Kelly - Genesis 9

Poor Canaan! And how very human Noah's actions!

Noah, the only faithful man that God would save from the flood - the most faithful man of all humanity - gets seriously drunk.

After a year in the flood on the ark with all the animals, after seeing the death of so many he knew and spoke with every day, after being confined to speaking only to his own offspring for the rest of his life - I can understand that he might be tempted to drink a bit.

But according to the story, he had to grow the grapes and ferment the wine first. So this wasn't a rash moment decision. My guess is that he either got drunk on a whim - or that he had be very unpleasant to live with for quite some time.

I don't sanction Ham's actions - seeing someone's disgrace and then heading straight out to spread the gossip. But.....Noah seems to have taken his own shame and turned it outward in anger. Ham spread the gossip, but Noah was the one who got drunk. And the only way he could have known that Ham began spreading the gossip is if one of the other boys "told on him." Shem and Japheth seem to have come out of this story looking a little better than they should.