Women Of Genesis 3

You are required to read the entire book of Genesis while completing this course.

I. Noah's wife, like Cain's wife, was not named.
    A. The Bible does not give us her name.
    B. She is not mentioned until God tells Noah that he is to build an Ark and take his wife and family
        into it. And even then she is only referred to as his "... wife..." (Gen 6:18)
    C. She is also obliquely referred to in the New Testament; but, again, not by name.

1. In the book of Hebrews she is referred to only as a member of the group called Noah's
    "... house," by implication meaning his family, of which she was, of course, a member.
    (Heb 11:7)
2. In the book of First Peter she is again referred to, but only as one of the "... eight souls..."
    which were the members of Noah's family that were spared the destruction of The Flood.
    (I Pet 3:20)

Though she is mentioned in both the OT and the NT where she is variously referred to as "wife" and as a
member of Noah's "house" and as one of the "eight souls" that escaped the flood, never is she mentioned by name.

However, just because someone goes unnamed in the Bible that does not mean they were unimportant.
Many of them were simply unsung heroes, or villains, and very important to the stories told in the Bible. Without the positive women in the Bible, such as Noah's wife, there would be no families; there would be no heroes born; there would be no households kept, no one to feed and clothe the family; and there would be no comforting strength and nurture to support the Bible heroes about whom we do hear so much.

Unnamed does not mean unnecessary or unimportant. And in the case of the positive women in the Bible,
it simply means the person is one of the many working behind the scenes as the unnamed strength and help
and encourager of the named heroes. And without the help of these women, including these unnamed ones
such as Noah's wife, those heroes could not succeed in the work to which God had put them. In fact, they
would not even exist.

             I Cor 11:12 ... even so is the man also by the woman...
       If it was not for women there would be no men born into this world.
         That means there would be no heroes or villains, neither male ones nor female ones.

       If it were not for the unnamed women the named men could not obey God's commands.
            Gen 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them,
                          Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
      And that command would be impossible to obey if there were no women.

So whether these women are named or unnamed, they were a necessary and integral
part of the unfolding and carrying out of the will and plan of God.

II. She followed her husband faithfully in all things.
    A. She was faithful as a wife and mother.
              She bare children as a faithful wife and took care of them until they were grown and had
        taken wives of their own. (Gen 6:10; 7:7)
    B. She was faithful to follow her husband into (humanly speaking) impossible situations.
        1. What was to come was humanly unbelievable. (Gen 6:17)
        2. By faith she stayed with her husband through an unbelievable task. (6:14-16; 19-7:10)

III. Because of her faithfulness she experienced a New Beginning. (Gen 9:1, 7)
She partook of the Noahic Covenant. (Gen 9:8-17)

IV. Because of her faithfulness as a wife she shared in the blessings of God upon her husband.
    A. God saved her and her whole family because of the godliness and faith of her husband
         Noah the preacher.   (Gen 6:7-9; Heb 11:7; II Pet 2:5)
    B. Noah’s wife was saved only because she faithfully followed Noah when God told him
        to go.    (Gen 7:23)

V. She taught us that even the faithful suffer heartbreaks. (Gen 9:20-27)
    A. She suffered the heartbreaks of a husband who got drunk and an ungodly son.
    B. She watched as her son was cursed for his sin; and her grandson along with him.
    C. But she remained faithful and saw grandchildren born after the flood to carry on God's
        plan.   (Gen 10:1; 11:10-11)

NOTE: The main general lesson to be learned from the story of Noah’s wife is the opposite of what was learned from the story of Cain’s wife. Actually, since it is the exact opposite story, it could be viewed as the “other side of the coin.” The previous woman, Cain’s wife, had suffered the consequences of her husband’s sin. Here in the story of Noah’s wife we see the blessings of God, because of the husband’s faith and obedience, fall also on the spouse. As I have preached and taught for years, we have absolute freedom of choice, before God, in our actions. God allows us to decide what we want to do. However, although we are given absolute freedom of choice in our actions, we are given absolutely no choice in the consequences. And from the stories of these two women, Cain's wife and Noah's wife, we can learn that the two sides of the coin, for both husband and the faithful wife that goes through life with him, are that on the negative side of the coin the consequences of sin are cursings from God and on the positive side the consequences of faith and obedience are blessings from God.

Remember, the old adage, “No man is an island,” is a scriptural precept and it is never more true than when it concerns the blessings or cursings of God upon the “one flesh” of those united in marriage.

Now we will see this precept carried on in the next 3 women of Genesis, the wives of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

3 ADDITIONAL WOMEN
The WIVES OF SHEM, HAM, and JAPHETH
These women are also not named.

I. The Three Women.
First mentioned as the wives of Noah's sons. (Gen 6:18)

II. They were faithful to fulfill their duties as wives.
A. They were spared because they faithfully followed their husbands.
    (Gen 7:7 & 13)
B. They received the blessings because they faithfully followed their husbands.
    (Gen 8:16-22)
C. Through their husband's family ties they also partook of the Noahic
    Covenant. (Gen 9:8-17)

III. They were faithful to fulfill their duties as mothers.
(They will be listed in the order their husbands are first mentioned in the Bible.)
A. Shem's wife.

	1.	She had 5 sons. (Gen 10:22) Her sons were, Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
		There were 4 other sons attributed to Shem. Probably also from this wife. (I Chr 1:17) These 4 were, Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.
	2.	She had many grandchildren. (Gen 10:23-31)
	3.	Through her lineage came Abraham and the nation of Israel and the lineage of the family of Joseph.
		This lineage of Abraham to Israel to Joseph was through her son Arphaxad. (Lk 3:23-36; Mt 1:1-16)
	4.	From Shem's wife we once again learn that the blessings of God on the husband also fall on the wife.
B.	Ham's wife. (Gen 9:18)
	1.	She was the mother of Canaan.
		a. Canaan, ken-ah'-an, Heb. אבי כנען definition: humiliated b. From Cannan came many grand-children who became the nations later driven out of Canaan land. Their lands were given to the children of Israel when they were delivered from Egypt under Moses. c. As her son, Canaan, was humiliated, so were those who came from his line. These stories are in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, et al. (You are not required to read those books at this time. You will read them later.) d. She had to suffer the humiliation of the family line along with her husband through their son Canaan.
	2.	She also had other sons; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut. (Gen 10:6)
	3.	From Ham's wife we learn that cursings also fall on both parts of the "one flesh," husband and wife.
C.	Japheth's wife.
	1.	She had 7 sons. (Gen 10:2)
	2.	She had many grandchildren. Seven through Gomer and Javan alone. (Gen 10:3 & 4)
	3.	Through her entire nations came to be.
	They were known as the "... isles of the Gentiles..." (Gen 10:5)
	4.	Again we see that the blessings of God fall equally on husband and wife because they are "one flesh."

LESSONS OVERALL: Noah's wife and the wives of Shem, Ham, and Japheth
    In the study of Noah's unnamed wife we see the blessings bestowed upon the faithful wife. Faithful to her husband and family she saw the New Beginning of a renewed earth and received the Noahic Covenant along with her husband. However, from her we also learned that that even the faithful have to go through heartbreak from time to time. The heartbreak is not the most important thing, biblically, such times come to all of God's people (I Pet 4:12; I Cor 10:13; I Pet 1:7). What really is important is how we get through the trying times. We can remain faithful to God and faithful to our families, as Noah's wife did, or we can be unfaithful to all. Remember that sometimes even our suffering is according to the will of God and for His purpose. (I Pet 4:19)
    In the study of the three wives of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, we see the continuation of the lesson learned in the section on Noah's wife. They all received the blessings of God that fell upon their husbands. They were spared the destruction of the flood and received the blessings of the Noahic Covenant.
    But, we also see, in Ham's wife, the lesson once again that the cursings of God fall upon the entire family as a unit. She, because she was "one flesh" with her husband, had to suffer the consequences of the sin of her husband along with him. Her lineage was his lineage and it carried the consequences of Ham's sin through many generations in fulfillment of the prophecy that Noah had made. (Gen 9:24-27; 17:1-9) That prophecy saw its future culmination many years later when the Children of Israel entered Canaan land and began to subdue it. (Josh 1:1-3) At that time Canaan, in his descendants, experienced complete and final "humiliation" at the hands of those descended from his brother, Shem. Exactly as prophesied by Noah.

SIDE NOTE: I want you to take notice from all of these stories in this Lesson the seriousness of the marriage vows and the oneness of the husband and wife. In both blessings and cursings they are "one flesh" in God's eyes and he deals with them as "one."   (Gen 2:24; Mt 19:4-6; Mk 10:6-8) In the New Testament we are shown that this bond is to be as strong as the one between Christ and His Church. (Eph 5:28-33)