Genesis 9:18

The Bible says in Genesis 9:18-19, “And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.” It is important to notice that Canaan is mentioned here. Ham had four sons, and Canaan was the last of the four, so why is Canaan mentioned and not the others? The reason that Canaan is mentioned is because Canaan was given the land that today we call Palestine and Israel (and parts of Jordan, Syria, and Iraq). We know that the unfolding of God’s revelation to man was centered in and around this land. Many great promises of God have been and will be fulfilled there. The Children of Israel would live there. And most importantly the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would be born there and would live there, and would die there for the sins of the world. Jesus will come back there at His Second Coming also. Therefore, as soon as Noah and his sons stepped off of the ark, the land of Canaan immediately took the spot-light. God had great plans for Canaan, and the way that God’s plans had already started working out will be explained to us in great detail in the book of Genesis starting in Genesis chapter 9. Keep your eyes on what happens in that land. God is not finished with it yet.

The Bible says in Genesis 9:20-27, “And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.” In this passage of scripture we have two lessons to learn: one about nakedness and one about alcohol. The lesson about alcohol is given in Genesis 9:21 that says, “And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.” This incident would never have happened if the alcoholic beverage had not been consumed. The main reason not to drink alcoholic beverages is because alcohol alters human behavior. People will do things that they otherwise would not have done except for the alcohol. It is hard enough to do the right thing when you have your own faculties about you. If you are impaired by alcohol or any other drug, you will fail in one way or another.

This passage makes it clear that human beings should not look at the naked bodies of other human beings. There are a few exceptions to this such as with mother and child, and husband and wife. The human body is beautiful, but it should always be modestly appareled. God clothed Adam and Eve when they came out of the Garden of Eden. And we see in this passage that a great judgment came against Canaan because of this violation. Canaan’s uncontrolled attraction to nakedness probably led to other sexual sins. Shem and Japheth did the right thing. It says in Genesis 9:23, “And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.” If you want to please the holy Father and His Son Jesus Christ, then do the same thing that Shem and Japheth did: take care to avoid looking at naked bodies whether they be in magazines or in movies or on websites or anywhere else. To defy the will of God can bring terrible penalties, and long-lasting penalties.

Notice that Ham committed the sin related to nakedness and looking on nakedness, but then the judgment was pronounced against his fourth son, Canaan. Perhaps the immoral tendencies in Ham were picked up by Canaan, and therefore the long-term judgments came against Canaan. Sodom and Gomorrah were cities in Canaan, and we know that they were characterized by great immorality. So were the rest of the peoples that the children of Israel eventually chased out of that land by the will of God.

In Genesis 9:25 it is very important that a false teaching about this passage of scripture be uncovered. The false teaching relates to an attempted justification that was once given for racial prejudice. For many decades large numbers of preachers in the Southern United States tried to justify the racial prejudices of their societies, and this passage in Genesis chapter 9 was one of the primary Bible passages that was used. It was a typical misuse of scripture. These preachers and other so-called Christians had their pre-conceived ideas, and they forced the Scripture into their ideas. Let us look at how they distorted this passage to twist its meaning, to justify their racial prejudices, and to mislead many unwise people.

The false teachers used Genesis 9:25 that says, “And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” These false teachers were trying to justify the enslavement of black people just because they were black. They were trying to justify holding back black people from freedom, education, and opportunity. It was a shameful misuse of scripture and it resulted in a shameful and destructive period in American history. Millions of people listened to the teachings and believed them and passed them on. This all happened because some people were mislead or willingly listened to false teachers instead of studying the scriptures for themselves, and seeking the Lord’s will for themselves. In Genesis 9:25 the false teachers took this judgment against Canaan and twisted it into a judgment against Ham and all of his descendents. The false teachers point out that Ham’s descendents went into Africa. For example, Cush went to central Africa, and Mizraim went to what we call Egypt today. Because Ham’s descendents went to Africa, the racists claimed that the judgment was pronounced on black people because black people came from Africa originally. The racists then assumed a false idea and deliberately twisted the Word of God to say that black people were meant to be servants and are less capable because of the judgment pronounced against Ham. They also falsely asserted that black people were meant to be servants, and that blacks did not deserve the same freedom and opportunities that whites received. But the important thing to remember from a Biblical standpoint is that the judgment was not pronounced against Ham. The judgment was pronounced against Canaan, and Canaan did not go to Africa. These racists were not only wrong from an ethical and a common-sense perspective, they were also wrong from a Biblical perspective.

Racial prejudices of any sort are contrary to the Word of God. Every person was created in the image of God, and God loves each one of us. All human beings are equal in many ways. Every person is related to Adam and Eve, and has inherited a sinful nature from them. Jesus died on the cross for every person. Every person gets saved the same way: through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Once a person gets saved through faith in Christ, that person becomes a member of the Family of God and is a brother and sister to everyone else that is saved through faith in Christ, and we all will live happily together forever in heaven. That is equality. Any teaching that takes away from this great truth about equality is a teaching that takes away from the truth of the Bible.

The Bible says in Genesis 9:28-10:10, “And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died. Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” It is important to notice that in this list of descendants of Japheth and Ham, only Nimrod is spoken of in detail. What is it about Nimrod that was so important? The Bible says concerning Nimrod that “the beginning of his kingdom was Babel…” This is the first time that the word “kingdom” is used in the Bible, because it is the first kingdom that was established by man. This kingdom was the kingdom of Babel. The word “Babel” gives us the word “Babylon.” And the word “Babel” means “confusion.”

In Genesis chapter 9 the Bible tells us about the beginning of the kingdom of Babylon, and the book of Revelation tells us about the end of the kingdom of Babylon. Why was this kingdom such a terrible kingdom? What was it about Nimrod that made him desire to establish a “kingdom?” A kingdom is a dominion. In order to have a kingdom, there must be someone who rules over the kingdom. It says about Nimrod in Genesis 10:8-9, “He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore, it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.” To say that someone is a “mighty hunter” in this context is an emphasis on the fact that he was very energetic at pursuing, capturing, and killing. Evidently Nimrod took this characteristic and used it to establish a dominion over people and land. This desire to control and to dominate was the basis for the establishment of Babylon. As we look at the history of the human race, the establishment of human kingdoms all started in Genesis with the Kingdom of Babylon. These human kingdoms have failed. We see the Kingdom of Babylon one last time in the book of Revelation. It will also fail and will be destroyed. God is not pleased with people who have attempted to control and dominate others. We see people with these controlling characteristics in almost every church, every business, and every government. They desire power and control, and they energetically go after it. It says about Babylon in Revelation 17:1-5, “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither: I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters; With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forhead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” An explanation of the “many waters” is given in Revelation 17:15 that says, “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” Nimrod started the domination of the kingdom of Babylon. Man’s competitiveness and drive for power and control has continued throughout the course of human history, and will find their final and greatest fulfillment in the Kingdom of Babylon as described in Revelation chapter 17.

Never forget that the word “babel” or “babylon” means “confusion.” A kingdom based upon one human controlling and dominating others creates trouble and confusion because such actions and behavior go against the will of God for the human race. God’s will for the human race is that everyone becomes a child of God. God’s will is that we learn to live on this earth as brothers and sisters in Christ. Genesis 10:9 says two times that Nimrod was “a mighty hunter before the LORD.” Notice the phrase “before the LORD.” That means that the LORD was carefully watching what was going on. Of Course, we know that the Lord sees everything that is taking place. Nothing escapes His gaze. That is why Paul wrote in Second Timothy 4:1, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” The Kingdom of Christ is the kingdom that people should aspire to build and to become a part of. The kingdoms built by men, including the kingdom of Babylon, will all have the same destiny: judgment and destruction. Jesus said in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

The rest of Genesis chapter 10 continues to give the genealogy of the descendents of Noah after the great flood. Genesis 10:32 sums this up by saying, “These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.” One interesting circumstance about all of these people is the fact that everyone spoke the same language. It says in Genesis 11:1, “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.”

At this point in the book of Genesis several generations had passed since the flood. The sons of Noah were fruitful, and they multiplied and replenished the earth. The first kingdom, the kingdom of Babylon, had already been established by the aggression of Nimrod and his desire to control and to dominate others. Everyone in the world spoke one language. And then the Bible says in Genesis 11:2-4, “And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” The motivation for building the tower of Babel was the same as all false religion: they thought that they could reach heaven through their own efforts. But man cannot attain to God through man’s work or man’s own efforts. The way to God is through faith in Jesus Christ. It says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

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