Genesis 9:21: “And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered in his tent.”
There is a favorite question that Sunday School teachers try to avoid but there is always some smart alec who will ask: “If Noah was so holy and such a great man of God why was his first act after the flood planting a vineyard and getting himself smashed?” Good question and of course the good Sunday School and Bible College answer is that Noah was just not aware of what drinking this fermented wine would do. Some have even suggested that wine did not ferment until after the flood and this really took old Noah by surprise.
Well, if we settle for such farfetched unbiblically based ideas that this man of God who could so easily hear the voice of God to build an ark and call the animals to the ark could not figure out that fermented wine would make him DUI then surely my humble explanation deserves some merit.
There are two words in Hebrew for drunk or intoxication. One is ravah. This is identical to the Aramaic word used in Acts 2 which means to be saturated with a liquid. The word is shavar which really means to be just under the influence but not bombed out of your mind. It is interesting that the writer uses the word shavar here rather than ravah. Noah was likely just under the influence and not necessarily sloppy drunk. Being under the influence does not necessarily mean you are fall down drunk, but that certain cognitive abilities are impaired which in our modern society of intricate machinery and vehicles can be dangerous, although in the day of Noah there wasn’t that much danger in being shavar or under the influence.
Christians have debated for years whether the wine Jesus created at the wedding in John 2:1-11 was really fermented or just a fruit juice. If Christians would just read a little Jewish literature like the Talmud they would find that it lays that question to rest rather quickly. The Talmud lays out very specific guidelines for fermenting wine is sections such as Sanhedrin 70a. Good wine which Jesus created from water was not meant to be more than three days old. So there was some mild fermentation. Wedding ceremonies in those days was strictly BYOB. It was proper and customary for the guest to bring their own brew. Jesus did not come with his own brew and the women may have been giving Mary some flack about her son being some sort of party popper. So she approached Jesus who produced wine which was ceremonial fermented the way Oral Law prescribed, hence good wine. Different stages of fermentation are used for various religious ceremonies, none which are intended to make you sloppy drunk.
Noah was uncovered (galah) but Ham saw his nakedness (‘arah). Now why did the writer use two different words here if both were meant to refer to a physical nakedness? Actually, galah could mean a physical nakedness, but it is not often used for that. It is really to express the idea of being vulnerable, opening yourself up. Ham saw ’arah which is more likely physical nakedness, but it is also a word used for sharing or revealing deep secrets.
I believe the situation is this; Noah was in his tent having some quality alone time with God. In ancient times when a person stood alone before God it was not unusual to shed one’s clothing as clothing is a symbol of the world and the material things of the world. More common was the removing of one’s sandals as a sign of shedding yourself of all worldly attachments. Noah was a man who really walked with God and when he spent quality alone time with God, I am sure he held nothing back. It wasn’t unusual for a worshipper to drink wine to help calm himself and focus his thoughts on God, which is why the Talmud gives very precise instructions on the fermentation of wine as you can cross a line between calming your nerves to stay focused and losing your judgment which is also discussed in Sanhedrin 70a. Realizing how close Noah walked with God, it is very likely that he drank the wine to relax himself and prepare himself to enter into a state of deep Devekut or clinging to God. Come on, how many times in your own private meditations do you put on worship music to help you relax and prepare you for worship. How many churches use music to prepare the congregation for worship? So what if Old Noah did not have an IPOD with the latest worship songs guaranteed to transport you into heaven and bring the presence of God. Without a worship team nearby he took the most logical approach to prepare himself or relax himself and that was to take a snort of wine, good medicine the Bible calls it. I Timothy 5:23. He would have definitely been under the influence or shavar. But not sloppy drunk.
Today we use the term under the influence because there are more things than alcohol to put you under the influence or cause you to have impaired thinking or motor skills. This can be done with drugs, lack of sleep, otc medication, even being in love. We Christians, at least those in charismatic circles, are aware of something else that puts you under the influence.
There is a little event going on this evening at the All State Arena in the Chicago area where I fear some groups will need a designated driver before it ends.
The disciples knew about this other quite well in Acts 2 when they were accused of being drunk on the day of Pentecost. I would say that it was not the wine but the influence of the Holy Spirit, Noah was drunk on the Holy Spirit. Did you ever have anyone pop in on you while you were having some quality alone time with God? It could prove very embarrassing as you most certainly were not addressing God with “Thees” and “Thous.” But more than that, in this time alone with God, God was most likely speaking some prophetic things to Noah, things for his ears only. As Noah was galah (ing) to God or revealing himself totally to God, God was ’arah (ing) to Noah, revealing deep, hidden secrets or prophetic things. Ham happened to walk in just as Noah was in this state of devekut. Ham knew his old man; he obviously knew that the old boy spent some long quality time with God, so this was no surprise to him. What Noah was talking about could have surprised him and caused him to tell his brothers, who respected the sacredness of their dad’s devekut and covered his ’arah so he would not blurt out things that they were not to hear. There are some things that are quite private between you and God and not meant to be shared.
If Noah were in a drunken stupor, he would never have remembered his son walking in on him. However, if he were in devekut with God, he would have been very sensitive to his son’s presence and would have felt the violation of that private moment with God and such a thing would be cause for the action that Noah took.
You want to fall in lockstep with tradition, go right ahead, but if you want to buck tradition in some harmless ways, check out the alternative renderings. That is why the Jews teach their children to read the Word of God in the original language. You cannot trust that some translator is going to have the same experience with God that you do. A traditional interpretation could leave you floundering in your personal experience with God where with an alternative rendering might just leave you thinking, “Yeah, I can relate to this experience.” There must have been times old Noah was so filled with the presence of God that Ham should have volunteered to be the designated driver to take over steering that ark.
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