MORNING MESSAGE: John Cline
Genesis 9 and 10
The famous Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood gained fame with a trilogy of films known as “Spaghetti Westerns” in the 1960’s because they were Italian-made films (hence, “Spaghetti”) about the rugged shoot ‘em up gunslinger-filled American West (hence, “Westerns”). The third and most successful of the trilogy was “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, now widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential westerns of all time. Today, we will look at specific individuals who engaged in “good”, “bad” and “ugly” behaviours & their consequences.
The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth. (Genesis 9:18,19)
Note, please, the parenthetical phrase “Ham was the father of Canaan”, but before we study why that phrase was put there, let us establish that a major theme in Genesis 6 through 11 was the replenishing of the earth. God promised that He would never again respond to bad or ugly behaviour by destroying the world with another Flood. Instead, humans would replenish the earth, and, no matter what their behaviour, there would be no more do-overs. The 8 people who came out of the Ark, and their descendants that followed, would continue repopulating the earth for as long as it exists. As many of you know, according to 2 Peter 3, at the end of time the earth will be destroyed but that time by fire and in preparation for the “new heaven and new earth” that will come. We will comment on that next Sunday.
In any case, there are statisticians who have calculated the exponential rate of population growth, starting at the year 2,350 B.C. (the presumed year of the Great Flood) and with the Ark’s 8 people, and then by factoring in birth rates, plagues, wars, and known death rates, have concluded that our world’s current population of 8 billion is reasonable. Many others, though, claim such a conclusion is ludicrous.
Another scientific discussion that many scientists dismiss as being ludicrous is based on the claims of biologist Nathaniel Jeanson, a Harvard-trained and Ph.D. awarded biologist who, in his book Traced: Human DNA’s Big Surprise, says he has traced his ancestry back to Joktan, a great-grandson of Noah’s son Shem, and that he can do a similar thing with anyone willing to give him a sample of their DNA. Jeanson writes, “We can find a very clear, generation-by-generation echo of Genesis 10 and of Noah at the base of the DNA tree, so that for any male who gets a Y chromosome test, any family that has a male relative who gets a Y chromosome test, I can trace their ancestry back to specific sons of Noah. What we have discovered is a generation-by-generation family tree for global humanity, and this is based on DNA. This is now a tool that, in theory, can be used for every single family line around the globe. The principle behind this involves two concepts: 1) DNA naturally records a record of our ancestry, and 2) Because the Y chromosome changes (or, mutates) every generation, DNA also records the passage of generations — the passage of time.” Now, I am not a scientist, so I am not informed enough to offer any opinion on this. I am just letting you know of the conversation is going on in the scientific community. Ok, now to some “good”, “bad”, and “ugly” behaviours and consequences:
Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. 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.” (Genesis 9:18-24)
Noah’s curse was levied against Canaan, the son of Ham, and was the first time in the Bible that a human cursed other people. The curse was apparently backed by God’s authority. What are we to make of the patriarch Noah’s becoming drunk and lying naked in his tent? Noah was a “man of the ground,” just as were Adam and Cain before him. We already read in Genesis 6:9, that Noah was “good”, “a righteous man, blameless in his generation”, and that “he walked with God.” Noah is not here condemned for his drunkenness but Ham, Noah’s youngest son, the father of Canaan “saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.” Ham mocked his father, it is believed. The original Hebrew implies he took “the garment” of Noah off him and dropped it outside. Ham and his son Canaan were the “bad” here (I will address that in just a minute) and the consequences of their bad behaviour would be “ugly”. But Noah’s other sons, Shem and Japheth, were the “good”. They did was right and honoured their father by taking “the garment” back into the tent and placing it discreetly over their father’s body. In the A.N.E., the mere act of seeing one’s father naked was an offense for, if one saw their father naked, his position as the moral and spiritual head of the family would be held in disrepute – and the family unit weakened.
It appears odd that Noah did not curse his son Ham directly for his sin, but, rather, his grandson, Canaan. Some commentators have said that because God had already blessed Ham in Genesis 9:1, it would be impossible to overturn such a blessing. Others have speculated that since Noah’s youngest son, Ham, humiliated him, that Noah, in turn, cursed Ham’s youngest son, Canaan. Yet other commentators state that this episode reflects the corporate solidarity of the Ancient Near East in that what the patriarch of a family or clan did affected his descendants for good or for ill. And, yet others point out that people tend to reproduce children whose behaviour resembles their own, and that Canaan was probably already acting out the sinful ways of his father Ham and that Noah was distressed by it. One more explanation: though we read that it was Ham who did the sinful act, his son Canaan either witnessed the event or was himself involved in it, explaining Noah’s anger. Yet, other commentators have speculated about even more scurrilous things, but the fact is, nowhere does the Bible explain Noah’s cursing of his grandson Canaan, rather than of his son Ham.
However, to me, the best explanation lies with the writer of Genesis, Moses. When Moses was writing Genesis and the four other books of the so-called Pentateuch, the first people to read his writings would have been the Israelites he was leading. They were trying to get into the Promised Land of Canaan but were meeting resistance. Moses wrote to encourage them that the Canaanites were not to be feared, for they would become the “slaves” of the Israelites, who were directly descended from Shem. Moses was using the history of Noah’s words to give hope to and explain the situation to his Israelite listeners. The words of Noah gave hope to the Israelites.
He also said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.” (Genesis 9:25-27)
When we get to chapter 10, we are going to hear read the origins of 70 nations. Broadly speaking, Shem’s descendants would people Western Asia and include the Semites/Israelites, Ham’s descendants would people Africa as well as Babylon, Canaan and such city nations as Sodom and Gomorrah, while Japheth’s descendants would people the coastal areas around the Mediterranean, as well as Europe and Persia. Where did the Chinese come from or Australian aboriginals? Genesis gives us no answer. But what Genesis does tell us has been twisted by Satan and used by evil people to get rich and have control over others.
Satan is a master of Scripture-twisting, and he did a masterful job of twisting Noah’s words. You know, false teaching always comes at another’s expense and, having just come back from South Africa where the results of Satan’s false teachings are still in evidence, I can tell you the false teaching in Africa concerning Noah’s words resulted in centuries of sin that are still brutally felt. The “hope” that is in Jesus needs to be remembered as we explain how Satan took away “hope” from black-skinned Africans.
Here is what happened: Ham’s name comes from a term meaning “hot” or “warm”, yet proponents of slavery and apartheid claimed that “Ham” meant “black” or “burnt”, and that Ham’s descendants through Canaan were cursed to be slaves of the descendants of Shem and Japheth, who happened to be white in skin colour. The Bible never says that! Repeat with me: The Bible never says that! The slavery of Ham’s descendants through Canaan applied only to Canaanites living in the Promised Land. The Africans listed in Ham’s family genealogy came through other brothers, the ones named Cush (Ethiopia) & Egypt.
None of Canaan’s descendants were African. That is an important correction to that false teaching of Satan’s. But its supporters loved this false teaching for the riches and power it would bring them. As a result, centuries of the African slave trade, followed by apartheid, a kind of slavery of any non-whites in South Africa, including blacks, Indians, and “coloureds” (mixed race people), were endorsed by Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa and used by its government to justify its evil practices. But Noah’s curse of Canaan was due to his sinful conduct, not the colour of his skin. Besides which, you will hear that the nations that Canaan is credited with included Babel, Nineveh, Sodom, and Gomorrah and were marked by idolatry and immorality. That is why the Canaanites became “slaves” of the Israelites. It was because they swore to be the enemies of YHWH God that God permitted their slavery, a slavery that at any time could be ended if the people would repent and turn to God, as many did. But Noah’s curse of Canaan was specifically prophesying the subjugation of the inhabitants of the later land of Canaan to the conquering Israelites at the time of their retaking of the Promised Land. That’s it! It did not apply to any other type of slavery. One abolitionist in the United States fight for freedom from slavery wrote, “I am persuaded that no passage in the sacred volume of revelation has suffered more abuse than ‘Noah’s curse or malediction.” That’s, no doubt, true. By the way, I was thankful to learn that the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa has been thoroughly exposed for its sins by Christians who actually read the Bible, and God has provided His judgment upon them as they are now mostly empty and irrelevant.
But here is some other good news in one word: Jesus. In him, there is no division. There are no slaves. There is equality for all. And, in him, the power of every curse is lifted, and at the end of time, there will be no more curses at all as we enjoy eternity with each other and with him. That is a powerful application of the Advent candle of “hope”!
Ok, back to today’s text and the finishing of the story of a “good” man.
After the flood Noah lived 350 years. Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died. (Genesis 9:28,29)
Concerning the so-called “Table of Nations” we will quickly read through in chapter 10, in the genealogies, the words “sons” and “fathers” that are repeatedly stated may not always refer to direct sons or fathers but sometimes to indirect grandsons, great grandsons, grandfathers or great grandfathers. However, the genealogies found in both Genesis 10 and 11 are highly organized. They may be tricky to understand but here are three important themes to firmly grasp:
- The human “race” is united by virtue of its beginnings from one family – it is really one race and one family.
- The human race is divided by language, race, territory, and politics, which raise the question of the cause for such division.
- The divided nations all stand in some relation to God’s divine plans for blessing and cursing, as witnessed by the oracles of Noah and the deliberate emphases found within the table.
When I was in seminary, a common joke was that if you can keep your people awake when genealogies are being preached through, you are a good, really good, preacher. For my sake, listen up and stay awake!
This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. (Genesis 10:1)
Japheth’s “sons” are the first ones listed. Here they are and remember they concerned the coastal regions of the Mediterranean Sea, plus east to Persia.
The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.
The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.
The sons of Javan (Greece): Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites. (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.) (Genesis 10:1-5)
These were the non-Canaanites and the non-Semites, so that may be why Moses gives less attention to these nations than to the sons of Ham/Canaan and the sons of Shem/the Semites/Israelites. However, I do want to point out that the prophet Isaiah said that the Messiah Jesus would come to the maritime peoples on the coastlands, and that, on the Day of Pentecost, which ended up being the birth day of the Church, it was 3,000 coastal maritime peoples of the Mediterranean area nations who embraced Jesus as their Saviour and Lord and who thus were the first ones to be blessed. This was a prophecy of Japheth being blessed by being in the house or tent of Shem, of Gentiles being grafted (as the apostle Paul writes) into the tree of true faith in God. We Gentiles were grafted in because of accepting the faith that the first Christians (who were all Israelites/Jews) had, that of believing in Jesus, the “hope” of nations.
The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan. (Genesis 10:6)
Ham’s third son, Put, has no descendants listed here, but his name meant “a bow”, as in a “weapon of war” and later prophecies such as in Jeremiah 46:10 and Ezekiel 27:10 mentioned the descendants of Put being warriors who allied themselves with both Egypt and Tyre, and who were thus judged negatively by God. As for the other 3 sons of Ham, the genealogy starts with the oldest son, Cush.
The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka.
The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city. (Genesis 10:7-12)
Those are some “bad” genes but none of them, including the African nations, would become “slaves” to the sons of Shem and Napheth. Now to the second son, Egypt.
Egypt was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites. (Genesis 10:13,14)
Again, some “bad” genes there but none of them, including the named African nations, would become slaves to the sons of Shem & Napheth. As I earlier mentioned, the genealogy of Ham’s third son, Put, is not delved into here. Moving on ahead, next we come to Ham’s fourth son, Canaan, and it would be only Canaan’s sons only who would be enslaved, and only because they were in the Promised Land and did not worship YHWH. In their rebellion, they ended up enslaved when they were defeated in battles, as was the custom in the A.N.E..
Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans scattered, and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha. (Gen. 10:15-19)
Next is a strangely placed verse separating the genealogies of Cush and Egypt from that of Shem, the last son of Ham. This was done deliberately by Moses, the author of Genesis, as a way of dividing and thus explaining the origins of the nations to his first listeners and readers, the Israelites, whose ancestry comes next. We read,
These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations. (Genesis 10:7-20)
Genesis 11 also contains the genealogy of the “sons” of Shem, so we will spend more time on it next Sunday, but here is the listing of the Semitic-language nations, which included the Israelites/the Semites.
Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber. (Genesis 10:21)
The name Eber is the source name for the term “Hebrew”. So, the Hebrews/Israelites/Jews came from the line of Shem. The “hope” of the world, the Messiah, the promised blessing of God, our Lord Jesus, would come from this family line, thus its importance to us.
The sons of Shem: Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.
The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.
Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber.
Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.
Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country. These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations. (Genesis 10:22-31)
To finish with the genealogical lines of all the sons of Noah, we read:
These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood. (Genesis 10:32)
There is a lot of “good”, “bad”, and “ugly” in our world. In fact, as we read through Genesis we see that has always been the case, with the exception of God’s perfection in Creation. But as we close out this first Sunday of Advent, let us remember that he is the “hope” of the world. Today, wherever you travel around the world, you will find believers, individuals who have placed their “hope” in the grace of Jesus, a “hope” that brings equality and justice and salvation to any who put their trust in him. Let’s pray in his name…
