God turned the world off and back on again. That’s pretty much what Noah’s Flood was all about. Mankind had become so wicked that God decided the best course of action was to start over. God had compassion on Noah and extended grace to him by sparing him and his family from the flood. Noah found favor in the sight of God because he was righteous and blameless (Gen 6:9), but He was not perfect as this strange passage about the events in Noah’s tent reveals.
Noah’s story is an echo of the story of the Garden. The world has been re-created and Noah finds himself in a vineyard (which is a kind of garden, Gen 9:20). He imbibes of the fruit of this garden resulting in drunkenness and becomes naked (Gen 9:21). Twice now in Genesis sin has left people in a vulnerable (naked) condition.
What happens next is somewhat unclear, but we can say for certain that Noah’s inebriated condition opens the door to some sketchy behavior by his son Ham.
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