Noah Dies & look into the future

Good evening to you all

Tonight, we will touch upon the death of Noah and read about his prophecy concerning his three sons. A husbandman is an interesting occupation. It means that Noah became a farmer. It can refer to a specific branch of farming and in the case of Noah, it appears he decided to grow grapes.

It is sad to note that when his harvest was complete, Noah drank too much wine and became intoxicated. The Spirit of God saw fit to include this account in the Bible for our benefit. God spoke at length with Noah after the flood was over. We can safely assume that He told Noah the truth that he would need to live a God honoring life.

The drunkenness of Noah was not good. The Bible speaks much about this subject, but here in the early portions of the scripture, it is the first time we read of it. For some reason, Noah took off his clothing. When people are drunk, they often say and do very foolish things and this is one example of foolishness.

The text seems to indicate that Noah and his sons knew that God did not allow them to see each others nakedness. Ham saw his father laying naked in a drunken stupor and ran to tell his brothers about it. His brothers took a garment and walking backward so that they would not see their father's nakedness, they covered Noah up. It was an honorable act by these two sons.

Genesis 9:20-23 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.

Now, we come to the end of Noah's life. I have hear some people speculate about what it is that Ham "did" to his father, but I think we should take the text at face value. It may simply be that he dishonored his father by looking at his nakedness and and running to tell his brothers about it. 

Noah is going to do something that many patriarchs of the faith did before they died. He is going to speak prophetically about the future of his sons. First, Noah addresses the sin of Ham. Ham had a son named Canaan and Noah said the descendant of  Canaan would be cursed and evidently suffer from bondage of some sort. There are many commentators who believe that the descendants of Canaan became the people groups who were hostile toward the tribes of Israel.

However, Noah pronounced blessings upon his other two sons. The line of Shem is the offspring chosen by God to continue the "seed of the woman" promised in Genesis 3:15. When you hear the term "Anti-Semitic" it means those who are against the descendants of Shem. Shem's offspring include the Jewish people.

The line of Japheth would be enlarged, that is they would be responsible for procreating a significant portion of the world's population. He would have a positive relationship with the offspring of Shem. Japheth and his line would spread widely over the earth whereas Shem and Ham's descendants would not migrate too far from the Mesopotamian valley.  

Genesis 9:24-27 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 

And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Genesis 9:28-29 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

The life of Noah is over. His legacy was having three sons who would repopulate the world. We learn that he had faith and he also fell short by becoming a drunkard. We learned that the line through which Jesus Christ would be born would continue. 

Now, we come to the next chapter. Genesis 10 is full of names that are difficult to pronounce. In fact, there are nearly 90 names. This chapter shows us the offspring and tribes of Noah's three sons and contains indications of where they settled. 

It is of interest to note that the offspring of Ham produced the Amorites, Hivites, Jebusites, Philistines and other tribes that were enemies of Israel. Some of the tribes, such as the Cushites, settled in Africa. The offspring of Japheth include those who settled in Europe, and possibly China and India. 

There is a lot of discussion about the offspring of the three sons, but we can safely say that each branch of Noah's family has their own unique skills and abilities, and that they all enriched the world to some degree. Some were good people and some were not good people, just like we see in the world today. 

I think the take away from the flood narrative and the lives of Noah and his family is fairly simple. God is holy and righteous and He will judge sin. Yet, God is also the source of love and grace and He always makes a provision for sinners to approach Holy God. We must act by having repentant faith and accept His provision. 

The people of God are portrayed in Scripture as being full of faith and sometimes, faltering by following the fleshly lusts. It is a message that we can think about today as we go about our business and engage in the routines of life. 

The next chapter brings us to another pivotal point in human history. The Tower of Babel and the introduction of a man named Abram (later, called Abraham.) 

I hope that you will follow us as we journey through the life of this venerable man of faith. God established a covenant with Abram that impacts mankind today, as we will see.

Until then,

Bob