Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. (10:1)
When I was a kid I liked my uncles a lot. A couple of them were on the Olympic cycling team in their day, one was into motorcycles, another lived in Key West, FL. They were just cool. One day I asked my mom how long it had been since we had seen one of them. It had been a year. I couldn't even fathom that. Not seeing your brother for a YEAR. How is that possible when they are so THERE all the time when you are a kid?
Could three brothers be any closer than Noah's sons? They spent a year on a boat together- I'm thinking there wasn't much to hide between them. But as usual, things got mucked up. Ham had his little peep-and-tell with Noah, and then they all had kids and their own separate lives. Did they see each other at weddings and funerals? Births and rite of passage ceremonies? Family reunions?
When I was a kid I liked my uncles a lot. A couple of them were on the Olympic cycling team in their day, one was into motorcycles, another lived in Key West, FL. They were just cool. One day I asked my mom how long it had been since we had seen one of them. It had been a year. I couldn't even fathom that. Not seeing your brother for a YEAR. How is that possible when they are so THERE all the time when you are a kid?
Could three brothers be any closer than Noah's sons? They spent a year on a boat together- I'm thinking there wasn't much to hide between them. But as usual, things got mucked up. Ham had his little peep-and-tell with Noah, and then they all had kids and their own separate lives. Did they see each other at weddings and funerals? Births and rite of passage ceremonies? Family reunions?
It turns out that their kids all settled in what has become the hotspot of the world and have been killing each other ever since. Of course they are. They're family and families fight. Expectations aren't met and people get hurt and lash out and they fight. Cain and Able, Joseph and the lot of them, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Siblings are always fighting. Jealousy and entitlement and annoyance. Then you grow up and realize one day that you actually have a choice as to whether you want to spend your time with a person or not, brother or no brother. In a burst of independence and defiance mixed with a bit of nostalgia, you exercise that choice. And a year goes by. Weird.
I have no wisdom or insight about any of this. I just realize it's as old as the Bible, this issue with brothers and sisters. When my son can't even sleep he is so frustrated with his sister, or my daughter screams at her brother for the 6th time in an hour, it helps to realize it's been there all along and always will be as long as there are brothers on the earth. I try to help them through it. Come to a satisfactory resolution. I mean, I don't want them to be be at war or anything.
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