Genesis 5:32. A Sermon in Sons

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Genesis 5:32 “And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham and Japheth.”

Despite beginning with the coordinating conjunction “and,” this reference to Noah’s age can’t be referring back to the time of Lamech’s death mentioned in the previous verse, because that same verse tells us that Lamech lived 595 years after Noah was born! Therefore Noah’s 500-year mark must be connected instead with the phrase that follows: “and Noah begat Shem, Ham and Japheth." Whatever made Noah wait so long to have children? He broke Methuselah and Lamech’s records put together, and not by a year or two, but by 133 years! (185+182 = 367. 500 - 367 = 133). Was it the world’s wickedness that made him not want to risk trying to raise children until something changed his mind? Or were he and his wife trying to get pregnant and couldn’t? Were the three boys part of the cause or of the product of his mid-life crisis and calling to mission? Were they triplets,  or does the Bible simply mean to say that they were all born after Noah turned 500 years old?

Shem means a “definite position, a mark or memorial of individuality, by implication honor, authority, character.” Ham means “hot or warm”, and Japheth means “expansion, to open, be roomy; usually figuratively (in a mental or moral sense)” (Strong’s dictionary in E-sword app). It’s as if Noah registered the deepest prayer of his soul in the names of his trilogy of sons: “May the firm stand I’ve chosen vindicate and honor the character and authority of God and make for a hot expansion of morality.”  
At the same time, whenever Noah introduced his boys, or called their names out on the ark building site, it was a sermon in its own right, and one that rings well for us even today: “Come to a definite position. Honor God and receive His mark of character and authority. Be hot, not lukewarm. Let the heat of God’s Word open and penetrate your mind and expand your heart.” 

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Ezra James
The Word of God is bread from heaven. God sent it, but we must gather it, appreciate it, digest it, and live by it. These days it is increasingly scarce. Many are starving for it and don't know it because they keep feasting on bad bread that doesn't satisfy. But if we would learn to carefully gather up the fragments of the True, Heavenly Bread of Life, we would always enjoy a feast of crumbs, because even God's crumbs are miracles mighty to save (Mark 7:24-30). ESPAÑOL: La Palabra de Dios es pan del cielo. Dios lo envió, pero debemos recogerlo, apreciarlo, digerirlo y vivir por él. Hoy en día es cada vez más escaso. Muchos están muriendo de hambre por falta de él sin saberlo porque se alimentan de pan falso que no satisface. Pero si aprendiéramos a recoger cuidadosamente los fragmentos del Verdadero Pan Celestial, Pan de Vida, siempre disfrutaríamos de un banquete de migajas, porque hasta las migajas de Dios son milagros poderosos para salvar (Marcos 7:24-30).