Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Genesis 9:18-23 (NIV)
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth. 20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded [a] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.
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3 comments:
I wonder if Ham saw his father's nakedness accidently or on purpose...Maybe he should just have kept it to himself rather thank talking to his brothers about his father's nakedness. I think it's really wise of Shem and Japheth to cover their father's nakedness with the garment very carefully, not exposing it as a an act of shame. I also pray that I have the right wisdom and judgment in my every day life. Too often, I make immature and unwise decisions that cause me to sin toward God and bring trouble upon myself. I want to pray more and meditate more and seek His wisdom.
I personally don't see what the big deal is here. It isn't like this was some stranger or a woman. It is you own dad sleeping drunk naked. What is so shameful? He is sleeping in his tent. The only thing I see is that there was no point in telling other brothers about this. Ham should have just covered his dad with a blanket and let him rest rather than go tell his brothers. But who knows, Ham could've been an immature person and thought it was funny.
Nakedness often is connected with shame in the Bible. As Adam and Eve saw they were naked after they ate the tree of knowledge and tried to hid their bodies.
I still don't understand why Ham gets cursed. What has he really done? Is it so wrong to see your dad naked?
I think that nakedness represents shame throughout. After Adam and Eve had sinned toward God, they were now exposed to the world and came to realize they were naked... To have seen it accidentally and involuntarily would not have been a crime. But I believe that he pleased himself with the sight. Otherwise he would not have told his two other brothers about it.
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