Genesis chapter 9, technically we've only looked at verses 1 to 7. We spent three weeks on that, or three sessions on that, looking specifically at the death penalty and then other lesser forms of punishment, and we saw how that is consistent with the Noahic Covenant. The Noahic Covenant is a common grace covenant given by God with all creation. for the stability of the created order. So tonight we'll look at verses 8 to 29, briefly verses 8 to 17, the sign of the rainbow in the Noahic covenant, and then we'll spend most of the time on the sin of Ham and the curse upon Canaan in verses 18 to 29.

But I'll begin reading in Genesis 9 at verse 1. So God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs, but you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood, I will demand a reckoning. From the hand of every beast, I will require it.

And from the hand of man, From the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it. Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, And as for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth.

Thus I establish my covenant with you. Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood. Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations.

I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh. The waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. 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. 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. 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.

So Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him. Then he said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants, he shall be to his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.

And Noah lived after the flood 350 years. So all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. Amen. Well, as I've said, we looked at verses 1 to 7 under the protection of life in the Noahic covenant.

Again, spending time specifically on verse 6 in terms of the death penalty and a biblical theology thereof. We looked at some common objections to the death penalty in terms of the biblical. and the non-biblical sort of objections to it. So tonight

Introduction and Overview

we'll look at verses 8 to 29, and as I said, two broad sections here. First, the sign of the rainbow in the Noahic Covenant in verses 8 to 17, and then the sin of Ham and the curse upon Canaan in verses 18 to 29. Now, this is not a happy passage of scripture. I've had the, you know, the prerogative in the past to deal with certain passages that are tough.

And this latter part is tough, dealing with what happens with Noah and then with his son Ham. But it's important for us to kind of get the gist of what's happening. We certainly cannot comment on every jot and tittle. but hopefully get a sense of the whole and to see why it is here in Genesis chapter 9. But in terms of the sign of the rainbow in the Noahic covenant, we see the

Content of the Noahic Covenant

content of God's covenant in verses 8 to 11. And again, the very sort of universalism of this covenant is highlighted in many ways. Notice, and as for me, verse 9, Behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth." Again, it's a common grace covenant. It's not a redemptive covenant because animals like birds and creeping things cannot be redeemed, but rather the Noahic covenant provides a stable, world order so that God's special grace covenant, the covenant of grace, can be preached and sinners saved by our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the specific emphasis in this covenant is found in verse 11. Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood. Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. Again, there are localized floods, regional floods, but never again a worldwide flood as God covenants here.

John Gill emphasizes specifically, not the covenant of grace in Christ, but of the preservation of the creatures in common. and a promise that they should not be destroyed anymore by a flood. So that's the main emphasis in this Noahic covenant. And then the

Sign of the Rainbow

sign is given in verses 12 to 16, which sign we're all very familiar with. When you see that rainbow in the sky, you know that this is the evidence that God will never again destroy the earth for man's sake. This is how he describes it. Verse 12, this is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations.

I set my rainbow in the cloud and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." Now, some question why the rainbow, and some see it as a symbol of God taking the weapon, the bow, and laying it on its side. It's no longer a weapon against or targeting man, but rather it's on the side, and it serves as this confirmation that God will not, in fact, destroy the earth again. And then notice in verse 16, we have

Anthropopathism and Divine Memory

another anthropopathism. Verse 16 says, the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. Remember that an anthropopathism is an ascription of human emotion to God. Just like anthropomorphism is the ascription of physical body parts to God.

When we say God's right arm, we do not mean that this spirit has a right arm. The scripture says that. It's what's called an improper predication to teach us something true concerning God. God has power.

The scripture says, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth. Again, God is spirit. He doesn't have eyes. That's an anthropomorphism, the ascription of something human to God to describe something true about God.

Well, an anthropopathism is an ascription of a human emotion. or something like we find here in verse 16, where it says that God remembered. God doesn't remember because God never forgets. There's no increase and there's no diminishment with God. God always knows everything there is to know, and He doesn't arrive at that knowledge by sort of discursive reasoning or the use of logic.

God always knows what God always knows, and there's never an increase or, as I said, a diminishment of that. Verse 16 is anthropopathic, and it is designed to teach us something concerning God. John Gill says, not that forgetfulness or remembrance, properly speaking, belong to God, but this is said after the manner of men. who by this token may be assured, whenever they see the bow and the cloud, that God is not unmindful of the covenant He has made with all creatures, and which is to continue to the end of the world." Again, it's the ascription of something human to God. It's spoken, as Gil says here, in the manner of man.

The formal sort of declaration or terminology for that is an improper predication. And that is given to us so that we know something true concerning God. But it's not the case that he remembers, it's not the case that he forgets, it's not the case that he grows in his understanding. And then verse 17 essentially summarizes everything up to this point.

And God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. So remember, it's a common grace covenant established by God with the entirety of creation. It is perpetual. It's for all generations.

That's how the argument stands in terms of capital punishment for the crime of murder based on Genesis chapter 9 and verse 6. As long as creation is in play, then the Noahic covenant is there, and those particular things stipulated by God are mandated and for us now. The common grace covenant provides for the stability of the created order so that God's special grace can be preached and by His grace believed on.

Sin of Ham and Curse of Canaan

Now let's look at this sin of Ham and the curse upon Canaan. Up to this point, in verses 1 to 17, we essentially have God's word concerning His covenant with creation. When we get to Noah's words, specifically in verses 25 to 27, we have something true, not of the common grace order, but of the redemptive order. And I will say at the outset that in many respects, verses 25 to 27 function like Genesis 3.15.

In fact, you can go back to Genesis 3.15. Remember, this is after the fall of Adam and Eve, and this is God dealing with the serpent, God's curse specifically upon the serpent in Genesis 3.14. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

And I, God the Lord is saying this, will put enmity between you and the woman. And between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. It's the first announcement of the Messiah, the first announcement of the Redeemer, the first announcement of the Deliverer, even our Lord Jesus Christ. And what we learn specifically is that the Deliverer would be a man, that the Deliverer would be a man born of a woman. and that the Deliverer would deliver or redeem through His own death.

He shall bruise your head, this is Christ's victory, and you shall bruise His heel. So as Christ is gaining victory and mastery over the devil, Christ, in His earthly sufferings, dies as a result of this. This is the first promise of the Messiah and it highlights something true of all history. There is this antithesis between the seed of the woman and between the serpent.

You see that already begin to take shape in chapter 4. You've got the difference between Cain and Abel. Cain is obviously of the seed of the serpent. Abel is of the seed of the woman.

As we trace through the line of Adam, we see the line, the seed of the woman is found in Seth. And then as we move through this flood narrative, we learn according to chapter nine, that the seed of the woman is the Shemites and the Japhethites, and the seed of the devil is the Hamites or Canaanites. And we'll say more about that when we get there. But that's sort of how it functions.

The two seeds continue after the flood into this new world. And there's this clear demarcation between the virtuous Shemites and Japhethites and the wicked Canaanites. in chapter 9, verses 25 to 27. So God's word deals with the Noahic covenant in terms of common grace. Noah's words, and they're prophetic.

Noah's not just making this up. It's similar to what you find in Jacob, Genesis chapter 49, and what you find with Moses in Deuteronomy 33. It's their last words, but it's like a last will and testament, and it's prophetic in nature. and specifically what Noah says does outline for us the subsequent history in terms of Israel and the Canaanites and the Gentiles. So let's look at this section.

Notice the

Sons of Noah Introduced

sons of Noah in verses 18 to 19. It says, the sons of Noah who went out went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now it's curious that in the other, there's three times where the sons are mentioned, and Ham always comes right in the middle, and yet in our narrative he's called the younger. I don't know why.

If you can figure that out and report back to us next Wednesday, that would be wonderful. I'm just going to tell you right now, that's no small task. There's a lot of stuff written on this section of Scripture. Now, mind you, Wednesdays are a packed day for me.

I have like five or six commentaries that I consult. There's probably another hundred commentaries that I don't have, and each of them spends a great deal of time dealing with such sorts of questions. I simply throw it out there. But this is one of the three places where each of the three sons are mentioned in terms of their relationship to Noah.

Now, it will be extended in chapters 10 and 11 when their genealogies are given. We'll find out more about Shemham and Japheth in chapters 10 and 11. But here specifically, it's just reminding us of the sons of Noah who went out. And in verse 18, it says, and Ham was the father of Canaan.

I think that's appended there, or told us there, because it helps us to make sense of the narrative later. When God curses, or when Noah curses Canaan, we know that Canaan is the son of Ham. Now you're going to ask the question, why does he curse Canaan when it was him that did the wicked deed? Again, that's a great question.

And there's probably that much written on it. And I'm not sure I'm going to be able to satisfy anybody tonight in terms of why it is the way it is. But I will offer up a couple of suggestions. But for now, that's why we're told that Ham was the father of Canaan, because in verse 25, Noah's going to say, Cursed be Canaan.

And if we didn't know, and it's told us again in the subsequent narrative that Ham was the father of Canaan, we'd be scratching our heads and wondering why this reference to Canaan. But then I think what we ought to appreciate here specifically is that the three sons are being isolated or set apart from Noah because the future, specifically chapters 10 and 11, and subsequent history is dependent upon them. It's not to say that Noah is no longer important, but as genealogies function, we go from one to the next and to the next. And this is the one or where the focus is going to be at least in the next couple of chapters. and really throughout Israel's history in terms of the Canaanites and the Israelites and the Gentiles.

That's who's represented by these three signs. Now note with reference to the sin of Ham in verses 20 to 27. We first have to appreciate, not appreciate, like, wow, good for him. I mean, get the backdrop.

And it's found there for us in verse 20. Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Viticulture is the science of growing grapes, and viniculture is the science of making wine. And Noah here has both.

And we have to appreciate that some time elapses, some time passes. It's not the case that we're introduced to these people and then all of a sudden this happens. Noah began to be a farmer and he planted a vineyard. Now I'm not a viticulturist, a culturist, whatever it is, but I don't think vineyards just pop up overnight.

So there's some time. Most likely Canaan is a man by the time all of this transpires. is the grandson of Noah. He's probably a man at this particular time. But when we look at this passage,

Biblical Theology of Wine and Drunkenness

he drank of the wine and was drunk. I think verse 21a highlights for us a biblical theology of alcoholic beverages. The Bible does not condemn drinking. The Bible condemns drunkenness.

Let me just say that again. The Bible does not condemn drinking. The Bible condemns drunkenness. In fact, drinking wine is looked at positively in some passages.

You can turn to Psalm 104. Psalm 104. This isn't an argument for you to go out and buy a bottle of wine tonight. I'm simply trying to show what Scripture says concerning this topic that I think at times is very much misunderstood.

The Bible isn't always condemning alcoholic beverages. In fact, we find, Psalm 104, verse 14, he causes the grass to grow for the cattle and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart. You see, in that particular passage, wine is not looked upon as something bad or evil or condemned, but rather it's something that makes glad the heart of man. It's something that's seen as beneficial for man.

So used in moderation, it can be a good thing, it can be a blessing. Perhaps one of the most obvious New Testament references is the wedding at Cana. Jesus is asked specifically to make, or asked about the water, and he changes wine, and he changes water into wine. It doesn't mean, he doesn't say, well, you can't have wine at the wedding, you can't, you know, no.

He changed water into wine. And the master of ceremonies was surprised because most people served the good stuff, and then when everybody had drunk enough, then they started serving the cheap stuff. But he's actually shocked at the reality that the best stuff was saved for the last. So Jesus doesn't condemn the use of wine.

So the Bible as a whole doesn't say wine is bad. It says that wine is okay if used properly, but there are certain dangers attached. And you can turn to the book of Proverbs, just one passage here. I think we're all sufficiently aware of much of the Bible's teaching in terms of the condemnation of alcoholic beverages.

But I think Proverbs 23, 29, I think is a wonderful display of the dangers associated with the use or an immoderate use of alcohol. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions?

Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine.

Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly. At the last, it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things and your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea or like one who lies at the top of the mast saying, they have struck me, but I was not hurt.

They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. What shall I awake or when shall I awake that I may seek another drink? So on the one hand, it's not bad if it's engaged in moderately. On the other hand, you have to recognize the dangers associated with not drinking moderately.

Ephesians 5.18, do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's one of those things that's a blessing given by God, and it's a curse when it's misused by men. And going back to our text, we see something else that we need to appreciate in terms of the backdrop of the sin of Ham. We see that it's Noah's problem.

Verse 21, he drank of the wine and was drunk. It was wrong for Noah to get drunk. It was wrong for Noah to imbibe too much. And the commentators give reasons why perhaps he would have done that, but the text of Scripture doesn't.

It simply tells us the facts. It simply says that he drank of the wine and he was drunk, and then in verse 21, and he became uncovered in his tent. That means that he was naked in his tent. Now, he is in his tent.

He's not wandering around outside of his tent. This isn't a public display, but nevertheless, he is uncovered in his tent. And the scriptures also link an immoderate use of alcohol with sexual sin. Remember that it was the daughters of Lot that plied him with alcohol so that they could have him impregnate them.

Remember that David tried to ply Uriah the Hittite with alcohol so that Uriah would go and lay with his wife. And then there's a text specifically in the prophet Habakkuk. In Habakkuk chapter 2, there's a woe pronounced on those who would engage in that sort of conduct. say my prophets there, Nehemiah 2.15, woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness. So you see the moderate use of alcohol, it's OK.

An immoderate use of alcohol is condemned. And understand as well the ever-present temptation with alcohol to sexual immorality. In fact, the Seventh Commandment in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the larger catechism, rather, in its dealings with reference to the Seventh Commandment, forbids drunkenness. You see the wisdom behind that, because an immoderate use of alcohol oftentimes leads to an immoderate to an immoral use of sexuality.

And so that's what's happening here. Noah drank, Noah was drunk, and Noah became uncovered in his tent. And

Ham's Sin Examined

going back to Genesis 9, at verse 22, we see the sin of him. It says in verse 22, and Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Now, again, this is where it gets a bit nasty because if you do read the commentaries, typically they rehearse the history of interpretation with reference to this particular text. And some suggest that based on the curse doled out by Noah to Canaan and subsequent history with reference to the Canaanites and their specific sexual debauchery, some suggest the sin of Ham wasn't simply looking upon Noah.

Some have suggested, I'm talking about Jewish interpreters at this particular point, some suggest that he castrated Noah, some suggested that he sodomized Noah, and others suggest that he committed incest with Noah's wife. Now to that I would say the text doesn't indicate anything of that whatsoever and that the idea is him seeing Noah's nakedness and not only trying to hide it or cover it but then publicizing it to his brothers was vile and reprehensible and wretched in and of itself. The fact that Japheth and Shem do what they do as a remedy indicates that the great sin was his seeing Noah's nakedness. The text doesn't tell us and we ought not to assume there was any other sexual sin involved.

The sexual sin involved was that Ham saw Noah's nakedness. And the text does not indicate it was a glance and then he shielded his eyes. He looked upon his father's nakedness. He engaged in something that was vile and wretched.

That in and of itself is vile and wretched. We would call this voyeurism. And I think Waltke has a good explanation of the voyeurism engaged in by him. He says, his voyeurism, however, is of the worst sort.

Voyeurism in general violates another's dignity and robs that one of his or her instinctive desire for privacy and for propriety. It is a form of domination. Ham's, however, is perverse, for his is homosexual voyeurism. Worse yet, he dishonors his father, whom he should have revered in any case, and then increases the dishonor by proclaiming it to others.

In other words, he doesn't have to have had incestuous relations, he didn't have to castrate him, and he didn't have to sodomize him. What he did was reprehensible and wicked. For him to look upon his father's nakedness and then go and tell his brothers, again, not in the sense that they would go and do what they were going to do, he was exploiting the sin or exploiting the nakedness of his father Noah. That is a great breach of God's law as well, not showing honor for parents, not revering one's father.

Ham didn't do this, and as a result, Ham reaps the curse of God from Noah in this particular instance. So Ham, verse 22, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Now note the

Virtue of Shem and Japheth

virtue of Shem and Japheth. 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. One author points out that when the scripture at times, or when scripture details or describes a particular sin, it doesn't get into all of the lurid details.

It just gives us this brief snapshot concerning what Ham does. Ham looks on Noah's nakedness. But here in the description of the virtuous act, it's almost like you can imagine it. It's almost like you can picture it in your eyes because they had to take a lot of steps to not see their father's nakedness.

I mean, it's quite an extent to which they went. Notice, Shem and Japheth took a garment, they laid it on both their shoulders, they went backward, covered the nakedness of their father, their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. That description in and of itself highlights, I think, in contrast with what Ham does. Ham sinned.

We don't have to get into the Jewish exegetical tradition to suggest he did those other things. What Ham did was vile. What Ham did was wretched, looking upon his father's nakedness, exploiting his father's nakedness to Shem and to Japheth, and dishonoring his father in the midst of it. whereas Shem and Japheth take pains to make sure that they cover up their father's nakedness without ever having laid eyes upon him. Meredith Klein makes the observation, and I think it's good for us to to slow it down here and make this observation.

Again, not a fun passage of scripture. These are, you know, there's no hymns that you can pick that sort of go along with messages like these. There's been times when I've preached and, you know, I'm preaching on the death penalty. There's no section in the hymn book for, you know, when you preach on the death penalty.

I remember teaching on Wednesday night, and I actually preached that section one Sunday night, I think it was, on Deuteronomy 13. Deuteronomy 13 is a tough passage. The solicitation to apostasy, you're to execute a prophet who tries to do that, and you're to execute family members who try to get you to do that, even the wife of your bosom. Again, there's no hymns that sort of prepare one to enter in to the experience of having to hear about executing their wives if their wives should solicit them to commit apostasy.

In other words, the Bible, as a truth-telling book, oftentimes tells us truths that we might rather not hear. It doesn't give us the sanitized version. It gives us the nuts and bolts and the gritty details about life in this world. And you see it pre-fall, and unfortunately, you see it post-fall.

The floodwaters were never able to change the hearts of men. The law is imposed to hopefully restrain the hearts of men, but the promise of Messiah is still good as the means by which the hearts of men will ultimately be changed. And here specifically, as I mentioned, Klein, there's parallels between Adam and Noah in the garden and here in this new era, this new scene in life. Remember, Noah gets out of the ark.

What's he told? He's told to be fruitful and multiply. He's given this mandate that was given likewise to Adam. But also, there was nakedness in the garden.

There was clothing in the garden. And here you've got nakedness post-flood and clothing in this post-flood situation. Klein says the exposure of nakedness recalls Satan's work in Genesis 3. Remember they ate and they were naked and they were ashamed and they hid themselves.

And then he goes on to say, the covering of nakedness, here by Shem and Japheth, recalls the divine clothing of fallen man in Genesis 3.21, and so bespeaks a spirit devoted to the imitation of God. So before the flood, after the flood, you see these two parallel lines running alongside each other in history. We know ultimately the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent and bring that victorious redemption to bear upon all God's people. But you ought to appreciate sort of those things that are going on here in terms of Noah as an Adam-like figure.

Now notice the

Noah's Prophetic Pronouncement

prophetic pronouncement of verses 24 to 27. So Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him. Now he knew either by divine illumination or he knew because Shem and Japheth told him. Either way, he finds out what's happened, and now he speaks.

And again, his speech here is the last will and testament, and it's not just his musings upon an otherwise terrible situation, but in light of Genesis 49, the last words of Jacob, Deuteronomy 33, the last words of Moses, what we find here is prophetic pronouncement. And what we find here does accurately reflect for us the contours of redemptive history post this declaration. You have three people groups indicated in this particular section. Note first in verse 25, then he said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants, or a slave of slaves, he shall be to his brethren.

In each of the three pronouncements, Canaan gets this. Notice verse 26, and may Canaan be his servant. Verse 27, and may Canaan be his servant. Now, the

Why Canaan and Not Ham?

question as to why Canaan and not Ham. Well, remember, there's already been a curse pronounced upon the devil in Genesis 3.14, and then a curse pronounced upon Cain in Genesis 4.11. Now this curse comes upon Canaan instead of Ham. Now, again, I don't know that I have the answer, but here's a few things to consider. the Lord has already blessed him according to chapter 9 and verse 1.

If you look at chapter 9 verse 1, so God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. In other words, God's blessed him, so it cannot be the case that Noah now comes and curses him. As well, the curses and blessings have descendants in view. In other words, we're not dealing specifically with Ham, Shem, and Japheth.

We're dealing with the history of Israel subsequent to this particular pronouncement. Now, Shem and Japheth are mentioned because it's consistent. They're being blessed. God's already blessed them according to Genesis 9.1.

And then as well, verse 25 does provide for us the theological rationale for the problem of the Canaanites. In other words, it's not the case, say for instance, in the book of Leviticus, Leviticus 18, God just has an axe to grind against these people called Canaanites. No, there's a reason why and it goes back to this incident with Ham and with Noah. Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants, he shall be to his brother.

Matthew Poole says Canaan is particularly mentioned by the spirit of prophecy in regard of the future extirpation of that people. In other words, when you see God's war with the Canaanites in the other books of the law, realize that the theological rationale or justification is all the way back here in Genesis chapter 9. Just like Genesis 3.15 is programmatic for history, so is Genesis 9.25-27. Waltke says, in addition to the Canaanites, Ham's descendants include some of Israel's most bitter enemies, Egypt, Philistia, Assyria, Babylon.

You can see that in chapter 10, verses 6 to 13. In other words, when you look at chapters 10 and 11, it fills out for us who this Ham, Shem, and Japheth are. It shows us what nations descend from these particular individuals. So this is the theological rationale or ground upon which everything else is based.

So the curse upon Canaan is repeated three times. A slave of slaves he shall be to his brethren. Now

Blessing of Shem and Japheth

notice in verse 26 you have Shem. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. Now that's a praise to God. It doesn't really say, blessed be Shem, it says, blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem.

It's a blessing of the Lord God Most High, and the means by which, or the reason for which, is that He's the God of Shem. So it is a way of speaking well of Shem. Now the Shemites is Israel. The Shemites are Israel.

You heard that word today. Anti-Semitic means to be anti-Jewish, or to be Semitic means to be Jewish. Well, it comes from this fellow called Shem, and you can see that in chapter 10, verses 21 to 31, and then chapter 11, 10 to 26. Terah is a descendant from Shem, and he is the father of Abraham.

And then Abraham has Isaac and Jacob, and this is Israel. So Shem is the Israelites. And then notice this fellow called Japheth in verse 27. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.

Drop down to verse 2 of chapter 10. The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshach, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Rithba, Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kidim, and Dodanim.

From these, the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands. everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nation. So you've got the cursed Canaanites, reprobate Canaanites, you've got Shemites or Israelites, and you've got Japhethites who are the Gentiles. Now the good commentators show us where this was fleshed out in the history of Israel. Simply don't have time to do that.

But in terms of the larger covenantal swath, we see that theme throughout scripture. To the Jew first and also to the Greeks or also to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are blessed by virtue of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And this is the emphasis in verse 27.

May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. So Canaan loses every step of the way. Canaan is always a slave of slaves to the Shemites and to the Japhethites. The Shemites, however, the covenant people of God in the Old Covenant, give way to this Gentile church.

That doesn't mean there's no Jews in the church, but in this new covenant phase of the church of Jesus Christ, the gospel goes to all the nations, the gospel goes to all the peoples, and what we find is that Japheth dwells in the tents of Shem. I think

Gentile Inclusion: Acts 15

one of the best sorts of commentary on this particular passage is found in the book of Acts. You can turn to Acts 15. Again, the commentators can fill out the contours in terms of history and the various people groups represented in the various movements of these men or their posterity. But in terms of covenant, salvation, redemption, Acts 15 has to do with the inclusion of Gentiles into the people of God.

I mean, bottom line, Jerusalem Council, that's what's happening. Some Jews said it's good for them that they've trusted Jesus, but they also need to be circumcised. In other words, they need to become Jews as well as Christians. And that's why the Jerusalem Council convenes in Acts 15.

In fact, look there at verse one. Certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Now, these aren't, this isn't, you know, irrespective of faith in Jesus. These were Judaizers.

These were persons that plagued the churches of Galatia. These were the persons that Paul was writing against in the book of Galatians, who he speaks of in Philippians chapter three. These are persons that say belief in the gospel of Jesus is good, but you also have to add circumcision in order to complete oneself to be commended to God. So you see, that's the issue.

Gentiles are starting to come in amongst the people of God in Acts 15. And so now the apostles convene and they start to provide the rationale and explanation. How do we deal with this influx of Gentiles coming in among the people of God? I mean, that was a real live issue.

That's why when you get to the end of Acts 15 and they give specific prohibitions to the Gentiles, This isn't some new law code or it isn't something specifically for Gentiles only. It's to provide in this time of transition so that the Gentiles don't needlessly offend the Jews and so that the Jews don't bind upon the Gentiles things that God never had. And so that's the thrust here in Acts 15. But when we look specifically at James.

James starts to speak concerning this whole thing. Notice the testimony of James in Acts 15, 13. And after they had become silent, James answered. Remember James?

This is the half-brother of Jesus. He's the leader of the church in Jerusalem. sort of the presiding elder or pastor over this whole affair. Already up to this point, Peter has testified, Paul and Barnabas have addressed the council, and now James in verse 13. James answered saying, Men and brethren, listen to me.

Simon has declared out God at the first, visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree just as it is written. After this, I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord.

Even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who does all these things." Now that's a quote from the prophet Amos, Amos chapter 9, verses 11 and 12. Essentially, what it is, is this statement concerning Japheth dwelling in the tents of Shem. In other words, it's Gentile inclusion in the covenant promises of God all the way back in Genesis chapter 9. on the heels of this gross sin and violation from Ham. Ham receives a curse, specifically his son Canaan is cursed, and then God blesses, through Noah, Shem and Japheth.

And then we have the statement concerning Noah's death, which finishes off the genealogy of chapter 5 at verse 32. So that's the section. It's again a bit difficult in terms of the particular sin of Ham and what he did. But you see how God, in the midst of this, demonstrates his plan for the peoples. and his plan for the inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant promises of God.

And

Concluding Applications

I would suggest, by way of some concluding thoughts, first, the theological significance, the restatement of Genesis 3.15. The two seeds are still present, seed of the woman, seed of the serpent. As well, you see in this section the rationale behind the perversity of Canaanite culture. In fact, in Leviticus 18.3, both Canaanites and Egyptians are highlighted as being vile in terms of sexual perversity.

And this goes back to what Ham does here. It's not the case that because one, automatically everybody. But it's symptomatic of Canaanite culture to engage in that matter of wickedness. And then it's the rationale behind the subjugation of the Canaanites.

In other words, when we get to Deuteronomy chapter 7, and God says, go in and utterly dispossess the land of the Canaanites, there's a reason for it, and it's here in Genesis chapter 9. I'm just trying to encourage you that the Bible is a connected whole and that what we find in one spot oftentimes foreshadows or provides rationale for what we find later on. And then it's programmatic in terms of the flow of redemptive history. the curse of Canaan, and then the blessing of God upon Shem, the blessing of God upon Japheth. The people that are Japhethites or Gentiles find blessed dwelling in the tents of Shem.

And then in terms of the practical significance, the sin of Noah. We ought to learn in this passage that even good and godly men have remaining sin. You can never get in the head that you're going to be perfect. I know that Wesley taught perfectionism, and I know that certain sectarians have taught perfectionism, but that's not from a sober reflection upon Scripture, because Scripture does not teach perfectionism.

Notwithstanding the reference to Noah, notice in Genesis chapter 6 at verse 9. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.

Remember there, we defined perfect. Not in terms of sinless perfectionism, but rather he was a whole man. He was a complete man. He was indeed a godly man in his generations.

But even a godly man does sinful things. And I thought John Gill's comment here was most balanced and helpful. He says, he was overtaken with it, wine, and which is recorded, not to disgrace him. In other words, we don't write off Noah.

If you haven't had sons yet and you're gonna have a son, don't discount the name Noah. Noah is a godly man. We shouldn't throw him under the bus because of this particular event. He says, he was overtaken with wine and which is recorded not to disgrace him, but to caution men against the evil of intemperance, as well as to encourage repenting sinners to expect pardon.

So we just don't comment that way today, do we? We would just focus on, oh no, you can't get drunk. And I'm certainly focusing on that. Don't go get drunk.

But brethren, if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. This is an illustration or demonstration of that 1 John 2, 1 and 2 text. We have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. Could you imagine encouraging a repentant sinner with this passage?

John Gill would. John Gill would say, look at Noah. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. He sinned and he still found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

But Gill goes on to say, and this shows that the best of men are not exempted from sin, nor secure from falling. Remember, David wasn't a 15-year-old when he fell into sin. And remember, the text is very specific in 1 Kings 11. When did Solomon have his problems?

When he was old. See, old doesn't necessarily translate into holy. We might like to think that, that the older we get, the holier we get, but I'm not so sure that the Word of God could be made to say that. David was no young man, and certainly Solomon was not either.

Now he goes on to say, and that though Noah was a perfect man, yet not as to be without sin. And that whereas he was a righteous man, this is gold. He was not so by the righteousness of works, but by the righteousness of faith. It's because of his Savior.

It's because of his Jesus. It's because of the blood that this man enters into heaven. And then in terms of the sin of Ham. He viewed the nakedness of his father, he publicized the nakedness of his father, and he dishonored his father.

And that is absolutely reprehensible. We don't need Jewish exegesis to try and fill in the blanks as to what other stuff he did. What scripture reveals for us is enough. What he did was bad.

Now, you should know and you've probably heard of the sin of Ham or the curse of Ham. Older Mormon theology taught that the curse upon Cain was that God made him black. And the curse upon Ham was that black men would always be slaves. That's not what's taught in this particular section of scripture.

It's not the ethnicity, because if it were the ethnicity, Rahab the harlot, this Canaanite prostitute, her family would have never been justified freely by God's grace. And when Israel sins the sins of Canaan, what happens to Israel? She is vomited out of the land, just like the Canaanites had been vomited out of the land. This is not teaching anyone to be racist against black-skinned people and pinning it on the curse of Cain, and that the mark upon Cain was somehow that he was black, and that when we get to Ham, He was a black man, and that black men are always destined to servitude or to slavery.

That is not the case. Waltke again says, as the first scene clarifies, the difference between the future prospect of the ancestral brothers pertains to their morality, not to their ethnicity as such. The family of the Canaanite prostitute Rahab will become a part of the covenant people, and the family of the Judean Achan will be cut off. When Israel behaves like the Canaanites, the land also vomits them out." 2 Kings 17.

So just be aware of that. I said older Mormon theology. They didn't want the black folks, black men to achieve priesthood. I'm not sure how it is in modern Mormon theology. if blacks can achieve priesthood.

But certainly, they hung their hat on that particular peg. But it's not just been Mormons. There's been others that have seen that curse upon Cain and that curse upon him to be concentrated upon black-skinned people. And that's not what this text is presenting to us.

Well, let's close in a word of prayer.

Closing Prayer

Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you even for the difficult parts. And even in the difficult parts, we see your good purpose, your good grace, your plan for Shemites and Japhethites, and how we thank you for the contours of that. fleshed out in the rest of scripture to the Jew first and also to the Greek because in that gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. How we thank you for including us in these promises.

How we thank you for giving us so great a salvation. We ask that you would go with us now and watch over us in the remainder of this week. We pray that you'd bring us together on the Sabbath day that we may praise and worship and glorify your most holy name. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 3:14; 3:15; 3:21; 4; 6:9; 9:1; 9:6; 9:9; 9:11; 9:12; 9:16; 9:17; 9:25-27; 10:2; 10:6-13; 10:21-31; 11:10-26; 49
• Leviticus 18; 18:3
• Deuteronomy 7; 13; 33
• Psalm 104:14
• Proverbs 23:29
• Habakkuk 2; 2:15
• Amos 9:11-12
• 1 Kings 11
• 2 Kings 17
• Acts 15; 15:1; 15:13
• Ephesians 5:18
• Philippians 3
• 1 John 2:1-2