Genesis 8 - 9

Genesis Chapter 8 The flood abates

Let me digress a moment and comment on how these early chapters of Genesis are viewed. I have heard skeptics say that the Bible can be trusted in its theology, but not its geology, science, or history. With this view they ignore these early chapters of Genesis. But Jesus said, “I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly thing?” (John 3:12). I would argue that if you can’t believe the geology, science, and history of the Bible, how can you believe the theology? Let me draw an analogy. Imagine your physician receives a lab report on your blood sample that his technician drew from your arm. The lab calls the physician and says that there was a problem with their testing equipment and that about twenty percent of the lab results are wrong. How would your physician respond? His first question would be, “Which part is the twenty percent?” The lab personnel might say, “We don’t know.” Can your physician use the results of the lab tests to diagnose your condition? No! Either ALL of the lab results are accurate or ALL of it is useless. If the Bible is not entirely correct, what part of it can you trust? Who decides? You lose confidence in the entire Bible, and it must be discarded, just as the lab results would have to be. You see, if the Bible is only 80% accurate, you can't rely on it at all.

Do you find it strange when people in church speak of the resurrection from the dead and heaven, etc. but they have a problem in believing that the same God can be responsible for the early chapters of Genesis?

Genesis Chapter 9

In Genesis 9:2-3 God lifts the dietary restrictions and now everyone can eat whatever they want. Vegetarianism is no longer required. He also placed fear of man in the animals so that they would have at least a fighting chance now that we can eat meat. You can just imagine when the animals learned that they can be food for man, they scattered. Of course, this probably meant that the kids had to give up some of their favorite pets. No longer could they have a Black Mumba or a lion for a cuddly pet. “Sorry kids, but you have to give up your pets. The good news is that you can now eat them instead.”

Gen 9:6 speaks on the subject of capital punishment. The penalty for premeditated murder was death. This law is repeated in each of the first five books of Moses (Ex. 21:12; Lev. 24:17; Num. 3:3; Deut. 19:11-13, and 19:19). I have seen protestors outside a prison protesting the execution of a prisoner. Some of them claim that the execution by the state is just as wrong as prisoner’s murder that led to it. I would suggest that the execution of someone who took an innocent life is not the moral equivalent of the murdering of an innocent person. Moses explains why it is necessary to execute a murdered. It is because man is created in the image of God that murder is so different from killing a guilty person or an animal. Now, I do have a concern about the justice system that is imperfect and can lead to the execution of an innocent person. But in principle, capital punishment is a legitimate form of punishment.

Noah gets off the boat, he plants a vineyard, and in verse 21 it says, “he drank some of its wine and he became drunk.” Well, who can blame him. Being stuck on a boat with family members for a year would drive many of us to drink. This is the first use of the word “wine” in the Bible, but not the first use of it. Matt 24:38 tells us, “For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.” Noah knew that it was an intoxicant.

When Noah wakes up, he learned that his youngest son Ham had done something to him. For punishment, Noah places a curse on Ham’s son, Canaan. What is this all about? One scholar says, “This passage is maddeningly obscure.” Don’t you love it when the smartest kid in the class, the scholar, doesn’t have the answers either? Well, apparently, he “uncovered Noah’s nakedness.” Is this a euphemism for a sexual act? The curse was placed on Ham’s son, not Ham. The descendants were known as Canaanites were known for practicing perverted sexual acts Lev 18:3, “You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.” The passage goes on to urge the Israelites to not have sex with a close relative, your mother, your father’s wife, your sister, your grandchildren, the daughter of your father’s wife, your aunt, your daughter-in-law, your sister-in-law, a woman and her daughter or your son’s daughter or her daughter. What kind of people have to have all of these warnings? And why put the curse on Canaan when it was the old man, Ham who was the guilty one? The commentator says that it was common to anticipate the deeds of later generations in the acts of their father. You might know someone who has a terrible drinking habit. Alcoholism might run in the family. You can anticipate that the descendants of an alcoholic might have to deal with the same problem who inherit the predisposition for such behavior. Ham’s descendants inherited a similar predisposition towards sexual sins.

Because of this action Ham’s descendants were cursed to serve their brothers. Now, there are some groups who say that the blacks are descendants of Ham. Some even claim that at this time Ham and his descendants were actually turned black. This passage has been used to justify the slavery of blacks.

The Mormons, prevented blacks from entering their priesthood until the late 1970’s. They claim that the word Ham means “burnt” or “black,” which it doesn’t. It means “hot” or “warm.” These terms refer to temperature; not color. There is absolutely no justification for thinking that one race is superior or inferior to another. In fact, did you know that people of all races are 99% alike, genetically? If we are so much alike, how can one race be superior to another?