Thursday, April 24, 2008
Genesis 9:24-28 (NIV)
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." 26 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. [b] 27 May God extend the territory of Japheth [c] ; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his [d] slave." 28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.
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2 comments:
The lowest of slaves - That is, the meanest and most despicable servant shall he be, even to his brothers.
The God of Shem - All blessings are included in this. This was the blessing conferred on Abraham and his seed, the God of heaven was not ashamed to be called their God.
It's interesting to see two extremes - curse & blessing in one paragraph. I also don't understand why God punishes Ham so severely because of this one incident with his father's nakedness. However, who are we to complain about God's decisions and His actions? We should just be thankful that we live in the "Age of Grace" where we receive forgiveness for our sins when we seek Him.
Wow, such harsh punishment. It probably was severe enough to be punished this way. It is as if the authority was given to Noah to be able to bless or curse his children. We can see these occurrence through out the Old Testament. The blessing from father is quite important.
Could Ham apologized and repented? Would that have saved his generations? I do think if there was a sincere repentance, God would have removed or lessen the curse. Just as Cain pleaded with God, I'm sure Ham could've also. However we don't hear anything about this and Noah dies. I guess Ham never humbled himself and realized what he had done but perhaps only blame his father's cruelness towards him.
Like EBSFellow said I'm thankful that we live in the age of grace. However I should be always mindful of Christ before I act so that I don't start to abuse the grace which God has poured me with the greatest price paid.
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