Why was Noah never condemned by God for becoming drunk and committing the sin of incest?\u00a0 And God used him to build the ark.<\/p>\n\t
You’re mixing events. Noah was a righteous man (Genesis 7:1). He was saved when he obeyed God and built an ark. But it wasn’t until years later that he got drunk and was naked in his tent (Genesis 9:21). The Bible doesn’t say he committed incest. The two cases of incest that I can think of are by Lot’s daughters (Genesis 19:30-38) and Amnon (II Samuel 13).<\/p>\n
But the question was why wasn’t Noah condemned for his drunkenness. In a way he was, two of his sons refused to look at him while he was drunk and naked (Genesis 9:23). Clearly, they knew his condition to be wrong. And it isn’t that God doesn’t make it clear that drunkenness is sinful (for example, Provers 20:1). So just because the Bible might not record all the consequences that came upon Noah because of his sin, it doesn’t imply that nothing happened to him.<\/p>\n
But there were consequences. Because Noah got drunk, he laid naked in his tent. Because of that, his son Ham gave in to the temptation to mock his father. Because of that Ham lost his blessing and the descendants of his son Canaan were prophesied to be slaves. Quite a long-reaching effect for overindulging.<\/p>\n
The same is true of you and me. When we sin, we aren’t likely to get struck by lightning the next moment. But those sins often have consequences we don’t immediately realize or see. Just because we are immediately condemned, it doesn’t mean what we did was acceptable to God.<\/p>\n\t
Thanks. You are right, I was confused. I just heard someone say that in a sermon, and I send the email without looking things up and examining them for myself, which is awful, I know. But thanks for setting things straight.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Why was Noah never condemned by God for becoming drunk and committing the sin of incest?\u00a0 And God used him to build the ark. Answer: You’re mixing events. Noah was a righteous man (Genesis 7:1). He was saved when he obeyed God and built an ark. But it wasn’t until years later that he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[371,767,1104,534,905],"class_list":["post-26940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-alcohol","tag-condemnation","tag-drunkenness","tag-incest","tag-noah"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87021,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-noah-sinning\/","url_meta":{"origin":26940,"position":0},"title":"Was Noah Sinning?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall In Genesis 9, Noah gets drunk. Ham's actions follow, leading to a curse. Noah was not cursed. Was drunkenness, therefore, not a sin? This is a good example of allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture, specifically showing how Genesis Narratives help explain other Genesis Narratives. The Bible keeps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36026,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-noah-curse-hams-child-just-because-ham-saw-noah-naked\/","url_meta":{"origin":26940,"position":1},"title":"Why did Noah curse Ham’s child just because Ham saw Noah naked?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I could not understand why Noah issued a curse on Ham just because Ham saw Noah naked in Genesis 9:22-27. Q1. Was there a law of the land regarding seeing someone naked and Ham did not follow it? Q2. What's wrong with Ham telling his brothers? (If I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58832,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-pride-of-the-drunkard\/","url_meta":{"origin":26940,"position":2},"title":"The Pride of the Drunkard","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton Basil said, \"Drunkenness is the ruin of reason. It is premature old age. It is temporary death\" (Homilies, c. 375). There are few things engaged in by men that are as self-defeating and destructive as drunkenness. Quite frankly it is stupid beyond reason. A radio commentator recently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/drunkard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8568,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-ham-have-sex-with-his-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":26940,"position":3},"title":"Did Ham have sex with his mother?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read your answer to the question about whether boys should see one another naked as in locker rooms, etc. In the Bible, when Ham \"saw his father's nakedness,\" that does not mean he literally saw his father without clothing on. It literally meant that he had sex\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":97097,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-danger-of-dainty-morsels\/","url_meta":{"origin":26940,"position":4},"title":"The Danger of Dainty Morsels","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeremy Hodges Humans are often highly susceptible to gossip, and the Bible's clear statements about the danger associated with it show how susceptible we really are. (Proverbs 18:8; 20:19; 26:22; Romans 1:29; II Timothy 3:3). The one who is spreading the gossip likes the air of authority and insight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31250,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-did-noah-build-the-ark-before-his-sons-were-born\/","url_meta":{"origin":26940,"position":5},"title":"How long did Noah build the ark before his sons were born?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How long did Noah build the ark before his sons were born? Answer: In Genesis 5:32, we are told that Noah was 500 when his sons were born. In Genesis 6:3, God said He would destroy mankind in 120 years. Since this was in Noah's records, Genesis 6:9 being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}