The Value of a Life - Genesis 9:1-17

Copyright February 3, 2019 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

Someone as written, "Even the best of men are only men at best." It is a reminder we are sinful people. And even the best people will sometimes disappoint us.

We need to keep this in mind as we read Genesis 9 today. God gives some general instructions and then we read an odd story about Noah and his drunkenness. It is easy to be disappointed with Noah, however, even though he was a faithful man he was still a sinful being.

Before we get into the story of Noah and his sons, let's look at the first part of the passage.

Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. 2All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. 3I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.

5“And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. 6If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image. 7Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”

8Then God told Noah and his sons, 9“I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF LIFE

In the first 4 verses of Genesis 9, God reaffirmed his instructions to Adam and Eve. He told the family of Noah once again that they were to rule over the earth. This time they were given to eat the animals for food. HOWEVER, they were not to eat like barbarians with the lifeblood still in it! They were not to start eating the animal as soon as they had killed it. Instead they were to drain the blood. Later, draining the blood of the animal being sacrificed was instituted as one of the laws of sacrifice at the altar. Later He teaches us that the life of an animal/individual is in the blood. So, as long as blood was in the animal there was a sense in which it was still “alive.”

This may seem like a silly command, but God is not only regulating conduct, he is showing how valuable life is. And that takes us to the next paragraph. Though human beings could kill animals for food, they must not kill people. The command here is about murder. If one human was murdered, there had to be two witnesses before someone could be condemned.

I suspect you catch the irony of saying if you murder someone you should be executed. The command was simple: it was meant to be a deterrent for those who thought about harming others. It is like surgery to remove cancer. Just as it is important to respect the lives of animals . . . so much more are we to respect the lives of human beings! A lack of respect toward other people was to be treated as a capital offense worthy of ending that person’s life.

It is important once again to point out this command against murder, even applies to the unborn. Listen to these words from Exodus 21:22-25.

22“Now suppose two men are fighting, and in the process they accidentally strike a pregnant woman so she gives birth prematurely. If no further injury results, the man who struck the woman must pay the amount of compensation the woman’s husband demands and the judges approve. 23But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, 24an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, 25a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.

The point of the passage is: God wants us to value life, even life in the womb. If someone harms a baby in the womb, they were to be punished as if they had killed an adult. The value of life always seems to begin eroding on the edges; pre-born babies and residents in the nursing homes, those with birth defects an those with terminal diseases. If we do not value the life of such people, it won't be long before your life will not be valued either. It could be because of your racial background, your religious beliefs, your sexual preferences, or even your gender. If all life is not valued, then we are all living our lives on quicksand.

What happens next in the account of Noah leaves us scratching our heads wondering where we made the sudden turn that brought us here.

20After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. 21One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. 23Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.

24When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. 25Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham:

“May Canaan be cursed!

May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”

26Then Noah said,

“May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed,

and may Canaan be his servant!

27May God expand the territory of Japheth!

May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem,

and may Canaan be his servant.”

28Noah lived another 350 years after the great flood. 29He lived 950 years, and then he died.

Noah and Ham

This passage raises many questions, but I want you to notice something before we try to unravel this seemingly bizarre story. This account is good evidence that the Bible is a historical account under the direction of God and not men.

If this book had been a human production, the fall of Noah would have been eliminated from the story. Recording his failure would have seemed to only draw attention away from His faithfulness. There is no effort here to justify or even explain Noah's sin. There are no excuses. Bible characters are recorded warts and all. This is a tribute to the Bible as the Word of God. God does not shade the truth. In the Bible we read about

Abraham lying about his wife

How Jacob deceived his father

Joseph as a little braggard in front of his brothers

Moses resistance when God called

David committing adultery with the wife of one of his most loyal soldiers

Solomon’s problem with women

Peter’s denial of Christ and his lack of impulse control

Thomas doubting the resurrection of Jesus

Paul as a fierce opponent of Christianity before his conversion.

Human characters in the Bible are presented accurately, including their failures. The Bible is not trying to sell us something, it is telling us the truth about the way God loved and pursued sinful, needy, and broken people and what He can do through those people if we would trust Him.

With that said, we want to know: What happened and what is deal with the curse on Ham and his son Cannan? We are told he planted a vineyard and then "enjoyed the fruit of his harvest, getting drunk.” The text makes it sound like these events happened right after the flood. However, that is not what it says, and it does not make any sense. This event would have taken place several years after the flood. It takes a few years for a vineyard to grow and several years for grapes to ferment and turn into wine.

So, Noah's actions are not a response to the Flood and spending an entire year on a ship with his family caring for a boatload of animals. His actions are what they would be for you or me: an act of excess. Noah drank too much and passed out. Throughout the Bible, drunkenness is condemned as a loss of control to a substance. There are no excuses in the text. His actions aren’t excused by the fact that he and his family were starting all over. Noah, today, would likely have been labeled with PTSD after the horrors of the flood. The Bible offers no excuse Noah. He lost control and he was wrong.

So Noah is in his tend passed out drunk and for some reason unclothed when his son Ham came into the tent (perhaps he had business with his dad). He saw his dad naked and told his brothers about it.

Now, no one wants to see their parents naked! But why was Noah so angry? People have come up with all kinds of explanations. Some said, Ham was intimate with his mom; others say he castrated his dad, some say Ham engaged in a homosexual act with his dad. These are all wild theories of warped imaginations.

What is more likely is Ham saw his father and then came out and reported it to his brothers and was making fun of his dad. Again, we don't think of this as a big deal, but the Ten Commandments expressly state we are to honor our father and mother. So, the point is really the same as earlier in the chapter. It is about respecting life and respecting those who are entrusted with guiding those lives.

The lack of respect in the home is a sign of a culture in trouble. When there is an unraveling of respect in the home it will permeate many other areas of life. There will be a lack of respect for government officials (you don't have to like the person in the office, but we should respect the office). This will be followed by a lack of respect for teachers, law enforcement officers, the military, and eventually this will seep into relationships with each other. When respect is gone, lawlessness is not far behind.

Shem and Japheth showed honor to their dad by holding up a robe, backing up, and covering their dad in a way that preserved his dignity and honor. God blessed Shem (who would be the father of Abraham and the Jewish nation) and Japheth. He did not however did not curse Ham . . . he cursed his son Canaan! Did Canaan participate in his father's act of disrespect? Was it actually Cannan who was ridiculing Noah? Did Ham fail to restrain his son? Or was God telling Ham this act of disrespect was going to continue on through his son for many generations.

On a side but important note: there is ridiculous notion that since many of Ham’s descendants were those who lived in Africa, this means people of darker pigmentation was cursed also. This notion was embraced for too long as a justification for slavery and deep-seated prejudice. It is one of the anchors of the White Supremacists. The curse was against Canaan, who lived in the middle east! When we use this passage to justify treating some people as naturally inferior to others, we have missed the whole point of the chapter! The theme throughout the chapter is the value and respect due to people.

CONCLUSIONS

This is another of those "odd" passages in the Bible. The question is: why is it in the Bible? In the Bible we see the good and bad in people, which helps us to confront our own issues. I think there may be several other reasons.

First, Even the best of men fails. It is a mistake to put people on a pedestal whether it is a leader, celebrity, parent, or even friend. Such is the case with Noah. There was never anything that suggested Noah was sinless. He was respected by the world around him as a man of God. And he was a man of God. But even men of God, are only men.

People cannot bring joy and fulfillment to our lives. That is too much to expect of any human being. We are all frail creatures. The only one who can bring us fulfillment and purpose, the only One who can fill that void, is the Lord. To put a person in the position that is God's alone is idolatry. And this is the danger of some of the Christian "celebrities" of today. We do them no favors when we put them on pedestals. Sometimes they believe they are as great as everyone thinks they are, and this is when those people are most prone to grievous sin. It is essential we crave humility and seek only the Lord for our needs. We must remind ourselves that were it not for the grace of God, we would be able to do nothing and be lost forever in our sins.

Second, because everyone sins, we should never gloat over the failures of another. It is always tempting to feel you are in a superior position because someone has sinned. You might even say to yourself, "I would never do that." The person who fell, likely, at one time, said the same thing.

When we see someone beaten up by failure (even when it was because of their own foolishness) that is the time for us to show compassion rather than judgment. Each time someone falls it is a reminder of how vulnerable we are. It is a reminder to stay close to the Lord, so we can defend against temptation.

When we adopt a position of self-righteousness we are opening ourselves to temptation even as we condemn the falling into sin of others! So, who do you know who is being shunned by other believers because of their failure? Who do you know who is convinced God would never love them after the mess they have made of things? If possible, draw near to that person. They need a friend. They need someone to show them how to confess their sin and find forgiveness. They need someone who will walk with them on the lonely road of rejection. They may need help finding a job, or a place to live. There is no time when we are more like Jesus than when we are there to help someone pick up the broken pieces of their lives.

Finally, we see People are to be valued rather than used. People should be valued and treated with respect. To try to capitalize on someone else's failure or misfortune is foolishness. To treat someone as worthless reveals more about a person's character than they would like to have revealed. There are all kind of these people

The person who tries to take advantage of a marriage problem, trying to steal someone away from someone else.

The person who seeks to exploit a business struggle.

The person who repeats something unflattering about another person so they can feel superior.

The person who tries to make money off of another person's misfortune by raising prices on basic items.

The person who distorts the message of the gospel to get more people for their group and feed their own ego.

Such people are not showing respect for others. They only care about themselves.

But let's go a little deeper. There is disrespect shown by those who abuse others (physically, sexually, and verbally). There is a lack of value shown by those who enlist others in sex-trafficking and those who produce and pedal pornography. We lack respect when we treat others as less valuable because of their race or religion, or gender.

What else would lead someone to beat or exploit a child? What other explanation is there for those who beat or otherwise abuse their spouses and treat them as objects for their pleasure and amusement rather than as people of worth? How else do you explain hating someone simply because of the way they look?

We live in a day of labels. We want to put people in categories and then rank the value of the various categories. For believers there is only one category: “Made in the image of God.” It doesn't matter whether the person is in the White House or prison; confined to a wheelchair or the star athlete; someone making a high six-figure salary or minimum wage. ALL People matter to God! We are all valued in His sight.

One of the ways to value people is to notice them. Show appreciation for their service. Listen to their stories. Mine the wisdom that exists in each person. Learn their name; find out about their dreams, see where they stand with Christ. If you do this, you will unearth some incredible treasures. If we value a person, we will make an effort to tell them about Jesus. And best of all, if we start to treat all people with respect and value, we will start to see the fingerprint of God everywhere.

So perhaps this is not such an odd passage after all. Maybe it is exactly what we need to hear.