From Cain to Canaan

Introduction: A not-so-New Creation

The flood was over and creation was reborn. The covenant had been made and the animals were now free to repopulate the earth. To Noah and his family, God had given the same command he gave Adam: to multiply and fill the earth. Noah now served as a sort of federal head for humanity, a new Adam and a new representation of the image of God. After all, this Noah was a righteous man, a man who was set apart from his generation because he was blameless in the eyes of God. He was not partaking of the violence of his day, but rather he sought God’s favour in faith and we are told he walked with God. This seems like potentially a better candidate for a new Adam. As long as he kept his boys in check things should be fine, right?

Well not exactly, and even that would be impossible. The fact that things go terribly wrong even after the solemn covenant made with Noah is no surprise. In 8:21 God already foresaw that the intention of man’s heart was on evil continually, and he feels the need to make a promise that such a disaster would not happen again while the earth endures. From this evidence, we can tell that it is only a matter of time before the righteous family of Noah falls apart. It also reminds us that none of this is catching God off-guard. He knows exactly what is in our hearts and he, more than anyone, knows the depths of human depravity. It is us who don’t understand just how deep our own sinful nature goes. I believe one of the reasons that God sent the flood was to show that it wouldn’t work. How many people have thought to themselves, “why doesn’t God just get rid of all the evil people in the world? Then the world would be a better place.” What the flood story proves to us is that if God did such a thing, he couldn’t leave a single human alive, not even one who is known as both righteous and blameless. The flood was meant to destroy the line of Cain and the wickedness which that line promoted. What the flood shows us is that the line of wickedness is not passed on through bloodlines; it is something that resides in the human heart. If Cain had not murdered his brother, someone else would have. Murder an violence are in the blood of anyone related to the couple that took of the fruit and declared themselves divine.

So to remedy this problem, at least in a temporary way, God institutes human dignity into a moral code, declaring that anyone who takes the life of an image bearer of God shall themselves pay with their own life. This puts value on human life, a value that had been lost by the descendants of Cain, and a heavy consequence for treating that life as invaluable. However, as the text goes on we soon discover that man is able to corrupt themselves with more than just murder. Yet, through the fall of some of this family into perversion, we will again see the separation between the righteous and the wicked, between Seth’s godly line and Cain’s perverted line. Although all of Cain’s family is gone, the spirit of self-worship lives on, yet so does the plan and purpose of God.

Two Sinners

The Fall

In this text we see two sins, the first a sin of foolishness and the second a sin of perversion. While one will sin using the good gifts God has given him in a wrong way, the other will sin by entertaining the wicked desires of one who pleases himself and not God

The Drunkenness of Noah

God’s Promise Endures

A lot of time goes by in this small piece of text. We know this because Noah didn’t have any grandchildren when they boarded the Ark, only eight persons were on board ( imagine not having any grandchildren when 3 kids are married and you are 600 years old!!) but by the end of the narrative the youngest, Ham, has a son named Canaan. Over time, Noah becomes a man of the soil. A bit of a play on words is used here once again connecting Adam, who was made from soil and whole name sounds like the Hebrew word of soil, and Noah. Both are gardeners and both work the land. Waltke points out that, while Adam was cursed with thorns growing from the ground, Noah is now able to eat the fruit of luxury, giving a somewhat partial reversal of the curse of the ground. It is more fertile now. Noah takes these grapes and makes wine with them. Again, nothing wrong so far. Wine in moderation is used throughout Scripture as a symbol of joy and celebration, and can be enjoyed with thanksgiving in God’s good creation (see for an example) but like any good thing, a lack of self control causes drunkeness which the Bible brands as being foolish and wicked, opening yourself up to enslavement to something other than God and sin as a result (). Unfortunately, Noah chooses to let himself go one night and goes crazy with the wine he has made. He get so drunk that he uncovers himself in his tent and falls asleep. What happens next is the result both of his son’s perversion and his own foolishness by putting himself in such a state.

The Perversion of Ham

This is where the Bible stops being PG13 and starts being a little more like Game of Thrones. Noah’s youngest son, Ham, comes into the tent and sees his father lying naked. The way the text is put here in Hebrew gives us the idea that this was not a passing glance, but an intentional commitment of voyeurism. This is the first time sexual deviancy is mentioned in scripture and it is a shocking example. Not only is Ham engaging homosexual desires, but for his own father! Beyond that, he then goes to show his brothers: it seems that he wanted to make his father’s shame public.

Nudity is Scripture is always a symbol of shame and disgrace. Adam and Eve are given clothes because their nakedness brings them shame, even when they are the only human beings around. For Ham to look at his father this way and then go and show his brothers is not only indecent and sexually immoral, it is meant to bring shame on his own father and is therefore probably the most disrespectful thing he could possibly do. Noah’s foolishness does not excuse the sin of his youngest son, and we will see how in a bit. But here it becomes clear that more commandments will be needed. Yes, God has given them a law code that will help control the rampant violence and murder that seems to have preceded the flood, but sinners tend to be creative in how they sin. Already, right here in the ninth chapter of Genesis, we can see why having a law will not help God’s people in the long run. It is unable to contain the wickedness that is really springing up from a wicked heart. The need for heart change is obvious and this need will continue to drive the story of the Bible along as we entertain and expand on this lingering question, “how is God going to deal with the wickedness of our hearts?” A flood didn’t work, and already we see that commandments don’t work, so what will?

The Curse and the Blessing

Well that very question moves us into the next part of our text. The older brothers take a sheet and cover up their father, being extra careful not to look at him while they do this. The next morning Noah discovers what his youngest son did, likely because his older sons told him, and he lays a curse on Ham’s line and blessings on the line of the other two boys. These curses and blessings become prophetic and reveal another layer of the promise that God is giving. Lets look first at the curse.

Canaan: the symbolic father of the enemies of God’s people

There isn’t a lot to this curse, it is short and to the point. Curse Canaan, that is Ham’s son, a servant of servants shall he be to his brother. The subsequent blessing given to Sham and Japheth repeat this curse to drive it home. As simple and perhaps even vengeful as this curse seems, we still have to ask ourselves the same question we asked concerning the flood story, “why is this here?” Why does God give us this uncomfortable story? Interestingly enough, what happens here will have huge ramifications for hundreds of years to come. Canaan will become the ancestor of the people groups that Israel will constantly have conflict with. These nations include the Canaanites, somewhat obviously, as well as the Assyrians, Philistines, and Egyptians. These nations proceed from Canaan ironically cursed. I say it is ironic because Israel would become servants in some capacity to all three of these nations. Egypt, of course, is where they would spend 400 years in slavery. The Canaanites would throughout the book of Judges oppress Israel, as would the Philistines, and the Assyrians would eventually be used by God as a tool of judgement on the ten tribes and would conquer them. While Israel would escape Egypt by the powerful works of God, they would by no means become Israel’s servants. This prophecy would be partially fulfilled in the defeat of the Canaanites as we saw in Sunday school when we looked at the book of Joshua, but the book of Judges is quick to remind us that because of Israel’s disobedience they were unable to completely defeat these peoples and they would often suffer under their hand. The Philistines, likewise, would beat the Israelites into submission time and again until the coming of the Kings of Israel. Even after these Kings, Assyria would have a heyday taking over Israel, so the question must be asked, “how is this prophecy fulfilled?”

The first thing we should establish in answering that is that it isn’t the people group that matters, its their attitude towards God and his plans. True, Israel was the chosen people of God, but God would welcome anyone who placed their faith in his promises. Look at Rahab, the prostitute who helped the Israelite spies. Although a descendant of Canaan, she would end up in the heritage of the Messiah. Eventually, the Gospel would come to everyone after the coming of Christ, no matter what their bloodline. We should therefore see the curse on Canaan as the seed of Cain re-sprouted. Cain’s family perished in the flood, but a new family line is in town, one that will set itself up against Israel just as Cain was set up against Seth. Jewish Scholar Umberto Cassuto explains it well, “The Canaanites were to suffer the curse and the bondage not because of the sins of Ham, but because they themselves acted like Ham, because of their own transgressions” The separation of the two peoples has survived the flood, and just like before the righteous will be in the minority. Just like before, the wicked will inevitably lead the righteous nation away from God. Just like before, judgement will come on the wicked followers of Ham and Cain, this time through the Greek descendants of Japheth. Just like before, there will be a remnant of the righteous left waiting for salvation from their God.

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Waltke, Bruce K.. Genesis (p. 150). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

The Promise of God carries on

But then something will happen that hadn’t happened before. The salvation will come, just like in the days of Noah, but not in the same way. Not an Ark, but a person. Not only a righteous man, but the righteous God, not with a temporary solution to the world’s problems, but an everlasting one.