ellen White (PP 117.2-118.2) - Noah, speaking by divine inspiration, foretold the history of the three great races to spring from these fathers of mankind. Tracing the descendants of Ham, through the son rather than the father, he declared, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." The unnatural crime of Ham declared that filial reverence had long before been cast from his soul, and it revealed the impiety and vileness of his character. These evil characteristics were perpetuated in Canaan and his posterity, whose continued guilt called upon them the judgments of God….. The posterity of Canaan descended to the most degrading forms of heathenism. Though the prophetic curse had doomed them to slavery, the doom was withheld for centuries. God bore with their impiety and corruption until they passed the limits of divine forbearance. Then they were dispossessed, and became bondmen to the descendants of Shem and Japheth….. As a rule, children inherit the dispositions and tendencies of their parents, and imitate their example; so that the sins of the parents are practiced by the children from generation to generation. Thus the vileness and irreverence of Ham were reproduced in his posterity, bringing a curse upon them for many generations….
One aspect of this we can put to rest right now – there is no biblical basis for the false teaching that this curse refers to the future enslavement of the people of Africa, which some have used to justify the slave trade. Lie. Period. Full stop.
After the flood Noah lived 350 years. Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.
Coming to Genesis 10, we find a more extensive Genealogy, which follows Shem, Ham and Japheth.
• The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras….
• The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan…. And Nimrod. Nimrod was a mighty hunter. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah ….
• The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud and Aram…. Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber. 2 sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
In the midst of the Genealogy of Shem’s family we have the story of the Tower of Babel.
Genesis 11:1-2 - Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
We are given a sort of timeline for this event because in the genealogy of Ham we are told that his son, Nimrod, founded the kingdom of Babel in the land of Shinar. It didn’t take long for the significance of the rainbow covenant to be forgotten.
Remember….. The rainbow was to remind the people of God’s love and care for them as well as his unconditional promise to never destroy the world again with a global flood. However, let’s not forget about the sin weed. It certainly took a hit with the flood, but it didn’t take long for the leaves to start sprouting once again. Our first leaf was Ham’s actions toward his father and now more leaves began to appear: rebellion, pride, arrogance, and complete reliance on self.
Genesis 11:3-4 - And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 And they said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
They didn’t need God to rule over them—they could rule themselves; they could reach the heavens on their own terms, with their own hands, by their own means, using their own skills - not to the honor and glory of God, but to the honor and glory of themselves.
Sound familiar?
• Isaiah 14:13-14 - But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
• Daniel 4:28-30 - All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?'
For a 3rd time (Genesis 3:9; 6:5; 11:5) God went to see what was going on:
Genesis 11:5-6 - And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
God knew that He must, once again, intervene. This time He disrupted their plans in a single step:
Genesis 11:7 - "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
It was a genius move. Construction stopped and the project was abandoned as the people went in a desperate search to find anyone with whom they could communicate. Some went North. Some went South. Some went East. Some went West.
The result:
• By default, the people did what God had wanted them to do all along - fill the earth.
• Global unity was broken - slowing the spread of sin.
Today there are over 7,151 recognized languages world-wide (as reported by Ethnologue).
Why did God include this story? The author of Genesis didn’t know that a few thousand years later “the origin of species” and “race theory” would be developed, but God knew. Once again, God is making a clear distinction between himself and the world when it comes to our origins and we are called to choose which one we will believe.
According to 23andMe, humans are 99.5% identical at the DNA level. It is only .5% that provides our genetic diversity (full disclosure – not all scientists agree). Contrary to the humanistic view of race development, this Bible Story reveals to us our true origins. While we may have different skin colors and speak different languages and come from different cultural backgrounds, our roots are the same.
Deep within all our collective DNA is one post-flood father = NOAH.
From this point on the focus of the Old Testament shifts from a global perspective to one man and his family.
