Be Fruitful and Multiply, But Don't Get Drunk Around Your Spawn Unless He Has Your Back

Genesis 9. We get to a mildly controversial portion. God blesses Noah and sons and tells them to be fruitful and multiply. In Genesis 1:28, back with Adam and Eve, it said, “And God blessed them and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’” Later, God tells Jacob (who needs to start Israel) to be fruitful and multiply. Mere sentences earlier, God blesses Jacob. This indicates that “be fruitful and multiply” is a blessing, not a command. God declares the blessing and then fulfills it himself. The people cannot control their fertility.

Lots of people think that this is a command. In fact, a family member recently told me, “Well, Paul only said it’s Okay to stay single because he thought the world was about to end, and because Christians were being persecuted. The Bible says to be fruitful and multiply, so the Godly thing for modern Christians is to marry and have children.” Well, by that logic, you can say that “be fruitful and multiply” was just for the Genesis time as well. Those commands appear only in Genesis when God is trying to populate the world or the nation of Israel from just a few people. Deuteronomy 4:2 says, “You shall not add onto the thing that I command you, and you shall not subtract from it.” Jesus complained that Pharisees were piling burdens on the backs of people that the people could not carry. We should be careful not to do that here.

Paul’s commands are a fascinating view of singleness and marriage the world had never seen up to that point. Paul’s point is for people to be content and not see their salvation in family. It is good to have children and marry, although the blessings come with unique challenges that can split your attention. It is good to stay single because then you can focus your attention on other things. During Paul’s ministry, he was single. If this were a command, then Paul would have been sinning while he was spreading God’s word as a bachelor.

Even the Catholic church, which bans artificial birth control, isn’t as firm on the breeding command as some might think. In 1994, Pope John Paul II addressed procreation saying, “Unfortunately, Catholic thought is often misunderstood as if the Church supported an ideology of fertility at all costs, urging married couples to procreate indiscriminately and without thought for the future… When there is a reason not to procreate, this choice is permissible and may even be necessary….But…biological rhythms cannot be "violated" by artificial interference.” So “natural family planning” is alright in Catholicism (although way less reliable than artificial birth control).

As always, I could be wrong. Moving on: We get to the first alcohol gone wrong story in the Bible. Noah made his own wine, drank it, got naked, and went to bed in his tent, uncovered. Ham saw his father naked in the tent and went out to tell his brothers. Shem and Japheth took a garment and covered Noah up, careful to not see their father naked. You can just picture the two of them walking backwards into the tent, trying to cover up their father without looking. Hilarious. Noah woke up and, seemingly inexplicably, is mad at Ham. He curses Ham’s descendents and blesses those of his older sons. Hey dude, don’t take your hangover out on others?? Well, there has to be more to this story.

This raises the question: What did Ham do to Noah? In the third century, two rabbis debated over whether Ham sodomized Noah or castrated him. What?!! Where did they get that? I mean, maybe. The phrase “became uncovered” and nakedness are sometimes associated with sexual relations in the Bible (Leviticus 18). To me, the Bible only indicates that Ham looked at Noah, but some think that Ham’s punishment was too harsh for only that. I think it makes sense that looking at someone’s genitals might have been much more offensive in another time and place than it is here and now. I think the more important question is: Why is this in the Bible?

I think it shows a running theme through the Bible: shame and covering. We all feel shame on some level almost all the time. Shame actually becomes harder to feel when you are drunk, thus, the lowered inhibitions and one of the appeals of drinking. This isn’t some cry for help or confession of depression on my part; I'm find. I just think it’s true that shame is a factor and if you don’t know it about yourself, you either aren’t self-aware, call your shame something else, or are totally lying. Be honest: If someone were to take all your thoughts and fantasies from the past week and project them onto everyone’s TVs at night, how mortified would you be? Isn’t it a balm for shame when you can voyeuristically look at another’s failures, hear some gossip, or see celebrities getting fat or crazy, and think, “Well, at least I’m not as bad as they are.” Don’t we feel exposed and threatened when we are criticized? Are there parts of you that you hide, downplay, or spin in order to get people to approve of you? Isn’t it both awesome and terrifying that there is Someone who sees every thought and has thoroughly searched our hearts, knowing us better than we know ourselves?

My go-to solution for shame was always to expose my sins as quickly as possible and then resolve to do better/meet my expectations next time. I just tell everyone my failures and take the consequences and lectures then and there. This has gone well, for the most part. It makes things easier, it teaches you to be honest and admit when you are wrong, you face problems head-on, and it buffs up your courage. But guess what? Shame is still there. Even if you would confess them, could you recognize and verbalize every secret holding you back? We should realize that Christ took all that shame on himself on the cross. It’s gone. Then why do we, as Christians, still feel shame? Lack of faith? Because we still live here? Because there are things of which we haven’t repented? Because we know we aren’t taking advantage of our opportunities and could do more with our lives? I don’t have the answer to that.

Maybe I’m alone in this (or maybe I just feel alone in this because everyone tries so hard to look like they have everything together), but the Bible says I’m not. The Bible recognizes that we want to be covered and phrases Jesus’ sacrifice as “covering” us. Even Noah, a man so great that God saved him in the flood, feels shame with exposure. After he was shamed through exposure, rape, or mutilation, his younger sons covered him up. Ham went behind Noah’s back and tittered to his brothers. “Look at the old man. He’s not so great. He’s drunk and naked.” Ham amplified Noah’s shame, and we get to see that even back then, even the best, oldest, and wisest of humans felt this universal feeling. Are we supposed to cover for each other and ease social stings? Possibly, but I don’t know if we are up to it. I know shame is not the victor in a Christian's story and that its days are numbered. I think that's enough.