The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 228

HOMILETICS. Vers. 20-29.-The future unveiled. I. A PAGE FROM HUMAN HISTORY. The prominent figure an old man (of 620 years or upwards)-always an object of interest, as one who has passed through life's vicissitudes, and worthy of peculiar honour, especially if found walking in the paths of righteousness and peace ; an old saint who had long been distinguished for the elevation of his piety, who had long maintained his fidelity to God in the midst of evil times, who had just enjoyed a special deliverance at the hand of God, and who up to the period referred to in our text had brought neither stain upon his piety nor cloud upon his name ; the second head of the human family, and in 11 manner nlso the second head of the Church of God; an old disciple, ~vho probably had seen Seth, the son of Adam, and walked with Enoch, ·and spoken with Methuselah, and who lived, as the Scripture tells us, to the days of Abram; clearly one of the most distinguished figures that, looking back, one is able· to detect upon the canvas of time. Well, in connection with this venerable patriarch we learn-1. That he engaged in a highly honourable occupation. (1) It was to his credit that he had an occupation. Being an old man, he might have reasoned that his working days were done, and that the evening of lifo might as well be spent in leisure and meditation. Having threo stalwart sons, he might have deemed it proper to look to them for aid in his declining years. Ann. knowing himself to be an object of Heaven's peculiar care, he might have trusted God would feed him wiLhout his working, since he had saved him without his asking. But from all these temptations--to idleness, to dependence, to presumption-Noah was de 1ivered, and preferred, as all good Christians,should do, to labour to the last, working while it is culled to-day, to depend upon themselves rather than their friends and neighbours, and to expect God's nssistnnce rather when they try to help themselves than when they leave it all to hitn Then, (2) The calling lie cngagP,d in was an honest one,  lb2 ':tiiE BOOK OF GENESIS. ten. It. 18--29. I He was a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard (vide Exposition on vine culti- vation). God's peopl~ sho~1ld be careful in selecting honest trades and professions for themsel\'cs nnd their children (Rom. xii. 17). No social statnR, or public estima- tion, or p~ofitable returns c~n render that employment honourable which, either in its nature or l!1 th~ ma~n~r of Its carrying; on, ,iolates the law of God; while tha.t calling bas a special g.ory m itself and a special value in the sight of Heaven which however bumble and unremunernth·e, respects the rights of men and the rules of God'. 2. That Ju irulul,ged in a per.fecUv legitimate gratijication. "lle drank of the wine." Thero ,ms ~ot)1ing v.Ton;s· !n. Noah eating of the ripe grapes w,hich grew upon his vines, or drmkmg of their JUICe when transformed mto wine (et. Deut. x.xv. 4; 1 Cor. ix. 7). The sinfulness of making fcnnented liquors cannot be established so long as fermentation is a natural process for the preservation of the produce of the grape and Scripture, in one set of passages, speaks of its beneficial influence upon man'~ physical system (Judges ix. 13; Ps. civ. 15; Prov. xxxi. 6; 1 Tim. v. 23), and God himself ern_p~oys it as a sy~bol of the highe~t and choicest blessings, both temporal and sp1ntual (Gen. xxvu. 28, 37; Prov. 1x. 2; Isa. xxv. 6; Matt. x.xvi. 28, 29), and Christ made it at the marriage feast of Cana (John ii. 9, 10). Nor is the drinking of wines and other fermented liquors condemned in Scripture as a violation of the law of God. That there are special seasons when abstinence from this as wP.11 as other gratifications of a physic:il kind is a duty (cf. Levit. x. 9; Jndgcs xiii. 4, 14; Ezek. xliv. 21; Dan. i. 5, 8, .16; Rom. xiv. 21; 1 Cor. x. 28), and that it is competent to any Christian, for the sake of his weaker brethren, or as a means of advancing his own spiritual life, or for the glory of '1od, to renounce his liberty in respect of drinks, no intelligent person will doubt. But that total abstin- ence is imperatively required of every one is neither asserted in Scripture nor was it taught by the example of Christ (Matt. xi. 19), and to enforce it upon Christian men as a term of commnnion is to impose on them a yoke of bondage which Christ has not sanctioned, and to supplant Christian liberty by bodily asceticism. 3. That he jell beneath a pitifully sad humiliatwn. (1) He drank to the extent of intoxi- cation. Whatever extenuations may be offered for the action of the patriarch, it cannot be regarded in any other light than a, sin.• Considering the age he had come to, the experience he had passed through, the position which he occupied as the head of the race and the father of the Church, he ought to have been specially upon his guard. While permitting man a moderate indulgence in the fruit of the vine, the word of God especially condemns the sin of drunkenness (cf. Prov. xxiii. 20; Isa. v. 11, 22; Luke :xxi. 34; Rom. xiii. 13; 1 Cor. v. 11; vi. 10; Gal. v. 21; Ephes. v. 18; 1 Thess. v. 8). (2) His immodesty. The veil of modesty in which God designs that every sinful human being should be wrapt should be jealously guarded from infringement by any action either of ourselves or others. Lessons :-1. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. :x. 12). Remember Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Peter. 2. "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with t!Je Spirit" (Ephes. v. 18). There is scarcely a sin to which intoxication may not lead ; there is no infallible cure for drunkenness but being filJed with the Spirit. 3. "Be sure thy sin will find thee out" (N um. mii. 23). "There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid that shall not be known." II. A REVE:LATION OF BUMAN CHARACTER. On the threshold of the new world, like the Lord Jesus Christ in the opening of the gospel dispensation (Luke ii. 35), the patriarch Noah appears to have been set for the fall and rising again of many, and for n sign to be spoken against that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed. All unconsciously to him his vine-planting and wine-drinking become the occasion of unveiling the different characters of his sons in respect of-1. Filial piety, which Shem and Japheth remarkably displayed, l,ut of which Ham, the youngest son, appears to have been destitute. There was nothing sinful in Ham's having witnessed what should never have been exposed to view, and there is no reason to credit any of the idle rabbinical legends which allege that Ham perpe• trated a particular outrage upon his father ; but Ham was manifestly wanting· in that filial reverence and honour which were due to his aged parent, in that he gazed with delight upon the melancholy spectacle of his father's shame - in singular contrast to the respectful and modest behaviour of Shem an<l Japheth, who "wont on. 1x. 18--29.) 'fliE BOOK OF GENESIS. 158