Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Genesis 9:²¹ Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.

Genesis 9:²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

• Ham did not cover the nakedness of his father. He had to go and tell his brothers.

Genesis 9:²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

• Shem and Japheth were ashamed for their father. They covered his nakedness. They worked as a team to accomplish their goal.

• Being naked is akin to shame and sin. Adam and Eve discovered they were naked after they sinned and tried to cover their own sins but could not. God had to kill an animal and use its skin to cover them (with the animal’s blood) [prophetic of Jesus, as the lamb of God, killed to cover man’s sins.]

• The pattern is first related to gossip, controlling the tongue, and covering the nakedness (shame) of another while helping them heal. [Some sins must be exposed to protect society. There is a difference between unintentional sin and evil.]
  
• Secondly, the story relates to the pattern of nakedness in the Garden of Eden. Noah sinned, whether intentionally or unintentionally. He may not have known the grape juice in this new land would cause him to become drunk. Regardless, he was drunk and naked in his sin.
  Scripture compares the external body of man to a “tent”. Noah was symbolically “uncovered in his “tent”.
  
• Shem and Japheth concealed his sin, but Ham reveled in revealing it.

• The Moral of the Story: Am I a Shem, a Japheth, or a Ham? If you are a Ham, you are exposing the shame of others with gossip, not being able to control your tongue (Read James chapter 3).

Genesis 9:²⁴ So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.

• His younger son is considered to be Ham.

Genesis 9:²⁵ Then he (Noah) said:

• “Cursed be Canaan (the son of Ham); A servant of servants he shall be to his brethren.”
• Canaan would have been involved in some way, or Ham’s lineage is paying for the sin of their ancestral father, Ham.

Genesis 9:26-27 And he said:

“Blessed be the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ), The God (‘ĕlōhîm) of Shem, and may Canaan (the Canaanites) be his servant.

May God (‘ĕlōhîm) enlarge Japheth (gentiles),
And may he dwell in the tents (under the canopy) of Shem (the Semites, including Abraham and the Jews);
And may Canaan (the Canaanites) be his servant.”

• @ Prophecy Fulfillment Alert: Luke 3:36 (The God of Shem Gen 9:26 will also be the Son of Shem Luke 3:36) (Old Testament prophecy fulfilled by Jesus)

• The Jews are descendants of Shem, from whom the line of Jesus the Messiah comes. The Gentiles, as the bride of Christ, live under the canopy of God’s blessings to the Jews.

Genesis 9:²⁸ And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty (350) years. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty (950) years; and he died.

• Noah lived to be 950 years old, 50 years short of 1,000. Noah was born to Lamech and lived from 2944 BC to 1994 BC. (Noah was 298 years old when the “Step” pyramid of Djoser (Zoser) was built at Saqqara, Egypt.) Noah was the one who witnessed “There were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” [Gen 6:2-5]

• The story of Noah will be retold in the coming chapter with more detail.
• The storytelling pattern in Scripture is such that the story is first told (or written) with bare essentials, then the story is retold with new information added. (As is the story of Adam and Eve.)

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