Noah's Sons (Gen. 9:24-29)

Spiritual Diary FOR 04/19/2006

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Noah’s Sons

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 9:24-29

            Message of the verses:  “24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.  25  So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.  26 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. 27 “May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. 28 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood 29  So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.”

            We see in these verses the only recorded words of Noah in the entire Bible and Dr. Wiersbe has this to say about his speech:  “It’s too bad that this brief speech has been misunderstood and more like a father’s prophecy concerning his children and grandchildren.  The word ‘curse’ is used only once, but its’ directed at Ham’s youngest son Canaan and not Ham himself.  This suggests that Noah was describing the future of his sons and one grandson on the basis of what he saw in their character, not unlike what Jacob did before he died. (Gen. 49)”

            Canaan—enslaved (v.25):  “So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.”

           

            Noah was looking down the centuries at what his grandson’s descendants would do and it is not a pretty picture.  When we look ahead to Genesis 15: 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.’”  They are a part of the descendants of Ham and the Lord tells Abram here that in 400 years the iniquity of this people would be complete and then God would judge them by having the Israelites come in and conquer the land thus destroying these people, but the children of Israel did not conquer all of these nations and thus they became a thorn in their side and eventually would cause them to sin so much that the Lord would have to punish Israel.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes this: “Two misconceptions should be cleared up.  First, the descendants of Ham were not members of a black race but were Caucasian, so there’s no basis in this so-called ‘curse of Canaan’ for the institution of slavery.  Second, in spite of their evil ways, some of these Hamitic peoples built large and advanced civilizations, including the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians.  In one sense, we can say that the descendants of Ham ‘served’ the whole world through the ideas and implements that they discovered and developed. Like the Cainites (Gen. 4:17-24), these nations were gifted at creating things for this world (Luke 16:8).”

            Shem—enrichment (v. 26):  “26 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

           

            Noah is blessing the Lord for what the descendants of Shem would accomplish in the world and of course we know that it was through Shem that Abraham came, thus the nation of Israel and also the Messiah would come through Shem’s line so the Lord would bless the world through the descendants of Shem.  It is interesting that Shem was Noah’s second born son, but whenever the children of Noah are mentioned Shem is mentioned first.

            Japheth—enlargement (vv. 27-29):  “27 “May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant."

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

In verses 28-29 we see the death of Noah and how long that he lived on the earth, but in verse 27 we see what Noah said about his son Japheth.

The Hebrew word of Japheth is very close to the word “enlarge,” thus we have a play on words.  Japheth is the head of what we would call the “Gentile Nations.”  Those who are Japheth’s descendents traveled farther than the other two sons of Noah did as the settled in Asia Minor and also Europe. 

Japheth’s descendants were conquerors but they did not have a lot of spiritual qualities and so for that they had to depend on Shem. 

When Jesus came to the earth He would bring light to the Gentiles as seen in Luke 2:32, and the apostles and the early church carried that light to the nations as seen in Acts 1:8; 13:47.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that “The descendants of Noah’s three sons were represented in the early church:  the Ethiopian treasure, a descendant of Ham (8:26ff), Paul, a descendant of Shem (Acts 9); and Cornelius and his family, who were descendants of Japheth (Acts 10).”