Why did God save Ham from the flood?
What an interesting question! Ham is one of Noah’s three sons…Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 5:32). Because the order of the sons is always given as Shem, Ham, and Japheth we can naturally assume that Ham was the middle son of Noah and his wife (who’s name is not given).
There is not much known of Ham except of how he acted disrespectfully towards his father when he discovered him intoxicated in his tent. We read of this account in Genesis 9:20-23, “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.” This lack of respect caused Noah to place a curse upon Ham’s family as we read in verses 24-25, “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.”
I would like to back up and ask a similar question, “Why did God save Noah from the flood?” We read in Genesis 6:7-9, “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.” Before the Lord destroyed the earth with the flood, He first acted in grace towards Noah…and in turn, to Noah’s family. It is stated that Noah was just and perfect (mature), and that he walked with God.
With grace (God’s UNMERITED FAVOR), God looked upon Noah as a righteous man and enabled him to walk closely with Him. It is here in Genesis 6:8 that grace is first mentioned…God giving undeserved favor to sinners like Noah and his family. God considered Noah righteous not because he was perfect, but because he believed and wholeheartedly loved and obeyed God. Grace is not earned but is given by a loving and sovereign God.
“Noah was saved by grace, an act of divine sovereignty. His response was to do all that God had commanded (verse 22), and act of human responsibility. Noah built the ark to save his family, but it was God who shut and sealed the door. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are not mutually exclusive but are complementary.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary, William MacDonald).
Noah was not saved by his works, but his works manifested the faith he had in the Lord as 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.”
In 2 Peter 2:5 we see that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness.” In words and in action, while Noah and his sons prepared the ark, Noah preached righteousness. Alas, no one listened, so we are told in 1 Peter 1:30 that “wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” The eight saved by water were Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth…along with their wives. We can surmise that although Ham committed a terrible sin after the flood subsided, he was a believer in God and a recipient of God’s grace. (457.2)