God's Judgment And Redemption: The Flood

INTRO

In Genesis 1–3, we saw the first mention of the Seed, the Messiah, with Genesis 3:15 assuring us we have hope in the Seed, Christ. Genesis 4–6 recorded the account of Cain the farmer, and his brother Abel, the rancher. Cain committed the first murder when he slew his brother, and sin continued to affect humanity.

TEACHING

We will study Genesis 7–9. Ongoing sin had gotten so bad that in Genesis 7, God was ready to destroy the whole world.

Genesis 7:13: “On that same day Noah along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and his three sons’ wives entered the ark with him.” This is probably one of the most significant moments in all of history. Eight people entered the ark. These eight lived, and everyone else died. In Genesis 8, the flood recedes, and in Genesis 8:16, God spoke to Noah: “Come out of the ark.” How cool is this: the Seed, Christ, continued through one of these eight people. How do we know? Because in Genesis 3:15, we have the promise that the lineage will continue, that the Seed, the Messiah, will crush the head of Satan.

Genesis 8:21: “When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, He said to Himself, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, even though man’s inclination is evil from his youth. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.” At this point, God said He would never again bring about a massive flood and destroy everyone. It’s a beautiful picture and we’ll get into this with the covenant. I want to focus specifically on Genesis 9:1–29 for the remainder of this lesson.

Genesis 9:1: “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.’” This is a common phrase we hear from God in Genesis. In Genesis 1:28, we’ve already heard this. God told Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.” In Genesis 8:17, God said to Noah, “Bring out all the living creatures that are with you . . . and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” In Genesis 9:7, God told Noah and his sons: “But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.” All of humanity had been destroyed except eight people, so God was saying he needed them to multiply.

Genesis 9:2–4: “The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth.” The animals were put under the authority of man. This was a first: God gave meat to humanity for eating. “However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it” (Genesis 9:4). This command was meant to instill respect for the sacredness of life. Leviticus 17:11 explained, “For the life of a creature is in the blood.” This is a foreshadowing of Christ and what’s to come. I love this picture because it points to Christ in the New Testament on the cross. His blood is the lifeline for all of us! Blood is a symbol of life.

Genesis 9:5This verse is an explanation of why God gave these rules and regulations. He was starting all over with these eight people. This was a picture of capital punishment. God wants us to value life. Tom Constable said that it’s important for us to value life because there are seven layers to a person: (1) spiritual; (2) personal; (3) moral; (4) relational; (5) rational; (6) emotional; and (7) creative. All these things are entailed in life. So when you take someone’s life, you’re taking the image of God and crushing it. Author Elmer Gray wrote: “A person extinguishes a revelation of God when he or she murders somebody.”² This was the first time God established a divine structure for government. In Romans 13:4, Paul explained that government is God’s source for bringing good; government is God’s servant.

Genesis 9:6: “For God made man in His image.” This is why it’s so important! Remember those seven things we talked about? Those are all a reflection of God!

Genesis 9:7: “But you, be fruitful and multiply.” Nancy Pearcey explained: “‘Be fruitful and multiply,’ means to develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, laws . . .…‘subdue the earth’ means to harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music . . . …to create culture, build civilizations.”³The problem is that we have let those who don’t have the Seed, Christ, take over and determine culture. We were the ones God intended to build culture. But we’re letting the seed of the serpent take over.

Genesis 9:8–11. This is the Noahic Covenant, for Noah and all of his descendants. God covers everything . . . a covenant for all living things! The Hebrew word for rainbow is “qeset,” which means “battle bow.” God was saying the battle was over. God would no longer destroy by a flood. But what’s happened is that some individuals in America have taken this rainbow, this sign of God’s promise not to destroy us, as permission to do whatever they want, and they are abusing God’s mercy to the point that they don’t care anymore.

Genesis 9:12–17: The rainbow is a blessing for us. It is a reminder to us even today of God’s promise.

Genesis 9:18: Ham was the youngest son (recorded in Genesis 9:24). He was the father of Canaan. There’s discussion about which son was the oldest, Shem or Japheth. Noah was a cultivator of the vineyard. Noah got drunk and, while by himself, was uncovered, naked, in the tent.

Genesis 9:22–25. Ham saw Noah naked and told Shem and Japheth. Then Shem and Japheth walked backwards and placed the cloak over their father (they couldn’t see their father naked). We don’t know for sure what Ham did, but it certainly seems it was more than just seeing his father naked because of what we see in verses 24–25. There’s discussion (among scholars) that there must have been some sort of sexual perversion that took place.

Ham was the father of Canaan, and he was cursed to be the lowest of the slaves to his brothers. This was the first time that man cursed man. Prophetically, this was fulfilled. The descendants of Ham became slaves/forced labor for Solomon in 1 Kings 9:20–21. Rahab was a Canaanite and the only one who was an exception to this curse because she helped Joshua and Caleb, the two Jericho spies. Genesis 10:6–10 provided the list of Ham’s four sons: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. They functioned in godless and worldly power. The Canaanites were not good people, and we see the seed of the serpent functioning in Ham’s life. The Philistines, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians also came from the lineage of Ham (Psalm 105:23).

Genesis 9:26: Next, Noah spoke into Shem: “Praise the Lord, the God of Shem, Canaan will be his slave.” Shem was the ancestor of all of the sons of Eber (Genesis 10:21). “Shem” actually meant “name.” Eber was the original root word for Hebrew. The first Hebrew identified in the Bible was Abraham! Shem carried on the lineage of the Seed, Messiah.

Genesis 9:27: Canaan was a slave to Shem and Japheth. These verses say that Japheth would dwell in the tents of Shem. Japheth had seven sons. If Japheth shared in the tents of Shem, what do you think that means? Yes, they lived together. Japheth produced the Indo-European peoples. Do you know what this really means? The Gentiles! If Shem was the father of the Hebrews (the Jews, the Semites), and Japheth was the father of the Gentiles, then this meant the Gentiles would dwell in the tents of the Jews. Canaanites carry the seed of the serpent—they do not walk with the Lord.

Although this isn’t dogmatic, it’s an incredible picture. In Acts 15:7, the gospel was shared with the Gentiles. Gentiles were given the opportunity to be a part of what was originally intended for the tent of Shem. Romans 15:16 records just one of the times when Paul stated his calling to take the gospel to the Gentiles. God knew what He was doing, even after the flood. God’s plan for the Gentiles was even apparent in Noah’s blessing to his three sons (Galatians 2:2). Over and over, the Gentiles were given an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. The Gentiles were given a chance because Noah blessed Japheth. Noah blessed Shem. And Noah cursed Ham.

CLOSING

Luke 3:23–38 records the lineage of Christ back to Adam . . . what started from Adam to Seth . . . …to Noah to Shem . . . …to Christ. Because of Noah blessing his son Shem, the Seed, Christ, continued. The Seed of the woman continued to fight against the seed of the serpent. And somewhere in this, Japheth was grafted into the tent of Shem. All because a father blessed and cursed his sons.