Genesis 9.18-23-Noah's Drunkenness
Sunday October 2, 2005
Genesis: Genesis 9:18-23-Noah’s Drunkenness
Lesson # 37
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 9:18.
This morning we will study Genesis 9:18-23, which records Noah’s drunkenness.
Genesis 9:18, “Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.”
Genesis 9:19, “These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.”
The Bible is very explicit and emphatic that men living in the world and all its various races are descended from Noah through his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth (see Genesis 10:32; Acts 17:26).
All the physical characteristics of the different nations and races must therefore, have been present in the genetic constitutions of these six people who came through the Flood in the Ark.
Somehow, by the regular mechanisms of genetics-variation, recombination-all the various groups of nations and races must have developed from this beginning.
Genesis 9:20, “Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard.”
Noah is the first recorded vineyard planter in the Bible and the Ark landed in the area of Armenia, which in the ancient world was famous for its vineyards (Xenophon, Anabasis 4.4.9).
Genesis 9:21, “He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.”
“Wine” is the noun yayin (/y!y^) (yah-yin), which is the usual Hebrew word for a fermented grape and clearly refers to an intoxicating beverage when used in excess.
Winemaking begins when the grapes are harvested in August and September where workers cut off the clusters with special knives and collect them in baskets.
Sometimes the grapes are left in the sun as much as two weeks in order to increase the sugar content, but most often they are dumped immediately into the winepress.
A winepress consisted of two round or rectangular basins, carved from rock or dug in the ground, then sealed with pitch.
The larger basin where the grapes were actually squeezed might measure 75 square feet, with a depth of 8 to 12 inches.
It would be deeper on one end where a trough allowed the juice to pour into a smaller catch basin, perhaps three feet or more deep.
Barefoot men would tread the grapes (Isa. 16:10; Jer. 48:33) or large stones would be used to weigh them down.
Sometimes the workers would use a pressing beam, which is a beam of wood with one end inserted in the rim of the basin and a large round stone tied on the other end, so that a lever action could be used to press down on the grapes.
Once the juice had drained into the catch basin, it was transferred to earthenware pots (Jer. 13:12) or wineskins made from goat or lamb skins (Josh. 9:4, 13).
Fermentation would begin within six to twelve hours and after fermentation was completed the wine was not to be left in the original containers with the lees, or residue at the bottom.
It was poured or siphoned through a cloth filter into a permanent storage vessel.
Wine jugs were often labeled with the kind of wine or the place of origin.
The Arabs invented distillation during the Middle Ages, thus Old Testament wine was not fortified with extra alcohol.
In natural wines, the percentage of alcohol is limited to half of the percentage of the sugar in the juice and when alcohol content reaches more than 10-11 percent, it kills the yeast cells, so that fermentation ceases.
Ancient wines were probably 7-10 percent alcohol, which is still enough to cause drunkenness as in the case of Noah.
Wine is often linked with pleasure in the Old Testament (Psa. 104:15; Ecc. 10:19) and was a normal part of feasts as well as being used as a drink offering when worshipping the Lord (Ex. 29:40; Lev. 23:13; Num. 15:5, 7, 10; 28:14).
Wine could be used by Israel when rejoicing before the Lord in connection with the feasts of Israel (Deut. 14:26) and our Lord’s first miracle was related to wine where in Cana He turned water into wine (Jn. 2:1-12).
A number of passages warn against the dangers of drunkenness since it causes people to stagger (Ps. 107:27; Prov. 23:34), it makes them sick (Is. 28:8; Jer. 25:27), it makes the eyes red (Prov. 23:29), it puts a person into a stupor (Jer. 51:39, 57), it makes a person poor (Prov. 23:21), it interferes with a leader’s work (Prov. 31:4f).
Proverbs 23:29, “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?”
Proverbs 23:30, “Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine.”
Proverbs 23:31, “Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.”
Proverbs 23:32, “At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.”
Proverbs 23:33, “Your eyes will see strange things and your mind will utter perverse things.”
Proverbs 23:34, “And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.”
Proverbs 23:35, “They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.”
The foolishness of drunkenness is shown by the examples of Noah (Gen. 9:21), Lot (Gen. 19:31-38), Nabal (1 Sam. 25:36-39), David (2 Sam. 11:13), Absalom (2 Sam. 13:28) and Belshazzar (Dan. 5:2).
The Bible does “not” prohibit drinking alcohol but it “does” prohibit drunkenness.
Ephesians 5:18, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”
Believers are not to associate with believers who are drunks (1 Cor. 5:9-11).
Drunkenness is a manifestation of the old Adamic sin nature (Gal. 5:19-21).
Genesis 9:21, “He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.”
“Uncovered himself” is the hithpael (reflexive stem) form of the verb galah (hlG) (gaw-law), which indicates that Noah undressed himself, thus refuting those who claim that Ham unclothed Noah and had homosexual relations with Noah.
Genesis 9:22, “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.”
The phrase “saw the nakedness of his father” does “not” mean that Ham was involved with Noah sexually since Noah was naked already and if he was involved sexually with Noah the Hebrew would have had the hiphil (causative) stem of galah and be translated “he (Ham) uncovered his father’s nakedness.”
In the ancient world, seeing one’s father naked was a breach of family ethic and the sanctity of the family was destroyed and the strength of the father was made a mockery.
Ham’s response to his father’s nakedness was one of rebellion and “not” one of respect for his father but rather disrespect since he went and told his brothers rather than covering his father as his brothers Shem and Japheth would later do.
Evidently, Ham had a long hidden resentment of his father’s authority and character and integrity and apparently, he had a rebellious side to his nature, which is manifested by his treatment of his father.
Ham did not honor his father whereas his brothers did.
Exodus 20:12, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.”
When Ham saw his father drunk and asleep naked, he told his two brothers about the news instead of covering his father up and his father’s failure.
1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”
Ham’s actions not only revealed resentment and rebellion towards his father but also more importantly it revealed his resentment toward God, which was a character trait that manifested itself in his descendants.
Ham’s descendants, the Canaanites, developed into seven nations in Canaan (Deut. 7:1) and were idolatrous (Deut. 29:17), involved in the occult (Deut. 18:9-10) and gross immorality (Lev. 18), which archaeology confirms.
Genesis 9:23, “But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness.”
Shem and Japheth honor their father and love him, which is demonstrated by taking a garment and laying it upon their shoulders and walking backward and with their faces turned away, they covered their father’s nakedness.
They did “not’ rebuke Ham verbally but rather their actions served as a much stronger rebuke.
This leads us to the communion service, therefore, could we have our deacons pass out the communion elements and let us take a few minutes to mediate upon the Lord and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is a commandment given by the Lord Jesus Christ to every church age believer to bring into remembrance His Unique Person and Finished Work on the Cross, both of which serve as the basis for fellowship with God and each other as members of the Body of Christ.
In the communion service, the bread portrays the sinless humanity of Christ, which was sacrificed for us and the wine portrays His spiritual death as our Substitute, both of which serve as the basis for fellowship with God and each other.
Luke 22:7, “Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.”
Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread as a unit constituted the most important of the 3 great annual feasts or festivals of Israel.
The Passover is documented in Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23 commemorating the final plague in Egypt in which the 1st born of the Egyptians died, but the Israelites were spared by the blood on the doorposts and lintel (Ex. 12:11, 21, 27, 43, 48) and was observed in the 1st month, which was Nisan, on the 14th day at twilight between 3-6pm (Lev. 23:5).
The head of every Jewish family chose a male lamb without blemish on the 10th of the 1st month called Nisan (Ex. 12:3l; 1 Pet. 1:18-19) and killed it on the 14th of Nisan (12:6) with none of its bones broken.
The impeccable human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ literally fulfilled the Jewish Passover when He was sacrificed on the 14th day of Nisan.
1 Corinthians 5:7, “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”
Luke 22:8, “And Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it.’”
Luke 22:9, “They said to Him, ‘Where do You want us to prepare it?’”
Luke 22:10, “And He said to them, ‘When you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house that he enters.’”
Luke 22:11, “And you shall say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, ‘Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’”
Luke 22:12, “And he will show you a large, furnished upper room; prepare it there.”
Luke 22:13, “And they left and found everything just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.”
Luke 22:14, “When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.”
Luke 22:15, “And He said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’”
Luke 22:16, “for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
Luke 22:17, “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves.’”
Luke 22:18, “for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”
Luke 22:19, “And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”
Luke 22:20, “And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.’”