Gen 9:20-21 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
This morning finds me still struggling to fit the drunken, naked Noah into the childhood image of the faithful man who risked appearing foolish to the world in order to follow God’s directive to build an ark. This new image of Noah, like the new image of Cain earlier in Genesis, just doesn’t fit my religious paradigm, so I struggle with what to do with the new, how to reconcile it.
Gen 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.
Perhaps God is reinforcing the fact that there will be only one perfect person—Jesus. Everyone else will fall short. But, like He did with Noah, God can use imperfect people in powerful ways. And like He did with Cain, God offers hope to even “the worst” (and we all have our own ideas of who qualifies as the worst), if they “do what is right” in His eyes: put Him first. I think we learn a powerful lesson here, too, about how to treat those whose humanity is showing. Commentary suggests that Ham and potentially Canaan were rude and mocking to Noah, while Shem and Japheth worked to protect Noah’s dignity in whatever small way they could. There are many lessons to be learned here, I think.
Gen 9:23 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.
Lord, Thank You for this day, for this scripture, for the richness of Your word. Thank You for these insights You are revealing to me, insights that are breaking pre-established paradigms but that are also allowing me to see humanity, fallibility, and worthiness in myself and in all people. Draw me closer, Lord, as I continue through Your word. Open my eyes and my heart to Your truth. Amen.
Gen 9:28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years.
Have a blessed day.
My faith, my life, my teaching–it's all a work in progress.