Genesis 9:18-23

2006.Nov.13 10:12

Ham’s Faux Pas

Read Genesis 9

Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and 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. (Geneis 9:18-19, NASB)

I don’t have much to say about these two verses, other than that they obeyed God’s instruction, earlier in the chapter, to fill the earth (v 1,7). Also, here is an interesting discussion about Noah’s grandchildren and their connections with later cultures.

The following passage is what I want to particularly comment on.

[Noah] drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. (Genesis 21-23, NASB).

I’ve heard a number of different explanations as to what Ham actually did that prompted his father to curse him and his descendents. I suppose there’s cause to consider whether the “saw the nakedness” is euphamistic, but I find a special interest in the uncertainty as to his sin. Compare Noah and his wife to Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel to Ham, Shem, and Japheth. There’s an interesting brothers bit here that happens throughout the Bible, where one (in this case, two) brother acts righteously and one unrighteously. But in most cases, the sin (or at least foolishness) is blatantly clear. Cain murdered Abel. And many can understand the judgment on the “unrighteous fellow”. This situation is different to me, because I’m left scratching my head, thinking, okay, what exactly did this boy do?

What did he do? He at least dishonored his father, which is made clear by the way in which Shem and Japheth react. But I want to look at it another way: Ham sinned and it does not matter to the story how “bad” the sin was. Ah, there’s the crux. Sin is sin. And it’s contrasted with Noah’s drunkenness. Noah appears not to be disciplined for this. Appears, of course, but he is shamed by his youngest son.

Ah, this is the story of grace. My story of grace. Any sin is an affront to God as it is me telling God that I think I can do it all on my own. My sin therefore separates me from Him, regardless of the nature of the sin. Ham is cursed for his sin, just as I deserve to be for mine. So are his descendents. Indeed, the rest of the Bible is full of Canaanites being killed (and, to be fair, killing). And yet, were these not among those that Jesus came to save? Just like me. If I read this story as a massive punishment for a minor sin, and realize that, yes, that actually makes sense (I know it doesn’t for a lot of people, but it does more and more for me), then I can understand even better how great God’s grace to me is. He’s willing to hang out with me, to care for me, despite my sin, and he offers me a way to accept that grace.

And then I think of how I dishonor him…

Genesis 6:19-22

2006.Sep.14 08:55

Jehovah, the Sustainer

And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them. Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. (Genesis 6:19-22, NASB)

After God’s destruction rhetoric–“The end of all flesh has come before Me” (Genesis 6:13, NASB)–he takes a moment to make it very clear to Noah that he wants his creation more-or-less intact. Or, that is, a remnant of his creation. Jehovah is out to cleanse the earth of the sin brought into it and increased by humanity, but he desires a continuance of humanity on earth as well as all of the animals (Assumedly, enough plants would survive such a flood, although I still wonder about the mingling of fresh- and salt-water.)

I vaguely remember a discussion with a friend in high school who was wondering whether God may have created a succession of ‘humanities’, destroying each completely up until now, when they were overtaken with sin. I am inclined enough towards determinism and the belief in God’s intelligence being superb (I’m not sure what omni-intelligent would mean) that I don’t give that possibility much credence even without it seeming contrary to the Bible, but it is interesting because this history of the flood is just a few breaths from that sequence. Were God to have destroyed Noah’s family along with everyone else, then his options would have been either to create a ‘new humanity’ or to end the whole earth business then. Both of which might have seemed more inviting than watching his creations and desired friends do anything but follow him.

But, no, Jehovah is a sustainer and a healer. He desires humanity, whole, and he’s going to keep pushing towards it. He also desires the continuation of his other creations (and, yes, if for that reason alone, I think it is worth caring for endangered species). This flood story means a lot to me, then, because as God is healer and sustainer to humanity so is he to me personally. When I feel like a failure, he sees some branches that need to be pruned, some work that needs to done, some discipline needs to be added. Jehovah desires life for me. And if I will accept his authority at the expense of my pride, he gives me life, and that more abundant.

Genesis 7:17-24

2006.Sep.29 19:17

Destruction

Read Genesis 7

For forty days the rain poured down without stopping. And the water became deeper and deeper, until the boat started floating high above the ground. Finally, the mighty flood was so deep that even the highest mountain peaks were almost twenty-five feet below the surface of the water. Not a bird, animal, reptile, or human was left alive anywhere on earth. The LORD destroyed everything that breathed. Nothing was left alive except Noah and the others in the boat. A hundred fifty days later, the water started going down. (Genesis 7:17-24, Contemporary English Version)

I thought I’d branch out a little on my version quoting. I’ve never read the CEV (that I remember) but I do enjoy when a translation doesn’t bother trying to fit everything exactly into verses. The verse numbers such as “19-20” are refreshing. Of course, I know nothing of the quality of this translation.

This is a plain and direct story of a creator destroying the vast majority of his creation. If I felt the need to destroy this much of say, a website I was working on, I’d probably just dump the whole thing and start from scratch. But I’ve already written about God’s decision to save some.

So, instead, let’s take this at the surface. Jehovah is a sustainer, but he’s also a destroyer when called for, and this is one of his most powerful acts of destruction. This is just a taste of God’s raw power and it is awe-inspiring. Awe-inspiring in the sense that it’s none of my family or friends being wiped out in this flood.

We Christians tend to distance ourself from Jehovah’s “destructive” works. We’re convinced that he at least allows bad things to happen, but they tend to happen to others, and when they happen to us, we grab hold of truisms–at lest that’s my impression. I don’t have a deep point or a lesson here, but I don’t want to detach myself from the times when God obliterates something. First, because I want to be his friend, and destroying something you’ve created is a good time to have friends. Second, because, well, that’s part of this life, and I don’t want to turn a blind eye to it. What does that mean for me? I don’t really know. But I think I need to care.

Genesis 8:15-22

2006.Nov.09 09:16

Give it another try

Read Genesis 8

God said to Noah, “You, your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law may now leave the boat. Let out the birds, animals, and reptiles, so they can mate and live all over the earth.” (15-17, CEV)

The smell of the burning offering pleased God, and he said: Never again will I punish the earth for the sinful things its people do. All of them have evil thoughts from the time they are young, but I will never destroy everything that breathes, as I did this time. As long as the earth remains,there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat; winter and summer, day and night. (21-22, CEV)

The flood is over. It’s probably messed with the climate a bit and left an absurd number of dead things lying around, not to mention destroyed all remnants of ‘civilization’ for the time being, but it’s over. And God says, “Get off the boat…and let the animals mate!” It’s a tacit admission that God really does want humanity to give it another try.

After Noah builds an alter and sacrifices, Jehovah makes this desire explicit. He acknowledges first that humans will sin from our youth, flood or no flood. But he states that he will not again destroy “everything that breathes” (Maybe that’s why Revelations takes so many scrolls). It’s like God’s saying, “You people f—ed up, you’re going to keep f—ing up and it really p—es me off, but I am not going to give up on you. I’m going to get friends out of you even if I have to cause you great pain.”

And that’s what strikes me, that Jehovah (it seems to me) establishes a policy from this point forward with regards to humanity that we would rather cause us–as a species and as individuals–exquisite pain than destroy us. And maybe we have Noah to thank for that, although I’d guess it was always God’s intent. After all, it might make the opportunity a good deal more desirable when we’ve seen his williness to destroy.

Why do bad things happen to good people? It’s sort of irrelevant since the only good human has been Jesus. But, it makes sense to me to suggest that they happen because God prefers us to suffer a little while that we might lay down our claims to godhood and humble ourselves before him. Because if we don’t, patient as he may be, he would eventually have to exile us. And considering that God is the provider of all good things…

I’ll take the pain.

Genesis 10

2006.Nov.28 21:30

The Building of Nations

From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations. (Genesis 10:4, NASB)

Genesis 10 list the descendents of Noah with here-and-there commentary. I suppose I could research all this a bit and discover all sorts of interesting stuff. Not likely this week, though.

Apparently, the tower of Babel fiasco (Genesis 11) occurs somewhere in the period covered in this chapter. Verse 25 says of Peleg, “in his days the earth was divided” (NASB), which might well refer to the breakup of languages, cultures, etc after Babel.

What this chapter seems to especially follow is how the descendents of Noah divided into distinct nations, particularly distinguished by language. Sin separated Adam and Eve from each other to some extent, and so it does throughout humanity. Now, this has some nice results, in particular the vast array of human culture, which is, well, wonderful. I’d like to think that that piece wouldn’t require the division of humanity, but I don’t know. What I do know is that the history of humanity is full of nations dividing themselves against other nations. I’d cite examples, but where would I start.

It is not God’s desire for one group of humans to war against another, but in our sin against God, we also sin against other humans. If we are proud before Jehovah, how could we not be before out siblings? It’s a sobering thought to realize that when I give in to my sin, I am taking the exact same steps as have started countless wars. My pride is not essentially different from the pride that has led people to attempt genocide. Sin for a season is not worth it because it separates me from God. It’s also not worth the separation from other people.