Noah’s Descendants (Gen 9:18-10:32)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 9:18.

We’re continuing in our series through the book of Genesis and we’ve hit a section that is a little complicated and the reason for the complication is two-fold: (1) it includes a narrative that we typically don’t talk about a lot, but it’s tough to talk about and (2) it includes another genealogy, which shouldn’t surprise us since genealogies play a major theme throughout the book of Genesis, but both of these issues make it a passage that is typically avoided by Christians today—many people simply don’t know what to do with it.

I’m going to help you with that this morning; and let me clarify one thing, this will not be the first passage that we find in Genesis that records something that many Christians struggle with; and that’s alright. The key is to not let the struggle stop you from learning from the passage (after all, all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness—including these harder passages).

Now, let’s read the text—we’re going to read it in its entirety (including the genealogy) and then I’ll explain how we’ll break it down.

Genesis 9:18–10:32 ESV

18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. 20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he 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 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. 1 These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations. 6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim. 15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. 19 And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. 21 To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. 25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. 26 Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. 32 These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) Noah’s Sons (9:18-29) and then (2) Noah’s Genealogy (10:1-32). Both sections are all about the descendants of Noah, but it’s divided into two because of something sinful that happens concerning Noah’s sons before giving us the rest of Noah’s genealogy. And what can happen when you read this passage is that you can get distracted by the event at the end of ch 9 to the extent that you neglect what its actual purpose is. Similarly, because ch. 10 is a genealogy, you can neglect the passage altogether because you don’t realize what its actual purpose is. I’ll explain what all is going on, but I want to clearly state what the whole point is before we dig in—a passage like this reminds us that it is really easy to fall into sin (even for those who witness something like the flood), but God’s plans aren’t foiled by our sin. Or, in other words, whatever God wills occurs even when we sin—keep this in mind as we start working through the passage.

Prayer for Illumination

Noah’s Sons (9:18-29)

Our text starts in v. 18, by telling us of the aftermath of the flood.

V. 18 tells us exactly who were left, Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Note, that custom in the Ancient Near Eastern world dictated that only the men were recorded, this obviously leaves out their spouses.

Again, that’s a cultural thing for their time period and their area—they would obviously need their wives to repopulate.

We are given just a little more insight into who Ham was, that Ham (in a parenthetical phrase)”was the father of Canaan,” which will be an important detail to note as we continue through the book of Genesis—these would be the Canaanites that the Israelites are eventually commanded to take the promised land from.

After the global flood ended and the waters subsided, Noah and his family were left not exactly by themselves (there were animals and then of course, there is God), but without other people.

Thus, it makes logical sense then that anyone born after this point would have to be descendants of Noah and the Bible reiterates that idea in v. 19, “These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.”

The idea being that all who are alive today trace their lineages back to Ham, Shem, and Japheth,

Now, it doesn’t take long in the historical narrative for something interesting to happen. It doesn’t take long for mankind to struggle with sin again.

And from our perspective that might seem crazy—that they would witness the judgment of God against sin and then almost immediately fall back into their sin, but let’s be honest, we do the same thing all the time.

We witness the goodness of God in various ways and then we fall back into our sin. We see God do wonderful things in our lives and the lives of others around us and then we fall back into our sin.

The whole Old Testament is filled with example after example of people seeing God do amazing things and then falling back into their sin.

And thus, it shouldn’t surprise us that soon after the global flood, Noah sins and then Ham sins.

Noah’s sin is seen in v. 21—he became a man of the soil, meaning he started farming “and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk.” —

There’s Noah’s sin.

Now, there could be a little pushback—some might argue that technically the law hadn’t been given yet; so, how could Noah know that this was sinful?

And, the narrator in this passage doesn’t really say—though the Psalms remind us that the law of God is written on the heart of man—so, in that sense, he probably knew.

What the author actually focuses on is the shamefulness of the event—that he became drunk to the extent that he laid naked in his tent.

K.A. Mathews, “Noah’s reproach was not in the drinking of the wine per se but in his excess, which led to his immodesty” or his nakedness or really his shame. (K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 417.20-23)

Ham’s sin is seen shortly after this point in v. 22, but we’re given very little detail about it, “Ham . . . saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders” and covered Noah. Then v. 24, “When Noah awoke . . . [he] knew what his youngest son had done to him.”

That’s Ham’s sin.

Now, there is a bit of interpretational difficulty here in that we aren’t entirely sure what Ham has done to Noah and thus, it’s led to a lot of guesses rather than fact.

So, the Midrash, which is the Jewish commentary on the Tanakh (what we call the Old Testament) argues for two different ideas—Jewish Rabbis have taught that either Ham castrated Noah or that he committed sodomitic incest with Noah.

The issue with both of these ideas is that they’re both based on inference rather than what the text actually says.

Just about every modern scholar makes the argument that Ham didn’t castrate Noah and he didn’t commit this sodomitic incest, but rather in the Ancient Near East culture, the idea of seeing someone naked who isn’t your spouse is shameful.

Not only did Ham see Noah naked, which is shameful, he went out and told his brothers about it—we could assume a level of jeering about it rather than him matter-or-factly just telling Shem and Japheth of this event

Or, in other words, we need to be careful not to read into the text, but to see it for what it says—in this case, Ham did something sinful, but we aren’t entirely sure what it is.

That sin then causes Noah to curse Ham and bless Japheth and Shem in vv. 25-27, “‘Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers,’ He also said, ‘ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.’”

This curse (and these blessings) then foreshadow the conflict that we see between the descendants of these people. Keep that in mind as we continue through our study in Genesis.

Now, the last section for today is long—and we’re not going to re-read all of it because it would take a rather long time. Instead, let me just highlight a few ideas and a few sections.

Noah’s Genealogy (10:1-32)

In ch. 10:1, we see a familiar statement again, “These are the generations.”

I say its familiar because its a common reoccurring theme throughout the book—the idea of generations or genealogies is what actually gives Genesis its formatting.

The book talks about the generations of the celestial bodies—meaning the heavens, the earth, the planets.

The book talks about the generations of Adam and Eve.

The book will tell us about the generations of Abram, of Isaac, and of Jacob.

In this case, we’re told of the generations of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And it’s worth noting, again, because it connects all our lineages back to these people and then eventually back to Adam and Eve.

In vv. 2-5, we see the sons of Japheth

You might recognize a few of the names. For instance:

Gomer and Magog eventually become the nations that surround Israel to the North.

Tubal and Mesech will eventually become the nations in Asia Minor or modern-day Turkey.

Madai becomes the Medes who live near the Tigris River

Javan refers to Ionian, which we’ll eventually know as the Greeks

Note the statement that Javan’s children eventually become known for being coastland people with their own language, which tells us something important, that this genealogy extends past the Tower of Babel in time.

In vv. 6-20, we see the sons of Ham—remember Ham has just been cursed, so his people groups are all nations that later cause Israel significant hardship.

For example:

The Cushites would be in ancient Ethiopia (northern Africa).

Egypt of course being along the Nile.

Put is typically understood as Libya, which is west of Egypt.

Canaan would be the area in which the Promised Land is located.

There are a couple other notable names, like Nimrod, who became a mighty hunter before the lord.

We see the land of Shinar, which is where we would find Babel; the land of Assyria, where we would find Nineveh.

Some of Ham’s descendents will become the Jebusites, Amorites, and Girgashites—all enemies of Israel throughout history.

Note again, the statement that “these are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.”

In vv. 21-331, we then see the sons of Shem.

The Shemites are most notable because this is the lineage through which Abraham eventually is born.

You might not be as familiar with many of these names. Many of these descendants eventually became nations that were far eastern—past the Euphrates river and really the region of Mesopotamia, which reflects where Abraham eventually is born.

You’ll note one other detail through these verses, we read in v. 25, “To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg [which means division] for in his days the earth was divided.” That could be understood in one of two ways:

Either its talking about the dividing of the lands after the flood.

Or its talking about the dividing of the people after the Tower of Babel.

Most scholars assume its talking about the dividing of the people since that’s the very next account in Genesis, but again, it could be either.

And again, his section of descendents closes with the statement, “These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.”

The chapter then ends with one last statement, which bookends the genealogies, v. 32, “These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.”

Again, see the reiteration of how all people, all nations, trace their lineages back to Noah, which is then eventually traced back to Adam and Eve.

This brings us this morning to our application.

Application

Again, it can be rather difficult to understand how to apply a passage like this because of the two difficulties that we mentioned prior—the unusual event that occurs at the end of ch. 9 and the genealogy in ch. 10; and yet, passages like this serve purposes that are meant to teach us, train us, correct us, and help us grow. The reality is that when you look at a passage like this—in which there’s clearly something sinful happening in ch. 9 and then you see something like ch. 10 put up beside it, what it does is it causes us to compare and contrast what’s happening in the text, so let me help you do that before I give you the application:

In Genesis 9, we see two sins happening between Noah’s drunkenness and the sin of Noah’s son, Ham. We could try to moralize this account and assume that the point of the text is to remind us of the dangers of getting drunk; however, I don’t think that’s the point. And we could assume that the point of the text is to tell us not to be like Ham, but again, I don’t think that’s the point.

Instead, it seems clear to me that the point is that despite the fact that Noah and Ham witnessed the judgment of God against sin (even though they witnessed the wrath of God poured out upon sinful mankind, they still struggled with their own sin. Much like anytime we see something drastic or miraculous occur in Scripture, shortly after mankind succumbs into their own sinful appetites again (e.g., the golden calf after walking through the Red Sea; David who is made king by God turning around and sinning with Bathsheba and murdering her husband; or even Peter, who walks with Jesus face to face and not only denies Jesus, but also sins by trying to add to the Gospel).

The point of a passage like Genesis 9-10 is to remind us of just how hard the struggle against sin truly is; and then the passage reminds us of God’s goodness. The reality is that passages like this, including the genealogy serve many purposes—in this case, the purpose is to remind us that despite our ability to mess things up and to fall into sin, God’s plan never fails—He is still good and He still accomplishes all that He sets out to do.

And that’s where our application comes into play.

The reality is that we’ve all witnessed at least one miraculous event in our lives (at least, that’s true if we genuinely believe) because the biggest miracle that any of us could witness is that of our own salvation—that Jesus, through His grace and His mercy revived our souls, pulled us out of the miry pit, and gave us a new heart made of flesh rather than stone. The biggest miracle that any of us experience is that of our own salvation—and if we’re honest with ourselves, we would all readily admit that we couldn’t have done anything to save ourselves—Jesus saved us from the consequences of our own sin.

The problem is that most people know that their salvation is a miraculous thing, but then they don’t live like they’ve witnessed the miraculous saving of their own soul. And in most cases, I would argue that that’s revealing of their heart (that they didn’t actually believe and follow Jesus), but in some cases, it’s simply the truth that we continue to struggle with our sins even after witnessing the miracle of our own spiritual birth.

Just like Noah and just like Ham, we witness something miraculous and then we fall into our own sin again. Now, in their cases we aren’t really ever told of any repentance, but in our case, I’m sure you recognize this by now, I frequently remind us all of the need of repentance daily—so, hopefully, even after we struggle with our sins, we then follow up with repentance, which is the only right response to sin.

And if you’re like me, sometimes you beat yourself up about your struggle with sin—you’ll fall into a sin, repent, and then your mind immediately starts saying something along the lines of, “why am I still struggling with this?” or “I’ve been a Christian for decades and I’m still sinning in this way.” Occasionally, it might sound something like this, “God cannot possibly use me because I’m such a sinful person.” And yet, this passage tells us the exact opposite.

Sometimes the purpose of a genealogy like this is to remind us that despite our sins, God’s purposes are never foiled—and that includes His purposes in us and through us and for us. Keep this in mind because that’s what our application is based on.

As humans, we constantly struggle with our sin—as Christians, we constantly fall into sin over and over. And, of course, that’s hard for us because we know that we are to “be holy as He is holy” and we know that our spiritual worship of God requires us to live in a way that has been transformed by the renewing of our minds—so that we’re no longer living in sin, but rather, we’re living in and through the Spirit of God. So, your application is really simple: (1) recognize that even when you witness amazing things (including your own salvation), you will continue to struggle with your own sin; (2) understand and have hope in the truth that despite your sin, God’s plan for you will still occur just as He wants it to occur; and (3) have hope in the God who works all things for your good even when you struggle with sin.

First, recognize that you will continue to struggle with your own sin.

I think there’s sometimes a misconception that if I just follow Jesus enough or if I say enough prayers, read enough of the Bible, or sing enough songs, I won’t struggle with sin, but the reality is that that ideology is simply untrue.

In fact, the belief in sinless perfection (meaning, that if you work hard enough you’ll stop sinning on this side of eternity) has already been declared as false teaching by the church at large.

Rather, what Paul actually teaches us is that throughout our lives as Christians, we’ll continue to struggle with our own sin—he speaks of it as a battle between the old man and the new man.

We continuously struggle with our sins on this side of eternity; and the reality is that occasionally (or even, sometimes more than occasionally), we fall and we sin.

According to the Bible, we continuously struggle with our sin even after we become believers.

The key would be that we’re supposed to be struggling with them and not just immediately succumbing to them.

So, yes, we’ll continue struggling in our sin, but the key is that as we continuously follow Jesus, we should hopefully, be sinning less and less.

But don’t think that when you fall into your sin, that everything’s over—that God cannot possibly use you anymore or that God wouldn’t want you anymore—none of that is true. If you sin today, if you fall today, the proper response is to simply repent, get back up and keep walking with Jesus.

You need to recognize that you will continue to struggle with your sin on this side of eternity.

Second, understand that even when you fall into your sin, God’s plan isn’t foiled, He still will use you, He still will work in you, He still will grow you and mature you.

The key example of this is found in the account of Noah.

Noah and his kids witness such an amazing and awe-striking thing then almost immediately fall back into their sin.

And yet, God doesn’t just flick the off switch, He doesn’t just end Noah’s life or Ham’s life, he still uses them to continue their lineages, He still uses their families to eventually fill the earth.

Likewise, when we fall into our sin, that’s not the end. God isn’t just going to flick your switch off, He isn’t just going to end your life, He isn’t going to stop working in your or growing you.

Rather, He will use you despite your sin and He will grow you despite your sin. He will mature you despite your sin.

In fact, you’ll realize the more you continue following Jesus, that He will use what you’ve learned from your past sins to help other people as you seek to serve God and serve others.

You need to understand that when you sin, you aren’t ruining God’s plan for your life—you are not strong enough to foil the plans of God. Rather, despite your sin, He will still use you, He will still work in you, He will still grow you and mature you, which then leads to our final application point.

Third, even when you fall in your sin, have hope because God is still working all things out for your good.

We, very easily, can beat ourselves up for the sins that we commit.

We could very easily fall into nihilism (the idea that “all is lost”) and even depression and discouragement.

And yet, God only ever uses sinful people for His purposes.

And, if you genuinely believe, what Romans 8:28–29 teaches is that He will utilize everything in your life for your good, to conform you to the image of His Son.

“28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

I don’t know about you, but I find that to be something that absolutely gives me hope.

You can have hope because even when you fall into your sin, Jesus still loves you and He is still working in you and He is still molding you and shaping you into the image of God.

Genesis 9:18-10:32 teaches us that despite our sinfulness, God’s plan will still be accomplished. As a Christian, you will still continue to struggle with sin and you will occasionally fall into your sin, but have hope—Jesus is still using you, He is still working in you, He is still growing you and maturing you. He still loves you and you will be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.