God Speaks
The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with their father were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the father of Canaan.) 19 From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth.
20 After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. 21 One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.
24 When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. 25 Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham:
“May Canaan be cursed!
May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”
26 Then Noah said,
“May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed,
and may Canaan be his servant!
27 May God expand the territory of Japheth!
May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem,
and may Canaan be his servant.”
28 Noah lived another 350 years after the great flood. 29 He lived 950 years, and then he died.
10 This is the account of the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah. Many children were born to them after the great flood.
2 The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3 The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim. 5 Their descendants became the seafaring peoples that spread out to various lands, each identified by its own language, clan, and national identity.
6 The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
7 The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush was also the ancestor of Nimrod, who was the first heroic warrior on earth. 9 Since he was the greatest hunter in the world, his name became proverbial. People would say, “This man is like Nimrod, the greatest hunter in the world.” 10 He built his kingdom in the land of Babylonia, with the cities of Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh. 11 From there he expanded his territory to Assyria, building the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, 12 and Resen (the great city located between Nineveh and Calah).
13 Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came.
15 Canaan’s oldest son was Sidon, the ancestor of the Sidonians. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites, 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. The Canaanite clans eventually spread out, 19 and the territory of Canaan extended from Sidon in the north to Gerar and Gaza in the south, and east as far as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.
20 These were the descendants of Ham, identified by clan, language, territory, and national identity.
21 Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth. Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber.
22 The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23 The descendants of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.
25 Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg (which means “division”), for during his lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language groups. His brother’s name was Joktan.
26 Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were descendants of Joktan. 30 The territory they occupied extended from Mesha all the way to Sephar in the eastern mountains.
31 These were the descendants of Shem, identified by clan, language, territory, and national identity.
32 These are the clans that descended from Noah’s sons, arranged by nation according to their lines of descent. All the nations of the earth descended from these clans after the great flood.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: This section could be titled “Noah’s family and descendants after the flood.” Soon after the flood, Noah got drunk from the wine his new vineyard had produced. His son Ham saw him naked and may have disrespected him, but Noah’s other sons Shem and Japheth took respectful action to honor their father. Whether it was a curse or a prophetic pronouncement is debatable, but after being informed of what Ham had done, Noah declared that Canaan, one of Ham’s sons, and his descendants would become slaves of Shem and servants of Japheth and their descendants. Chapter 10 gives a breakdown of Noah’s descendants by their clans, territory, language, and national identity. These were natural designations of identity among people groups. There is no sense of superiority or implied inferiority, just clarification with these forms of identity. They were all descendants of Noah and his wife.
Prayer: Dear Lord God, thank You that You saved Noah and his family and pairs of all the animals and birds through the flood and directed them to repopulate the earth. After the flood, You blessed Noah with a prosperous vineyard, many descendants, and long life. I ask You, Holy Spirit, to grant me the faithfulness and blessings You gave Noah. Please help me to not disrespect my parents (or those in authority) as Ham did, but to perform acts of honor as Shem and Japheth did. Help me to reach out to people of other clans, territories, languages, and national identities because we are all of one family. You know everything about each of the more than 7 billion people on earth right now. We are all part of Noah’s family, and You love every one of us. Thank You, Jesus, for making forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life possible through faith in who You are and what You did. My heart overflows with gratitude. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will honor my parents, as Shem and Japheth did, by _______. (Name a specific action.)
- I will do my work diligently and faithfully, as Noah did. (Give a specific example.)
- I will intentionally teach my children and/or grandchildren to follow God and His principles and precepts as laid out in the Bible. (Give a specific example.)
- I will live as a good role model for future generations. (Give a specific example.)
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.