We’ve covered Noah’s sons Shem and Ham. Now we’ll look at the third, Japheth.
Of the three boys, the Bible tells us the least about Japheth, though we know that Japheth, along with Shem, acts with integrity to cover his father’s drunken nakedness. And we know that Noah blesses Japheth for his action.
That’s it.
Though Scripture gives us Japheth’s family tree, it’s a brief one, shorter than the lists of his brothers’ lineage. In scanning the record of Japheth’s descendants, no familiar names pop up.
As far as the biblical account is concerned, Japheth and his family disappear from its pages.
What can we do to live a life that honors God? What can we do to encourage our descendants to do the same thing and, as a result, preserve our lineage for God’s glory?
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
Of Noah’s three sons, the Bible lists Ham second, even though he is, in fact, the youngest. Scripture only gives us one story about him. It’s his role in the account of his father’s drunken stupor.
It’s Ham who discovers his father inebriated and naked. He could have discreetly covered his dad. He doesn’t. Instead, he tells his brothers. Though we don’t know Ham’s motives, we doubt he seeks their advice on what to do.
More likely he approaches them with the glee of a gossip, sharing the tantalizing tidbits of what dear old dad has done. In short, he’s laughing at his father and expecting his brothers to join him.
While Ham does nothing to help alleviate his dad’s situation and prevent future embarrassment, brothers Shem and Japheth do both.
When Noah sobers and learns what happened, he blesses Shem and Japheth for their proper response but not before cursing Ham. We don’t know why, but Noah directs his displeasure at Ham’s son Canaan, pronouncing Canaan will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.
And later, while blessing Japheth, Noah specifically proclaims Canaan will be the slave of Japheth. This makes us wonder if Canaan wasn’t also involved in his father Ham’s folly.
Ham has four sons. In addition to Canaan, he has Cush, Egypt, and Put. From Canaan we have the Canaanites, a recurring irritant to God’s chosen people, the Israelites, who descend from Canaan’s uncle Shem.
The only other reference we see of Ham occurs in Psalms, where it talks about the tents of Ham and the land of Ham, presumably where some of Ham’s descendants settled.
Whether we’re the youngest in our family or not, what can we do to rise above our station to act with integrity? When we see someone’s misfortune are we quick to tell others about it (gossip) or do we keep it to ourselves?
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
The Bible doesn’t tell us the name of Noah’s wife, but we do know the names of their three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Scripture says Noah obeyed God in building the ark. We can only assume his boys helped. If they didn’t, why would God allow them to enter the ark and live?
After the flood, Noah, a farmer, plants a vineyard. He makes some wine, gets drunk, and lounges around without his clothes. Hearing this, Shem and his brother Japheth modestly cover their father, without looking at his nakedness.
When Noah sobers, he blesses Shem and Japheth for their chaste action, specifically elevating Shem over his brothers.
As we read the family tree of Shem, we come across Abram, later called Abraham. Through Shem’s lineage we have Father Abraham and, much later, Jesus.
How can we be an example to do what is right? When we see someone doing what’s wrong, do we seek to make things better?
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
Following the biblical story arc, we move forward several generations. Sin entered the world through Adam, found its expression in Cain, and, over the following centuries, chaos prevails. The world becomes corrupt, filled with violence.
God decides to wipe away humanity’s rampant evil.
The rest of God’s creation can stay, but he decides to do away with people—all except for Noah and his family. The Bible calls Noah righteous. This means he lives rightly, even though God has not yet defined what that means. Noah is blameless in his life and walks faithfully with God.
Scripture doesn’t tell us the spiritual condition of Noah’s family: his wife, his three sons, and their wives. These seven may be righteous like Noah, but the Bible doesn’t say that.
Regardless, God plans to save all eight. A better understanding is that they will live not because of their own merit but because of Noah’s. So it is with us and Jesus.
God plans to send a massive flood to destroy the world. Only these eight people will survive. Everyone else will die. Most land animals will perish as innocent victims in all this. Then God will allow humanity to start anew, through Noah. It’s a massive do-over, Creation 2.0.
To accomplish this, God tells Noah to build an ark, a huge boat, one big enough to carry a representative pair of each species and seven pairs of clean animals—along with enough food for all.
Noah obeys.
People back then lived for several centuries, and it takes Noah and his family one hundred years to complete this massive project. Building an ark doesn’t make sense and requires years of backbreaking work.
Yet they persist, no doubt enduring the ridicule of those around them and making many sacrifices as they build God’s boat, all the while attending to the daily needs of living.
When the rains come and the floodwaters rise, Noah, his family, and the animals God sends to them board the ark. God seals them inside and they survive the great deluge.
When the waters recede, eight people emerge.
God then gives Noah the same command he gave Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply. They do. We’re here today as a result.
God told Noah to do something difficult that didn’t make sense from a human perspective. But Noah obeyed and saved his family, along with giving humanity a fresh start.
We applaud Noah for his obedience to God.
How well do we do at obeying God? Would we be obedient like Noah if God told us to undertake a huge task that would take several years to complete?
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
Having discussed Cain, we now know the story of Abel, Adam and Eve’s second child. To recap, Abel and Cain give gifts to God. The Almighty accepts Abel’s gift but not Cain’s. Cain is angry and kills Abel.
Though we can speculate why God approved Abel’s offering and not Cain’s, we don’t know for sure—at least not from the account in Genesis.
The book of Hebrews, however, gives us a clue. One passage outlines the faith of many of the Bible’s heroes. Among them we read of Abel.
Hebrews says that by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain. Furthermore, it says that because of faith, God praised his gift and affirmed Abel as righteous.
The implication is that Abel received God’s affirmation with a humble spirit and didn’t let it go to his head. In short, Abel kept his ego in check.
Though we might expect God to then protect Abel for his noteworthy faith, remember that Cain had the ability to determine his actions. The only way for God to stop Cain would be to take away his free will.
How hard it must’ve been for God to not intervene and prevent Cain from killing his brother. Yet it’s not in his nature to stop us from doing something we want to do—even if it’s something quite terrible. This is a result from living in a sin-filled world.
Though Cain cuts Abel’s life short, we can expect Abel’s faith brings him into God’s presence right away. What a wonderful outcome.
How strong is our faith? Does God commend us for giving him our best, through faith? Do we respond with a faith-driven humility when he affirms us?
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
After Adam and Eve leave the garden of Eden, they have Cain. The Bible doesn’t specifically say he’s their firstborn, but he is the first of their offspring we read about in Scripture. Eve praises God for his role in this, the miracle of birth.
Later, Eve gives birth to Cain’s younger brother, Abel. The boys grow up and begin to work: Cain as a farmer, Abel as a shepherd.
Cain and Abel both give the results of their labors as an offering to God. We don’t know why they do this because the Almighty hadn’t asked them to. This is well before Moses commands the people to give God offerings and sacrifices. Nevertheless, the boys desire to give back to God.
Perhaps Cain decides to go first, and Abel simply follows his older brother’s example.
God accepts Abel’s gift but not Cain’s. We don’t know why.
One thought is that while Cain offered some of his crops to God, Abel offered the firstborn from his flock, the best.
Another idea is that this foreshadows the law of Moses and ultimately the sacrifice of Jesus, which requires the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). Abel’s offering could accomplish this; Cain’s could not. Or there may be another explanation we’re unaware of.
Regardless, God affirms Abel but not Cain. Imagine giving something to God and having him reject it. We can understand why Cain was angry and upset.
Still, God speaks to Cain and encourages him to do what is right. Sin knocks on Cain’s door. It desires to control him. God tells Cain to rule over the temptation.
As you may know, Cain doesn’t.
He invites his brother out into the field. There he attacks his younger sibling and kills him. We don’t know if Cain intended to murder his brother, but the story does read as though Cain premeditated the attack. The outcome of death may have been deliberate or accidental.
Either way, Abel dies. And Cain is the world’s first murderer.
God punishes Cain for his sin and drives him away.
Two brothers. One dead and the other exiled. What a sad outcome for creation’s first family.
What can we do to get along better with our brothers and sisters? When we face the temptation to sin, what must we do to control it and not give in to it?
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
The first person we encounter in the Bible is Adam. And the first couple we see is Adam and Eve. Though we usually think of them as a pair, let’s for a moment look at just Adam.
In the beginning, God creates us in his image, male and female. This means that Adam, as the first person, exists in God’s image. So do we. Think about that.
God places Adam in the garden of Eden. It’s an idyllic paradise, yet it’s not an idle existence. That would be boring. Instead, God gives Adam work to do. He’s to care for God’s garden. By extension, we, too, should care for God’s garden—his creation—today.
Yet Adam is also alone.
God, who exists in community—as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—knows the importance of Adam having someone to spend time with, someone to journey with through life. So God creates Eve—also made in his image—as a counterpart to Adam.
Though many versions of the Bible refer to Eve as Adam’s helper, I appreciate the translations which use words such as “partner,” “companion,” “complement,” and “counterpart.” In these we see a matched pair, equal to each other.
God gives Adam and Eve one rule: to not eat from one tree. All the rest of the garden’s produce is for them to enjoy, all except for this one plant.
This is because its fruit contains special power. It possesses the ability for the people who eat it to know right from wrong, to discern between good and evil.
One simple rule.
Yet Adam and Eve do the one thing God told them not to do. Enticed by the crafty serpent, they eat from the one tree—the only tree—God instructed them to not touch. Yet the ripened produce looks so good.
Eve picks some and eats it. She gives some to Adam. They both eat the forbidden fruit.
When God confronts Adam, he blames Eve. Eve in turn blames the serpent. Yet each played a role, and God punishes all three.
Scripture later holds Adam accountable—mostly. It is through him that sin entered our world. It’s because of him that we face death.
And this is where Jesus comes in. Because of Adam’s sin we will die. Because of Jesus’s sacrifice we can live.
Who do we blame more in this story, Adam, Eve, or the serpent? Does it matter whose fault it is?
Do you believe you can live because of Jesus? Do you have eternal life through him? (See John 3:14–17 for details.)
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
Jude is another name that only appears once in the Bible. It’s the first word in the opening sentence of the letter that bears his name. Though the introduction gives hints as to who Jude is, no one knows for sure.
Jude calls himself a servant of Jesus and a brother of James. One speculation is that Jude is a nickname for Judas, which could make him, along with James, a half-brother to Jesus.
Regardless of who Jude is, he writes a generic letter, not to a church or an individual, but to all who follow Jesus. He blesses them with abundant mercy, peace, and love.
Though he planned to write about their common salvation, instead he writes to encourage them to contend for their faith.
Why is this? Because ungodly people have slipped into Jesus’s church.
What are they doing? They’re turning God’s grace (undeserved favor) into an excuse to act immorally. They claim they can behave however they wish because God will forgive them.
Though immorality covers a range of improper behaviors, it especially refers to sexual issues. In short, these people act out sexually because they claim what they do doesn’t matter.
In addition to their sexual depravity, they also deny that Jesus is their Savior. How they can do this and still assume he’ll forgive them doesn’t make sense. But they advocate it just the same.
To combat this, Jude reminds his friends about the past, urging them to persevere in standing true to their faith in God.
We must guard against improper sexual behavior in the church. And we must guard against people who claim Jesus isn’t the way to salvation.
Where do we draw the line between accepting those who believe differently than we do and standing up against people who try to corrupt our faith?
Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
In John’s letter to his friend Gaius, he not only mentions Demetrius, whom everyone respects, but he also names Diotrephes. Unfortunately, Diotrephes is not so highly esteemed. This guy has issues. He’s a control freak.
To start with, Diotrephes loves to be first. He wants to be in charge.
At one time, John wrote a letter to the local church Diotrephes is part of, but he refused to accept what John said. On John’s next visit he promises to publicly call out Diotrephes’s inappropriate actions.
In addition to loving to be first and not accepting John’s message, Diotrephes compounds the problem by gossiping about John and other disciples. Diotrephes’s smear campaign promotes spiteful rumors. It must stop.
Not only does Diotrephes refuse to welcome John and his crew, he also refuses to welcome other believers when they visit. But this isn’t only a personal attack. He also stops others in the church from welcoming visitors and kicks them out if they try.
Diotrephes is part of Jesus’s church, but his actions certainly don’t honor Jesus or support his followers.
Diotrephes serves as internal opposition to Jesus. He is a foe of Jesus from within the church.
Do we ever seek to be in control? Do we love to be first? If so, what do we need to change to honor Jesus and support his church?
Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
Lazarus is the brother of Martha and Mary (3). The Bible writers give more attention to Mary and Martha, but we can only speculate why. It may be that Lazarus is the younger brother, possibly not even an adult.
Maybe he just doesn’t do anything worth mentioning, but the one story about him in the Bible is a story that most people know.
It starts with Lazarus getting sick. This isn’t a cold, flu, or eating too much of the wrong thing. This is a serious “go get Jesus because Lazarus might die” situation.
Martha and Mary send word to Jesus: “The one you love is sick.”
Even though the Bible says that Jesus loves the three siblings, he doesn’t drop everything to pay them a visit and heal the ailing Lazarus. He waits two days. Then he heads out.
By the time Jesus arrives, it’s too late—or is it? Lazarus has been dead four days and is already entombed.
Martha reaches Jesus first and criticizes him. “If only you’d been here, he wouldn’t have died.” Yet she clings to a glimmer of hope. “Even so, God will do whatever you ask.”
Jesus promises her that Lazarus will rise again. Though Jesus means now, Martha thinks he means at the end of time. Then Jesus says, “I am resurrection, and I am life. Do you believe?”
Martha affirms Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.
Then Mary shows up and criticizes Jesus, just like her sister.
“Where’s he buried?” Jesus asks.
As the sisters take Jesus to the tomb, he cries.
“Open the burial vault,” Jesus commands.
After some debate about how bad the decaying body will smell, they do as Jesus requests.
Jesus gives a prayer of thanksgiving to Papa. Then he calls, “Lazarus. Come out!”
Lazarus does, still wrapped with burial cloths.
Thanks to Jesus, Lazarus has a second chance at life.
Through Jesus, we all have second chances. What are we doing with ours?
Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
