Never again will I
curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is
evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I
have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night shall never cease (Genesis 8:21-22 BSB).
It seemed a fresh start. It appeared as if God had wiped the slate clean and was ready to move on with his plan for the ages. Ever since the days of Adam and Eve, the overall spiritual condition of the world had continually deteriorated leading up to the days of Noah. In fact, the spiritual condition of the world had gotten so bad that God even stated that he “regretted” that he had made man.
By contrast, the man Noah had found favor in the sight of
the Lord. Noah had lived his life in a righteous manner, and had conducted
himself blamelessly, even in the midst the wicked generation of people in which
he lived. Astounding as it may seem, Noah and his family apparently were the
only people on earth who had remained faithful to the Lord.
But now, after the great flood, it began to look as
if evil had been defeated. All could begin with a fresh start. It may have
seemed as if the work that God began in the Garden of Eden could now be
completed with a renewed earth. Perhaps Satan’s corruption of creation had been
vanquished and good had triumphed.
God blessed Noah and his family and said to them, “Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” These were the same words that God
had spoken to Adam and Eve many generations earlier. It was another indication
that all had been set right in the world.
An Imperfect Restoration
But all was not exactly the same as it was before. We realize this as we continue to read the words that God spoke to Noah. The Lord was giving Noah an orientation of sorts of what life would be like in this postdiluvian world when he said this:
“The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things” (Genesis 9:2-3 BSB).
This was not the environment of the Garden of Eden. There
was no fear in the garden. The first animals held no dread of Adam and Eve. The
garden was a place of harmony and peace where the animals, led by God himself,
presented themselves before Adam to receive the name that he would give to each
one.
You may also remember that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and
Eve were vegetarians, as were every creature of the forest and field and even the
creatures of the waters. God told Adam, “I have given you every seed-bearing
plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed.
They will be yours for food. And to every beast of the earth, and every bird of
the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the
breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food” (Genesis 1:29-30)
Even up to the time when the animals were loaded onto the
ark just before the flood, there is no mention of coercing—no herding or
chasing the animals onto the strange vessel. All of the animals seemed to board
of their own volition and without commotion. There is little written about
those early years of the earth, but as far as we know, even in the generations
between Adam and Noah, at least a portion of the harmony in nature seemed to
have been sustained—sort of an afterglow from the original state in creation.
But after the flood, this afterglow had almost completely
faded. Now there was fear in nature. Now there was dread. Now there were
predators and prey. Now the animals lived in constant fright from one another.
They especially feared man.
For the first time, God actually sanctioned the eating of
meat. God said to Noah, “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you;
just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things” (Genesis 9:3
BSB).
I will not go so far as saying that when Noah and his family
first ate the flesh of an animal that they had killed, it was the very first
time in human history that man became carnivorous. As I said, very little is
written about the cultural environment of the generations between Adam and
Noah, but we do know that it had eventually turned extremely evil.
Although not stated in the Bible, I think that in all
probability among the people who did not follow the Lord, meat consumption was
not unknown and was perhaps even a regular part of their diet. These rebellious
generations would have had little or no regards for what God had said to them.
Punishment for Violence Codified
There is yet another indication that the atmosphere of peace
and harmony that first existed in the Garden of Eden did not exist after the
flood. This is found in some other words that God spoke to Noah. What the Lord
told Noah was also part of the orientation of what life would be like after the
flood:
God said to Noah, “Surely I will require the life of any man
or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from
anyone who takes the life of his fellow man: Whoever sheds the blood of man, by
man his blood will be shed” (Genesis 9:5-6 BSB).
Similarities and Differences
The world emerged from the flood waters with a new
beginning. However, as we saw, it was not the perfect beginning as it was
immediately after the original creation. Again I would like to summarize the
similarities and differences in the two accounts.
In both instances, God told the people to “be fruitful and
multiply, and fill the earth.” To Adam and Eve, he told them to subdue the
earth, and to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every
creature that crawls upon the earth.” God meant this not in the sense of
oppression or subjugation, but that Adam and Eve should be caretakers of the
earth. The first humans were vegetarians and the animals felt no fear of them.
To Noah and his sons, there was no mention of subduing the
earth. Man’s role as caretaker is now corrupted. After the flood, the animals
did not freely come to Noah as they had done before the flood, and as they had
done with Adam. Now the creatures of the earth looked at mankind with fear and
with dread. Instead of approaching men, they now fled at the sight or smell of
them. Men have become carnivorous. Noah had to become a hunter.
After the flood, there is also an assumption that Cain’s sin
of murder would continue to exist in the postdiluvian world. For the first
time, God stipulates general penalties for murder.
As we can see in these similarities and differences,
although Noah and his family were allowed to begin anew, all was not the same
as it was in the Garden of Eden. We earlier read that Noah was “righteous” and
“blameless,” but the seed of deceit that Satan had planted in mankind had not
completely died. God knew that evil would once again manifest itself in man.
Despite that entire evil generation drowning in the flood
waters that God had sent upon the earth, he was under no illusion that all evil
itself had disappeared from the world. The perfection in living which we all
seek will not come about by man’s own efforts. This fact is again made clear by
the results after the flood of Noah.
What the deluge had accomplished was not necessarily an entirely new beginning, but rather a turning of the page of the plan of God—a new phase in his teachings and bringing to pass the perfection of his design for the ages.
It is a plan, as the Apostle Paul says, that is “the summing up
of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth”
(Ephesians 1:10 NAS).
The Blood Gives Life
Part of the teaching of that plan can be found in a single
phrase inserted in the midst of the instructions that God gave to Noah
concerning the eating of meat. In this statement we see the one constant that
appears at all times.
God said, “You must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in
it.”
The blood was sanctified. It was hallowed. It was life. As
we have seen before, we again see the close connection between the blood of the
innocent and the renewal of all things. This factor alone was the one thing
that did not change in the world that emerged after the flood.
Noah’s Shame
There is yet one more theme that the two accounts have in
common. I speak of the account of the original creation in the first two
chapters of Genesis, and that which we might call the “new creation” which existed
after the flood. The additional commonality in these two accounts is the delicate
matter in which nakedness appears.
You will remember that when Adam and Eve were first created
and before they were deceived by Satan to rebel against the authority of God,
they were naked and without shame. Not only were they innocent, but as we
earlier looked at this also in the allegorical sense, their nakedness
demonstrated that their lives were pure and open. They hid nothing from each
other or from God.
It was only after initial sin that they felt the need to
hide themselves. They immediately sensed the need for covering—for hiding. When
they heard God walking in the garden, instead of coming out to meet him as they
had done previously, they now hid themselves.
God actually agreed with them that they needed a covering
because of the sin that they had allowed into their lives. He made for them
garments out of the skin of an animal. The clothing made from and animal hide
was emblematic of the need for a temporary covering of their now sinful
nature—temporary until God would eventually bring about the perfect solution.
Keeping the experience of Adam and Eve in mind, we come now
to the nakedness of Noah. This is a rather strange account, and again I find
myself wishing that we had more detail given to us in the Bible. Nevertheless,
what we have is what God determined that we needed to know and all that is
required in order to learn what he intends to teach us.
But the teachings of God do not come to those who do a light
reading of his word. There are many stories in the Bible, but it is more than
simply a story book. There are depths of meanings to each story, but they are meanings
that take contemplation and meditation. They also often require much time to
understand. Most importantly of all, these teachings take the guidance of the
Holy Spirit. We cannot expect to use our own power of thought exclusively to
understand.
The strange account of Noah’s nakedness and the reaction of
his sons is one of those stories. I am going to comment on this, but I feel
there is much about it that I have yet to learn.
Nevertheless, and as I said when I spoke of Adam and Eve’s
nakedness, we are to understand this in a literal and not figurative sense. That
is, Adam and Eve and also Noah actually literally were without clothing. But
there is also an allegorical meaning to all of it. Their nakedness was also
symbolic of a deeper truth.
First of all, here is the story:
Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded
to plant a vineyard. But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and
uncovered himself inside his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his
father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
Then Shem and Japheth took a
garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they
covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did
not see their father’s nakedness.
When Noah awoke from his
drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed
be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
He also declared: “Blessed be the
LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
May God expand the territory of
Japheth; may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.” (Genesis
9:20-27 BSB)
In reading this passage, we can see that there are many
directions that we could take our study, beginning with the question of whether
or not this was the first time that fermentation was even possible on earth,
and if Noah was even unaware of the stupefying effects of the wine that he was
drinking. Some think that this is true because of what they see as the great
changes in the stratosphere that took place during the flood, affecting both
the lower atmosphere and the environment of the earth on the surface.
Also, if you read various commentaries on this passage
concerning the actions of Noah’s son Ham inside the tent, and why it caused
Noah to bring a curse upon Ham’s own son Canaan, you will also find a great
variety of accounts of what actually did happen.
It is undoubtedly true that not every detail about this
incident has been given to us. However, rather than entering into excessive
speculation about the unknown events, I instead intend to limit my thoughts to
the connection between the spiritual conditions that initially existed in the
Garden of Eden, comparing and contrasting those with the spiritual conditions
after the flood. As we saw in the various comparisons that we already noted,
the situation after the flood was a renewal of the earth, but it was not a
perfect renewal.
Back to the Garden
I take you back once more to the second and third chapters
of Genesis. Remember at that time Adam and Eve were first naked, but feeling no
shame. That is because, as I noted at the time when we studied that passage,
Satan had not yet introduced them to thoughts and ideas outside of the will of
God. Living as they were, completely as God intended, they did not feel the
need to hide any aspect of their lives.
The nakedness of Adam and Eve was merely the physical
manifestation of this openness, but of course their honesty involved much
more. Their very spirits were also open to God, meaning also every one of their
thoughts and every one of the emotions of their souls. Hence, when thinking
about their nakedness, rather than focusing merely on the physical, we should
think of this especially in terms of the whole man and the whole woman—the
entire and complete person.
It was only with the first act of rebellion against God that
Adam and Eve first felt shame and the need to hide. The covering of their
bodies was more than merely a physical act. This has also the symbolic meaning
of the covering of their entire beings. They had disobeyed and had given way to
the rebellious thought planted in them by Satan.
In the Tent of Noah
With that history in mind, we now turn to Noah’s situation.
His uncovering himself within his tent has some profound meanings. When we first
look at the account, our initial thoughts probably concern some questions about
what perverse things may have occurred within the tent.
Perhaps one’s first tendency in reading this passage is that
Noah was some dirty old man who gets himself drunk and then for some unknown
but highly speculative reasons gets naked inside of his tent.
But think about it—this is not the character of Noah. Did we
not already read in the sixth chapter of Genesis that “Noah was a righteous man,
blameless in his generation,” and that he “walked with God?” We do Noah an
injustice to assume what is not given to us. The truth is, as I said, we have
not been told and it is dangerous to over-speculate on this.
This is why I prefer to mostly interpret this passage in the
context of the point that the writer is making at the moment. As we have seen,
the world after the flood is not a complete restoration of the original
creation. As I noted, after the flood God actually sanctioned the eating of
meat and made provision even for the fact that man would commit the murder of
another human being. It is clear that perfection had not yet returned to the
creation.
Without speculating wildly about Noah’s motivation for
disrobing inside of his tent, we see in this account yet another comparison
with the pre-fallen Garden of Eden. You will recall that once Adam and Eve had
sinned, their nakedness became to them shame. Likewise, it was a shameful thing
for Noah to become naked. Along with the examples of the sanctioning of the eating
of meat and the provisions for punishing murderers, the shame of Noah’s
nakedness is yet another indication that complete perfection had not yet come
to the earth.
Always before us as we study the workings of God’s plan for
the future perfection is what the New Testament writer of the book of Hebrews
tells us: “God had planned something better for us, so that together with us
they would be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40 BSB).
The Sin of Ham
As Noah lay uncovered, for some unspecified reason his son Ham
entered the tent. Whether it was purposefully or completely by mishap, he saw
his father’s shame. The great failure of Ham, according to the reading of the
text, was that he did nothing to cover his father’s nakedness. Ham simply
allowed his own father to remain in his shame.
When Ham told his two brothers Shem and Japheth about their
father’s situation however, the two brothers took a robe and, walking
backwards, covered Noah’s nakedness without looking upon it. In essence, they
did what was in their power to restore the honor of their father.
When Noah awoke from his stupor and learned what had
happened, he became enraged with his son Ham, who had allowed Noah’s shame to
remain upon him. The result was a curse that came upon the son of Ham—upon the
boy Canaan.
Why allow the curse to come to Ham’s son and not Ham
himself? Again, this is another subject that has many various interpretations
from many various Bible opinionators, and one which is not the subject of our
present study.
I will simply say that in my own opinion and without
elaborating, there is a connection between the fact that because Ham was the
son of Noah, hence the curse came upon Ham’s own son. There are also prophetic
implications to the curse going to the son Canaan.
Also I will add that I personally am the father of four sons.
If I were to be cursed for something I had done, I may have difficulty in bearing
it. But a far greater difficulty for me would be if the curse that I have
brought about should instead fall on one of my sons.
The Blessing for Shem and Japheth
Ham’s son received a curse, thereby causing Ham also to
suffer. But to the other two sons, Shem and Japheth, Noah gave his blessing.
Shem and Japheth did not allow their father to remain in his
shameful situation, but provided a cover for his shame. Nevertheless, Noah did
not congratulate these two sons for alleviating him from an embarrassing
situation, but instead gave his glory to God.
Notice Noah’s opening statement to these two sons: “Blessed
be the LORD, the God of Shem!”
Why did he specifically say “the LORD, the God of Shem,” and
not of Japheth? Did not Japheth take exactly the same actions as Shem in
providing a covering for Noah? As far as the account is related to us, Japheth
did, and because he did, he also received a great blessing.
But Noah also in some way realized that the line of God’s
ultimate plan for perfection would come specifically through Shem. Among the
thousands of descendants that would arise from the family of Shem, one of these
was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea, as a fulfillment of prophecy (Luke 3:36).
What is the take-away from this message? It is a teaching of the Bible that is difficult to understand and even more difficult to preach. But it certainly is relevant to the season of the year in which we presently find ourselves.
The direction of all of these teachings of the Bible that I
am speaking on in these weeks is that perfection can only come through Jesus
Christ, the One whose birth we will be celebrating later this month. As it
happens in our Gregorian calendar, Christmas is soon followed by New Year’s
celebration. New Years in the time that many people traditionally make
resolutions, resolving to clean up their lives and be better persons.
It is not that I think that it is wrong to make resolutions
to live better lives, but it is just that we should not allow ourselves to
think that by our own efforts we can bring about perfection. Life after the
flood of Noah shows us this. The entire earth was given a new beginning, and
yet failed from the start.
As we all know, we still struggle with sin, but the total
plan of God for the ages does not fail. With the birth of Jesus Christ, God has
given all who accept his offer the freedom and the promise to know that when
this plan comes to fruition, they also will receive the full blessing of God.
When is that time? When will all come to completion? When
will this ages old struggle with sin and failure finally come to an end, when
we can live in complete freedom without deceit?
It will come to completion not in the emergence of an old
earth out of the flood waters, but with a completely new earth. Mark these
verses in your Bible and read them often.
Revelation 21:1-7:
Then I saw a new
heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the
sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud
voice from the throne saying:
“Behold, the
dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be
His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. ‘He will wipe away
every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or
crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”
And the One seated
on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this
down, for these words are faithful and true.” And He told me, “It is done! I am
the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give
freely from the spring of the water of life. The [ones] who overcome will
inherit all things, and I will be [their] God, and [they] will be [My sons and
My daughters].
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