DWDP - Gen 9: 25-27 Noah's Prophecy

Genesis 9 is one of those passages people quote quickly and understand slowly. We sit with Noah’s final lines in Genesis 9:25–29 and treat them with the weight they deserve: not as throwaway comments from a wounded father, but as Spirit-guided prophecy that shapes how we think about sin, family lines, and the story of redemption after the flood.

We draw surprising parallels between the fall of Adam and the fall of Noah, tracing the repeated themes of fruit, shame, covering, and curse, while refusing to end the story in despair. Scripture keeps pointing to God’s blessing and His promise of ultimate salvation. From there we zoom out to God’s purpose for nations, using Acts 17:26–27 to show why people everywhere ache to seek Him, and Romans 10:14–15 to ask the hard question: how will they hear without a preacher, without someone sent with the gospel?

Then we tackle a sensitive topic head-on: the so-called Hamitic curse. We explain why “servant of servants” cannot be used to defend slavery or modern racism, and we explore the idea of stewardship and service along with the historical contributions often attributed to Ham’s descendants. Finally, we return to Noah’s long life, the tragedy of the human heart from the flood to Babel, and the only hope that truly cleanses sin: the blood of Jesus.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, Dr. Robert Jackson.

Why Noah’s Words Are Prophecy

Adam’s Fall Parallels Noah’s Fall

Why Nations Exist To Seek God

The Hamitic Curse And Slavery Claims

Hamite Nations And Their Achievements

Shem’s Covenant Blessing And The Seed

Japheth’s Enlargement And Sharing Blessing

Three Streams Not Three Races

Noah’s Long Life And Final Warning

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Papa, can you tell me a story? Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go get your brother and your sisters, and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr. Papa. Gather round, grab your Bibles, and let us look into the written word that reveals to us the living word who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we're in Genesis nine, twenty five to twenty nine, which are the last verses in chapter nine. When Noah woke from his wine he knew what his youngest son had done to him, so he said cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers. He also said Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years and he died. May God add his blessing to this reading from God's word. Noah makes the prophetic statement of verse twenty five to twenty seven based on his knowledge of his sons characters and probably on insight already gained on the character of their children. Children often share in the proclivities of their parents, not one hundred percent, but in general. If the parents are God fearing and walk in righteousness without hypocrisy, then the children tend to do the same. If the parents are worldly and carnal and self seeking, then the children tend to follow in these same footsteps. Noah could see the tendency in Ham's family line from the teaching and example of the Father. More importantly, though, Noah spoke in the Spirit, as he was led by the Spirit. We know from Sec Peter chapter one and verse twenty two that no prophecy was made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. No doubt Noah's prophecy was made as he was moved along by the Holy Spirit. Now here is an interesting parallel with the prophecy of Genesis chapter three verse fifteen to nineteen, where because of Adam and Eve's sin God caused Satan the woman, the man and the earth, the ground. All of them were cursed. That prophecy came as a result of the fall of Adam. This prophecy that Noah makes comes as a result of the fall of Noah. The first prophecy in Genesis three came as a result of the fall of Adam. Both Adam and Noah had been commanded to fill the earth and exercise authority over it. Each of them is the singular ancestor of all the men in the present world. Both of them sinned by partaking of a fruit, Noah of the fruit of the vine and Adam of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. As a consequence, each became naked and was provided a covering by someone else. God provided Adam's covering. Shem and Japheth provided Noah's covering. Finally, each prophecy resulted in a curse which has affected mankind over well ever since. But do not despair. As always God provides the blessing and anticipation of ultimate salvation. Then in verse twenty five to twenty seven, Noah gives this remarkable prophecy that outlines the function of the three main streams of nations. But remember that Paul tells us in Acts seventeen verse twenty seven that the overriding purpose of every nation is that they should seek the Lord. Read Acts seventeen, verse twenty six to twenty seven. Let me read it to you. Let's go all the way over to the book of Acts in chapter seventeen and verse twenty six and twenty seven. And you'll see where Paul tells us the purpose of every nation. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined that their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God. There you go. There you see the purpose of every man and every nation, that they would seek God if perhaps they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. There you go. There's the purpose of every individual man and every nation that they would seek God. That the overriding purpose of every nation is that they should seek the Lord. You see, God has a time and a purpose for every nation, but throughout time he intends for all people to seek him, for in fact he has placed eternity in all men's hearts, as the book of Ecclesiastes tells us, so that they yearn for a relationship with the Heavenly Father. But they grope in darkness, never finding him without a spiritual guide to lead them to the truth. That's why Paul asks the question in Romans ten verses fourteen through fifteen. Romans ten verse fourteen to fifteen he asks a very important question. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things. You see, those who grope in darkness, how will they hear without a preacher? How will they know without someone to guide them and lead them to a knowledge of the truth? There are multitudes who continue to grope in darkness even today for the lack of a gospel messenger. Who among us, like Isaiah, will say here am I send me. So move on. Let's talk about the Hamites and let's talk about the Hamitic curse. First, the curse applied to all the descendants of Ham, not just Canaan, even though Canaan, Ham's youngest son, is mentioned by name. It would have been inappropriate to single out one of Ham's four sons to bear the brunt of the curse. This is a Hamitic curse, not a Canaanite curse due to Ham's sin. So why is Canaan even mentioned? Theologians can only speculate here, but due to Noah's hurt, it is possible that since Ham was his youngest son, he singled out Canan, Ham's youngest son, as the one to represent the family curse. Or perhaps Canaan was the son most like his dad, in carnality and rebellion against authority and against God. No one really knows. We can only speculate here. Second servant of servants does it mean slave of slaves or slave of all and cannot be used to justify enslavement of the African peoples. First of all, because the greatest majority of Ham's descendants are not black Africans. I know that there are people who use this particular verse to justify the past and present history of enslaving black African people groups, but perish that thought. The greatest majority of Ham's descendants are not black African peoples, but the greatest majority are Southeast Asian people groups who are Oriental in appearance, and even includes the American Indians. The best interpretation of that word is steward of all, which is an ancient household in an ancient household was an honorable position. A steward in a household was an honorable position. Who on the Hamite well who are the Hamite nations? That's a good question. The Egyptians were a Hamite nation. The Sumerians who founded the first two great empires of antiquity the Phoenicians, the Hittites, the Canaanites, the modern African tribes, the Chan Chinese and the Japanese and the American Indians and the South Sea Islanders are all descended from Ham. So what have the Hamites the servant of servants accomplished? The Hamites, the great servants of mankind, well, let me just read to you some of the accomplishments that have been attributed to the Hamites. They were the original explorers and settlers of practically all parts of the world following the dispersion at Babel, particularly the Phoenicians. They were the first cultivators of most of the basic food staples of the world, such as potatoes, corn, beans, cereals, and others, as well as the first ones to domesticate most animals, including the Sumerians and the Egyptians. They developed most of the basic types of structural forms and building tools and materials. These were the Egyptians. They were the first to develop most of the usual fabrics for clothing and the various sewing and weaving devices, the Egyptians. They discovered and invented a wide variety of medicines and surgical practices and instruments. The Hamite descendants invented most of the concepts of basic practical mathematics, as well as surveying and navigation. Those were the Phoenicians. The machinery of commerce and trade, money, banks, postal systems, and so forth was developed by the Hamite descendants. They developed paper, ink, block printing, movable type, and other accoutants of writing and communication. These were the accomplishments of Ham's descendants. Still, there is an opposite and adverse side to the prophecy as well. Despite their explorations and inventions, the descendants of Ham seemed to progress only so far compared to the descendants of Japheth and Shem. Eventually the Japhethites and the Semites took their inventions, developed them further to their own advantage to accomplish their own service in the future, and would prevent the promised and intended to dispossess the Hamites of their own territories, or even to subjugate them. The sons of Ham became actual servants of the intellectually superior Japhethites and the religiously zealous Semites. Now this is speaking in general terms, and there are many individual exceptions both then and now, but in general these were and are true descriptions of the national historical trends involving these three streams of nations. Noah's prophecy is a divine description of future events and did not require the deliberate assistance of the Japhethites or the Semites for the fulfillment of God's plan. The continuation of these trends in these branches of Noah's lineage is even apparent today if we understand which nations spawn from which of Noah's sons. It helps us to understand national trends and hostilities and boundaries and tendencies, but in all things our God is sovereign. He is the king of all the nations, he is the ruler of the kings of all the earth, and the Lord of all lords, and the king of all kings. Now look at verse twenty six. And if you remember in the prophecy Noah said, Blessed is be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. Now literally this reads Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem. The implication is that Shem knew God in the same way that Noah did, in a very personal and covenant relationship. Shem knew God as Jehovah. He knew God personally. God had already promised a deliverer way back in Genesis chapter three through the seed of the woman. This deliverer now had to come through one of Noah's three sons. Well, which one? With this blessing and Shem knowing God by the name Jehovah, the strong implication is that God's greatest blessing to mankind would come through Shem. No opposition by the Canaanites in the future would prevent the promised seed of the woman from coming into the world through Shem's descendants. Now look at verse twenty seven. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. The most probable meaning of that Hebrew word putok is to make open. Putok. That really means to make open, and it refers to mental enlargement. Japheth was an open minded man, as were his descendants, the Japhethites, who would be explorers in the world of intellectual curiosity, as the Hamites were in the physical world and the Semites in the spiritual world. Japheth was also predicted to dwell in the tents of Shem. Now what does that mean? Well it's a common figure of speech in scripture that means to fellowship with him. When you dwell in the tents of someone, you fellowship with them. Thus, when in Psalms eighty four verse ten describes living in the tents of wickedness, it means that someone is fellowshipping with someone who's living in wickedness, and they are out of fellowship with God. So Japheth would come to share in Shem's spiritual blessings, which was the essence of Shem's inheritance as prophesied by Noah. As Shem and Jeff had together shown respect to their father when they walked in backward and covered him up when he was shamefully undressed. And by extension they showed respect to their father's God, so together they would worship the Lord God of Shem. The implication is that the Hamites by and large would not would not worship the true and living God and would choose to worship false gods and would not share in Shem's spiritual inheritance. We have to understand that these prophecies made by Noah are generalizations. By that I mean we have to make room for individual exceptions. By that I mean a practical or I mean a particular descendant of Ham may become a true believer in Christ and a fruitful servant of the true God. An individual descendant of Jap may be intellectually dull but skilled with technology. A particular Semite could choose atheism. Nevertheless, it is generally true that the Semites are characterized by religious motivation centered on monotheism. Think of the Jews, the Muslims and the Zoroastrian all of them are monotheistic and they're all motivated by spiritual and religious motivation. The Japhethites, the Greeks, the Romans, later the Europeans and the Americans all have stressed science and philosophy. The Hamites, the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Sumerians, the Orientals and the Africans have been great pioneers that opened the world to settlement, to cultivation and technology. Now I want to give you a quote from doctor Henry Morris in his book The Genesis Record, which I think is very apropos at this point. There are three streams of nations not three races. Though some have thought of the Semites, the Japhethites and the Hamites as three races, particularly the dusky, the white and the black races or the Mongoloid, Caucasian and Negroid. This is absolutely not what the Bible teaches, nor is it what modern anthropology and human genetics teach. There are dusky and black people found among all three groups of nations. The Bible does not use the word race nor does it acknowledge such a concept. The modern concept of race is based on evolutionary thinking. To the evolutionist a race is a subspecies in the process of evolving into a new species and this idea is the basis of modern racism. The actual original descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth are identified in Genesis chapter ten. And we will discuss that in the next chapter. And I felt that that should be discussed and we need to hear from doctor Morris who is an expert on this very subject. Now let's conclude here with verse twenty eight and twenty nine Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood so all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years and he died. This concludes the story of Noah, the preacher of righteousness, the builder of the ark, the man who found favor, who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, the man who from from whom all of us are descended. Noah was not greatly affected by the change in atmosphere after the flood and so he lived another three hundred and fifty years. Can you believe that? And he died at the age of nine hundred and fifty years. He outlived all of his ancestors except for Jared who lived nine hundred and sixty two years and Methuselah who lived nine hundred and sixty nine years. Now listen if there are no gaps in the genealogy of chapter eleven, this means that Noah lived until Abraham was fifty eight years old and he lived until the dispersion at Babel Noah saw the death of all those who were wicked and filled with violence at the time of the flood and he lived to see the proud and arrogant crowd who built the tower of Babel can you imagine the vexation in his soul because of these two events I told you before and I tell you again the problem of the human heart is the heart of the human problem. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart and Noah saw it at its very worst What can wash away my sin? What can wash away your sin? Noah was a preacher of righteousness and he saw into the future that God would provide a deliverer and I'm telling you dear listener that only the blood of Jesus can wash away your sin and my sin. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus and I'm here to tell you that unless you and I repent of our sin, turn away from our sin and receive the Lord Jesus Christ, we will all likewise perish like those who perished in the day of Noah when God opened up the skies and flooded the entire world. God does not trifle with sinners the soul that sins it shall surely die and it's only the blood of Jesus that can wash away your sin. Dear listener, hear me plainly you and I we must turn away from our sin and we must trust only in the blood of Jesus. He can be our only Savior You're listening to devotions with Dr. Papa if you like what you hear I pray that you would follow like or share even download tell your friends we'll be back again next week. Until then remember that Jesus loves you and your doctor loves you. Until next week I pray that the Lord will bless you real good.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

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