Here are a few things I walked away with after my Old Testament Survey class. My wonderful teacher, AJ, challenged us to peer into the unique life of Noah.
The Old Testament has always piqued my interest, but it is definitely a hard book to study without knowing the context or history. My favorite book is probably Genesis.
Scandal after scandal, this book never disappoints. Whether it's recapping the story of two daughters getting their father inebriated enough to take turns sleeping with him or empowering women with the story of Hagar, it's a page turner (not to mention the foreshadowing of Jesus Christ woven through the chapters).
We only focused on the life of Noah. Actually, we only focused on one or two verses. For those of you who didn't grow up with flannelgraphs or missed the movie Evan Almighty, Noah was asked by God to build an ark to save his family during the flood. Noah and his family were the only ones saved during the flood due to his righteousness and because he walked with God. (Gen6:9)
So. Noah obediently built a huge ark and patiently waited on it during the flood. Once he was off the ark and starting his life over, he planted a vineyard and again patiently waited.
In celebration, he drinks of the wine,
gets drunk and falls asleep naked in his tent.
Any time "naked" is mentioned in the Bible, it has negative connotations and is usually equated with shame (except in Gen1, before Adam and Eve sinned).
And you thought you couldn't relate to the Bible...the most righteous man on the earth acted like a frat brother during rush week.
In the morning, Noah's son Ham saw his nakedness and ran out and told everyone. His two other sons, Shem and Japheth "took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders and walked in backwards and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness." (9:23)
There are two reactions we can have to people's sin. We can run out and tell everyone,
or we can walk in backwards.
Shem and Japheth didn't exploit their father's shame and take advantage of his mistake, they honored him even in a moment of weakness.
How do we respond to situations like this? When highly respected, godly leaders make mistakes, do we gossip and judge? Or do we walk in backwards and cover them? I wonder what the church would be like, what our families, relationships and marriages would be like, if we all walked in backwards.
Just a thought.
