UBF Daily Bread

THE SONS OF NOAH

Passage: Genesis 9:18~28

Key verse: 23

The Sons of Noah

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

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

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

“Cursed^(G) be Canaan!^(H)
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers.^(I)”

²⁶He also said,

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

²⁸After the flood Noah lived 350 years.

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Footnotes

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

1. Ham's disrespect for his father (18-22)

Noah was a man of human weaknesses. One day, he enjoyed wine and got drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. His two older sons respected their father and covered his shame. But Ham made fun of him.

2. Noah curses Canaan (23-28)

The human race was beginning again, and there was only one family on earth. From this family came the people who populated the earth. Noah cursed Ham's son Canaan because of what Ham had done. This was not just a family matter; Noah's family was the first building block of human society. Man must live in community, and there must be respect and order. A father, a king or a president must be respected because he represents the whole. Order in society demands that respect be given to those to whom respect is due (Ro 13:6,7). The words of Noah were prophetic. The descendants of Canaan were corrupt; God's hand of judgment fell on them when Israel conquered Canaan.

Prayer: Father, restore mutual respect to this nation and its families.

One Word: Respect to whom respect is due