Noah and His Sons After the Flood

Genesis 9:18-28

When the story of Noah and the flood is told, today’s text is usually the part that gets left out. We all know about the reason for the flood: the corruption and violence of the human race. We know about God instructing Noah to build an ark and to take his family and the animals onto it to be saved from the flood. We know about the extent of the flood and how God brought Noah, his family and the animals off the ark after the flood. We know about Noah’s offering and God’s promise not to flood the earth again confirmed by the rainbow. These details are often retold in children’s picture books.

But today’s text is not retold in children’s books. After all the good things we have learned about Noah, Genesis 9:21 is shocking; Noah gets drunk and naked. The text moves from the rainbows into the shadows. You almost wish this verse wasn’t in the Bible, but the Bible never glosses over the flaws and sins of its characters, even the godly ones. It’s interesting that Noah lived 350 years after the flood, and this is the only episode from that long life that Moses records for us.

Pay attention as I read our text today (Genesis 9:18-29):

¹⁸ Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. ²⁰ And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. ²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

²⁴ So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. ²⁵ Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.” ²⁶ And he said: “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. ²⁷ May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.”

²⁸ And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

The text that is before us today is broken neatly into two parts. First, we have the story of Noah’s drunkenness, the shameful response of Ham to his father’s nakedness, and the honorable response of Shem and Japheth in covering the shame of their father. That story is told in Genesis 9:18-23. Secondly, we find the speech of Noah where he pronounced a curse upon Canaan (the son of Ham), and blessed both Seth and Japheth in Genesis 9:24-28.

1. Noah’s Drunkenness and Shame (Gen. 9:18-23)

It is crucial to see that in this story—the account of Noah’s drunkenness, the shameful response of Ham to his father’s nakedness, and the honorable behavior of Shem and Japheth—we find an echo of the story of Adam’s fall into sin from Genesis 3. Many of the themes present in the story of Adam’s fall are repeated here in this narrative. This is very significant, for it helps us to see what this story is—a reiteration the pervasiveness of sin and of God’s purpose save a people for Himself despite man’s sin. Sin survived the flood, but so did God’s plan to save humanity.

In Genesis 9:18-19 we read, “Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.”

Genesis 9:18 picks up where Genesis 6 left off before the whole account of the great flood. There Genesis 6:10 concluded: “And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Now we return to focus on these figures: Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Genesis 9:19 tells us that from these three that the whole earth would be repopulated or dispersed after the flood. The important emphasis in Genesis 9:18 is the statement that “Ham was the father of Canaan.” In Genesis 10 Moses will list all the sons of Shem, Ham, and Japheth and the nations that would come from their lines. But of all the sons and grandsons that are listed in Genesis 10, only one is especially emphasized here: Canaan. In Genesis 9:22 we see it emphasized again, “… Ham, the father of Canaan …” Canaan is mentioned five times in this section. This will become an important piece of information later in the story, so don’t forget it—Ham was the father of Canaan.

A. Noah’s sin

In Genesis 9:20-21 we read, “And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.” The story is simple enough. Noah was a farmer. He planted a vineyard—nothing wrong with that, vineyards and wine are often associated with joy in God’s blessings in the scriptures (Deut. 14:26; Psa. 104.15; Pro. 31:6-7; Ecc. 9:7). But Noah misused God’s blessing when he became drunk with the wine and, therefore, laid shamefully naked and exposed in his tent.

This is the first mention of wine in the Bible, and it’s not a pretty picture. A godly man like Noah was trapped by its subtle but potent influence. Getting drunk resulted in shame and a curse. While the Bible does not prohibit a careful use of wine, it repeatedly warns of the dangers of drinking (Pro. 23:29-35) and it always condemns drunkenness as a deed of the flesh, warning that the one who practices it will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 5:11; 1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21).

I want to call attention to several important points of comparison that we can see between Noah and Adam. First, notice that Noah and Adam were both farmers. Adam was put by God “in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Gen. 2:15) and after the fall Genesis 3:23 says, “therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.” Noah was also a farmer. “And Noah began to be a farmer (literally “a man of the ground [אִישׁ הָֽאֲדָמָה, Ish Adamah]”), and he planted a vineyard” (Gen. 9:20).

Second, both Adam’s sin and Noah’s sin involved a misuse of God’s blessing of the fruit of the ground. God gave Adam every tree in the garden to eat except one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16-17). Adam sinned when he ate of that forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6). God blessed Noah with a vineyard. He sinned when he misused the fruit of the vine and became drunk. 

Third, notice the similar results of Adam’s sin and Noah’s sin. Both involved the shame of nakedness. When Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the forbidden fruit, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Gen. 3:7). When Noah sinned by getting drunk on wine, he passed out naked in his tent (Gen. 9:21).

These similarities suggest that these episodes are meant to be compared. After God created the heavens and earth, He created man in His own image and placed him in Eden. Adam was to obey God as a representative of all humanity. Instead, he rebelled and sinned, experiencing the shame of his nakedness. Likewise with Noah, God brought forth a new earth after the flood. God established His covenant with Noah as a representative for all humanity. Noah was to obey God, but he also sinned and experienced the shame of his nakedness. 

B. The sons’ response

Genesis 9:22-23 record the response of Noah’s sons to his sin and shame: “And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.”

It is obvious that Ham responded sinfully and shamefully while Shem and Japheth responded honorably. Ham showed disrespect to his father when he exposed and ridiculed Noah’s sin instead of seeking to cover it. He found his father drunk and shamefully exposed. And instead of covering his father’s nakedness, he went out to tell his brothers, presumably to mock his father in his moment of shame.

Shem and Japheth did the opposite. They showed respect to their father and covered the shame of his nakedness. They draped the garment over their shoulders, walked backwards into the tent together, and dropped it over their father to cover his shame.

It is important to God that children honor their parents. Later in the law, the fifth of the ten commandments speak to this (Exo. 20:12; Deut. 5:16). This command is repeated in the New Testament by Jesus (Matt. 15:4); Mark 10:19). Paul emphasized that commandment when he wrote, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’” (Eph. 6:1–3). Children to are to show honor two their parents. Honor them when you are young and when you are old, even if your parent is acting in less than an honorable way (like Noah).

Ham disrespected his father by failing to cover him, and by mocking his nakedness. Shem and Japheth honored their father by refusing to look upon his shame, and by going to the trouble to cover him in his moment of disgrace.

Perhaps you are thinking that Noah being uncovered the fact that Ham saw him that way doesn’t seem like such a big deal. After all, wasn’t Noah in the privacy of his own tent? In fact, you may be more shocked at the extreme measures taken by Shem and Japheth than the nakedness Noah or the reaction of Ham. But that says more about us than it does about the Bible. The lengths to which Shem and Japheth went in order not to see their father seem almost extreme in our sexually permissive society. Robert Deffinbaugh  (The Nakedness of Noah and the Cursing of Canaan) has some very helpful insight regarding this issue:

Our great problem today is that we have almost no sense of identification with the attitudes or actions of Noah’s two godly sons, Shem and Japheth. We feel no shame and no shock at the report of Noah inside his tent. And the reason is the real shock of the passage: We are a part of a society that senses no shame and no shock at moral and sexual indecency. Virtually every kind of sexual intimacy is portrayed upon the movie and television screen. Even abnormal and perverted conduct has become routine to us. Without any sense of indecency, the most intimate and private items are advertised before us and our children.

Do you see the point? We are not troubled by Noah’s nakedness because we are so much farther down the path of decadence that we hardly flinch at what happened in this passage. Now, my friend, if the condemnation of God fell upon Ham’s actions and upon those who walked in his ways, what does that say to you and to me? God forgive us for being beyond the point of shockability and shame. God save us from the sins of the Canaanites. God teach us to value moral purity and to be ruthless with sin. May we refuse to let it live among us, just as Israel was taught in this text.

When Shem and Japheth covered their fathers nakedness, they were behaving in a godly manner. They had the heart of God who grieved over the sin of Adam and graciously covered the shame of his nakedness (Gen. 3:20–21). One test of Christ-like character is how we respond to the sins of others.

Moses, by retelling this story, has set the stage for the curse pronounced on Canaan (Ham’s son) and for the blessing on Shem and Japheth.

2. Noah’s Curse and Blessing (Gen. 9:24-29)

Genesis 9:24 tells us the aftermath of the incident, “So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.” We do not know how Noah learned of this. I doubt that Shem and Japheth told Noah, or anyone else. I suspect that the story was well known around the camp the next morning, and probably due to Ham. If Ham didn’t hesitate to tell his brothers, why hesitate to tell all?

Noah then pronounces a curse and blessings. Noah’s words here are words of prophecy. Noah is foretelling the trajectory of world history through his sons. He is speaking an oracle under the inspiration of God, predicting the course of the nations that will come from his three sons.

Notice first the,

A. Curse on Canaan

Genesis 9:25, “Then he said: ‘Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.’” The major question that arises here is: Why did Noah curse his grandson Canaan and not his son Ham? The immediate text does not fully answer that question. Was Canaan somehow involved with Ham’s sinful disrespect? Again, the text doesn’t say so. The key to understanding the curse on Canaan is to remember that he became the father of a vast group of people called the Canaanites. In later generations they occupied the land of Canaan which God promised to give to Abraham and his descendants, the Israelites. The Canaanites developed an idolatrous religion based on gross sexual perversion. Leviticus 18 specifies the sins of the Canaanites in graphic detail including incest, homosexual behavior, and bestiality. These sins are described repeatedly with the words “uncover” and “nakedness.”

Moses is wanting us to see the connection here. Ham was the father of Canaan and Canaan was the father of the Canaanites. They were a people under God’s curse because of their sin. The Canaanites were sexually perverted idol-worshipers who were the sworn enemies of the people of Israel. When the Israelites got ready to enter the Promised Land, God told them to utterly wipe out the Canaanites—destroy their cities, kill their animals, and kill all the people—men and women, adults and children (. Their immorality and false religion was so toxic it was like spiritual Anthrax—so deadly it must be wiped out or the Israelites themselves would be infected.

It’s important to say that Noah is not putting a “hex” on his grandson, so that Canaan could not help himself. Nor is he fixing the fate of every person descended from Canaan, as if individuals could not escape the curse. Indeed, a few Canaanites (like Rahab) would become believers and part of Israel and its blessings. Rather, he is predicting that Canaan’s descendants would serve the descendants of Shem and Japheth.

This curse has nothing to do with the other sons of Ham and their descendants. It has absolutely nothing to do with skin color. Contrary to what some have falsely taught, the black race is not descended from Canaan. His descendants were those peoples dwelling in the land of Canaan when Israel conquered the land under Joshua. The prophecy was fulfilled under Joshua and Solomon, both of whom put Canaan’s descendants in forced service to Israel (Josh. 9:23; 1 Kings 9:20-21).

Noah not only prophesies a curse on Canaan he also gives a,

B. Blessing for Shem and Japheth

Genesis 9:26 says, “And he said: ‘Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant.’”

Notice that Noah does not bless Shem directly, but he blesses the Lord, Shem’s God. “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem.” There is a play on words here with the name Shem. Shem means “name”, and here is the distinguishing characteristic of the line of Shem—they have taken the name of the LORD to themselves. They are God’s people. The LORD is their God. Like Seth before them, they call upon the name of the LORD, Yahweh. The blessing flows out of the relationship which Shem has with Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel. And the servitude of Canaan is evidence of this blessing. This was fulfilled in that Abraham and the nation of Israel, and later Jesus the Messiah, came from the line of Shem.

Just as Shem’s blessing consists in his relationship to Yahweh, Japheth will be blessed in his relationship to Shem (Gen. 9:27), “May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.” The name “Japheth” is thought to mean ‘to enlarge’ or ‘to make wide.’ By a word play, Noah blessed Japheth by using his own name. The blessing of Japheth is to be found in relationship to Shem and not independently. God will state this promise more specifically in Genesis 12:3 when the LORD blessed Abram and said: “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This is the first glimmer in Scripture of the grafting in of the Gentiles to the spiritual blessings of Israel. We who are Japheth’s descendants have truly been blessed by dwelling in the tents of Shem!

Our text ends with the death of Noah (Gen. 9:28-29), “And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.” This is proof that the flood was not God’s ultimate solution to the problem of human sin, nor was Noah the savior, the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). The Messiah would come from the seed of the woman; He would come through the line of Shem and Abraham and God would bless the whole world through Him. That one is Jesus Christ, the Son of God whom God sent into the world. He lived a perfect, sinless life in obedience to His Father. His atoning death covers our sins and His resurrection guarantees us eternal life. Christ took the curse for our sin and gives us the blessing of His righteousness.

Have you come to Christ? Have you turned from your sin and yourself to the Savior? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He blessing others through His relationship with you?    

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