This year, while reading through the Bible, I've been keeping track of the genealogy of Jesus as I travel through the Old Testament, which really helps put things in perspective; but I've also been noting where the different enemy peoples come from. And this is really fascinating as I pay attention to what happens in the Promised Land.
At present, as I'm working through Kings and Chronicles, what I've seen up until this point is that most of these come from one of two places: Lot's daughters, and Noah's son Ham.
The people who come from Lot's daughters are the Ammonites and the Moabites. All of the Canaanite peoples come from Ham: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Even the Philistines come from Ham, and they come into the forefront of the story in 1 Samuel, the most famous of which is Goliath, the uncircumcised Philistine who dared to defy the armies of the living God (1 Samuel 17:26).
So what happened with Lot's daughters? They got their father drunk and took advantage of him to conceive. This is an incestuous relationship (Gen 19:30-36).
What happened with Ham? He saw the nakedness of his father (Gen 20-23). What does that mean? It is believed that this means that Ham slept with his father's wife. And so we have another incestuous relationship.
When Noah awoke, he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall He be to his brothers" (Gen 9:18-25). Canaan is the son of Ham.
So many people try to say that the Bible validates poor behavior because it exists and whoever did the bad thing was just fine after they did it. But what we really see in the Bible is that there are very long-term consequences for our sins. This is what we see with both Lot's daughters and Ham.
Another very important consideration is that the sin we commit doesn't just affect us, but it has a domino effect on our families and our society, oftentimes in ways that we cannot see. The genealogies of the Bible, when we allow ourselves to enter into them and ask questions, when we put forth an effort to remember these people in the greatest story ever told, show us this very difficult truth about the human race.
So one might ask what one should do since we are all born in this incredible mess that has been going on for centuries, even millennia? Well, this is why the Gospel is the good news. Throughout the entire Old Testament, God was preparing His super messed up people for the coming of Christ who ultimately saves us from our own miserable way of being. It can be very challenging as it's up to each and every one of us to accept His offer of salvation, and that means a change in how we live our lives and a surrender and giving of ourselves to Him so He can purify us in preparation for being brought home to Him and Heaven.
Suggestion: Spend some quiet time in Adoration or simply sitting in front of the tabernacle alone asking God to show you how you can more fully surrender to Him, and how you should follow Him on this day, at this point in your life. Come Holy Spirit!
Picture: ‘The Drunkenness of Noah’ by Giovanni Bellini.
Originally published on X on May 30, 2025: https://x.com/Di_bear/status/1906344731862241742+
