After the Flood - The Book of Genesis

In this Bible Story, Noah curses and blesses his sons, and the Tower of Babel is created as mankind attempts to be their own gods and make their name great. This story is inspired by Genesis 9:20-11:26. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a year.

Today's Bible verse is Genesis 9:3 from the King James Version.

Episode 7: The Flood is over, but human sin and foolishness are not. After Noah and his family step back onto dry land, Noah offered a sacrifice to God, setting things off on the right foot once again. But Noah’s son Ham dishonors his father, and is put under a curse. Fast forward a few generations and humanity as a whole is disobeying God once again. This time they are wanting their name to become great. Instead of spreading throughout the earth and taking dominion of it, as God commanded, they remain and create a magnificent tower, reaching to God’s throne in the heavens.

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Producer: Ben Gammon

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray every moving thing that liveth shall be
meet for you, even as the green herb have I
given you all things Genesis nine three. Dear Heavenly Father,
when the seasons of storms have ended, I will not
let my guard down and allow pride to infiltrate my

(00:22):
life and hinder the blessing of my new season. I
will not be influenced by the dysfunction of people. Allow
me to be the change agent. When those around me
are choosing to live in ways that are contrary to
your character. I will continue to live in such a
way that I honor your name and the life you

(00:44):
have blessed me with. As you continue to expand my territory,
I will not partner with others who choose to speak
the common language of pride and arrogance. I will remain
steadfast in your ways, Heavenly Father, When the temptation to
conform arises, I remember what you've shown me through Genesis

(01:09):
nine twenty through eleven twenty six. I will remember that
anything built outside of your will cannot stand. Thank you
for the truth, and thank you for creating leadership opportunities
through calamity. In Jesus' name, Amen, Thank you for praying

(01:31):
with us today. Continue your time with God by listening
to today's Bible story, brought to you by Bible in
a Year dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
After the Flood. Before this story, we learned about the
flood in Noah's Ark, God cleansed the world of unimaginable
evil through a flood preserved Noah and his family, then
promised to never flood the earth again. Now we discover
that just because the flood is over does not mean

(02:08):
the dysfunction of people is over as well. Yet, God
still endures with people and has a plan to expand
them across the whole world. This is inspired by the
Book of Genesis.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Hello, I'm pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
Bible in a Year podcast. Today's reading picks up with
Noah and his sons after the flood. God has delivered
them from the destruction brought upon the earth, and now
Noah begins to farm the land, to labor and toil.
The curse of sin has not been washed away by

(02:42):
the flood, and it doesn't take long for it to
once again wreck havoc. Pride once again takes center stage
in today's reading is a theme we've seen before, and
one that will be repeated again and again and again.
As you listen, notice first how pride leads to family
divisions with Noah's sons. Then, as we look at the

(03:04):
story of Babel, notice how the descendants of Adam and
Eve repeat the sins of their ancestors, wanting to elevate
themselves on par with the Creator. The story of Babel
is where we learn of the origin of different languages
and the purposes for which God used them. It may
be easy to hear these passages and fail to acknowledge

(03:24):
the role of pride in our own lives and the
way in which it causes us strife and pain. But
remember that we too bear the seed of Adam's sin
within us, and in many ways are not different from
those we'll hear about today. Now let's dive into our story.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Noah and his three sons, Ham, Shem, and Jaffith, along
with their families, made a home in the new world
after the flood, determined to live a new and holy
life among God. Even now the subtle imperfections of humanity
began to bubble forth. Noah became a man of the earth,
just as his ancestor Adam. He tilled the ground and

(04:11):
worked it with pain and labor. Noah planted a vineyard
and made his own wine to drink. One morning, he
became drunk and stumbled into his tent naked. His youngest son,
Ham came into the tent to find his father naked
and in a shameful state. Harm delighted in this and
mockingly told his older brothers, furthering the shame of his

(04:33):
old and drunken father. The delight of Harm revealed the
subtle pride re emerging in the hearts of mankind. Unamused
and determined to protect their father's dignity, Shem and Jaffith
entered Noah's tent, walking backwards and carrying a piece of
cloth over their shoulders. They draped a cloth over their father,

(04:54):
covering his nakedness, and left the tent. Noah woke up
from his drunken slum and discovered what had happened. Dishonored
and embarrassed, he cursed his youngest son, Ham, saying, curse
it be the land in which you dwell, Canaan. Your
descendants will toil under the oppression of your brothers as slaves,

(05:16):
And he blessed Shem and Jaffith and blessed their descendants too.
Noah turned to Shem and said, I praise God for Shem.
The Cannonites will be the slaves of his descendants. Then
Noah turned to Jaffath and blessed him, saying, God will
give Jaffith more land. His descendants will live with the

(05:36):
descendants of his brother Shem, and the Canaanites will be
the slaves of Jaffith's descendants. This furthered the familial strife
between families for generations to come. Noah continued three hundred
fifty years after the flood. He lived a total of
nine hundred fifty years and then passed to the dust.

(05:58):
Just as his ancestor Adam, Ham, Shem and Jaffith multiplied
and filled the land with many descendants. Among Ham's line
of cursed descendants was a man named Nimrod, who plagued
the earth and hunted men. It was him who would
lead the first kingdom to rebel against God, Babel. The

(06:18):
people of the earth all spoke the same language, were
drawn to one another, and gathered in the land of Shinar,
also known as Babylon. Their collective pride mimicked that of
their forefathers, let us build ourselves a city in a
tower going up to the heavens, and let us make
a name for ourselves to the heavens. They ascended, determined

(06:40):
to be like God, a mistake once made by their
ancient parents Adam and Eve. God lamented over their tower
because it represented the same pride that continued to fracture
their relationship with one another. Once again, filled with both
anger and compassion, God said, come, let us go down

(07:02):
and confuse their language so that they cannot mingle together
to build one kingdom under the mission of pride and arrogance.
So the Lord dispersed them all over the face of
the earth. Unable to communicate with one another, they left
the great city and tower. The tower was then called Babel,

(07:23):
because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth.
So the people scattered, forming new and smaller kingdoms with
those they had a common language with. Just as Noah
had declared, Shem's descendants multiplied greatly. Out of the seed
of Shem came forth great nations and people groups, the

(07:44):
most important among them being Abram, one of God's greatest
heroes and the father of all nations.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
It was a brand new start for Noah and his descendants.
But as I've said before, Noah was righteous, not perfect,
and neither were his sons. We began this story today
with a son who failed to respect his father, the
evidence of an ongoing struggle with pride. The first lesson
we learned today is how pride poisons family relationships. Three brothers,

(08:20):
one whose family line is cursed to live his slaves,
oppressed by the other two brothers descendants. This is not
the unity in community God has designed for us. It
does not reflect the loving fellowship that reflects the true God,
the Triune God. We then turned to the story of Babel,

(08:40):
a kingdom united with one goal. Up until now there
was only one language on earth. So everyone understood each other,
and they began to talk and plan, and an idea
was hatched. We can be like God. It's the same
lie the serpent told Eve in the garden, Pride once
again and taking hold, this time not just in a couple,

(09:02):
but in an entire kingdom. Look what Genesis eleven four says,
And they said, come, let's build ourselves a city and
a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let's
make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered
abroad over the face of the earth. Now, rather than

(09:23):
filling the earth and subduing it as God intended, mankind
has decided to stay in one place and seek equality
with God, to seek fame and recognition and power. This
may seem like a feat of human cooperation, and in
some ways it is, as even God acknowledges in Genesis
eleven six, and the Lord said, behold, they are one people,

(09:47):
and they will all have the same language. And this
is what they have started to do. And now nothing
which they've planned to do will be impossible for them.
But here's the lesson from this story. Just because you
are creating something great and impressive, it doesn't mean that
it is in line with God's will. Unity by itself
is not enough. Their hearts were set on making themselves great,

(10:12):
making a name for themselves, and not glorifying God. They
were not living with a god honoring purpose in their lives.
So God confused their languages and then the cooperation ceased.
But here's what is important to note. In his solution
to the problem, God brought about beauty. Think about all

(10:35):
the wonderful sounds of different languages, the richness of expression
that each different tongue brings. Now unable to understand each other,
they're scattered into their own smaller kingdoms, which very soon
would be at war with each other. Among those scattered
groups were the descendants of one of Noah's sons, Shim,
and from that line God was already working his plan

(10:58):
to bring about the ultimate redeas of the world, beginning
with a man named Abram, and we'll meet him in
our next episode. Heavenly Father, thank you for what today's
story teaches us about the dangers of pride and the
importance of being together for the purpose of glorifying you

(11:19):
and not ourselves. Thank you also for the wonderful beauty
of languages that we hear in our world today, and
how one day every tongue in every language will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God.
It is in that name of the Lord Jesus Christ
that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's

(11:40):
Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas.
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(12:01):
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God bless