Love or Gossip

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

LOVE OR GOSSIP

Gen 9:18-29

18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth. 20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." 26 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.   27 May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave." 28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

NIV

The first question is: if Noah was a man of the soil, why is it recorded that he planted a vineyard, but we are not told that he planted any corn, wheat, barley, or other food grains?  This vineyard would have taken a few years to produce grapes, and then some time for them to ferment into wine, which caused Noah to become drunk and pass out in his tent. Yet all that is covered in one verse. What Ham did was wrong, and if we consider what he did, we could say that he gossiped about his father, because he told his brothers about their father being drunk and passed out naked in his tent. Had Ham covered his father and kept his mouth shut, he would have never been under a curse. This could be the main clue about the horrible act of gossip and how the Lord does not look with favor upon it. Certainly, when we are not cursed if we gossip, for we live in the age of grace, that should not mean we have the right or the freedom to speak about the happenings of another, which would bring about some negative feelings about them. On the other hand, Shem and Japheth covered their father's nakedness, without looking upon him. This shows an act of love that covers a multitude of sins. Love is the opposite of gossip. We have Jesus' command to love others as we love ourselves. Why would we gossip about ourselves? If we love others, why would we gossip about them? There was a reason Noah was not pleased with what Ham did, and why he responded by cursing Ham, who became the father of the Canaanites, where God brought the Israelites out of Egypt to Canaan and gave them their land. Let us not give ourselves over to the same fate as Ham; let us decide to love, not gossip.