From the Flood to Abraham

Gen. Chs. 9-11.

Noah's Shame and Prophecy. Just what the vocation of Noah bad been
before his call to prepare for the flood we do not know. But after the
flood, perhaps compelled by necessity, he became an husbandman. He had
probably settled on the slopes or in the valleys of Ararat where he
planted a vineyard. On one occasion at least he fell under the
intoxicating influence of the fermented wine. This man upon whom God
had conferred such great favor and who alone preserved the race alive
lay naked and helpless in his tent.

In this shameful condition he was discovered by his sons whose conduct
led him in a spirit of prophecy to assign to his three sons the
rewards and punishments which their deeds merited. The punishment and
rewards fell upon the descendants of his sons. The descendants of Ham,
because of his joy rather than sorrow over the sin and humiliation of
his father, should always be a servile race. Out of these descendants
of Ham arose the Canaanites, the Babylonians and the Egyptians who
developed the three great civilizations of antiquity. Their
ascendancy, however, soon passed. The Canaanites were subdued by the
Israelites; the Cushites of Chaldea were absorbed by Semitic
conquerors and Carthage of the Phoenicians fell before her foes. The
sons of Cush, in the scripture commonly meaning the Ethiopian and now
known as the black-skinned African, are the very synonym for weakness,
degradation and servitude.

The descendants of Japheth and Shem like those of Ham can be traced
only in part. The Japhethites probably settled around the