Monday, April 12, 2021

Genesis 9 Devotional Bible Study by Steve Wilson

Genesis 9


Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

 

“Whoever sheds human blood,
    by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
    has God made mankind.

 

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

 

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

 

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

 

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

 

18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

 

20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[a] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 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.

 

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

 

“Cursed be Canaan!
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.”

 

26 He also said,

 

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
    May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[b] territory;
    may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

 

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

 

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 9:20 Or soil, was the first
  2. Genesis 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.

 

“I Will Remember”

Genesis 9:12-16

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

 


I have a horrible memory sometimes. I can read a book and forget the details two weeks later. I can go on a vacation and have nothing but fuzzy recollections of the places I visited a year afterward. I make a new decision in my spiritual life and...well, the pattern continues.

 

Maybe you're like that too. It's not that you don't mean to follow through; it's just that you forget. It slips your mind.

 

Until God reminds you of it again.

 

Luckily, God understands needing reminders. He gave us an example of how to remember important decisions in Genesis 9:12-16.  God created a physical symbol, the rainbow, to serve as a reminder of His decision not to completely flood the earth again.

 

Now, I don't believe that our omniscient God who exists outside of time really needs a reminder about anything, but I do believe that it serves as a great example for us.

 

If something important happens, be INTENTIONAL about remembering it! Get creative. God created a rainbow that He would see every time it rained. Maybe you can create something that you'll see periodically. It could be something as simple as a bookmark in your Bible or in the book you're currently reading, or a sticky note on your bathroom mirror or computer screen, or an email reminder that you schedule to send to yourself every day or week. You could ask your spouse or accountability partner to remind you of certain things.

 

The decisions we make in life and the changes God moves us toward are too important to forget. Set up a way to remember them, and follow through victoriously.

 

 

What’s Wrong with Ham?

Genesis 9:20-25

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 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.

 

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

 

“Cursed be Canaan!

    The lowest of slaves

    will he be to his brothers.”

 

Seriously, drunk people are funny. They do silly things. And it wasn't like Ham was the one getting drunk - it was his old man - so why is Ham the one getting the bad rap here?

 

Let's answer that question with a question. Has anyone ever taken advantage of you when you were in need? Maybe you were vulnerable and someone saw your moment of weakness as an opportunity to get something for themselves rather than giving you support.

 

Has anyone ever spread word of your mistakes?

 

That's what Ham did. 1) He didn't help Noah when he saw him in need. 2) He saw Noah's mistake and spread the word about it for his own amusement.

 

Rather than showing grace to his father, he left him as he was and then needlessly exposed his father's mistake to his brothers.

 


Let us not be like Ham. When we see someone who has made a mistake, let's not further shame them by telling others about it. Instead, let us quietly help them correct the mistake as Shem and Japheth did for their father.

 

We are called to be full of grace, helping one another, not taking joy in another's downfall or spreading gossip about it.

 

 

Noah’s Notorious Hissy Fit

Genesis 9:20-25

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 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.

 

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

 

“Cursed be Canaan!

    The lowest of slaves

    will he be to his brothers.”

 

How do you react when someone catches you making a mistake? Do you get defensive? Do you get embarrassed? Do you lash out at them? Or do you humbly admit your fault and move on?

 

Noah worked patiently on the ark for years but quickly lost his patience when his youngest son, Ham, made fun of him to his brothers as Noah lay naked in a drunken stupor. In fact, Noah becomes so angry with Ham that he curses Ham's descendants (Canaan was Ham's oldest son) to be slaves to the rest of the family.

 

How is that fair? Canaan didn't have anything to do with it and yet he's the one Noah curses! And laying down a curse on someone just because they laughed at you when you made a mistake?

 

No doubt that Ham should have shown more respect for his father, but Noah's reaction is certainly blowing the situation out of proportion.

 

What would have happened if Noah had given Ham a firm look and a few stern words instead? What would have happened if he had admitted his own fault and resolved to be more careful in the future?

 


When we make a mistake, let's not further it by becoming defensive or lashing out at those who witness it. Instead, let us fix our spirits toward humility and grace as we seek to resolve our fault.

 

 

Last Word

Genesis 9:20-25

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 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.

 

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

 

“Cursed be Canaan!

    The lowest of slaves

    will he be to his brothers.”

 

There are two stories about Noah in the Bible. The first is the Flood. The second, as told in Genesis 9:20-27, is about Noah getting drunk, shaming himself, and then, reacting in anger to his son.

 

He goes from awesome obedience in building the ark to a drunken, over-reacting mess. What are we supposed to think about that? Why would the Bible tell us these two stories, one after the other?

 

It's easy for us to see this story as the last word on Noah's life, as if this was a major moral failing on his part or a spiritual downfall.

 

Notice, though, that when people think of Noah, they don't think of this story, at least not at first. They think of the Flood and about how he was the only man God saw worthy of being saved. He was the only person whom God found fit to re-start the human race. This mistake of Noah happened, but it's not the final word on his life. It does not diminish his success in the Flood. He is still remembered more for his success than this one failure.

 


When we make mistakes, we have a tendency to focus on them, to allow them to define us.

 

But they don't. They are one thing that happened. They are not all that happen in our life. They do not erase or overshadow our good moments and our triumphs in obedience. Giving in once to temptation does not nullify all the times you were victorious in resisting that temptation. Losing your temper once does not go back in time and steal the times you kept calm. Not keeping up on your spiritual disciplines for a few days does not mean that God no longer honors you for your past practice.

 

What is Noah remembered most for? His obedience. The mistake happened, but it wasn't the end. It was one black mark against a field of white, a side note on a life of obedience, just like our momentary failings will be.

 

 

Do you have another insight into Genesis 9? Please share below!

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment