After the flood narrative Noah, who apparently was quite the gardener plants a vineyard, ferments the grapes, drinks the wine (too much wine), gets schnockered and then passes out naked in his tent. His son Ham walks in on him and sees him in all his miserable glory, and goes to find his brothers Shem and Japheth to tell them about dad. It feels like a moment in a frat house: Connor, after a heavy night of drinking, passes out face down in the bathroom buck naked. Aiden walks in and sees him, laughs, goes...
After the flood narrative Noah, who apparently was quite the gardener plants a vineyard, ferments the grapes, drinks the wine (too much wine), gets schnockered and then passes out naked in his tent. His son Ham walks in on him and sees him in all his miserable glory, and goes to find his brothers Shem and Japheth to tell them about dad. It feels like a moment in a frat house: Connor, after a heavy night of drinking, passes out face down in the bathroom buck naked. Aiden walks in and sees him, laughs, goes to get his phone because he’s absolutely got to get a picture of this, and he tells Justin because he’ll think it’s hilarious!
That aside, Shem and Japheth find little humor in the situation, put a blanket over their shoulders, walk into the tent backward so as not to see their father’s nakedness, and lay it over him. The next morning Noah hears about Ham and is furious. He says, “Cursed be Canaan!” Canaan being one of Ham’s boys. Interesting isn’t it? Why Canaan? Why not one of his other sons - say Cush or Egypt or Put. Canaan didn’t see Noah naked, Ham did. Not only did Noah curse Canaan, he praised Japheth and Shem (Abram was his descendant) - blessing them. So this hatred of Canaan goes way back, and the praise of the Shem goes way back too.
We see this trend through the Hebrew Scriptures. The prophets and the people of Israel really pile it on Canaan, but not just him. Ham’s descendants include people from Babylon, Assyria (Nineveh anyone?), Egypt was the father of … well Egypt the brutal slave overlords, the Philistines (the longtime nemesis of Israel) and Sidon, the Hittites, Jebusites, Girgashites, Hivite, Arkites, Amorites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. All of them enemies of the God and his people. This rift and hatred runs deep - generations deep. But then comes Jesus.
Jesus goes through Sidon, a big no-no. It’s there he encounters a Phoenician woman … and who else was a Phoenician woman from Sidon? Jezebel; the woman who epitomized all the evil that came from Ham’s lineage. And what does Jesus do? He heals her daughter and praises her faith. It’s no wonder then people from Sidon bring their sick to Jesus to be healed. Jesus even says it’s going to be better for Sidon than for the people of Israel … better to be Ham than Japheth.
This points toward a way to help us understand the Bible and God and all the violence. Simply put: if it doesn’t look like Jesus then it’s not an accurate picture of God. Because Jesus is the very face of God who is love. It is through him, his life, teaching and love that we come to know God. So what if that is what we gave ourselves to?
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