Genesis 9:1-10:32 | Okay, Let’s Do This One Last Time?

If you have a Bible, go and grab it. Open it to the book of Genesis. This Sunday, we'll be looking at two chapters as we wrap up the story of Noah. Last week, we saw how God brought a flood of judgment to cover the entire earth and yet preserves Noah in the ark. And now in chapters 9 and 10, we see God establish his covenant with Noah and his family. I'm going to read through both chapters and then I'll pray. Genesis chapter 9 and 10. If you don't have a Bible, you can use a pew Bible in front of you. If you don't own it, feel free to keep that Bible. We would love for you to have a copy of God's word. We'll be looking at the first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 9 and 10.

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood; I will require it from any animal and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image. But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.” Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, “Understand that I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 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 future generations: I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.” Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated. Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting a vineyard. He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked. When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said:Canaan is cursed. He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers. He also said:Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; Let Canaan be Shem’s slave. Let God extend Japheth; let Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem; let Canaan be Shem’s slave. Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood. So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died. These are the family records of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They also had sons after the flood. Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. And Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these descendants, the peoples of the coasts and islands spread out into their lands according to their clans in their nations, each with its own language. Ham’s sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan. Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be powerful in the land. He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord.” His kingdom started with Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah. Mizraim fathered the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh, Pathrus, Casluh (the Philistines came from them), and Caphtor. Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, as well as the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the Canaanite clans scattered. The Canaanite border went from Sidon going toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and going toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha. These are Ham’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations. And Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber. Shem’s sons were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. Eber had two sons. One was named Peleg, for during his days the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan. And Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan’s sons. Their settlements extended from Mesha to Sephar, the eastern hill country. These are Shem’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations. These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their family records, in their nations. The nations on earth spread out from these after the flood.

— Genesis 9:1-10:32 (CSB)

Let's pray. Lord, even as we see your providential plan in these chapters with your intention for humanity, Lord, help us to not get deceived by sin or by distraction. Help us, Lord, to see your goodness in your word. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Ever wish that you could do a redo on your life? Now, I'm not saying your whole life. I'm sure many of us are satisfied with the way that our lives turned out. But I'm sure also all of us have had regrets, moments that we may be replaying in our minds over and over again, wishes for a second start or the ability to do things a little differently. What would you do if you had a giant reset button that you could just kind of press and start all over again?

Well, in Genesis 9 and 10, what you see is honestly a bit of a redo button. God looked at all the wickedness of humanity in Genesis 6–8, and he decided that he would start again with Noah and his family. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity to start over. Yet, what we see in Genesis 9 and 10 isn't just a redo of God's covenant with his people or the command to be fruitful and multiply, but also a redo of sin as well.

Despite our best efforts to want to start again and try to improve or do things differently, what we find is remarkable consistency with humanity and the way that they interact with the Lord. Namely, they just keep sinning. And yet, if you pay attention to the rhythm, the pattern that we've been talking about for the last couple months, underlying Genesis 9–10, we see God re-establishing the consistent principles that he wants you and I to know and remember and follow. So, the main idea for this morning, similar to other Sundays, is to trust God's protection and his plan. We're going to look at three distinct sections here in terms of what God's doing: First, we'll look at the covenant. Second, we'll look at the curse. And third, we'll look at the clans, these people that come out from Noah's sons.

The Covenant with Creation

First, let's look at the covenant. Point number one, the covenant. Verses 1-7.

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood; I will require it from any animal and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image. But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.” — Genesis 9:1-7 (CSB)

Does God's commands to Noah remind you of anything? It should remind you of what God tells Adam to do in Genesis 1. In fact, he uses the exact same phrasing there: "be fruitful and multiply." This idea of filling the earth and subduing it. Last week, we saw how the flood covers the whole earth. God essentially decreates what was before and starts again with Noah and his family. He scans the whole earth. He sees no one righteous. Yet, Noah finds favor.

So Noah and his family are preserved on the ark. And now after the flood recedes, after the ark is open, God blesses Noah with the same mandate that he gave Adam: "be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth." It's like God is pressing the reset button: new Adam, new creation, and a new covenant. Except now there are some added dimensions, some depth, to this command to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. God expands the authority and the responsibility that human beings have as they multiply and fill the earth.

First, God states that animals are under the authority of man. As a result, there is an inherent terror or fear of humanity from all the creatures of the world because at the very top of the food chain isn't a bear or a shark, it's human beings. Now, I'm not saying that you can one-v-one a bear on your own with your bare hands. But if you had a sniper rifle, right? And even without a weapon, human beings are at the top of the creation order by design. We are built differently. We have capabilities, tools, things that we have to subdue all of creation.

God has placed animals under our authority, which is why God gives provisions for how we can eat every creature that lives and moves. Every single time I sit down to eat a medium-rare ribeye steak, I am exercising dominion over the world the way God intended. Or am I? Verse 4 says that human beings are not supposed to eat meat with its lifeblood in it. So am I sinning if I eat my steak rare? Do I need to eat overcooked steak? Am I cursed to a well-done wasteland? No. For two reasons. First, because the blood in your steak isn't blood, it's myoglobin. It's like a protein. We could talk about that all day. Second, you can Google that. Second, it doesn't just say "blood." It says "lifeblood." In other words, you don't eat an animal while it's still alive. Sounds obvious, but if you think about it, it's kind of important. You don't eat the lifeblood in it while its heart is still beating, because it desecrates the dignity of the creature. It insults it.

That sacred protection for animals guards them from being abused while they're alive. And that principle of dignity also applies universally in life or death to human beings. If anyone sheds human blood, their blood will be shed. This is a universal morality limit that God is imposing on all of humanity. It doesn't matter if you live in a third- or first-world country; this is a universal application. You don't get to take someone's life. It doesn't matter if it's your own life, or the life of someone that you really, really hate. You do not have the authority to just take it.

Why is that? Because, as verse 6 says, "God made humans in his image." Animals are under man's authority. You and I, we can eat animals, right? The Bible is pretty explicit here, not requiring vegetarianism. You can eat meat to your heart's content because they're under our authority. And yet, even then, we treat them with dignity, making sure the lifeblood's not gone. But human beings are not under human authority. In the same way, you and I are made in God's image. Cows aren't. Pigs aren't. Which means if we're made in God's image, we don't belong to ourselves. We are not our own.

Which means to take someone's life from them is to take something that doesn't belong to you or that person. You are taking something that belongs to God. That's exactly why the death penalty outlined here comes from the Lord. Look at the way that God talks in verse 5. He doesn't say, "you need to take someone's life." He says, "I will require a penalty. I will require it." Murder goes against God's will because it violates creatures made in God's image.

And you could almost see this jurisdiction, this additional rule and clarification, as a direct corrective to Cain and Abel. What happens right after Adam and Eve get kicked out of the garden? They have kids and then Cain kills his brother. And God is being clear here in forbidding that kind of action. "If you shed human blood, your blood will also be shed."

So who gets to enforce this kind of shedding of human blood? In brief, it would be the government. Romans 13 says that governing authorities exist because they're instituted by God. They essentially have the right to enforce behavior, default conduct amongst all people. You see that in principle here in Genesis 9. You could see that in Romans 13 if you read it on your own time. There seems to be a common expectation, rules, protections that exist for human beings to be able to exist in a society together.

There's a reason why I, at least, think none of us in this room are armed. The reason is because we don't feel the need to protect ourselves. There's a default expectation of trust for us to be able to progress in society. And God in a similar way in Genesis 9 is setting a rule so that there's kind of an environment of trust, so that people can actually have kids, be fruitful, and multiply without the fear of being murdered by someone behind you at all given times. There are penalties that prevent certain sins from being perpetuated throughout the world.

This is not to say that the government's perfect, but the government is the one who's been given the authority to carry this sword to punish wrongdoing by state-sanctioned violence and authority. That's why we pray for those in authority over us so that they could wield that kind of power appropriately. It's not that this government operates independently, but under the authority of God. You can't fill the earth if you kill everybody. That's the idea. Which also means that there needs to be humans who can populate the earth. So God doesn't just limit the evil here with punishments that come from murdering each other, but with the protection of a covenant. He covers the whole world.

Read with me from verse 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 future generations: I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.” — Genesis 9:12-17 (CSB)

God makes a covenant. That word comes up over and over and over again: covenant, covenant, covenant. He makes it with all of creation. He will never again destroy every creature by means of a flood. See, this covenant is an agreement between two parties, a promise that's made. And a couple things about this covenant.

First, it's universal. Verse 12 says that it's for God, it's for Noah, it's for every living creature with him. This covers every single living creature that breathes in this entire world. Second, this covenant is a permanent covenant. Verse 12 says that this covenant is for Noah and for all future generations. God will never undo this promise that he makes here in verse 12.

And third, this covenant is unconditional. There is no off-ramp to this agreement. God doesn't say, "I reserve the right to reverse my promise." In fact, he doesn't even give a single condition. Did you notice that? He doesn't have any expectation on what you and I must do in order for this promise to still hold. He doesn't have any way to kind of have an off-ramp off of this covenant. He doesn't say anything that you and I need to do because this covenant is not about what you and I do. It's about what God promised he would do.

In fact, this covenant is entirely about the Lord. Look at verse 9: "I am establishing my covenant with you." Verse 11: "I establish my covenant with you." Verse 12: "This is a sign of the covenant I am making." Verse 13: "I have placed my bow." Verse 15: "I will remember my covenant." Verse 17: "This is a sign of the covenant that I have established." Who's the one that's laying out this covenant? The Lord. This is God's covenant. This covenant is not about us. It's not even primarily about creation. It's about who God is.

According to verse 14, even when the storm clouds come—there's another Category 5 hurricane that I saw in the news just this morning—even when those kinds of storm clouds come that would tempt us into questioning whether or not God would pour out his judgment, they are formed by the God who swore that he would never wipe out the earth again with a flood. This is not a covenant of works. We would call this a covenant of grace.

Grace, because it's not from anything that we've done. It's not what we deserve. Grace is when you receive something that you did not earn. It's from God himself. This promise of hope that we'll be protected from another cosmic flood. And if you remember this, it's kind of part two of this two-part story. And Noah, you may say, "Hey, you know, just before this though, Noah did present a sacrifice with a pleasing aroma. And God smells that pleasing aroma. And after that, he resolves that he will never again curse the ground." And you'd be right. Noah does give a sacrifice at the end of chapter 8. That smell goes up. God smells it. Right? He's not saying that God has a nose, but God sees the sacrifice. He's pleased by it.

But even before Noah ever offered a sacrifice, God protected Noah in the ark. Before Noah even laid a single plank of wood for the ark, Genesis 6:8 says that Noah "found favor" (it's that same word for grace) with the Lord. Because friends, that's how God's salvation works. His salvation always precedes our sacrifice. In fact, even the things that Noah does in Genesis 6–9 foreshadow the salvation that God accomplishes for us in Jesus. Jesus is the ark that protects us from the waters of judgment. Jesus is the atoning sacrifice that pleases the Lord and satisfies his justice.

According to the book of Hebrews, even the rainbow, if you think about what a bow is, as a weapon, bent, pointed up at the heavens, foreshadows the payment for our disobedience. Not the price that's directed towards us, but the price that God would pay on behalf of sinners like you and I. Can you see the pattern here in Genesis 6–9? Can you see the consistent pattern of grace that leads to repentance all throughout Scripture?

If you're not a Christian, can you see the kindness of God that extends to sinners like you and I? It doesn't matter how deserving of punishment you may be. We're all guilty because of the sins that we have committed. We all deserve eternal punishment. But the good news of the gospel is that the covenant that God makes with us in Christ isn't dependent on what you and I do or on what you and I will continue to do, but on what Christ did: His arrival on the earth, his death for our sins, his resurrection. God's grace is not given because you and I deserve it, but because of God's grace to us in Christ, because of how much he loves us. You can trust in that Jesus. You can turn from your sin and trust in him.

It's precisely because of that grace that we have in Christ that motivates us to obey. If you and I are made in God's image, if God sent his son to die for you and I, then who are we to take the place of God and take the life of an image-bearer? Who are we not to then seek and follow him with all that we are? The primary motivation for Christian holiness here doesn't come from the threat that a flood might come again, but from the price of judgment that was paid. Seeing all that God has done for us compels us to follow Christ. It's like what he says in his word in 1 Corinthians 6:

You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body. — 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (CSB)

That's how the covenant of grace works. Unfortunately, this covenant of grace, though, doesn't stop Noah and his family from plunging into sin.

The Persistence of Sin: Noah's Fall and Ham's Dishonor

Which brings us to point number two, the curse. Look at verse 18 again.

Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated. Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting a vineyard. He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. — Genesis 9:18-21 (CSB)

Noah plants a vineyard. You can almost think of it as him doing the very first thing that Adam did. He's gardening. He's subduing the earth. But he plants a vine and then he gets drunk and then he lies naked in his tent. All that happens two verses after God's amazing promise of his grace. A man in a garden eats fruit and is exposed naked. Does that sound familiar to you? Have you heard that before? Immediately following God's incredible promise of mercy, after his commission to go fill the earth, comes man's fall once again.

Despite a cosmic level of reset, sin still comes back. This is not just a creation redo; it's also a fall redo. After all, it says that Noah was a man of the soil. That word for soil in Hebrew is *Adamma*. Does that sound familiar? Noah is a son of Adam. And like father, like son, Noah ends up sinful, deluded, naked. But Noah's son, Ham, is even worse than Noah and Adam because while he doesn't kill his brother like Cain did, he dishonors his father. We see that in verse 22.

Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked. — Genesis 9:22-23 (CSB)

Ham comes into the tent and sees his father undignified, and then he tells his brothers about it. But his brothers cover their father, making sure they don't see him. Then Noah wakes up and curses Canaan for generations. Verses 24–29.

And when you see Noah's anger at being exposed like that, right? When he says in verse 25, "Canaan is cursed. He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers." It sounds really intense. It almost sounds like an overreaction, like you just kind of got caught with your pants down and now you're cursing future generations of an entire line of people. But if we feel that way, if we feel like this is not that big of a deal, it's not because Noah was being too sensitive. It's because you and I are desensitized.

See, when Adam and Eve eat of the fruit, they immediately realize that they're naked, and they flee to cover up their nakedness. They hide. What you see in Genesis 9 is that Noah's son, Ham, comes into his father's tent, sees his father's nakedness, and he doesn't flinch at all. In fact, he looks at it and then reports to his brothers about it. See, at best, his conscience is not burdened by seeing things that he shouldn't be seeing. At worst, he's inviting his brothers to share in his sin, by looking at his father's immodesty. This is like the fall in Genesis 3 without any shame. This is a shameless sinning.

Not only does Ham see his father's nakedness, he doesn't feel any ounce of guilt. He is totally fine with it. Except there are things that all of us should feel ashamed of. There are things that all of us should rightly feel bad about doing. Wrongdoing, genuine things that you and I do wrong, are worthy of our regret. That's exactly why we discipline our kids. Because you might not see a direct correlation between pain and something that you did wrong when you were a child. And discipline helps make that connection. It's the same reason why you and I should feel ashamed when we do wrong things. That's why we should feel ashamed when we see someone's nakedness that we shouldn't, if it's pornography or sexual immorality. That's why we should feel ashamed when we think about things that we do wrong. That kind of conscience is a gift from the Lord. That is not a sign that there's something wrong with us; that's a sign that the Lord is at work in us.

Does your sin evoke shame? I don't mean a shame that makes you run away from God. I'm not talking about a guilt-driven shame that paralyzes you from being able to run to Christ. I mean a genuine shame where you're able to see sin for what it is and hate it. As Thomas Watson says, "Until sin is bitter, Christ will not be sweet."

Sometimes we are so wicked, so corrupt, that we see the sins of others and rather than dignifying them and pointing them to Christ, we scoff at them. We dehumanize them by our belittling, by our mocking. That's exactly what we see Ham doing here. This sin does not evoke sympathy. It doesn't even evoke sorrow. Instead, Ham views this as an opportunity to humiliate his father, to put him down. And shame on us whenever we see other image-bearers, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and we choose to belittle them by mocking them in light of their genuine weakness.

Truth of the gospel is that all of us are way more sinful than we realize, and all of us need the grace that comes from God that he gives us far more abundantly than all that we could possibly imagine. Which is why I love the example of Shem and Japheth. They hear gossip from their brother, and rather than indulging in it, rather than even just telling Ham to stop, they take proactive steps, walking in to make sure that they can cover their father's nakedness while still maintaining his dignity. How beautiful is that? They would carry the blanket over their shoulders so that they can't see what's underneath and lift their heads in such a way that they would honor their father while still covering their sin.

This is not a cover-up. This is not "my father is not naked" or "my father is not drunk." This is knowing what sin is there and still working to dignify, still working to respect, still working to cover with the grace of Christ. I hope all of us can embody that kind of love and respect that Shem and Japheth give here. That when we see sin in other people, when we see sin in ourselves, that we be able to be honest about our shortcomings while also being quick to apply that kind of grace. Not seeking to cover things up, not seeking to shove things under the rug, but looking to cloak one another with the righteousness of Christ. Be able to see people the way they truly are while dignifying them by pointing to Jesus to encourage repentance and holiness.

That's exactly what you and I have committed to do by becoming members of this church. That's what our church covenant promises to do: to watch over one another in brotherly love, to remember one another in prayer, to aid one another in sickness and distress, to cultivate Christian sympathy and feeling, and Christian courtesy in speech, to be slow to take offense but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay. Noah and Ham's sin rhymes with the sins of their ancestors. It causes division not just between Noah and the Lord, but between Ham and his family. And while God may have put preventative measures on death, Ham shows that God's covenant didn't put an end to interpersonal hate and shame.

The Outworking of God's Plan Through the Clans

Which brings us to point number three, the clans. Let's read verses 24–29.

When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said:Canaan is cursed. He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers. He also said:Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; Let Canaan be Shem’s slave. Let God extend Japheth; let Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem; let Canaan be Shem’s slave. Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood. So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died. — Genesis 9:24-29 (CSB)

When Ham commits his sin, Noah curses not Ham but his son Canaan. He curses Canaan. Now unfortunately, this curse has been mistaught for generations, especially in the history of the United States. Many people point to this exact verse, these verses here, as justification for why slavery was permissible, particularly in the United States. The curse of Ham, as it was historically called, was a heresy that came up in the United States in the colonial era that taught that because Canaan was cursed and because there are people groups in Egypt that are listed in Ham's lineage, that it was God's intention for black people to be inferior to white people and that it was God's design that Canaan be Shem's slave.

And I don't want to gloss over the fact that that happened. Even if none of us believe it, I don't want to overshadow that reality that people taught that, even prominent founders in the Southern Baptist Convention put forward this kind of destructive false teaching. And it's wrong. It's wrong. And it's wrong for several reasons.

For one, Egyptian regions don't even come from the line of Canaan. You notice I called it the curse of Ham. But Ham's not the one that gets cursed. It's Canaan. Egypt comes from Ham, not Canaan. It comes from a different brother, a different son of Ham. And yet, people in the colonial South tried to shove Egypt into the curse that Canaan received. That's not the case. Egypt comes from the descendants of Cush, not Canaan.

Second, we see exceptions to that kind of design in the Old Testament. Did you know that there's an example of racial prejudice that happens in Numbers 12? Because Moses's wife was a Kushite. She was Egyptian. She was African. And it says in Numbers 12:1 that Miriam and Aaron, Moses's brother and sister, criticized Moses because of the Kushite woman he married.

Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman). — Numbers 12:1 (CSB)

I'd imagine that Miriam and Aaron would both be totally fine with this kind of "curse of Ham" type thinking. And you know what God does in response? He gives Miriam skin disease until Moses intercedes on her behalf. Now, you may say, "Hey, that wasn't primarily a skin issue. It was a sin issue. Miriam was concerned about the Israelite camp." The reality is that it's both. It was both. There's a reason why God inflicts Miriam with skin disease, to show her own impurity in light of her prejudice against her sister-in-law. God's hatred for ethnic prejudice is real even in the Old Testament. Which means that the curse of Ham wouldn't make sense in light of what God does later in the Torah.

And lastly, third, the curse of Ham misses the entire point of this section of Scripture. It misses the point of this curse. The purpose of this curse of Canaan is that it explains Israel's present reality and what they would do in the future. Remember, Moses writes these first five books of the Bible for the Israelites before they enter into the promised land. And as he does, he's explaining where they came from. He doesn't just explain Israel's own history, but the history of all surrounding nations that they're running into from Noah's sons.

You see their kids. And these names develop into entire tribes and nations. Look at verses 5, 20, and 31 in chapter 10. It uses the same language. It repeats itself three times: "clans in their own nations, each with their own language." These are people that are developing over the course of centuries into peoples, into nations. Like if Frank's kids turned into France, or if I don't know, Nether's kids turned into the Netherlands, right? Like these people are turning into entire tribes.

If you look at Canaan's line in chapter 10, you know who's listed? All of Israel's enemies. In fact, if you look at Ham's line, and just zoom out a little bit, you see all of Israel's enemies listed in those generations. You get Babylon, you get Assyria, you get the Philistines, right? Babylon and Assyria later, centuries later, take over Israel in light of their disobedience. If you look at Canaan's sons, Sidon, Heth, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites – this isn't some kind of tongue twister to torture future pastors that are preaching this passage. Even Sodom and Gomorrah are listed there.

If you know your Old Testament, all of these names should start to sound more and more familiar. There are the lands that Israel is told to conquer throughout the first five books of the Bible. In Exodus, in Numbers, in Deuteronomy chapter 7, Joshua, all of them list these nations, these Canaanites, as people that are to be conquered to establish the promised land. And they all carry on the practice of their fathers. These people are not moral people. They're evil.

If you read Leviticus 18–20, where God tells the Israelites not to be like the Canaanites, you know what he tells them not to do? Tells them, "Don't commit incest. Don't commit other forms of sexual immorality. Don't steal. Don't oppress the poor. Don't commit witchcraft. Don't sacrifice your children. And don't curse your father and your mother." In other words, don't be like Ham.

And God patiently waits for centuries before pouring out the fullness of his judgment on the children of Canaan because God works according to his timing, not ours. In fact, God's in control over all of these nations. Whether it's Nimrod's kingdom that prologues the Tower of Babel, also known as Babylon, or obscure nations that none of us know about, like Jobab, all of these sons preview God's master plan in the future, what God would do. God will bring all things to fruition. None of these things are a mystery to the Lord. None of these difficulties are a surprise to God.

Even the recreation, the fall, and the expansion again – this pattern that repeats itself over and over and over again over all Scripture – is not a sign of God's lack of control. It's a sign of his providential plan at work. He wants us to pick that up. He wants us to realize, he wants Israelites to know then that what they're doing isn't just what they need to do now, but in light of the arc of history that God has been painting for generations. God intended this from the beginning. The Canaanites are not some random byproduct of God's justice. God had planned it from the beginning.

Trusting God's Plan Amidst Life's Storms

In the same way for you and I, friends, God makes no accidents. He makes no mistakes. All of these tribes listed are under God's care. China is under God's control. The United States is under God's control. There is not a single nation or clan that exists today with all of its might, whether it's Nimrod's hunting ability or the United States' nuclear arsenal, that is not under God's providential hand. And if God is in control of all of those things and he loves you and I by sending his son to die for us, then that means that God will work all things together for the good of those who love him.

God intends good for us. God intends good in the midst of physical difficulty. God intends good even when our minds aren't what they used to be. God intends good for us when it seems like nothing is working out and things are falling apart, and when the storm clouds come. When the rain is heaviest and you feel the waters rise around you and you're overwhelmed by the storms of this world. When you fear that the flood might prevail, God wants you to look up and see the sign that he has laid out for you.

I think it's no accident that rainbows appear when the rain comes the hardest. And God has given a greater sign than a rainbow for you and I. He's given substance. You don't have to look at a bow in the sky. You just need to look at the Son of Man risen from the dead, seated at the right hand of the Father. That's a sign of God's promise. That's more than a sign. That's a guarantee that he's going to make everything right again and he's coming soon. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would help us to see this pattern of this covenant that you've made, the reality of sin, and your providential care. Pray, Lord, that you'd help us to trust in your promises. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.