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Survey of Bible History
A Chronological Bible Curriculum
Cain and Abel through
The Tower of Babel
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

Lesson 23

Lesson Aim: to briefly examine the genealogical roots of all of earth's peoples.

Preparatory Daily Bible Readings:

Monday: Genesis 9:18-10:32
Tuesday: I John 1:8, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:9-10,19,23, Isaiah 53:6
Wednesday: Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 4:1-8, Titus 3:5
Thursday: I Kings 9:20-21, Ezekiel 38:2, Psalm 105:23,27, Psalm 106:23, Exodus 15:15, Judges 3:1, Psalm 135:11, Luke 3:23-38
Friday: Exodus 29:40, Leviticus 23:13, Numbers 15:5,7,10, Numbers 28:7-15
Saturday: II Samuel 16:2, Psalm 104:15, Proverbs 31:6, I Timothy 5:23
Sunday: Proverbs 23:29-35, Proverbs 20:1, Ephesians 5:18, I Corinthians 10:12

LESSON OUTLINE

I. NOAH AFTER THE FLOOD. (Genesis 9:18-29)

A. The reality of Noah’s sinfulness is revealed in his drunkenness. (Genesis 9:20-21)

1. Shortly after the Flood, Noah planted a vineyard. (Genesis 9:20) In process of time, the vineyard matured and produced grapes from which Noah made wine. Husbandry, which is the business of running a farm,¹ became his occupation.

2. Rather than limit the product of the grape to its rightful use,he became drunken on the wine made from his grapes. (Genesis 9:21)

3. Noah’s folly and sin in this matter is a great warning and lesson to every person.

a. In view of God’s goodness and deliverance to Noah and in view of God’s vivid and harsh judgment of sin with the Flood, it would seem that praise, thanksgiving and faithful obedience to God would have been the hallmarks of Noah’s life. Yet, he planted a vineyard and became drunken on its wine.

Noah is a picture of the weakness and sinful nature that characterizes every man. In spite of God’s goodness, all men, even believers, fail. (I John 1:8, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:9, 10, 19, 23, Isaiah 53:6) Salvation is not achieved nor maintained by man’s goodness or perfection. It is predicated solely upon the grace of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 4:1-8, Titus 3:5) Let every person refrain from a self-righteous, judgmental, Pharisaical spirit. (I Corinthians 10:12) Noah is a testimony to the reality of sin in every mortal life.

b. Noah is also a great warning against abuse of the provisions of God. With each blessing of life comes responsibility. Food, sex, money and freedom in Christ are great blessings from God, yet can be abused by gluttony, fornication and adultery, greed and materialism, and an unbridled lifestyle void of godly standards. God gave Noah grapes with their many products, including wine. Wine was to be used in the worship of God (Exodus 29:40, Leviticus 23:13, Numbers 15:5,7, 10, Numbers 28:7-15) and for medicinal and stimulation purposes (II Samuel 16:2, Psalm 104:15, Proverbs 31:6, I Timothy 5:23), yet wine has the power to overcome and make fools of people. (Proverbs 23:29-35, Proverbs 20:1, Ephesians 5:18) Rather than accept the provision of God responsibly and use it as God intended, Noah sinned greatly and shamed himself by abusing the provision of God.

4. The honesty and integrity of the Bible are well illustrated in this event in the life of Noah. As seen here, even the sins of the greatest Bible heros are not covered. They are true illustrations of the nature and practice of all men.

B. In connection with Noah’s sin, Canaan was cursed. (Genesis 9:22-27)

1. In his drunken state, Noah became uncovered or naked within his tent. While he was in this compromising condition, his son Ham came into the tent and stood gazing with apparent satisfaction at the shame and disgrace of his father. The word "saw" in this context implies "gazed at," evidently with satisfaction. When Ham reported father’s condition to his brothers, he did so with delight.² There is no firm evidence to conclude that Ham experienced any type of sexual contact with Noah. His sin seemed rooted in a heart of rebellion against his father and the authority and restraint which had been exercised against him. Ultimately the rebellion in his heart was against God. His witnessing of this weakness in his father, who had stood so strongly for so long, seemed to evoke a sense of liberation and satisfaction in Ham. Respect was lost. He seemed pleased at the prospect that he could now go about a compromised lifestyle without the inhibiting effect of his father’s testimony, which had stood so long as a testimony for righteousness and against sin. The loss of his father’s testimony seemed to greatly please him.

2. As a result of Ham’s encounter with Noah, and his attitude which the event revealed, Noah issued a prophetic curse against Canaan, Ham’s son. (Genesis 9:25-27)

It appears that Canaan was already walking in the rebellious, self-willed steps of his father.³ The curse was one of servitude. Canaan and his offsprings would, as a whole people, be servants to other. It appears that the curse on Canaan extended in large measure to his father’s entire family. The descendants of Canaan historically have particularly fulfilled this prophecy. They were later partially exterminated, plus partly subjected to the lowest form of slavery by the Israelites. (I Kings 9:20-21) The Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Egyptians all belonged to the family of Canaan. They were subjected by the descendants of Japheth, the Persians, the Macedonians and the Romans.⁴ The history of the world verifies that certain races of men have a record of being primarily subjects and not conquerors. The descendants of Shem and Japheth have traditionally been conquerors and rulers while the Hamites have traditionally been the conquered.⁵

It should be noted that all of the descendants of Ham do not fit neatly into the mold of physical subjection. The role of servitude may include general service to mankind. The Hamites have led in many ways in this regard.⁶

C. After a long and illustrious life, Noah died. (Genesis 9:29)

1. The length of Noah’s life was 950 years.

2. It is note-worthy that Noah lived 350 years after the Flood without fathering additional children. The entire population of the earth came from Japheth, Shem and Ham. (Genesis 9:19)

3. It is also interesting to note that Abraham was born only two years after Noah died, and that Shem, who lived 502 years after the Flood, lived almost to the death of Abraham.⁷

III. THE THREE SONS OF NOAH AND THEIR OFFSPRINGS. (Genesis 10)

A. Genesis 10, known as the Table of Nations, is the one link between the antediluvian times of Noah and the historic nations of antiquity.

1. This table has no comparison. There is no other document like it. It is unparalleled in comprehensiveness and accuracy.

2. This record appears to have been kept by Shem, who seemed to lose touch with the descendants of Ham and Japheth after three generations, but who kept up with his own family for 6 generations, which about the time of his death.⁸

B. The descendants of Japheth. (Genesis 10:2-5)

1. Gomer.

Historical writings and monuments identify Gomer with the area north of the Black Sea, Germany, Wales, Denmark and Armenia. The Turks are probably descendants from Gomer.

2. Magog, Meshech and Tubal.

Magog’s descendants have been connected to Georgia, a region near the Black Sea. Ezekiel 38:2 closely associates Magog to Meshech and Tubal, two other sons of Japheth. Meshech is the preserved of Muskovi, the former name of Russia and Moscow. These three sons of Japheth are the fathers of the Russian peoples.

3. Madai.

Madai is the father of the Persians. The Indian peoples trace their lineage to the Persians.

4. Javan is the original form of Greece. Javan is the father of the Greeks.

5. Tiras fathered the Thracians and possibly the Etruscans of Italy.⁹

C. The descendants of Ham. (Genesis 10:6-20)

1. Cush is clearly Ethiopia.¹⁰ Cush is the father of the Arabians and Ethiopians. Some of the sons of Cush migrated southwest across Arabia into the region of the Sudan.

One of the sons of Cush was Nimrod. Nimrod was the founder of the cities of Babylon and Nineveh.(Genesis 10:10) Babel is in the Tigris-Euphrates River (Mesopotamia) valley north of the Persian in what is currently Iraq. The name Nimrod means "Let us rebel."¹¹ He was "a mighty hunter," not only of dangerous wild animals, but particularly of men. He sought out men to depart from the judgments of the Lord and to adhere to his own judgments. Nimrod established a great, God-rejecting empire in the Tigris-Euphrates valley.¹²

2. Mizraim is the father of the Egyptians.¹³ Psalm 105:23, 27 and Psalm 106:22 specifically call Egypt "the land of Ham." It is noteworthy that the Philistines, who later moved from Crete to the south-western area of Palestine, came from Mizraim. (Genesis 10:13-14)

3. Phut is the Bible name for Libya. Phut is the father of the north African areas west of Egypt.¹⁴

4. Canaan is the father of the Canaanite peoples whose land bears his name. (Exodus 15:15, Judges 3:1, Psalm 135:11) This is the land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.

Two sons of Canaan stand out in particular. They are Sidon, father of the Phoenicians and Heth, the father of the Hittites. The Hittites migrated eastward and established a great empire in Asia Minor. Later these people moved farther eastward to become the Mongoloid peoples of the Far East.¹⁵ It is possible that these people reached North and South America by way of the Bering Sea land bridge which existed during the Ice Age.¹⁶

D. The descendants of Shem. (Genesis 10:21-31)

1. Some of the children of Shem migrated to the area of Persia (Shushan) and later merged with the Medes. Asshur appears to have been the founder of the Assyrians. Aram founded the Syrians, whose Aramaic language became the predominant language of the ancient world. ¹⁷

2. Shem is the son of Noah through which the Hebrew nation would come. Abraham came from Shem. In the lineage of Mary, who was the human mother of the body of Jesus Christ and whose genealogical history is given in Luke 3:23-38, Jesus is seen to be a direct descendent of Shem. Note verse 36.

3. Genesis 10:25 says that during the days of Peleg, one of the fourth generation grandsons of Shem, "the earth was divided." Though some think that this is a reference to a division of one land mass into many by the initiation of the continental drift, such hardly seems the case. It would seem more plausible that the continents were essentially in place by the end of the Flood, moving only in accord with present rates since that time. The division which occurred during the days of Peleg was apparently the division of the language and the subsequent geographical migrations which followed, both of which are explained in greater detail in Genesis 11.

 

FOOTNOTES

1. The Southwestern Company, Webster’s New World Dictionary, Nashville: The World Publishing Co., 1971, page 344.

2. Morris, Henry, The Genesis Record, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976, page 235.

3. Keil, C. F. and Delitzsch, F., Commentary on the Old Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1973, page 157.

4. Ibid., page 158.

5. Rice, John R., In the Beginning, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1975, page 240.

6. Morris, pages 240-241.

7. Rice, page 240.

8. Morris, pages 245-246.

9. Ibid., pages 247-249.

10. Strong, James, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, New York: Abingdon Press, 1958, reference 3568.

11. Morris, page 251.

12. Ibid., pages 252-253.

13. Strong, reference 4714.

14. Morris, page 250.

15. Ibid., pages 254-255.

16. Ibid., page 256.

17. Ibid., pages 258-259.

SUMMARY

With great blessings come great responsibilities. In view of God’s great deliverance of Noah and his family, it would seem that Noah would have lived the rest of his life honoring God in all he did and said. Such was not the case.

Noah is a picture of the weak and sinful nature in every man. In spite of the goodness of God to us, we fail. After the Flood, Noah planted a vineyard, which eventually matured and produced grapes from which Noah made wine. Rather than receive the wine as a blessing from God and use it for its legitimate purposes, Noah abused the wine and became drunken.

The picture of Noah lying naked in his tent in a drunken stupor is not glamorous, yet it is a powerful illustration of God’s means of salvation. In spite of his sin, Noah was still delivered. It is clear that his deliverance did not occur because he was a perfect, sinless man. He obviously was not. As Genesis 6:8 declares, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." The salvation of God is not predicated upon the goodness and ability of man to live without sin; it is predicated upon the grace of God by faith. There is a bit of Noah in each of us. Like him, we have all failed. Not one of us can cast a stone at him or at those around us who fail.

Drunken Noah is also a great warning against abuse of the provisions of God. Wine within itself, like food or sex, is not innately evil; yet it, like the others, has the potential for great misuse and abuse. Wine was given of God for man’s benefit and has proper purposes among which are medicinal uses, certain religious applications and proper stimulation. Wine also has the potential to make people drunk at which time they usually behave irrationally, irresponsibly and as fools. Just as food can be abused in gluttony and sex can be abused in fornication, adultery and homosexual activities, likewise wine is often misused. Let Noah’s fall be a warning to every person to carefully use the provisions of God only in legitimate ways, and let Noah’s case remind each of us that we are not above a fall.

While Noah lay uncovered in his tent, his youngest son, Ham, came for a visit and discovered his father in this sin-compromised condition. It is clear from the context that though Ham was a believer, he carried a spirit of rebellion in his heart. His subjection to his father, and ultimately to God, does not appear to have been whole-hearted. A spirit of resentment was there, and when he saw his father in this drunken condition, he found great satisfaction therein. The restraint on him against his own self-will by the faithful testimony of his father was now removed. He could now yield to his own sinful tendencies and feel justified in so doing. He could excuse himself with the belief that he was just as good as, or better than, his dad.

The sin of Ham does not appear to have been some illicit sexual activity; it was rather a rebellious heart which manifested itself in his great pleasure at the fall of his father. Let every person, who would rejoice in the downfall of another, beware! Ham’s two brothers did not find their father’s fall satisfying at all. They took a cloth and covered their father’s nakedness without looking on him.

When Noah became sober he knew what Ham had done to him. As a result of Ham’s disrespectful attitude and accompanying conduct, Noah issued a prophetic curse upon Ham’s son, Canaan. Actually, the curse, though focused on Canaan, became inclusive of the whole family of Ham. Canaan was singled out because he seems to have had the greatest tendency to rebel against God.

The curse on Canaan was primarily one of servitude. Noah predicted that Canaan’s offsprings would generally be subject to the offsprings of Japheth and Shem. History verifies that this prophecy was accurate. The fulfillment of this prophecy was especially seen in the extermination and subjection of the Canaanite peoples to the Israelites from the time of Joshua to the days of King Solomon.

Noah lived 349 years after the Flood, giving him a life-span of 950 years. Noah lacked only two years living to the birth of Abraham.

The tenth chapter of Genesis is occupied almost exclusively with the offsprings of Noah’s three sons, Japheth, Shem and Ham. Noah had no other sons following the Flood. Genesis 9:19 is careful to point out that the entire earth was populated from Japheth, Shem and Ham. There is no document in all of antiquity comparable to the Table of Nations given in Genesis 10. It is extremely accurate and comprehensive. All of the world’s peoples can be traced from this document, which appears to have been kept by Shem.

The descendants of Japheth, the oldest son, are given first. The peoples north of the Black Sea as well as those in Germany, Denmark, Wales and Armenia are traceable to Japheth through his son, Gomer. The Russian people from around Moscow came from Japheth through Magog, Meshech and Tubal. His son Madai is the father of the Persians, who appear to be the progenitors of the people of India. The Greeks are traceable to Japheth through his son, Javan. His son, Tiras, appears to have fathered the Italians.

From Ham came Cush, the father of the Ethiopians and Arabians. One of the sons of Cush was Nimrod, a particularly godless man. Nimrod moved into the Tigris-Euphrates area and founded the great ancient city of Babel with its multitude of false religious concepts. Nimrod was not only a mighty hunter of animals, he was a hunter of godless men, gathering them into a great empire and alliance against God. Through Ham’s son, Mizraim, came the Egyptians and the Philistines. His son Phut is the father of the North Africans. His most notorious son was Canaan. From Canaan came the many Canaanite peoples who inhabited the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. They were encountered at length by the Israelites throughout most of the history of the Old Testament. One son of Ham stands out in particular. He was named Heth and he was the father of the Hittites. Some of the Hittites migrated westward and eventually became the peoples of the Far East. It is likely that some of these moved across the land bridge during the Ice Age into North America and onward to Central and South America.

From Shem came the Assyrians and the Syrians. These people gave the ancient world the Aramaic language. The Hebrew nation came from Shem. His is the lineage of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 10:25 mentions the fact that the earth was divided during the days of Peleg, one of the sons of Shem. This appears to be a reference to the division of the languages and the subsequent acceleration of geographical divisions of earth’s people which is explained in greater detail in Genesis 11.

QUESTIONS

1. What was Noah’s occupation following the Flood?

2. Discuss Noah’s fall following the Flood.

3. How does drunken Noah represent every person?

4. In what way should Noah’s fall be a warning to you?

5. Discuss the sin of misuse and abuse of which Noah was guilty.

6. Discuss some of the proper uses of wine.

7. Discuss the destructive power of wine misused.

8. Discuss how most good provisions of God can be misused.

9. Discuss the candid way in which the Bible deals with its characters.

10. What did Ham’s encounter with his drunken father reveal about his attitude?

11. What should be one’s attitude toward the fall of another?

12. How did Ham’s discovery of his father’s weakness seem to liberate him?

13. Discuss the prophetic curse on Canaan.

14. What has history proved regarding the curse on Canaan?

15. Summarize the life of Noah.

16. To which three men can all peoples of the earth trace their lineage?

17. Discuss the offspring of Japheth.

18. Discuss the offspring of Ham.

19. Discuss the offspring of Shem.

20. Why is the lineage of Shem so much more important than the lineages of Japheth or Ham?

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"