Two questions need to be asked concerning this verse;
Genesis 9:24-25, “Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”
WHAT DID HIS SON DO?
AND HOW DID NOAH KNOW HE DID IT?”
Interesting questions! Read it this morning, went to work, thought about it, had a few ideas, and will now share them with you.
I have read that many believe that Ham the youngest son of Noah may have committed a homosexual act with his father. Maybe, maybe not! No Scriptural support for this reasoning. Others say Ham may have slept with his mother, thus uncovering his father’s nakedness.
Some Jewish Rabbis even claim Ham may have castrated his father, thus explaining why Noah did not have any other sons, possibly, but doubtful!
The verse in question is,
Gen.9:22, “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.”
Noah wakes from his drunken episode, and, “knew what his younger son (Ham) had done unto him.”
Ham, verse 22, “told his two brethren without = (outside the tent.)” Shem and Japheth most likely revealed to their father what Ham revealed to them. So what does Noah do? Or better yet, what does he not do?
Apparently a number of years had passed since the flood. How old was Canaan? Who was the father of Ham? This is not mentioned in Scripture, but he had to be at least a young man.
Verse 21, Noah had already uncovered himself, The Hebrew word here is, “wayyitgal, a reflex form,” Noah uncovered himself. This is important to understand that Ham did not uncover his father.
Noah’s curse is not on Ham, who had mocked his father by looking upon his nakedness, but on his son Canaan. The curse was not personal against Ham, but on Ham’s posterity. Noah said,
Genesis 9:25, “Cursed be Canaan;” Now of Canaan, Noah said, “A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” This can be interpreted, “He is reduced to the most degrading servitude!”
In ancient times looking upon your father’s nakedness was a breach of family ethics. The sanctity of the family was destroyed and the strength of the father was made a mockery. Ham may have wandered into his father’s tent accidently, but, what he did wrong was to go out and tell his two brothers. He may have bragged about this incident as if it were some kind of victory.
Today, this may seem to be a minor incident, but in Noah’s day it was a disgrace. In verse 25 thru 27, it shows that the nature of his three sons would be perpetuated in their future families, their descendant’s.
Moses wrote concerning this incident in, Genesis 9. So, the question, how does he use the phrase, “father’s nakedness,” in other verses of Scriptures? Let’s go to,
Leviticus 18:6, “None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.”
Leviticus 18:7, “The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.”
Moses used the causative form of the verb “galah” to refer to the Canaanites’ (Ham’s descendants.) Here to uncover another’s nakedness is to have a sexual relationship. In both, Leviticus 18, and,
Leviticus 20:11, “the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness.” Again, “galah,” is to have sexual relationships.
Noah’s curse on his son is, “A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” It received its first fulfillment in the subjection of the Canaanites by the children of Abraham.
The following also can be found in the history books, the conquest of Canaans descendants, the Tyrians and Carthaginians by the Greeks and Romans, who were the descendants of Japheth. The people of Africa were the sons of Canaan, they having suffered greatly under the yoke of slavery. The people of ancient western Asia also suffered long under the Turkish powers. Africa and western Asia were peopled by Ham, Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan.
“Cursed be Canaan,” the nations which God destroyed before Israel had descended from Canaan; and so were the Phoenician’s and Carthagian’s who were for a time subjugated with a horrific destruction by the Greeks and Romans, and taken into slavery.
I may be incorrect but to this day, no son of Ham has been a king or ruler over any son of Japheth or Shem. But this is only true in the affairs of the world, and not applicable in the body of Christ.
Genesis 9:26, “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem.”
Abraham is of this seed. Many of us are by blood, the sons of Ham and Japheth. But as Christians, we have been adopted into the family of Shem, grafted in, and partakers of the God’s blessings through Abraham, and the promises made to him by God. This sealed by the works of our Lord Jesus, under His new covenant with mankind. All true Christian’s are sons and daughters of God.
John 8:32, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Phillip Laspino www.seekfirstwisdom.com