Love Covers Sin

Have you ever done something wrong and had someone cover for you?

In some cases (like criminal acts), covering up for someone might not be good. However, in many cases covering someone's sins would be the loving thing to do.

Noah's son Ham walked into his dad's tent and accidentally saw his father's nakedness (Genesis 9). His dad had been drinking and in his drunkenness took off his clothes and was sleeping naked on his bed. Ham should have just covered his father and left without ever talking about this incident to anyone - to protect his father's integrity.

But Ham left the tent and his father's uncovered body and told his brothers what he had seen. To see one's father naked in those days was considered a very serious offense. It was a sign of disrespect. So not only was Ham disrespecting his father by declaring he had seen his nakedness, but revealed his father's sin of getting drunk, disrobing and falling asleep naked in his bed.

Apparently his attitude in revealing what he had just seen was one of scorn and disrespect. His brothers did the right thing and immediately covered their father in such a careful way that they themselves did not look upon their naked dad. They displayed the kind of love and respect that Peter later wrote about:

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

Ham's descendants received a curse from Noah while his other sons received blessings from him for the love they showed by covering his sins.

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