We first read of Noah in Genesis 5 where we see he was the son of Lamech.  We read in verse 32, “And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”  Now let’s read Genesis 6:6-9, “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But NOAH FOUND GRACE IN THE EYES OF the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”  How greatly mankind had disappointed the Lord.  He determined to destroy mankind by flooding the earth with a great rain of 40 days and nights as we read in verse 17, “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”

We read in Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”  So, we see that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  He was a just (righteous) man who walked in fellowship with the Lord.  He was also a man of faith who obeyed the Lord and built an ark according to the Lord’s instructions. 

Now let’s read Genesis 7:1-7, “And the LORD said unto Noah, COME THOU AND ALL THY HOUSE INTO THE ARK; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. AND NOAH WENT IN, AND HIS SONS, AND HIS WIFE, AND HIS SONS’ WIVES with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.” 

There were eight people who entered the ark and were saved from the flood…Noah, his wife, Ham, Shem, Japheth, and their wives. Peter, the apostle, remarks on this in 1 Peter 3:20 which says, “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, EIGHT SOULS WERE SAVED by water.”  I think we can rightly assume that Noah’s sons helped him with the building of the ark. 

Let’s spend just a few minutes looking at an incident AFTER the flood when the ark landed back on the earth.  Genesis 9:18-27 says, “And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”

Noah became a farmer and at one time, drank too much wine and passed out naked in his tent. Ham discovered Noah’s nakedness and, in complete disrespect, called his brothers to see.  It was out of respect for their father that Shem and Japheth covered his drunken nakedness.  For this, they received Noah’s blessing. But Ham had disrespected Noah by looking at his nakedness. As a result, Ham’s descendants were cursed.

Canaan, the son of Ham and grandson of Noah, later settled in the area that would later become Israel, the territory God had promised to the Jews. They became known as the Canaanites. Later, when God rescued the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, he ordered Joshua to wipe out the idolatrous Canaanites and take possession of the land.      What a sad history of Ham, Noah’s son.  His sin brought a curse upon his future generations.  (CC)  (549.2)