Chronological Plan for Jan 3

Today's readings are Genesis 8-11. Tomorrow's are Job 1-5. 

Starting in ch 8, we see the events of the aftermath of the flood. These events are similar to the ones in the original creation. What goes unsaid and what is sometimes omitted from some of the overly-sanitized versions of these chapters told in many Sunday School classes is the fact that death is a large part of this new beginning whereas it was not introduced until after the fall of the human race in the first three chapter of Genesis.

When Noah and his family walked out of the ark, the entire human race was dead, except for them. Everywhere they went, they would have seen the evidence of harsh consequences of rebellion against God. It is no wonder one of the first things Noah does is to build an altar (Gen 8:20) and sacrifice to God, a gesture of thanks for His saving grace.  
God forms a covenant with Noah, an agreement that He will never destroy the human race by flood again. God provides a sign of the covenant. While the sign, a rainbow, is a beautiful symbol of His grace and love, it is also a constant reminder of the consequences of sin for those who are not recipients of His grace. We would do well to offer up prayers of thanks every time we see a rainbow!

Nearly as soon as Noah and his family are given, like Adam, the command to be fruitful and multiply...Noah plants a vineyard (a garden?) and from the fruit of the vineyard, gets drunk! Adam sinned by eating the forbidden fruit in the garden. Noah sins by over-indulging in the wine of the permitted fruit from another garden. Clearly, mankind is not yet perfect. Apart form God, humans seem unable to act responsibly and in a godly manner. 

Like Adam's sin, Noah's has a direct effect on his sons. Pay close attention to the names here. They are significant.  

Noah's youngest son, Ham, father of Canaan, sins by looking upon his father's nakedness. The other two sons, Shem and Japheth do not. Noah pronounces a curse on Ham and Canaan, a blessing on Shem and Japheth. Adam and Eve tried to hide their nakedness, Shem and Japheth tried to hide Noah's. Ham, instead, was unashamed. Mankind has been divided up into two types of people. While both types have their faults, one is blessed, the other cursed.

This becomes more evident in how the sons and their offspring settle into the regions around Noah. Even at this early stage, you can see the struggle over the Holy Land, the struggle between the blessed and the cursed, beginning to take shape. 

The three sons of Noah migrated to different areas. The Semites occupied the Tigris–Euphrates valley and most of Arabia; the Japhethites moved north, around the Black Sea, and even west to Spain; the Hamites went south into lower Asia Minor, coastal Syria and Palestine, and the Red Sea coast of Arabia, but principally into Africa.

Norris, D. T. (1997). Logos Deluxe Map Set. Oak Harbor, WA: Lexham Press.

Things get worse. Sharing a common language, men get together and attempt to build a tower "with its top in the heavens" (Gen 11:4). They want to "make a name for themselves". Adam wanted to be like God. These men want to build, by their own hands, a way to get to heaven. Not much has changed in the hearts of men since Adam's time. 

Yet, God sheds His grace. We see Shem's lineage which eventually produces Abram and Sarai.