Genesis 9.24-29-Noah's Prophecy Concerning His Three Sons

Tuesday October 4, 2005

Genesis: Genesis 9:24-29-Noah’s Prophecy Concerning His Three Sons

Lesson # 38

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 9:24.

On Sunday morning, we studied Genesis 9:19-23, which records the incident of Noah getting drunk on wine and taking off his clothes and passing out in his tent.

While Noah was passed out and naked, his son Ham went in to Noah’s tent and saw his father naked, which was disrespect to the authority of the father in the ancient world but instead of covering up his father, Ham spread word to his brother Shem and Japheth who responded appropriately by covering up Noah’s nakedness.

This evening we will study Genesis 9:24-27, which records Noah’s prophecies concerning the descendants of his three sons, which foreshadow Israel’s history and that of world history, and which prophecies were in response to the actions of his three sons in dealing with his drunkenness and nakedness.

Genesis 9:24, “When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.”

The phrase “his youngest son” is a poor translation and does “not” refer to Ham’s youngest son Canaan (Gen. 10:6) but rather to Noah’s “younger” son Ham since Genesis 9:22 clearly teaches that Ham and not his youngest son Canaan had saw Noah drunk and naked in his tent.

“Youngest” is the adjective qatan (/fq) (kaw-tawn), which should be translated “younger” since Ham was “not” the youngest but rather Japheth since in the Bible, the names of children are listed in the order in which they were born.

In the book of Genesis and 1 Chronicles 1-2, the names of children are listed in the order in which they were born, thus, the phrase “Shem, Ham and Japheth” appears in Genesis 5:32, 6:10, 7:13, 9:18, 10:1 and 1 Chronicles 1:4, indicating that Shem was the oldest followed by Ham and then Japheth as the youngest.

The fact that Shem is the older brother of Japheth is confirmed in Genesis 10:21.

The fact that the names of children are listed in the order in which they were born would indicate that “Canaan” was the “youngest” son of Ham according to Genesis 10:6.

The fact that the names of Ham’s sons were listed in the order in which they were born would indicate clearly that Ham was “not” the youngest of Noah’s three sons since in Genesis 5:32, 6:10, 7:13, 9:18, 10:1 and 1 Chronicles 1:4 all list Ham as the second son of Noah.

Therefore, it would be a completely inconsistent interpretation to place Canaan as the youngest son of Ham and to “not” place Japheth as the youngest son of Noah with Ham in the middle and Shem as the oldest.

Genesis 9:25, “So he said, ‘Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.’”

“Cursed” is the passive form of the verb `arar (rr^a*) (aw-rar), which is a declaration of punishment upon Ham’s youngest son Canaan’s descendants as a result of Ham’s disobedience.

The descendants of Canaan are listed in Genesis 10:15-20 and 1 Chronicles 1:13-16.

“His brothers” is a reference to the descendants of Shem as indicated by the phrase “let Canaan be his (Shem’s) servant” in Genesis 9:26 and is also a reference to the descendants of Japheth as indicated by the phrase “let Canaan be his (Japheth’s) servant” in Genesis 9:27.

The descendants of Shem are recorded in Genesis 10:22-31, and 1 Chronicles 1:17-27 whereas the descendants of Japheth are recorded in Genesis 10:2-5 and 1 Chronicles 1:5-7.

Genesis 9:25 is a revelation of the decree of God, which is His eternal and immutable will regarding the future of the descendants of Canaan who were the descendants of Noah’s youngest son Ham.

This decree is simply a declaration of God’s sovereign will that is based upon His omniscient knowledge of all the facts concerning what will take place in the future concerning Canaan’s descendants.

Noah does “not” pronounce a curse upon Ham but rather his youngest son Canaan since it would be Canaan’s descendants, the Canaanites who according to the Bible were idolatrous and involved in gross immorality and the occult.

Noah was “not” punishing Ham’s youngest son Canaan for what Ham did but rather simply issuing a prophecy concerning the nation of Canaanites that would come from Ham through Canaan.

The Canaanites would not suffer the curse and the bondage because of the sins of Ham but rather because of their own sins.

God was simply looking down the corridors of time and in His omniscience saw what would take place in the future in regards to the descendants of Canaan and the through Noah, the Holy Spirit revealed this to Noah’s sons.

The phrase “servant of servants he shall be to his brothers” refers to universal or worldwide servitude since Noah predicted that Canaan would be both a “servant” to Shem and Japheth meaning that the Canaanites would be servants to not only one nation or one other group of nations but to “all” other nations.

Remember, all the nations existing today descended from Noah’s three sons, therefore, when Noah says that Canaan would serve his brothers, he means that their servitude would be universal.

The Jews originate from Shem, and one branch of the Gentiles (non-Jews) originates from Japheth and another from Ham.

The nations that originate from Shem include the Jews, Arabs, Syrians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, etc.

The nations that originate from Japheth include the nations of Greece, Rome, the great nations of Europe, and later America as well as the great Asian nations throughout history.

The nations that originate from Ham include the Egyptians, Sumerians, and Phoenicians, the great Africa nations such as Ethiopia as well as the Hittites and Canaanites.

Genesis 9:25-27 was written on behalf of Israel and the history of the Canaanites would be of great interest to Israel since the Lord had promised Israel the land of the Canaanites.

The enslavement of the Canaanites took place early on in the days of Abraham according to Genesis 14 where the Canaanites were enslaved by the eastern kings.

The Lord used the nation of Israel under Joshua to pour out His judgment upon the Canaanites for their immoral degeneracy (Gen. 15:16; 19:5; Lev. 18; 20; Deut. 12:31).

The Canaanites were defeated on the battlefield, destroyed, or integrated with other nations or enslaved to Israel (Gen. 14:1-16; 15:18-21; Ex. 3:7-10; Deut. 1-3; Josh. 10-19).

Therefore, Genesis 9:24-29 sets the stage or lays the foundation for Israel’s foreign policy in the land (Deut. 20:16-18).

Now, we must remember that this curse upon Canaan was conditional meaning that any Canaanite who placed their faith in the God of Israel, Jesus Christ, could escape it.

An example is Rahab the harlot who was a Canaanite and placed her faith in the God of Israel, Jesus Christ and after a period of purification, was brought into Israel’s society.

Genesis 9:26, “He also said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.’”

“Blessed” is the passive voice of the verb barakh (Ir^B*) (bah-rach), which is used to praise the Lord for the covenant relationship that He decreed would take place between the descendants of Shem (namely, Israel who is descended from Shem) and Himself.

The prophecy of Genesis 9:26 would be of great interest to Israel to whom Moses wrote the book of Genesis since Israel descended from

Shem and it would be an encouragement to Israel to trust the promise of God that He would give them the land of Canaan.

The nation of Israel originates from Noah’s oldest son, Shem according to a comparison of the genealogies listed in Genesis 10 and 1 Chronicles 1:1-2:8.

1 Chronicles 1:5-7 lists the descendants of Japheth and then 1 Chronicles 1:8-16 lists the descendants of Ham and lastly 1 Chronicles 1:17-27 lists the descendants of Shem up to Abraham and then only the line of Shem continues forward.

1 Chronicles 1:28 records that Abraham had two sons Isaac and Ishmael and 1 Chronicles 1:34 records that Isaac had a son called Israel who is also known as Jacob and 1 Chronicles 2:1-2 records the twelve sons of Israel from whom the nation of Israel originates.

This prophecy in Genesis 9:26 was fulfilled when the Canaanites were defeated on the battlefield by Israel under Joshua and were thus destroyed, or integrated with other nations or enslaved to Israel (Gen. 14:1-16; Deut. 1-3; Josh. 10-19).

In Genesis 9:26, the covenant name of God is used by Moses, which is Yahweh, “Lord” since this prophecy concerning the descendants of Shem would be directly related to the Palestinian covenant that the Lord made with Israel that stipulated that He would give to Israel the land of Canaan.

The Palestinian covenant was “unconditional” meaning it depended upon the Lord’s faithfulness to Israel who promised land to them, which will be literally fulfilled during the millennial reign of Christ (Gen. 13:14-15; 15:18; 26:3-4; 35:12; Ex. 6:2-8; Num. 34:1-2; Deut. 30:1-9; Josh. 1:2-4).

The land grant has boundaries on the Mediterranean, on Aegean Sea, on Euphrates River and the Nile River.

In Genesis 9:26, the covenant name of God is used by Moses, which is Yahweh, “Lord” since this prophecy indicates that the descendants of Shem would have a covenant relationship with the Triune God through faith and that the Messiah-Savior in His human nature who is Jesus Christ, would be a descendant of Shem.

Therefore, the prophecy of Genesis 9:26 expands upon the prophecy of Genesis 3:15, giving us more information regarding the promised “Seed” (Jesus Christ) and in particular that in His human nature He would come through the line of Shem, which is recorded in Luke 3:23-38.

This prophecy in Genesis 9:26 is the first indication that God is electing the line of Shem to rule the earth, which was God’s original purpose for man according to Genesis 1:26-28 and that the line of Shem would produce the promised “Seed” and fulfill the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 to crush the head of the serpent, Satan.

Genesis 9:27, “May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

Notice that Moses does “not” use the covenant name of God Yahweh, “Lord” but rather he uses Elohim, “God,” which refers to the sovereignty of God over human history implying that there is no creature or thing that will be able to prevent this prophecy concerning the Japhethites from being fulfilled.

In Genesis 9:27, the verb pathah, “enlarge” and the proper noun yepheth, “Japheth” is a paronomasia referring to the fact that the Japhethites would be enlarged spiritually or be made spiritually prosperous because they would share in the blessings of the Shemites from whom the Messiah would originate.

It does “not” refer to a geographical enlargement since both the Shemites and Hamites have spread geographically as far as the Japhethites.

“He (descendants of Japheth) will dwell in the tents of Shem” implies that the descendants of Japheth (Gentiles) would share in the blessings of Shem meaning that they would share in the blessings bestowed upon Israel because the Messiah would come from her.

After the Lord Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father, ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, regenerate Israel received the baptism of the Spirit (Acts 2) and received every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3-14).

The Japhethites or who Gentiles displaced Israel when Peter followed by Paul turned from unregenerate Israel to the Gentiles who like the regenerate Jews received the baptism of the Spirit (Acts 10; 13:44-52; 14:27; 18:6).

Spiritual displacement is in view here in Genesis 9:27, thus, today the heirs of Abraham’s covenants are mostly Gentiles.

This is illustrated by Paul’s metaphor in Romans 11:17.

Romans 11:17, “But if some of the branches were broken off (unsaved Israel), and you, being a wild olive (Gentiles), were grafted in (saved through faith in Christ) among them (born again Israel) and became partaker with them (born again Israel) of the rich root (Christ) of the olive tree (Israel).”

Apart from the preservation of an elect remnant within racial or ethnic Israel, ethnic or racial divisions or distinctions no longer exist during the church age according to 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Galatians 3:26-28.

The church includes the Ethiopian eunuch (Ham) (Acts 8:25-40), Peter (Mt. 16) and Paul (Shem) (Acts 9) and Cornelius (Japheth) (Acts 10).

God is no respecter of a person’s ethnic origin but only of his or her spiritual condition and in God’s household, there is none who is unclean (Acts 10) and in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile for all are Abraham’s seed through faith in Christ (Gal. 3:26-29).

Genesis 9:28-29 records Noah’s epitaph.

Genesis 9:28, “Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.”

Genesis 9:29, “So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.”

Noah lived longer than any of his ancestors with the exception of Jared who died at the age of 962 years old and Methuselah who died at the age of 969 years old.

The genealogical record of Noah begun in Genesis 6:9 is completed here in Genesis 9:29.