Noah got plastered

Did you know that Noah got drunk? They guy who built the ark and took the animals on the ark, got plastered. Three sheets to the wind. Let me give some background and then explain why I think he got drunk and why it's important.

You may remember the story about Noah. God told him to built a boat and take some animals on board. I always thought he spent 40 days in the boat, someone recently pointed out it was longer. I looked this morning, and if I did the math right, it was much longer. 7 days on the boat before the rain, then 40 days of rain and floods. 150 days after that and he the waters began to go down. 40 more days, theny 7 days and then 7 more days. If I got it all right (which is questionable) that's 211 days or about 7 months. (Exodus 6-8)

Noah was 600 years old when the flood happened. That's old. He took his family on the boat, wife & sons (presumably daughters too). Then he lived another 350 years and was a farmer. Seems he enjoyed his own product a little too much, he drank his wine and got naked and passed out (Ex 9:20). His youngest son (Ham) saw him naked and went snickering to his older brothers (Shem and Japheth). They were sutiably embarrassed for their father, so they walked into his tent carrying a cover. They even walked in backwards, so they wouldn't see their naked father laying there. The next morning, Noah woke up and extended a curse to the younger son and blessings on the older sons.

Why did Noah get drunk? Here is a man of God, listed in the roll call of the saints (Heb 11:7). As the song says, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." I believe that Noah was lonely. He was an old man and there's no mention of his wife at this point. He'd been working in the fields, was tired and went to his tent all alone. His sons had their wives, Noah had no one. So he started drinking a little of his home made wine, probably kicked back to watch a little TV and before he knew it, he had passed out.

Why is this important? Well, if Noah can do embarrassing things, any of us can. My mother is 80 and sometimes she still embarrasses me. Things just happen. But she's still my mother and I love her. I have to follow Shem and Japheth's example and when things happen, I have to help cover for my mother, not walk around snickering like some Ham.

As I type all of this, I can't help but wonder, where were Curly and Moe in this escapade?

(Sorry if some of this seems blasphemous. It's just my weird sense of humor - or lack of)