And Noah began [to be] a husbandman, and planted a vineyard.
Genesis 9 gives Noah a cleansed earth, a covenant, and authority no man had held before. Then the record turns to a vineyard, and to what the head of the new world did with it all.
Everything was in Noah's favour when he stepped onto dry ground. One writer lists what God gave him before the test began.
Noah sits in the new world — gifted and blessed, enriched and honoured, taught too, and appointed as "the power" under God. With all this he is at ease, and knows he is safe, with no evil or enemy present. A new trial of man was going on, under new circumstances. As with Adam in Eden, God leaves nothing undone on His part... And Noah, like the rest, fails. The very first foot that trod the fresh soil of the new world quickly stained it.
Farming is an honest calling. Commentators notice which crop Noah chose, and what came of it.
We may note, in passing, that Noah failed in this covenant, as man always has. Instead of drawing blessings out of the earth by working the soil, he starts to grow the vine, and gets drunk. Through this forgetfulness and fault of his, the true principle of government also lost its force at the very start. Noah held the reins of that government, and one of his sons mocked him.
One writer traces Noah's turn to the soil back to an earlier man.
Noah followed in the way of Cain and turned his attention to the ground, and serious failure followed. And so it is in Christian experience. As soon as we follow Cain's way and become occupied with the earth, Satan traps us in one of his snares.
God had just placed authority over life and death in human hands. The failure lands there.
Noah's work as a farmer was of course commendable, but people can misuse anything and bring trouble. This man had received the dignity of authority in government. Yet he allowed himself too much wine, became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. This illustrates the weakness of human government from its very beginning. Why is human government doomed to fail? Because those in authority fail to exercise self-government. If a man does not rule himself well, how can anyone trust him to rule others?
The man chosen was the best available. That is the sting of it.
God entrusted government over life and death to his keeping. And the man who first received that trust was by far the best fitted for it, in godliness and in experience. Yet look at the very next thing recorded of him. No doubt through self-indulgence and a lack of watchfulness, he not only sinned himself, but brought God's ordinance of government into open dishonour.
People have always tried to explain this episode away. One commentator refuses.
This, truly, was a high position — a place of immense power, privilege, and responsibility. How does Noah carry himself in it? He gets drunk, and degrades himself in front of his sons! Such is the plain, obvious fact. Men may reason as they will. They try to smooth it, soften it, and pare it down. They always do that when a great truth bears down on human pride and self-congratulation. But they cannot set aside the humbling fact that the head of the restored earth got drunk.
Long experience with God is no protection in itself.
Although Noah lived 350 years after he began to be a farmer, his name is never mentioned again... Men did not take notice of him that he had been with the Lord. Satan had won the victory over "the preacher of righteousness." This episode comes home with living power to every Christian, the oldest as well as the youngest. We do well to be watchful. "Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." (1 Cor. 10:12).
The passage does not end in despair, because the failure of the first ruler is a signpost.
Human government is now set up. It shows its weakness, not in the authority given to it, but in the feeble hands that received it. Noah fails to govern himself. So he becomes a picture of the failure of all government. Yet he is also a hint that One is coming who will reign in righteousness and bring blessing through His reign.
- Trial — God left nothing undone: covenant, authority, a cleansed earth. The new world was a fresh test of man, not a fresh kind of man.
- Snare — He turned to the ground, as Cain had, and its fruit trapped him. Good things become snares when we grow occupied with the earth.
- Self-rule — No one can rule others who cannot rule himself. The first man given authority could not govern one man: himself.
- Silence — Noah lived 350 more years and is never named again. One unguarded hour can end a lifetime's testimony.
- Successor — The first ruler failed. He points forward to the One who will reign in righteousness, where man's rule could not stand.
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he uncovered himself in his tent.
God had cleared the earth by the flood and put the sword of government into Noah's hand. The first act recorded of the man He saved is a drunken collapse in his own tent.
The first question is what Noah actually drank.
Several Hebrew words are translated wine. Scripture attaches various words to it — "sweet," "new," "strong," "good," "mixed," "spiced," "on the lees" — yet all are wine. And the wine was intoxicating, as we already see in the days of Noah. Drinking to excess is the abuse of it, and Scripture is full of protests and warnings against such abuse.
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The point is pressed further by noting where the word first appears at all: when yayin is first used in Scripture it carries the sense of fermented grape juice, as this verse and the account of Lot both show.
God had just made Noah responsible for human life and death. He broke down at that very point.
Man fails with government as well as without it — not the governed only, but the governor. Noah, that is, man, proves completely unable to wield the sword in righteousness before God. Whoever governs must first know how to rule himself. But Noah got drunk. And so another point comes out: man must have a ruler, and he clearly cannot be his own master. Part of God's purpose is to show this — to show the absolute need for the Man of His right hand to come and rule the earth.
Nothing dramatic brought Noah down. He was at ease, and off his guard.
This new trial had barely begun when man broke down. He failed at the very point he was responsible to keep intact before God and his fellow men. God had entrusted government over life and death to his keeping. The man who first received that trust was by far the best suited to it, in piety and in experience. Yet the next fact recorded of him is that, no doubt through self-indulgence and lack of watchfulness, he not only sinned himself, but brought God's ordinance of government into open dishonour. And the sin and the dishonour produced no godly sorrow in his own household, but contempt.
God left nothing out on His side.
Noah sits in the new world, endowed and blessed, enriched and honoured. He is instructed too, and appointed as "the power" under God. With all this he is at ease and knows he is safe, with no evil or enemy in sight. A new trial of man was going forward, under new circumstances. As with Adam in Eden, God leaves nothing undone on His part... In Christ, and in Him only, are unfailing faithfulness and strength. And Noah, like the rest, fails. The very first foot that trod the fresh soil of the new world stained it.
The same pattern repeats through the whole Bible.
What a condition to find Noah in — the only righteous man, the preacher of righteousness! What is man? Look at him where you will, and you see only failure. In Eden he fails. On the restored earth he fails. In Canaan he fails. In the Church he fails. In the presence of millennial blessing and glory he fails.
But this failure is not God's whole view of Noah.
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We must look at Noah in two ways: as a picture, and as a man. The picture is full of beauty and meaning, but the man is full of sin and folly... Divine grace had covered all his sins, and clothed him with a spotless robe of righteousness. Though Noah exposed his nakedness, God did not see it. He looked at Noah not in the weakness of his own condition, but in the full power of divine and everlasting righteousness.
Noah's long record of favour and experience did not protect him.
Noah had all this high favour and special experience. Yet as soon as he was left to his own will, he became a slave to lust under Satan's influence. Noah followed in the way of Cain and turned his attention to the ground, and grievous failure followed. So it is in Christian experience. As soon as we become occupied with the earth, Satan traps us in one of his snares. Although Noah lived 350 years after he became a farmer, his name is never mentioned again. He was alive through the whole godless period that ended with the building of the Tower of Babel. Yet his presence did not restrain his descendants... "Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."
- Trust. God handed Noah power over life and death in a cleansed world. He was the best-qualified man, in the best conditions.
- Fall. The wine was real and intoxicating. The man given the sword could not rule himself, and so man needs the Man of God's right hand to rule.
- Cause. He was at ease, with no enemy in sight. Self-indulgence and a lack of watchfulness dishonoured the trust he held.
- Cover. Exposed before his own household, Noah was still clothed before God in a righteousness grace had given him.
- Watch. Long experience gives no protection. The man who is silent for his last 350 years warns anyone who thinks he stands.
And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren outside.
Noah came safely through the flood. Now he lies drunk and uncovered inside his own tent, and what his son Ham does next — first looking, then telling — turns a private failure into public shame.
The failure starts with Noah, not with Ham. The one righteous man of that generation is the first to break down in the new world.
The last part of this chapter shows a humiliating scene. The lord of creation fails to govern himself... What a condition for Noah, the only righteous man, the preacher of righteousness, to be found in. What is man? Look at him wherever you like, and you see only failure. In Eden, he fails; in the restored earth, he fails; in Canaan, he fails; in the Church, he fails.
Ham did not cause the shame he saw. He chose what to do with it, and went outside to tell.
Noah's sin brought God's ordinance of government into open dishonour. In his own household it produced no godly sorrow, but contempt. His younger son Ham had no feeling for God's glory, and none for what he owed his father, even in such a disastrous moment. All he showed was the wickedness of his own heart: he mocked Noah without pity, and he was eager to spread his father's shame and to trap his two brothers. Their reverence was as plain as Ham's lack of it. He forgot to whom he owed his life, and his rescue from the flood.
There is a difference between falling into sin yourself and enjoying someone else's fall.
Noah is put to shame; but Ham, his son, glories in the shame. That was a terrible advance in the progress of evil... This was not simply being "caught in any transgression," but "rejoicing at wrongdoing."
Ham showed contempt for a father who was also a ruler.
Disrespect toward authority is a very grave sin, whether it is a parent's authority or a government's, because God set up both. In the end it leads to setting aside the authority of God, who set it up. Only when we weigh this properly do we see how right Noah's solemn curse was, once he learned what had happened.
Ham's attitude did not die with him.
This is the evil of despising government, which has become very common in the day in which we live (Jude 8). Though governments often fail badly, this gives us no right to reject or disobey proper authority (Romans 13:1-7).
Shem and Japheth saw the same thing and did the opposite. They covered their father, and that act pictures how God Himself deals with human shame.
Divine grace had covered all his sins, and clothed him in a spotless robe of righteousness. Noah exposed his nakedness, but God did not see it. He looked at him not in the weakness of his own condition, but in the full power of divine and everlasting righteousness. So we can see how far astray Ham was in what he did, how totally cut off from God and His thoughts. He knew nothing of the blessedness of the man whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered. Shem and Japheth, by contrast, show in their conduct a fine example of God's own way of dealing with human nakedness.
Love still works the same way.
Love is far from being indifferent to sin. But love does not have to expose sins, or gloat over the failure of others. If possible, love will deal with sins privately, so that they do not needlessly become public. When they are dealt with and judged, love will no longer speak of them or spread them abroad.
The verse names Ham as the father of Canaan, and that is where his sin bears fruit.
The wicked and scornful son reaped the fruit of his evil in his own son Canaan, just as God remembered the reverent modesty of Shem and Japheth in their descendants. Salvation is by grace, and it cannot fail, because it is the work of God in Christ, where God secures everything for His glory. Even where salvation may not be, God puts honour on obedience and on respect paid where it is due.
- Failure — the man God trusted with government could not govern himself. Man fails everywhere God places him.
- Exposure — Ham's guilt was not seeing his father's shame but spreading it. He went beyond falling into sin to enjoying another's fall.
- Contempt — despising a father, or a ruler, is a grave sin, because God set up both. An authority that fails still has a claim on our respect.
- Covering — Shem and Japheth acted the way God acts. Grace had already covered Noah's sin, and love still covers instead of spreading.
- Harvest — Ham's scorn bore fruit in Canaan, and his brothers' reverence bore fruit in their descendants. God honours respect paid where it is due.
And Shem and Japheth took the upper garment and both laid [it] upon their shoulders, and went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned away, that they saw not their father's nakedness.
Two sons walk backward with a garment between them, so they never see their father lying exposed. Ham had just done the opposite, and commentators read the scene as a lesson in respect for authority and as a picture of how God covers shame.
The verse sets up a deliberate contrast. Ham went outside and spread the news. His brothers went in and left nothing to see. One writer traces Ham's behaviour back to a hard heart.
His younger son Ham cared nothing for God's glory, and nothing for what he owed his father, even in such terrible circumstances. He only showed the wickedness of his own heart. He made unfeeling fun of Noah, and was eager to spread his father's shame and trap his two brothers. Their reverence was as plain as Ham's contempt for God, and Ham forgot the one to whom he owed his life as well as his rescue from the flood.
Noah was not only their father. He was also the man God had put in charge of the new earth. His sons faced both facts at once.
Shem and Japheth showed Noah the respect he was due, both as their father and as the ruler in the new conditions. Ham did not. Disrespect toward authority is a very serious sin, whether it is a parent's authority or a government's. God set up both at the start. In the end it leads to setting aside the authority of God, who set it up.
Covering Noah was not a comfortable act. One writer feels the grief inside it.
The two brothers did a work of love. The graceless hardness of their own close relative stirred them to it all the more. Yet what sorrow must have filled their hearts. Their godliness forced them to turn their backs on the one they had always looked up to. And they had looked up to him rightly, with steady affection, honour, and gratitude.
Noah lies uncovered in this scene. One commentator asks how God saw him at that moment, and finds in the sons' action a model of God's own way with sin.
Divine grace had covered all his sins, and clothed him with a spotless robe of righteousness. Noah exposed his nakedness, but God did not see it. He did not look at Noah in the weakness of his own condition. He looked at him in the full power of divine and everlasting righteousness. So we can see how far astray Ham was in the course he took, and how completely cut off from God and His thoughts. He knew nothing of the blessedness of the man whose wrongdoing is forgiven and whose sin is covered. Shem and Japheth, by contrast, show in their conduct a fine example of God's way of dealing with human nakedness. So they inherit a blessing, while Ham inherits a curse.
This verse also gives a rule for daily life: cover another person's failure. But writers mark the limits of that rule.
The same principle holds true for a parent's authority and for a government's authority. Proper respect will seek to cover failure, not expose it. But we must stress this: it applies to cases of failure, not to cases of wicked abuse of authority.
Another writer shows how that covering works day to day.
Love is far from being indifferent to sin; but love does not necessarily expose sins, or gloat over the failure of others. If possible, love will deal with sins privately, so that they do not needlessly become public. When they are dealt with and judged, love will no longer speak of them or spread them abroad.
The blessing and curse in the next verses trace straight back to how each son handled his father's shame.
The wicked and scornful son reaped the fruit of his evil in his own child Canaan. The reverent modesty of Shem and Japheth was remembered in their descendants. Salvation is by grace, and it cannot fail, because it is the work of God in Christ. Even where salvation may not be in view, God puts honour on obedience and on respect paid where it is due.
- Sight — Ham looked and talked; his brothers refused to look at all. The same failure exposes what is in the heart of everyone who sees it.
- Garment — The coat on their shoulders pictures God's own way with human nakedness. He saw Noah clothed in righteousness, not in his weakness.
- Reverence — God set up authority, in the home and in the state. Despise it because the man failed, and you end up despising God who gave it.
- Cost — Covering a father's shame meant turning their backs on the man they honoured. Real love pays for the covering it gives.
- Harvest — Contempt bore fruit in Ham's line, and reverence in his brothers' line. God puts honour on respect paid where it is due.
And Noah awoke from his wine, and learned what his youngest son had done to him.
Noah wakes from his drunken sleep and learns what happened in his tent while he was helpless. The verse turns on one word — "knew": the man God had just set over the new earth finds that his own failure has drawn out contempt inside his own household.
God had given Noah authority in government. One writer points to where the failure started — not in his rule over others, but in his rule over himself.
God gave this man the dignity of authority in government. Yet he allowed himself too much wine and became drunk, and in that state he lay uncovered in his tent. This shows the weakness of human government from its very beginning. Why is human government doomed to fail? Because those in authority fail to govern themselves. If a man does not rule himself well, how can he be trusted to rule others?
The sin Noah wakes up to is not his own drunkenness but his son's response to it.
His younger son Ham had no feeling for God's glory, and none for what he owed his father, even in such terrible circumstances. He only showed the wickedness of his own heart. He mocked Noah without pity, and he was eager to spread his father's shame and trap his two brothers. Their reverence was as plain as Ham's contempt for God. He forgot to whom he owed his life and his rescue from the flood.
The phrase is a puzzle, because the order in which Noah's sons are usually listed is not the order of their birth.
Ham, we know, is declared to be "the little" one (Gen. 9:24) — usually translated "youngest". And the dates show that not Shem but Japheth was the eldest… Shem is named first in the usual formula of "Shem, Ham, and Japheth." That first place is not due to the order of birth, but to the spiritual purpose which gave Shem that position.
Commentators differ on whether the phrase points to Ham at all.
In Genesis, as here, the order is Shem, Ham and Japheth. We cannot assume this to be the order of birth. In Gen. 10:21, where Shem and Japheth are mentioned, Japheth is called the elder. And some ask whether "younger son" in Gen. 9:24 refers to Ham or to his son Canaan.
The curse Noah pronounces skips over the son who mocked him and lands on the grandson. One writer explains why such a curse was just, and why it fell where it did.
Disrespect of authority — whether a parent's or a government's — is a very grave sin, because God set up both. In the end it leads to setting aside the authority of God, who established it… When we come, in verses 25-27, to the curse that came from Noah's lips, we find it fell on Canaan with no mention of Ham. We think this shows two things. First, Noah's sad lapse happened some time after the flood. Enough years had passed for Canaan to have been born and become active. Second, Canaan was involved with his father in the matter, and the weight of the curse fell on him rather than on his father.
Another writer stresses the mercy in the limits of it.
Either way it was mercy to keep the curse Ham had surely earned within the narrowest limits, instead of spreading it over all his descendants. In judgment as in grace God is always wise.
The waking sets in motion a government that runs far beyond Noah's tent. The two brothers who covered their father are not forgotten either.
The wicked and scornful son reaped the fruit of his evil in his own offspring Canaan. In the same way, God remembered the reverent modesty of Shem and Japheth in their descendants… Even where salvation may not be, God puts honour on obedience and on respect paid where it is due.
The verse is not only Noah's disgrace. One writer reads his waking as the start of his recovery.
And the saint himself is soon restored. Noah awakens from his wine. The man who was overtaken recovers himself, through the Spirit. And the grace of God gives him a great triumph. It is a very precious and glorious triumph indeed, for the restored one judges his judge, and condemns his accuser.
- Failure. The ruler of the new earth could not rule himself. Human government has carried that weakness from its first day.
- Exposure. Noah's fall did not stay his own; it drew out the contempt of a son who forgot who had saved his life in the flood.
- Question. Commentators dispute the "youngest son" — Kelly reads it as Ham, "the little one," while others ask whether it points to Canaan.
- Restraint. The curse lands on Canaan alone, and mercy held it to the narrowest limits instead of spreading it over Ham's whole line.
- Reward. God repays both ways. Contempt bore fruit in Canaan; God remembered the brothers' reverence in their descendants. And Noah himself wakes not only to shame but to recovery.