Sermon(Gen 9:20-27) : The blessed vs. the cursed

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025286525

 

 

Scripture reading: Gen 9:20-27

 

>> 20 Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; 21 and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers." 26 He also said, "Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. 27 God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave." <<

 

Everyone wants to be respected and to be in a higher position. This mind is one side of the image of God. God was in a flame and spoke to Moses. “Don't come any closer. Take off your shoes.” And God set a boundary around Mount Sinai and ordered that anyone who would cross the boundary be put to death. Most of all, God said those who saw his face would not survive. Thus, under certain circumstances, you can hurt the deserved dignity and majesty of someone if you approach and see him directly.

 

Today's passage is an episode of some time after Noah left the ark. Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, had children, and Noah became a farmer and built a vineyard. Noah knew how to make wine, and he liked to make wine from grapes and to be heavily drunk. That day, he was drunk and, being undressed, slept. And the second son Ham saw his father's naked body and told his elder brother Shem and his younger brother Japheth about it. “Father drank wine. Taking off clothes, he is sleeping. How shameful!” So Shem and Japheth walked backward with clothes and covered their father. They covered him with clothes because the scene looked a bit embarrassing and he might feel cold.

 

By the way, Ham's sons are Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan (Gen 10:6). Noah was awakened and learned what had happened. And Noah cursed Canaan, the youngest son of his second son Ham. “Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers. (v. 25)” The descendants of Canaan appear from v. 15 to v. 20. And they are roughly Sidon, Heth, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites. And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon, in the direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha (v. 19). Then, what curse did these Canaanites receive? In the days of Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah were cursed by God, and fire came down from heaven and completely destroyed and ruined the two villages. And in the days of Moses and Joshua, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites were conquered and destroyed by the israelites, the descendants of Abraham who was a descendant of Shem (Ex 34:11). Those who narrowly survived would become slaves to conquerors. Summarizing their lives, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah did homosexuality, and the Canaanites who were killed or driven away by Israelites from their native land had sex with beasts and committed incest, and burned their children as offering to idols. Their ancestor, Canaan, had been cursed by his grandfather. And their life corrupted to the last degree; eventually most of them were killed and others were enslaved.

 

But the other children of Ham were not cursed like Canaan. Egypt, for example, became a great power (a kingdom), and so did Cush (Ethiopia). This makes a clear distinction between Canaan, who was cursed by his grandfather, Noah, and his brothers, who were not. We can see from history that Noah's curse was not just a bluff. Then why did Noah curse the offspring of his second son Ham? It wouldn't have been a sin if Ham had happened to see his father's naked body and had not told his brothers about it. You are guilty if you see another's naked body secretly and say to him, "I saw your naked body." Because my dignity is hurt if another man sees my nakedness on purpose, and because I feel offensiveness and indignity even if another man sees my nakedness by accident and tells me that he saw it. Furthermore, to say to others, " I saw someone's nakedness " would be a serious defamation against him. Ham became a sinner because he told his brothers that he had seen his father's naked body. Because, when many people think Noah's son Ham has seen his father's naked body, Noah's authority over Ham is compromised, and so is his authority over others. His son Ham showed no regrets for having seriously compromised father's honor and authority, so Noah declared punishment to Canaan, one of the sons of Ham, to keep his authority as father. Brethren, please do not undermine the authority and dignity of others. In particular, if you deliberately undermine the authority that God has ordained, you will be cursed as Ham was. This is the age of the Internet, and there are a lot of pornographs. You may be cursed(^_^) like Ham if you like to see someone else's nude photographs, so be careful. Even though an insane woman sells her nude photographs to make money, it is not innocent to see her nude pictures because seeing her nakedness in the pictures will put her parents to an indelible shame.

 

My beloved Brethren, a blessing for Shem and Japheth was declared by their father Noah. “Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. (v. 26-27)” The genealogy of Shem leads to Abraham, the Israelites and Jesus. Jesus, the God, appears as a descendant of Shem. Abraham became the blessing for all, and people are blessed through him. Anyone who believes in Jesus, a descendent of Abraham, as the Savior gains eternal life. Japheth was also blessed to be very thriving. Then why did God give such an excessive blessing to the sons of Shem and Japheth? Do you think it was because they covered another's sin? Many like to draw a conclusion from the incident of Noah's nakedness that he who covers up another's sin will be blessed like Shem and Japheth, which is a serious illusion. Shem and Japheth were so blessed not that they covered up others' sins, but that they respected their father's dignity. Brethren, is it a sin for Noah to drink wine and take off his clothes and sleep? Is Noah's nudity itself a sin? In this incident of Noah's wine, sin is not covered, but is disclosed to all. The only sin in this case was the act of Ham, and his deed was throughly known to all and throughly punished! Brethren, was Achan's sin concealed? No one knew his sin, but God by lot made him known as a sinner to all Israelites, and he was severely punished. What are you trying to do by covering up others' sins? Especially, what do you expect from covering up the sins of those who continue to commit such filthy sins now? one man, Achan, sinned, and God left all Israel, so they could not conquer a little castle Ai, but were defeated. Sin cannot be with God. We can expect God's help and blessing when the sins of individuals, families, churches, societies, and nation are discovered and removed. Sin makes people, homes, churches and society corrupt. Therefore, sins of all unrepentant men must be revealed and thrown away into the trash can. Of course, when a man mourns for his sins and repents, he is no more a sinner, so it is love to cover his past transgressions. “Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Pet 4:8)” Love leads us to life. If a man repents his sin and begs forgiveness, we must pardon him and regard him as sinless. But love never covers a living active sin with a black cloth. Such attitude is not a love but a hate to let the sinner die. Love is never a shield of sin. What I really want to say to Korean Christianity in this era is this: Do not ignore the sins in the church! It's by no means love. It corrupts individuals, homes and churches and destroys Christianity. No words in the whole Bible overlooked the sins people hadn't repented as if nothing had happened.

 

The relationship between parents and children is given us by God, and the good children are those who honor parents who gave birth to them and respect parents' dignity. (We Koreans call a good son a hyoja(효자). A hyoja loves, honors, supports his parents faithfully.) God promised such good sons, saying, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you. (Ex 20:12)" What we must pay attention to is 'God of Shem'. (The verse 26 of the Hebrew text can be translated as 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem.') Shem is the eldest son of Noah. I'm sure that Shem as the eldest son said to his younger brother Japheth, "We should walk backward because it is not right for us to see your father's nakedness." God wanted to be the God of Shem who was of such devout filial affection and of such good leadership as elder brother. Shem's younger brothers can see God indirectly through him. God is worshiped through Shem and blesses him with many blessings. Shem's brothers receive God's blessings secondarily through Shem. “God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem (v. 27)” Shem's younger brother, Japheth, enjoys the blessings of God with Shem, because of Shem, in the land of Shem, in the house of Shem. Having much blessed by God with the power of heaven and earth, Shem distributes what he has received from God to many. Shem is the forefather of Abraham, the origin of blessing.

 

Brethren, be like Shem. Please honor your parents every day truly. Who is a man honoring parents? Those who honor God also honor their parents. You can love and honor others as long as you have the reverence of God the Creator in your heart. Shem esteemed another's honor. He made an effort to walk backward, and covered his father's nakedness. God protects the honor of the man who always respects another's honor and esteems him like that. Shem became the head (the first) of the brothers. on the other hand, Ham who had defamed another man became the tail (the last). Especially we Koreans love to talk about others. If it were a sound talk, who would criticize it? once several married women get together, they begin to speak ill of another woman, an absentee. There is a 'yes!'-unit among them without exception. When a woman starts to slander the absentee, other women agree to that slander, joyfully yelling, "Yes, Yes! You're right!" He who likes to go around advertising the weak points and faults of someone to the neighbors must be careful not to be punished later like Noah's son Ham. To backbite someone who is absent is a mean act; to praise the absentee is a noble deed. God is pleased when Christians do noble deeds.

    

The sons of Shem are Elam, Asshur (Assyria), Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram (Syria) (Gen 10:22). By the way, Abraham's ancestor was Arpachshad, and Abraham's descendents were slaves of Egyptians, the descendants of Ham, for 430 years. The descendants of the other sons of Shem were blessed by God and prospered where they lived. But at that time, of the descendants of Shem, those who were to be God's elect had to serve Egypt, the descendants of Ham, hard as slaves. It is an irony of history and shows that God's blessing is not so simple. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob led a sad life as strangers in the land of Canaan, and after 430 years of slavery in Egypt the descendants of Jacob conquered the land of Canaan, where the descendants of Ham's youngest son, Canaan, had lived. After that, Israel lived under a heavy oppression among the nations, that is Egypt, the south kingdom, and Syria and Assyria, the north kingdoms. Eventually, the North Israel was destroyed by Assyria, and Judah was destroyed by Babylon that followed Assyria, and they all were taken prisoner. After that, Israelites returned home after many years of heavy suffering.

 

However, those who were chosen as God's people among the descendants of Shem have been at the center of the world salvation history, although they have suffered such hardships. I can roughly summarize today's preach as follows. Of the descendants of Noah, especially Abraham and his descendants lived a life of strangers and slaves and then established a theocratic nation and became the center of the salvation of mankind, but especially the descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, were cursed, then lived a life of vicious idolatry and sexual perversion, then were throughly destroyed, while the rest of the descendants of Noah built small and large countries and lived a common life.

 

The Canaanites were the ones who were engaged in fanatical idolatry that permitted people to burn their children to idols, homosexuality, bestiality, incest, and adultery. We must know that those who are cursed by God will live such life. We must also know that those who are blessed by God may live in this world as strangers, and sometimes may live a hard life such as slavery. However, we must know that, after such years of suffering, those blessed people will be one with God, and will enjoy the eternal blessing that God is their God and they are his children.

 

May you fear God and love and respect your parents and others so that you receive the blessing of Shem.

 

Chong Tack Kim

 

                                   - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -

 

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