Noah and his family have to learn how to make new lives in a vastly changed world. They don't start out very well.
"The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth." (Genesis 9:18-19) Later in Genesis we will be provided with a more detailed accounting of the descendants of these three sons.
"Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside of his tent." (Genesis 9:20-21) Noah was a farmer before the flood. We don't know whether he'd ever grown grapes before, but the way these two verses are worded I tend to think he had never drunk fermented grape juice before, or at least I don't think grape juice produced before the flood was as intoxicating as it was after the flood. Some scientists think that conditions on the pre-flood earth didn't lend themselves easily to fermentation since perhaps food didn't spoil very quickly prior to the flood. Whatever the case, the intoxication Noah experienced appears to have taken him by surprise so that now he is lying passed out in his tent without his clothes on.
"Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside." (Genesis 9:22) Some scholars believe that Ham took some sort of sexual liberties with his father, since the word that is translated as "uncovered" in verse 21 is translated in Leviticus 18 as "unlawful sexual relations". Did Ham molest his unconscious father? Or did he jokingly pose his unconscious father in some sort of suggestive position? There are Bible scholars who think there was more involved here than Ham merely happening to walk in on his drunken and naked father.
On the other hand, in the Bible to be "uncovered" can also mean to have one's sin exposed or one's shame to be made known to the public. Personally I think it is less likely that Ham molested his father than that he laughed at and disrespected his father. I get the feeling it amused him greatly to be able to run out of the tent, find his brothers, and share the story of his father's shame with them. I think something in Ham's heart already despised his father long before the day Noah became drunk. I wouldn't be surprised if Ham despised his father for his faith. Up until now we've only been told noble things about Noah. It could be that Ham thought his father could do no wrong and now he's, delighted to catch his father in a disgraceful condition. Some people who despise Christians are delighted when a Christian makes a mistake. They run to tell whoever they can find that so-and-so has messed up horribly. It pleases them to find out that Christians make mistakes too, as if becoming a Christian automatically makes a person infallible. It doesn't. It makes a person redeemed. It ought to make a person more godly. But it doesn't make a person perfect. Yet there are certain types of unbelievers who relish hearing bad news about Christians and who use the mistakes of Christians as "proof" that following Christ is pointless.
Shem and Japheth are horrified by the news delivered by their brother. They don't want their father to be shamed and disrespected. "But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked." (Genesis 9:22-23) Which is more honorable: to publish the news of someone's shame or to respectfully keep silent? Well, what does the Lord do when we bring our sin and shame to Him? He covers it, doesn't He? He doesn't publish the news of our mistake far and wide, but instead He covers it---figuratively---with the atoning blood of His son's sacrifice so that our sin can be seen no more. This is what Shem and Japheth do for their father's sin and shame. They cover it so it can't be seen. Thousands of years before Christ was born, and thousands of years before the slogan "What Would Jesus Do?" became popular, these two men are doing what Jesus would do. They are mercifully offering a covering for their father's sin and shame.
As Christians we should never feel the urge to publish the news of someone's mistakes. Instead we should extend mercy to them in love, just as the Lord extends mercy to us in love, as the Apostle Peter instructed: "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8) Why did Shem and Japheth cover their father? Because they loved him. Why does the Lord offer us a covering for our sin and shame? Because He loves us. If spreading gossip is our first thought when we see a fellow Christian mess up, we need to repent and let the Lord help us do a better job of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. Something is wrong with us if we take delight in the mistakes of a fellow child of God.
"When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, 'Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.'" (Genesis 9:24-25) Why does Noah pronounce a curse on Ham's son? Was Canaan somehow involved in Ham's disrespect of his father? If so, the Bible doesn't tell us about his involvement. We will find out later in Genesis 10 that Canaan was the fourth son of Ham. We don't know how many years this family has been out of the ark, but it's been long enough for Noah to have grown a productive vineyard. Many years may have passed by before Noah decided to try his hand at winemaking. At first he and his family would have had to get the business of regular agriculture up and running, so it's possible that Ham's son Canaan is a grown man by now. In fact I think he almost certainly was a grown man because it's difficult to picture Noah cursing a child. It may be that Canaan had a similar character as his father, only worse. Perhaps when Noah looked at his grandson Canaan he saw Ham's bad character multiplied tenfold. We don't know why Noah pronounced a curse upon the fourth son of Ham, but there has to be a specific reason for why he would choose Canaan (who is not Ham's firstborn) for the curse of being subservient to the rest of the family. If Canaan grew up seeing his father disrespect Noah, it would be natural for Canaan to be a disrespectful man. This could be an example of a person reaping what he sows: Ham has despised his father's faith and has disrespected him, but now one of Ham's own sons is a spiteful and disrespectful man who no doubt looks down on Ham and has little or no regard for him.
In return for the mercy they showed their father in his weakness, Noah pronounces a blessing upon Shem and Japheth. "He also said, 'Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend Japheth's territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.'" (Genesis 9:26-27) Noah praises God for giving Shem a merciful heart. Right here we see the primary difference between Shem and his brother Ham. Noah calls the Lord "the God of Shem". Shem serves the Lord. He walks faithfully with God just like his father Noah. Because Shem lives in close relationship with the Lord, he has done what the Lord would do. Because Shem has been more honorable than his brother Ham, the descendants of Ham will serve Shem and his family. Shem is also blessed in another way: the Redeemer will come from his line. The One whose merciful, sin-covering actions Shem mimicked here in Genesis 9 will be one of Shem's descendants.
We don't know whether Japheth walked faithfully with the Lord like his brother Shem, but he was willing to follow his brother's godly example. He was willing to help his brother respectfully cover the shame of Noah, so Noah says that the blessings of Shem will overflow onto Japheth. The eldest son was usually the primary heir of his father's estate, so Shem will inherit the vast majority of everything that belongs to Noah, but Shem is to use these riches to provide for his brother and his brother's family. Japheth, because of the mercy and respect he has shown to his father, and because he did what the Lord would do, will share in his elder brother's inheritance.
"After the flood Noah lived 350 years. Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died." (Genesis 9:28-29) Lifespans immediately following the flood are still what they were prior to the flood, but soon we will begin to see them decrease. It is thought by a number of Bible scholars and scientists who are believers that God used the changed environment following the flood to reduce the lifespans of humans. In 900 years a wicked person could do a lot of evil things, so God is going to reduce lifespans so that by the time we get to Moses we will find him living only 120 years. By the time we get to King David we will find him living only 70 years. It's only by advances in medical science and by access to nutritious food and clean water that lifespans today are moving more toward 100 again. Without good healthcare and without fresh clean water and without enough food to provide everything our bodies need, we would naturally pass away at a much younger age due to malnutrition or disease.
I don't know about you, but the thought of living 900 years in this world makes me feel weary. That's a long time to witness the wickedness of man on this earth. That's a long time to wait before seeing the face of our Lord. I can't help feeling thankful that the Lord isn't going to make my sojourn on this planet as long as the sojourns of the people of Genesis. I'm going to be on my way to someplace far better far sooner. I'm going to behold the face of my Redeemer in less than a century---probably in less than 50 years since I'm about to turn 50 in January. Short as this life may seem to us in our day, as this old world waxes worse and worse I don't think we could endure 900 years here. I think our hearts would shatter into a million pieces if we had to witness centuries of sin that's going to get worse every day instead of better. The Lord is going to spare us that.
The prophet Isaiah once pointed out that unbelievers were looking at the death of God's children all wrong. No doubt some unbelievers rejoiced when righteous people passed away, but Isaiah said they were rejoicing for the wrong reasons. Unbelievers were troubled by the godly lives of the righteous. The godly lives of the righteous bothered the consciences of the wicked, so it was a relief to the wicked when those who were godly examples passed on. But Isaiah looks at this situation from another viewpoint. He says that when the Lord removes a righteous person from the earth, He is taking that person to a far better place. It's something to rejoice about alright, but not for the reasons the wicked think. When a faithful follower of the Lord goes home to be with Him, we are to rejoice that they are in His presence forever and that they will no longer have to endure the troubles and trials of this world. "The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil." (Isaiah 57:1)
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