Ruth 1: Footprints in the Snow

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 27 October 2013
by Captain Michael Ramsay.

Moving can be an interesting time. New places can be very different from old places. I remember when we moved from Victoria to the prairies. We moved in the summer and we noticed how nice and warm Winnipeg was – much warmer than summers in Victoria. I also remember seeing all of these man-made lakes around the city. These really perplexed me. We would look at them: they would be beautiful but there were signs all over them that said ‘no swimming’, ‘no boating’, ‘don’t go in the water’, etc. I wondered why do they have all of these man-made lakes if you can’t swim in them or you can’t boat on them?  Do you know what the lakes are for? When Winter struck we found out what they are for: they were outdoor ice rinks. I come from a city where we only get snow once every four years or so and it usually only lasts for at the very most a week. Who of us from there had ever heard of, let alone experienced, an outdoor ice rink?

Also we brought our children into pre-school in Winnipeg in their boots and coats from the wet coast and were rewarded with a note home explaining to us that those are nice but they aren’t real coats and boots: these might be good for rain but in Winnipeg they need to be good for temperatures down to –40c. I remember then calling home and explaining to someone how cold it was in Winnipeg and the Vancouver or Vancouver Island native thought of the coldest temperature that they could think of and they actually asked me: how cold is it there… -5c? At –5c in Winnipeg, I explain, people are wearing shorts. This was a little bit different from Victoria.

Another thing that was different and that is really quite a blessing is the sunlight. On the prairies here you can experience weeks straight with great sunlight and without any real clouds. That is really a welcome change from the Pacific North Wet where you can seemingly have cloud cover for a month or more straight. Every part of our country has such unique beauty and when and wherever you move there are a number of things to get used to, no matter where you go.

In our story today we read about a lady who emigrates from Judah to Moab with her husband and her sons and then her husband and sons unexpectedly pass away and she returns to Judah with her daughter – a new immigrant to a new country. The book of Ruth relays some of their experiences upon coming to Judah. We know in this day and age that immigrating to Canada can come with it’s own challenges, especially for some people. Immigrating to Bethlehem in Judah at the time Ruth did bring some serious perils with it but that was not the full extent of Ruth and Naomi’s difficulties.

Women did not have all the rights and responsibilities in those societies then as they do in our country today. Widows found even less provision for them: they could be quite vulnerable; childless widows would be even more vulnerable; childless, immigrant widows would be very vulnerable. That is exactly what Ruth is as our story develops today.

We read about how Naomi and her husband left their home in Bethlehem in Judah when things were bad – there was a famine – and they went to the country of Moab, looking for a better life. Things may have been going well for a while. Naomi and her husband Elimelech raise their family; their sons, Mahlon and Chilion, grow up and get married. And then as providence would have it Naomi’s husband, her oldest son and her youngest son all die. Elimelech, Mahlon, Chilion all die. Now this would be bad enough in this time and place if your husband and all your children died. In that day and age, that was almost the only way that a woman would be provided for. Naomi couldn’t just go and get a job at 7-11 or at the bank. Also remember that there were no old age pensions in ancient Judah or ancient Moab – your only retirement plan was your sons. They were who provided for you in your old age. Now Naomi all of a sudden has nothing and not only does she have nothing but she has two daughters-in-law, who also have nothing and Naomi has some responsibility to provide for them.[1] It is in this situation that Naomi decides to pack it all up in Moab and head back to Bethlehem in Judah. It is in this situation that Naomi says, Ruth 1:13, “…No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has been against me” and Ruth 1:20-21, “She said to them, ‘Call me no longer Naomi [which means pleasant], call me Mara [which means bitter] for the Almighty [Shaddai] has dealt bitterly with me. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty; why call me [pleasant] Naomi when the LORD has dealt harshly with me, and the Almighty [Shaddai] has brought calamity upon me?”

Two questions that arise for us quite naturally today then are these:[2] 

1)      Are Naomi’s accusations toward God valid: did God forsake her? 

2)      Do we ever reproach God in a similar manner because we feel like God has forsaken us?

Are Naomi’s accusations valid? Naomi was married. There was a famine in her home country so she and her husband felt they had to flee to a foreign land. When they got there, there were no ‘good Judean women’ for her sons to marry so they – quite contrary to Israelite law – married foreigners (cf. Deuteronomy 7:3, 23:3). Then, all of a sudden, she has nothing: her husband and sons die and she is a foreigner with no job, no income, no support, no noted life savings, no children, no foreseeable future but she does have her deceased sons foreign wives to support. And as we noted when we were reading Genesis 38 about Judah and Tamar the other week, Naomi also may have some responsibility –if at all possible - to provide a son for a husband to each of her daughter-in-laws.[3] Naomi is totally despondent, saying: “the hand of the Lord is against me”; “the Lord has dealt bitterly with me”; “I went away full but the LORD brought me back empty”; “the LORD has dealt harshly with me”; “the Almighty has brought calamity upon me.”

Do we ever feel this way? Does our life ever seem to collapse around us? I have heard stories lately of friends either near or far who have lost homes, who have lost fathers, who have lost mothers, who have lost jobs, who have lost pets, who have lost their health, who have been completely overwhelmed with life that tears well up in their eyes. There are some of us here today who are right in the middle of this. There are people here today who are like Naomi and Ruth and who are like Job looking over the horizon to see yet more messengers coming with yet more unwanted news. There are some here today who when the phone rings, don’t want to answer it for fear of what news awaits them. Do you ever get to the point where you don’t want to see anyone for you know that they can’t possibly be bringing any good news? Do you ever get to the point where you are so vulnerable that even the slightest thing now will just seemingly melt away your last drop of strength and do you ever get to the point where you are tempted to ask God to just snuff out your light altogether? Do you ever get to the point where your heart cries out with Naomi’s: “the hand of the Lord is against me”; “the Lord has dealt bitterly with me”; “I went away full but the LORD brought me back empty”; “the LORD has dealt harshly with me”; “the Almighty has brought calamity upon me”? Do you ever find yourself there?

There have honestly been days when I am so overwhelmed by the demands on me from ministry, from family, from everyone else’s problems and from my own, that when I receive an email from headquarters demanding some seemingly frivolous report to be written, requiring some seemingly meaningless hoop to be jumped through, or some requesting seemingly onerous task be done in some seemingly unreasonable time, that I can be tempted to even question whether in deed the Lord really did call me to ministry in The Salvation Army? If He really called me then why would it seem at times that “the hand of the Lord is against me”; “the Lord has dealt bitterly with me”; “I went away full but the LORD brought me back empty”; “the LORD has dealt harshly with me”; “the Almighty has brought calamity upon me” and what can I do about it?

What could Naomi and Ruth do about it?[4] While Naomi reproached God and returned home, Ruth is a different story.[5] Ruth – far from turning on God – turns towards God. Ruth sticks by Naomi, her deceased husband’s mother. Naomi - even in her bitter unpleasant state - is used by God, as an evangelist, to bring Ruth to salvation. And Ruth is not only brought to salvation, Ruth is brought by God, through Naomi to Rahab’s –whom we met last week – son.[6] And Ruth was chosen by God to be the great grandmother of Kind David. And Ruth was chosen by God to be an ancestor of Jesus who is the Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour of the whole world. God when Ruth was at her lowest point, God pointed her to this great salvation for Ruth, for Naomi and for ultimately the whole world.[7]

Look how Ruth responds to the same calamity that befalls Naomi. Look how Ruth responds. Instead of heading home complaining bitterly to God about how He is treating her, she follows God and her mother-in-law, Naomi into the unknown future with a strong declaration of faith. Naomi tries to discourage Ruth from following her into this future but Ruth replies, Verse 17 “Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” And Verse 16, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Ruth follows God into the Promised Land. Ruth experiences salvation.

So here is the thing. Naomi turned from pleasant to bitter and God still saved her.[8] Romans 3:3,4a, “What if some were [even] unfaithful will their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means!” Hebrews 13:5, God says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”; Romans 10:13, “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved;” also Acts 2:21. And Ruth -even more- Ruth experiences the joy of that salvation in the midst of her calamity for Ruth moreover chooses not to suffer that bitterness for Ruth chooses to turn God when life seemed to turn on her. With Ruth and with Naomi and with us and with our Lord, it is like that poem, ‘Footprints’, that was read recently at the funeral service for Agnes Gerlack; the variously attributed poem reads:

One night I dreamed a dream.

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,

One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,

especially at the very lowest and saddest times,

there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.

"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,

You'd walk with me all the way.

But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you

Never, ever, during your trials and testing.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you."

And that is the same with us today, no matter what is weighing us down, no matter what struggles we have, no matter if everything seems to be falling apart around us, no matter what trials and tribulations come our way, no matter what, the Lord is there with me and Lord is there with you and exactly when things seem to be the darkest then as we look we will notice that there is the light of God to show us the way; just when things seem the most difficult, there will always be our Lord carrying us through.

We don’t need to be bitter like Naomi. We don’t need to submit ourselves to the pain of bitterness in the midst of life’s very real struggles. We don’t need to worry (cf. Matthew 6:19-34). Jesus loves us. God loves us and God promises us that He will never leave us nor forsake us and just when things seem to be their most challenging, just when we can’t possibly move forward one more step at all, just then there is God right in the middle of our trials with us, carrying us on His shoulders towards His Salvation both for now and forever.

Let us pray.

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[1] Cf. Thomas W. Mann, “Ruth 4: Between Text and Sermon,” Interpretation 64 (2010).

[2] Cf. Martha L. Moore-Keish, “Ruth 2,” Interpretation 64 (2010).She phrases the relevant questions as ‘where is God?’ and ‘where are we?’

[3] Captain Michael Ramsay, “Thanksgiving at Judah’s House,” Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 13 October 2013):  http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/10/thanksgiving-at-judahs-house.html

[4] Cf. Athalya Brenner, “From Ruth to the ‘Global Woman’: Social and Legal Aspects,” Interpretation 64, no. 2 (April 2010): 163 for a good discussion of possible motivations God may have provided.

[5] Cf. Kathleen A. Robertson Farmer, Ruth in Niw Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 2, ed. Leander E. Keck, et. al (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998), 907 What is lost in the English translations is Ruth's tone of indignation. She is incensed that she would be asked to leave, or forsake, her mother-in-law.

[6] Captain Michael Ramsay, “Rahab the Redeemed (Joshua 2&6, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25),” Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 20 October 2013):  http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/09/rahab-redeemed-joshua-2-hebrews-1131.html

[7] Cf. Jessica Tate, “Ruth 1:6-22: Between Text and Sermon,” Interpretation 64 (2010)

[8] Cf. Peter Lau, “Ruth 1:1-18,” The Expository Times 121, no. 1 (2009): 27-28.

Rahab the Redeemed (Joshua 2&6, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25)

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 25 September 2011, the Weekend of Prayer to Stop Human Trafficking and 20 October 2013. By Captain Michael Ramsay

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Click here to read the sermon: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/09/rahab-redeemed-joshua-2-hebrews-1131.html

Thanksgiving at Judah’s House.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 13 Oct. 2013
Presented to 614 & Warehouse in Toronto, 16 Oct. 2016

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries 04 October 2020

By Captain Michael Ramsay

This is the original version; to view the Toronto 2016 version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2016/10/genesis-38-judahs-family.html 

To view the Alberni Valley 2020 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2020/10/reading-genesis-38-on-mmiw-day.html

Thanksgiving is often a time for families to get together. In most homes in this part of the country there will be the Thanksgiving turkey. Not in mine, with a vegetarian family. It will be a double blessing tomorrow then that we will have a turkey dinner at the corps for all who can make it before Bible study. Thanksgiving is often a time for families to gather together, so today we are going to look a family of turkeys or people who are seemingly acting like turkeys.

We are continuing our look at the lineage of Jesus Christ. So far we have looked at Adam and Eve, Noah’s family, and Abraham and Sarah. Today we are looking at Judah and Tamar. Does anyone know who are Judah and Tamar? First, who is Judah?

Who is Judah’s father? Judah’s father was Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name; to what did He change his name? Israel. All of the tribes of Israel are descended from and named after the sons of Israel. Judah is therefore the father, the ancestor of a whole tribe of Israel.

The tribe of Judah even becomes the dominant tribe of all the tribes of Israel and long after Israel ceases to exist as a country, the Kingdom of Judah remains. This is interesting. All of this happens with Judah becoming the dominant tribe, as Judah the person is the one of Israel’s sons to receive the blessing of the birthright.

Who in theory is supposed to receive the birthright; which child? The oldest son, right? Just like with our own Monarch thus far into history. The interesting part here is that not only is Judah not the oldest son (as indeed even his father isn’t the oldest son), Judah is not even the second oldest son. Now, not only is Judah not the even second oldest son but Judah is also not even the third oldest son. On this Thanksgiving Day, Judah could be very thankful if he were still around because Judah receives the birthright usually received for the oldest brother and he is the fourth oldest brother. He has three older brothers who had to be disqualified for him to receive the birthright and that blessing. We’ll look at that in just a moment – how his older brothers disqualified themselves from the birthright and then we will look a little more into who exactly is this person of Judah of our pericope today. 

Let’s turn in our Bibles to Genesis 49. It will give us a bit of an insight into what is going on in Judah’s family. This portion of scripture records Israel/Jacob’s blessings of his sons before he dies. These are Israel’s famous last words to his children (the males anyway). Genesis 49:1-4 tells us a little bit about Ruben, Judah’s oldest brother and why he doesn’t receive the blessing of the birthright:

49:1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

2 “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;

listen to your father Israel.

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn,

my might, the first sign of my strength,

excelling in honour, excelling in power.

4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,

for you went up onto your father’s bed,

onto my couch and defiled it.

Jacob, says to his oldest son, who is the naturally expected heir to this birthright; Jacob says, Verse 4, “You will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.” Do you remember that story? (Israel’s family is an interesting family. One that I’m sure in comparison will make you even more thankful for your own.) Genesis 35:22 records that Reuben lay with Bilhah. Bilhah is his father’s concubine; Bilhah is not only his father’s concubine, Bilhah is his brothers’ mother. Reuben has relations with his brothers’ - Dan and Naphtali - mom. (And you think your family is messed up?) For this his birthright understandably passes down to the second oldest son: Simeon. But Simeon and Levi are just as much of turkeys as their older brother; these next two sons also disqualify themselves from the blessing of the birthright. Genesis 49:5-7:

5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers—

their swords  are weapons of violence.

6 Let me not enter their council,

let me not join their assembly,

for they have killed men in their anger

and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.

7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce,

and their fury, so cruel!

I will scatter them in Jacob

and disperse them in Israel.

This ‘blessing’ upon Simeon and Levi - when their dad is upon his deathbed – this blessing where their father declares, “let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly for they have killed men in anger” is rather sharp, to say the least! Do you know what this is about? Genesis 34 records that their sister by the same mom is raped. The man who rapes her, Shechem, repentant, comes then with his dad and asks to have her hand in marriage. Israel agrees but his sons say that all the men of Shechem’s people must be circumcised for this to happen. They agreed and they all become circumcised. Then while they were all at the height of their pain from being circumcised, Simeon and Levi – the two brothers in question here - sneak into their camp and kill all the men and take all their women and all their children and more as plunder. As a result of this, they lose their claim to the birthright and the descendants, the whole tribe, of Levi is not given any territory (other than Levite cities) and the descendants, the whole tribe, of Simeon is swallowed up in the tribe of Judah. If you want to read more about the blessings of Israel’s sons and tribes, you can read more of Genesis 49 later – it is really interesting – and it gives you bit of background as to Judah’s brothers and his life growing up, who would be around the table at big family gatherings, and why Judah receives the blessing of the birthright that is usually reserved for the eldest male child even though he is the fourth son.

Now the rest of Chapter 49 does speak about the rest of his brothers. He has quite a large family, probably as many as will be gathering around Thanksgiving tables today and tomorrow in our community. Judah has 11 brothers and an unknown number of sisters and combined nephews and nieces.

One of Judah’s youngest brothers we know fairly well. Do we know who was Israel’s second youngest son? Joseph. We remember the stories of Joseph from the Bible (Genesis 37-50). How well did Judah and the rest of Joseph’s brothers think of Joseph growing up? Not that well. Remember Joseph has all these dreams about his brothers bowing down to him? (Genesis 37:5-11) Remember that his dad shows Joseph certain favouritism and even buys him that coat of many colours and remember how Joseph’s brothers respond to all of this (Genesis 37:1-36). They take him and throw him into a well and then at Judah’s recommendation, they sell Joseph as a slave. It is Judah’s idea to sell his little brother into slavery (Genesis 37:26-27). That act itself might make one wonder why Judah didn’t also lose his birthright like his older brothers did. But he doesn’t

Judah later does redeem himself. We remember the end of the Joseph story. The years pass by and Joseph is now the one with all the power; he has risen to be second in command of the regional superpower (Genesis 41:37ff.). Joseph is a ruler of Egypt. Joseph then has one of his brothers – Simeon, who came to him looking for food – held in an Egyptian prison for an indefinite period of time (Genesis 42:24). The other brothers later return and Joseph is about to take prisoner another one of his brothers, after framing him for crime, when Judah steps up (Genesis 44:18ff.). His brothers can be thankful for Judah. Judah is the one who negotiates the freedom of his brothers and Judah is the one whom God uses to tip Joseph’s hand into revealing his identity and into forgiving and providing for his brothers and their families for generations to come. Judah shows that he is the leader among his brothers. Judah shows that he is a solid choice to inherit the birthright. This brings us to our story today. We read earlier from Genesis 38. Thanksgiving often sees family gathering from all over the country and here we have an interesting tale about Judah travelling and getting together with his daughter-in-law, Tamar.

Tamar isn’t probably an Israelite. Tamar is probably a Canaanite.[1] We remember from looking at the story of Noah the other week that the Canaanites are cursed for generations to come for the sins of their father, Ham (Genesis 9:25-29). Judah’s son then marries this cursed Canaanite woman – which is later prohibited, by the way - and then he dies before he has any children.[2]

Do we understand what is going on in the story that we read earlier today with the brothers? In Israel in those days, territorial inheritance was very important and so was having a son to inherit that property. Because of this they had a rule that if a son died without an heir then his younger brother was supposed to be with his widow and then the child that results from that would be the heir to his brother. That way the older brother would have an heir and his descendants would not lose their claim to a part of Israel. Judah cooperates with this rule and Judah gives his second son to Tamar, who is the widow of his first son. Judah’s second son however stands to inherit all of his brother’s inheritance if he doesn’t produce an heir for him; so instead of impregnating Tamar, he uses protection of sorts. He doesn’t complete the job anyway. This makes God mad because Onan was not only hurting Er, his deceased brother, but he was also hurting Tamar, his brother’s widow, and he was hurting Judah, his father, and he was hurting his whole family’s inheritance.[3] God takes Onan’s life. So now Judah has lost his two oldest sons and his eldest son’s widow Tamar is still without an heir for the family.

Now in that place and at that time there was probably not a more vulnerable person in society than a childless widow. A widow without a child has no one to care for her and Judah, while Tamar is in this state, Judah sends his daughter-in-law away. He says that his youngest son is too young for her and he sends Tamar away without providing for her the heir that is demanded. Judah puts himself before the commandment to provide an heir for his son and Judah puts himself before the commandment to look after the widow in his own household.

Judah sends her away. He doesn’t seem to concern himself with her again. His youngest child grows up and he never fulfils the opportunity to give him to Tamar and to invite Tamar back into his clan where she belongs.

Tamar, who is being the good widow at this point, even though she has been sent away by her in-laws, she has still been faithfully living in seclusion while wearing her widow’s clothing. She then hears that her father-in-law is coming to town so she puts on some nice clothes and goes to meet him. Judah sees her and mistakes her for a prostitute. Here is an opportunity that appears. Judah owes her a son and Judah thinks she’s a prostitute. Judah decides that he wants to use her services but he doesn’t have any money so Tamar – thinking on her feat here - asks for his signet and cord. A signet is like a signature in that it is unique to the individual so the reader at this point can see how Tamar is taking advantage of this God given opportunity.[4] Tamar does become pregnant. Some people find out about this and tell Judah that his daughter-in-law (who is supposed to be celibate) is pregnant. The law says that she should be put to death, especially as this happened, so the rumour has it, as a result of prostitution. It is at this point that she lets Judah know that he is the father. Judah then admits his sin, what he has done to her and to his family. She gives birth to twins. Judah takes responsibility for his children, one of whom is the direct ancestor of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Judah even admits that Tamar is more righteous than is he. Tamar is not a prostitute; she merely conceives the child promised to her.[5]

So why is this story in the Bible? It is important. The fact that a child of this encounter is an ancestor of both King David and Jesus Christ, is mentioned more than once, by more than one author, writing at more than one distinct era in history (See Ruth 4:18-23, Matthew 1:3). Matthew, in the New Testament makes a point of mentioning that it is Judah’s son by Tamar who is in Jesus’ line and the authors of Matthew and Ruth even tells us which one of the twins he is: Perez. This story is very important in the history of Israel. This story is very important in the ancestry of King David and this story is very important in the ancestry Christ Jesus, so why is it important to us? And what does it mean to us today?

I think the key point here lies in who is Tamar: Tamar is a Canaanite. The Canaanites are the cursed descendants of Ham. She is cursed; she is a woman; she is a widow; she is a cursed, abused widow who has been even further marginalized and taken advantage of by privileged Israelites and she is an ancestor of Christ. You couldn’t be much more on the margins of society than is Tamar and Tamar is the ancestor of Jesus.[6]

Jesus in his ministry is always helping the poor, the widow, and the immigrant. Tamar is just that and Tamar is Jesus’ ancestor. God used Tamar to save the whole world in that her actions led to Christ.[7] So as God can use Tamar, who was abused and marginalized to extremes that many of us can only imagine, so too can he use us and that is something for which we can all be thankful. No matter who we are in this life, if we are marginalized and appear to be nothing in our own eyes, maybe like Tamar; or if we make serious mistakes and sin like Judah; no matter who we are God loves us, and God can use even us to point others to His Salvation both now and forever. Let us pray

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[1] But cf. John H. Sailhamer, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Genesis/Exposition of Genesis/VI. The Account of Jacob (37:1-49:33)/D. Judah and Tamar (38:1-30), Book Version: 4.0.2

[2] Cf. Thomas W, Mann, The Book of the Torah: The Narrative Integrity of the Pentateuch, (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1988), 66-68.

[3] Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1967 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 1), S. 199: The fact that a single Hebrew word suffices for the phrase perform the duty of a brother-in-law (rsv) would confirm that this was a standard practice, even if there were no record of the law in Deuteronomy 25:5ff. Each of the three Old Testament references to this regulation (cf. Ruth 4:5f.) shows that it could be most unwelcome, chiefly through the very fact that the donor himself set great store on family inheritance—but his own. The enormity of Onan’s sin is in its studied outrage against the family, against his brother’s widow and against his own body. The standard English versions fail to make clear that this was his persistent practice. When (9) should be translated ‘whenever’

[4] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, (NIB I: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), 606.

[5] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis, (John Knox Press: Atlanta, Georgia, 1982), 311.

[6] Cf. Dorothy Jean Weaver, “‘Wherever This Good News Is Proclaimed”: Women and God in the Gospel of Matthew’, in Interpretation 64, no. 4, (October, 2010) 394-395

[7] cC. Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis, (John Knox Press: Atlanta, Georgia, 1982), 311.

Genesis 9:18-29: Idiomatic Noah

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 29 Sept 2013
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Today we are speaking about Noah so I found a few riddles about that to share here[1]:

1. What did Noah say as he was loading the Ark?

Ø      "Now I herd everything."

2. Why did the people on the ark think the horses were pessimistic?

Ø      They kept saying neigh.

3. What animal could Noah not trust?

Ø      The cheetah.

4. Why couldn't they play cards on the ark?

Ø      Noah was sitting on the deck.

5. Who was the first canning factory run by?

Ø      Noah, he had a boat full of preserved pairs.

6. Was Noah the first one out of the Ark?

Ø      No, he came fourth out of the ark.

Before we chat a little bit about Noah we should probably have a little bit of context. Noah is one story among many in the book of Genesis, so let’s recap what those of us who have been reading Genesis have read in the chapters leading up to the Noah episode.[2]

Remember in the beginning of Genesis? Remember the creation story?[3] By the third day God had finished making the earth and the sky and the sea and by the sixth day He had completed and rested from making birds and animals and people to live in their environments. God makes this beautiful world that He loves and it is good and He creates good people  –Adam and Eve, whom we spoke about last week - to look after it, but sin creeps in and this breaks God’s heart; so He needs to remove people from the land He put us in. [4]

Not long after this time Cain, Adam and Eve’s firstborn son, also falls prey to sin, killing his brother and becoming further removed from the Lord and the land he is working (Genesis 4). God loves us so much that He even warns Cain before Cain succumbs to sin. He tells him, Genesis 4:7b, “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”[5] Humanity nonetheless defies God and falls prey to sin; so again humanity needs to be removed from the land that was entrusted to us. God still loves His creation. He gave us, His children, this responsibility to look after His creation for Him and twice now, with Adam and Eve and with Cain, He has had to give us a time-out and twice now He has felt the need to remove us from the very land that He had asked us to look after on His behalf. This makes God sad.[6]

Now, it is only a few chapters further along in the story. The years have gone on and God has many more children whom He loves and they are still being disobedient, even with the examples of those before them.[7] As a matter of fact, they are worse than ever. Genesis 6:5-6: “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.” Again God seems to be left with little choice but to remove us from the land for which we are responsible. This time actually instead of taking us away from the land, He takes the land away from us drowning the world in His sorrows, and leaving his chosen property managers – Noah and Sons - floating until the property is ready for them.

Noah, of course, is in the direct lineage of Jesus Christ who is the Saviour of the whole world. On the family tree (or family vine, as the case may be) that we are reproducing of our Lord, Noah -generations before Christ- is the one God chooses as a vehicle to save us here as God re-creates the whole world. It is after God’s salvation of humanity via Noah and it is after God’s promise of further mercy for His creation; it is after God lovingly makes the rainbow to symbolize His promise to never destroy the earth by floodwaters again; it is after the people –Noah’s family – leave the boat, the Ark; it is at this point after we have had so much relief following a disaster of such magnitude that we experience a very strange part of Scripture.

God says, Genesis 9:15-29:

I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.  Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.  But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son [Ham] had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan!  The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

After the flood Noah lived 350 years. Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

This is the conclusion of the Noah story. The Noah story doesn’t end with rainbows and bunny rabbits.[8] The Noah story doesn’t end with a happy celebration after the flood. The Noah story doesn’t end in hugs and kisses and choirs of angels. The Noah story ends with Noah getting drunk and his youngest son doing something –we don’t really know what he does – his youngest son does something which results in Noah cursing, not the offender but the offender’s child who is Noah’s own grandson. Noah calls out a curse on Canaan, his own grandson; his descendants will be slaves of his uncle’s descendants. Have you ever wondered why God and the Bible conclude the Noah story this way? Does it strike anyone else as strange? And what did Ham do that causes Noah (Ham’s dad) to curse Canaan (Ham’s son)? What exactly was it that Ham did to provoke Noah into cursing Canaan, who is Noah’s own grandson?

Verses 21-23, again reads: “When he [Noah] drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.” Then Noah wakes up and curses his grandson, the son of his son who, Verse 22, “saw his father naked and told his two brothers”. What was so wrong with this?

First in understanding what is so wrong with this we need to understand a certain idiomatic euphemism; can anyone tell me what is an euphemism or an idiom? An euphemism is a vague or a gentler way to say something and an idiom is a phrase that we all know what it means but it means something other than what it literally says. It is an expression for something. I have some idiomatic euphemisms. Let’s see who can tell me what they mean?

1. Turn a blind eye to something
2. Caught red-handed
3. He blew his fuse
4. The apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree
5. Dog’s breakfast

I used to be involved in the administration of international colleges. You can imagine how confusing idioms like this would be for our students who didn’t speak English as a first language. What would they think if they heard the following: “He had always turned a blind eye to it but today he really blew his fuse because the whole place was a dog’s breakfast.” If English isn’t your first language you’re not really going to know what is going on.

Today we have before us in our text, one of those idiomatic euphemisms from ancient Hebrew: “seeing his father’s nakedness”. This phrase – in the Bible, in the Old Testament, in the Pentateuch – has often been used as an expression for sexual activity.[9] For one example – and there are many examples - Leviticus records that you should not have sexual relations with – literally, ‘you should not uncover the nakedness’ of a close relative (Leviticus 18:16). Ezekiel sometimes also uses this idiomatic euphemism to refer specifically to violent or other illicit sexual encounters (Ezekiel 16:36-37; 22:10; 23:10, 18,29).

This has caused scholars to interpret Ham’s sin in various ways.

A few people simply see Ham’s sin here as literally looking at his naked father but that argument doesn’t seem to really – if you will excuse the idiomatic euphemism, that argument doesn’t seem to ‘hold any water.’ Some Jewish scholars see Ham’s sin as castrating his father in order to usurp his authority. I can’t find any Biblical support for that.[10]

Many scholars these days recognize that since the phrase, ‘uncover his father’s nakedness’ usually refers to sexual activity that there is some sort of sexual encounter here. Quite popular, these days, is the opinion that Ham lay with his drunken or passed out father. The problem with that theory is that it doesn’t explain why Noah cursed Ham’s son rather than Ham himself.

As a result of this and readings of other texts, scholars acknowledge that the phrase, ‘uncover his father’s nakedness’, can also refer to acting like Oedipus and having relations with his own mother. The phrase is used this way in Leviticus 18:7-8 as well (cf. Leviticus 18:14-16; 20:11, cf. also Deuteronomy 23:1, 27:20).[11] If that is true, that would certainly better explain why his child is cursed rather than just Ham himself, especially if his child is the product of this illicit relationship.

But none of this is 100% agreed upon. What is agreed upon is this: whatever it is that Ham did, it is serious. Whatever it is that Ham did, it caused his own son to be cursed. Whatever it is that Ham did, it caused Noah to curse his own grandchild. Whatever it is that Ham did, it caused his family to be cursed after they were already saved from the flood. Whatever this heinous sin here is, that Ham did, it is the note upon which the whole Noah story ends. The short version of the flood story in the context of Genesis is then as follows:

Ø      God makes mankind (Adam and Eve) and He loves them

Ø      They sin horribly in the garden and suffer the consequences

Ø      God still loves them and makes provisions for their safety

Ø      Man (Cane) sins horribly by killing his own brother and suffers the consequences

Ø      God still loves him and makes provisions for his safety

Ø      Mankind sins horribly – ‘doing only evil all the time’ – and suffers the consequences of the flood

Ø      God still loves them and makes provisions for their safety

Ø      Mankind then sins horribly with this story of Ham and Noah and suffers the consequences

And around and around we go…

Well, how about our own lives? Are we any better? How many times do our lives get so overwhelming that we cry out to the Lord, we see how miraculously God delivers us from our problems and then over time we drift further and further away from the Lord and holiness and instead we drift closer and closer to sin and death? How many people have said at some point, “God if you do such and such for me, I will do such and such in my life” only to have God help you and then you forget –maybe not right away but - over time you don’t uphold your part of the bargain? Or how about those of us who have known God for a long time? There was a time when we realized that we have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. There was a time when we realized that we can’t make it without God. There was a time when we realized that we needed to board the Ark of eternal Salvation. There was a time when we asked Jesus to come into our hearts and there was a time when we turned our lives totally over to God. For many of us then, as time goes on, there is the temptation to either doubt or forget all that God has done for us; for many of us then, as time goes on, there is the temptation to either doubt or forget how important it is what God did for us; and then, some of us, as time goes on, are we tempted to proceed to do whatever is the equivalent in our life is of ‘uncovering our father’s nakedness’?

Today, many of us are just like Noah’s family. Today, many of us have experienced (and are experiencing) the Salvation that was provided by the ‘Jesus Ark’ so many years ago. Today, many years after landing safely on the dry ground of our relationship with our Lord, the devil can tempt any of us, to forget what the Lord has done for us and commit whatever the equivalent in our life is of ‘uncovering our father’s nakedness’.

God loved Noah and Noah’s family. God saved Ham (and by extension Canaan) from the flood in which so many people perished. Yet Ham committed some heinous act that caused him to turn the blessing of salvation he received from the flood into a curse for generations to come. God saved Ham. Ham turned on God and his father and Ham and his family missed out on the full blessing of the salvation that his brothers and their families experienced.

Today, if there are any of us here who haven’t boarded the Salvation Ark, I would invite us to do so before we are engulfed in the eternal flood. To those of us who have indeed boarded the Ark of Salvation and have landed on dry land maybe many years ago, I encourage us to please keep strong. Let us remember how God saves us and let us turn not on our Father but instead let us turn to our Father (cf. TSA doc 9). For when we love God and when we love our neighbour in this way, all curses will be ultimately be erased and we will live out our Salvation for now and evermore with our Lord and Saviour.

Let us pray.

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[1] ‘The Riddles are from Noah’s Ark Riddles’ on The English Humour Wikki http://mirth.wikia.com/wiki/Noah's_Ark_RiddlesGod loves us.

[2] Cf Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Genesis 6:5-7: This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.' Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current:10 June 2012). On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/06/genesis-65-7-this-is-going-to-hurt-me.html

[3] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Room for Creation (Sheepspeak: Swift Current: 2012) and Captain Michael Ramsay,The Appeal of Creation: Genesis 1, Romans 1. Presented to the Nipawin Corps, (Sheepspeak.com: Nipawin SK: 07 June 2009),On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/06/appeal-of-creation-genesis-1-romans-1.html

[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay,Genesis 1-4: God: Creator, Governor, and Preserver of All Things. Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current: 26 Feb 2012). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/02/genesis-1-4-god-creator-governor-and.html

[5] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay,'Genesis 4:7b: Sin is Crouching at Your Door'. Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 03 June 2012). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/05/genesis-47b-sin-is-crouching-at-your.html

[6] Cf. Derek Kidner: Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1967 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 1), S. 91

[7] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Suffering of God, (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984),112.

[8] But cf. W. Sibley Towner,  “Genesis 9:8-17.” Interpretation 63, no. 2 (April 1, 2009): 168-171.

[9] Scott Sietze Bergsma and Scott Walker Hahn,  “Noah’s Nakedness and the Curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27).” Journal of Biblical Literature 124, no. 1 (2005): 25-40.

[10] But cf. Graves and Patai, Hebrew Myths, 122 for non-Biblical examples. Cited from Scott Sietze Bergsma and Scott Walker Hahn,  “Noah’s Nakedness and the Curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27).” Journal of Biblical Literature 124, no. 1 (2005): 29.

[11] Scott Sietze Bergsma and Scott Walker Hahn,  “Noah’s Nakedness and the Curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27).” Journal of Biblical Literature 124, no. 1 (2005): 25-40.