Genesis 9:20

Genesis 9:20 says, And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:  Noah became a farmer, basically, and he planted a vineyard.  Noah went back to work.  He did not suddenly feel that everything was owed to him.  When we accept Christ, we are called to work, not to be worshipped nor to demand the riches of this world.  Verse twenty-one states, And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.  Noah evidently made wine, and then drank too much.  Noah was the man who found mercy in the eyes of God, but he was not a perfect man.  He got drunk and fell asleep naked.  Verse twenty-two adds, And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.  Matthew Henry points out that the sin of Ham was not seeing Noah passed out naked, but in telling his brothers about it out in public.  He says that it was as if Ham was gloating about the fact.  We may see someone commit a sinful act, but we should never publicise it in an attempt to shame them or to make ourself look better.  Verse twenty-three declares, And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.  Shem and Japheth went out of their way to not look on Noah, their father, with disrespect.  We today should never look at the sins of others as an opportunity to look down on them, but we should do all we can to minimize the effect of the sin.  Verse twenty-four says, And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.  We are not told how Noah knew what Ham had done, but it may have been something that everyone was talking about.  All we are told is that when Noah awoke, or sobered up, he knew.  Verse twenty-five declares, And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.  Noah pronounced a curse on Canaan, Ham's son.   He was to be a servant to his brothers.  I still do not believe that God punishes children for the sins of their parents, but we are not told that this was something that God did.  I personally believe that just as Noah was wrong to pass out drunk and naked, so was he wrong in this action.  Verse twenty-six adds, And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.  Shem would be the father of the Israelites.  Noah did not say that Shem should be blessed but that God should be.  Verse twenty-seven concludes, God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.  Japheth would be the father of the Gentiles, and Canaan would be a servant to both.  Verse twenty-eight says, And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.  Then verse twenty-nine states, And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.  Noah had a long life after the flood and overall.  Still, as with nearly all people, he died.  We can be certain that no matter how long we live, and no matter how good or bad we may be, that unless Christ returns before then, we will all die.  For followers of Christ, this is just a transition point though.  We move on to the rest of our everlasting life.