Regarding the "Curse on Ham":
". The youngest son of Noah (Genesis 5, 32; comp. 9:24). B.C. post 2618. Having provoked the wrath of his father by an act of indecency towards him, the latter cursed him and his descendants to be slaves to his brothers and their descendants (Gen 9:25). B.C. cir. 2514. To judge, however, from the narrative, Noah directed his curse only against Canaan (the fourth son of Ham) and his race, thus excluding from it the descendants of Ham's three other sons, Cush, Mizraim, and Phut (Gen 10:6). How that curse was accomplished is taught by the history of the Jews, by whom the Canaanites were subsequently exterminated. The general opinion is that all the southern nations derive their origin from Ham (to which the Hebrew root חָמִם, to be hot, not unlike the Greek Αἰφίοπες, lends some force)...." - Cyclopedia of BIblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature; James Strong & John McClintok
* You might be interested in "theWord Bible Study Software": theWord.net I love it! It can enhance your productivity, save you some serious money, and, most importantly, easily dig down and extract a much fuller meaning, as the text intends. Just hover over the Strong's #s, and up will pop the Hebrew or Greek word, respectively, with the Lexical entry in English. You can take notes, create lists, print them, etc. One feature you might find very useful is the "Clipboard Monitor: It can be used anywhere online that you see a Scripture reference. Highlight, then right-click on any verse, choose 'copy' and immediately you are reading it. You can even choose to only highlight the chapter number, ignoring the verse, and the whole chapter will pop up! If there are multiple verses in the highlight block, it will bring you all of them (and you can paste/print them). There is also an option to run theWord off a thumb drive. Did I mention it's free?
* I just discovered this short article yesterday. It briefly outlines a traditional Hebrew wedding, bringing to light all the Biblical significance of God's beautiful plan from Genesis to Revelation. I truly found it very eye opening . Betrothal
Shalom in your home!
Beth