Noah and His Sons.

Genesis 9:8‑29
Genesis 9:8-298And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. 18And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23And 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. 24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died. (Genesis 9:8‑29).
THIS passage presents some serious instruction. Noah received his name through the spirit of prophecy (Gen. 5:2929And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. (Genesis 5:29)). He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was a just man, and perfect in his generations. He walked with God (Gen. 6:8, 98But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 9These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:8‑9)). God’s testimony concerning him was, “Thee have I seen righteous bore Me.” “He was a preacher of righteousness;” and by faith, “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” (Heb. 11:77By 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. (Hebrews 11:7)). Coming out of the ark his sacrifice is accepted. God blesses him and establishes the covenant, of which the rainbow was a token, between Him and every living creature that came out of the ark. Notwithstanding all this present grace, Noah falls into open sin. Let hits that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. But by means of all this does God take occasion to open a great mystery. The sin of Noah is the means of discovering what sort of a heart was in his son Ham. The godliness of the father, training up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, would check and restrain, though it could not change the evil nature of Ham, but at length it breaks out. In Ham and Japheth we see produced the peaceable fruits of righteousness; they anticipate in their doings the first commandment with promise, Honor thy father, &c. Ham’s deed is not without its significance. It marks a heart filled with bitterest hatred and scorn, destitute altogether of that charity which rejoiceth not in iniquity. It is the manifestation of the spirit which in after times we are warned against, namely, “speaking evil of dignities.” The patriareh Noah was a Priest and King in his family, and should have been, even in his fall, had in reverence by a son. But how wonderful, rich, and free is the grace of God in restoring. How merciful His dealings with His saints. Noah is raised up and made the mouth of God in judgment; a divine revelation is given to him, and by the spirit of prophecy he declares things to come. How wonderful the way of God in separating the precious from the vile. The whole history is a figure of what is before our eyes. “Every plant; that my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”
The mystery is, there was a Ham in the ark—an Ishmael under covenant circumcised, and yet put out of the household of faith. An Esau about whom Rebecca inquired of the Lord, and who, for one morsel of meat sold his birthright, and forfeited the blessing. A Judas amongst the twelve. “Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil.” The mystery of iniquity in the Church, and even now, writes John, are there many antichrist& “Little children, keep your, selves from idols.”
PRECEPT. ―The precepts which God has given us are generally grounded upon some revelation of God’s character; ―thus, “Be ye holy, for I am holy;” “Let us love one another, for love is of God;” “Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful;” “Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you,” &c. &c.