After the ark

 God blessed Noah and told him to repopulate the earth. Prior to the sin of Adam and Eve, the Lord had given humans dominion over animals but had not allowed them to eat meat. Now God gave humans permission to eat meat but said animals would fear people, perhaps because people would hunt them for food.

As a reminder of the high value of life, God did not permit the eating of blood—not because blood was unhealthy, but because blood was a symbol of life. God warned he would demand the life of anybody who killed (by implication, “murdered”) someone.

To assure Noah and all humanity he would never again destroy life with a flood, God designated the rainbow as a special sign.

Unfortunately the flood did not eliminate the problem of sin. The tragedy of sin overtook Noah and his sons. Noah got drunk on wine he had made from the vineyard he himself had planted. In his stupor, Noah removed all his clothes. When his son Ham entered Noah’s tent, instead of respecting his father by covering his nakedness, he did nothing and told his brothers. His brothers, Shem and Japheth, exercised extreme caution so they would not humiliate Noah by looking at his nakedness. They entered his tent backwards and carefully covered their father with a large blanket.

When Noah realised what Ham had done, he said Ham’s flagrant act of disrespect would have consequences on future generations. Because his moral conduct exposed a serious character defect, Noah predicted Ham’s son Canaan and his descendants would be oppressed by others. Noah also prophesied that God would bless the descendants of Japheth and Shem because they had shown respect for their father.

 

(Genesis 10 contains what is called “The Table of Nations.” Though the list comes before the account of the tower of Babel in the book of Genesis, it shows the dispersion of the nations in the ancient Near East after God’s judgment at Babel. It contains the names of individuals, tribes, nations, and even cities. All the people listed are in some way connected to Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah.)