Escaping God’s Curse
Genesis 9:24–10:20
Cursed be Canaan. Genesis 9:25

It is interesting that, in this particular branch of Ham’s family, we have a reversal (probably deliberate) of God’s judgment on Canaan for Ham’s sin in ridiculing Noah. God had pronounced a curse on Canaan through Noah, saying, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” But so far as we know, in these early days God did not put this prophecy into effect until much later through Israel’s invasion of the Promised Land. Instead, it is the brother of Canaan, Cush, and his descendants who determine to enslave the others.

I say this may be deliberate, for I can imagine Nimrod to have thought in this manner. He may have said, “I don’t know about the others, but I regard this matter of the curse of God on Canaan as a major disgrace on my family, one that needs to be erased. Did God say that my uncle Canaan would be a slave? I’ll fight that judgment. I’ll never be a slave! What’s more, I’ll be the exact opposite. I’ll be so strong that others will become slaves to me. Instead of ‘slave,’ I’ll make them say, ‘Here comes Nimrod, the mightiest man on earth.’”

This is the normal reaction of the human spirit when faced with God’s curse. It says, “I’ll defy it. I’ll take care of my own problems.” So it creates the arts, raises an army, builds its cities, and marches out to make a name for itself in defiance of God’s decrees.

But God’s decrees are not overturned this way. God’s curse is not successfully defied. There is only one way we can escape God’s curse, and that is at the point where God takes the curse on himself. There is no reason why he should do this. But he does. He comes in the person of Jesus Christ “taking the form of a servant [a slave], being born in the likeness of men” and thus “being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:7–8). Thus “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). And what happens? Having thus subjected himself, he is given a name that is “above every name” (Phil. 2:9) and declared to be the ruler of heaven and earth. That is our pattern: to come to Christ where the curse of God against sin is poured out, to be clothed in his righteousness, and then to learn the path of humble service to others within the human family, which is the true and only road to real greatness.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.