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Demonstrate A Fully Obedient Faith
Develop a Mature Faith
Understanding God’s Purpose For the Family
Genesis 9:11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
Genesis 9:12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: :13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. Genesis 9:14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; Genesis 9:15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
What are your thoughts about this sign?
Genesis 9:16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” :17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Genesis 9:18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. :19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
Genesis 9:20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. :21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.
This is the first mention of wine in the Bible; but it was not the first occasion of drinking (Mt 24:38), so Noah must have known the effects of drinking. What can we learn from this?
Genesis 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
Genesis 9:23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
Genesis 9:24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. :25 Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.”
When he awoke, Noah pronounced a curse on Canaan. The question arises, “Why did the curse fall on Canaan instead of Ham?” One possible explanation is that the evil tendency which was manifested in Ham was even more pronounced in Canaan.
The curse was thus a prophecy of his immoral conduct and its fitting punishment.
Another explanation is that Canaan himself committed some vulgar act against his grandfather, and that Noah later became aware of it. Noah knew what his younger son had done to him.
It may be that verse 24 refers to Canaan as Noah’s youngest grandson, rather than to Ham as his younger son. In the Bible, “son” often means “grandson” or other descendant. In this event, Canaan was not cursed for his father’s sin, but for his own.
Yet another possibility is that God’s grace allowed Noah to curse only a small segment of Ham’s descendants and not a possible third of the human race.
Genesis 9:26 And he said: “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. :27 May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.” :28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. :29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
Canaan was cursed to serve Shem and Japheth. The Canaanites’ servitude to the Israelites may be seen in Joshua 9:23 and Judges 1:28. This passage has been used to suggest the slavery of the black people, but there is absolutely no support for this view.
Canaan was the ancestor of the Canaanites, who dwelt in the Holy Land before Israel arrived. There is no evidence that they were black people.
Shem and Japheth were blessed with dominion. Verse 27 may suggest Japheth’s sharing in spiritual blessings through Shem’s descendants, the Israelites.
There is a dispute as to whether Shem or Japheth was the oldest son of Noah. Chapter 10:21 may read “Shem the brother of Japheth the elder” or “Shem … the older brother of Japheth” (NKJV marg.). The latter is the preferred reading. Shem appears first in the genealogies of Genesis 5:32 and 1 Chronicles 1:4.
Tell it to Your Children - Psalm 78 - A Contemplation Of Asaph.
“God’s ways in grace and Israel’s ways in perverseness”—that is how Bellett sums up the message of this Psalm. It is one of the great songs of Israel’s history. Its purpose is to teach us to learn from the past, so that we will not be condemned to relive it. As a people, what are some things do you feel that we haven’t learned from the past?
Psalm 78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
As the psalmist calls his people to listen to the history of Israel, he begs them, incline your ears to the words of my mouth, i.e., bow your stiff necks and stretch forward to catch every word.
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Psalm 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, :3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.
Their history was a living allegory to the Israelites and a source of spiritual truth to all who followed, for 1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
These enigmas of antiquity (Heb chidot) are, literally, riddles . We see this same word used in Judges 14:12 Then Samson said to them, “Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.
Here, the enigmas seem to be the historical facts mentioned in the subsequent part of the psalm, which will help unravel in the minds of the Israelites the method of God’s dealings with them.
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
Psalm 78:4 We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
We must tell this generation of the wonders of God! We must give testimony of what He has done in our lives. How can this be done?
Psalm 78:5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children;
God had established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel that from generation to generation there would be oral transmission of the divine dealings with Israel. There was to be absolute continuity throughout the years in this instruction process.
Psalm 78:6 That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children,
Macdonald, Farstad Grady Scott, Hindson, E. MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006).
