The Curse of Canaan: Genesis 9

[Marathoner]

The title of this topic is a subject which surfaced in a thread created by @Dennis1209; because this has nothing to do with our brother's OP it's more appropriate to continue that discussion here if others are so inclined to continue or join in. Dennis raises the following question: why was Canaan cursed for something his father did? Relevant scripture:

Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said,

“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brothers.”
(Genesis 9:20-25 NASB)

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by Marathoner

[Marathoner]

As to why Canaan was cursed, this is the answer I arrive at: Noah's curse of Canaan was a prophetic utterance. 

[Michael37]

29 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

As to why Canaan was cursed, this is the answer I arrive at: Noah's curse of Canaan was a prophetic utterance. 

A prophecy that was fulfilled. I remember an interesting study about the causative power of prophets whose speaking forth sets events in motion. 

[Deborah_]

Noah’s behaviour was a disgrace to his position (as head of the human family), but his son Ham committed a worse sin by publicising his father’s loss of dignity. Some things are better left unseen and unreported! In contrast, Shem and Japheth upheld their father’s honour, showing him due filial respect even at a time when he did not deserve it.

Noah punished his youngest son Ham by cursing Ham’s youngest son Canaan, while giving all the descendants of Shem and Japheth a blessing. (In ancient times, people were much more aware than we are of what we would call “family solidarity”; they expected their own behaviour to have consequences for their descendants as well as for themselves.) Shem received the family priesthood, while Japheth was promised the eldest son’s ‘double portion’ of territory.

The incident illustrates how moral values vary between generations and cultures. Today we have very little respect for either age or rank: Ham would have made a video of his discovery that would probably go viral, the media would applaud him for exposing his father’s inadequacies, and there would be demands for Noah’s resignation from his position of leadership!

But God upheld Noah’s authority and endorsed his pronouncements.

Why are some nations so much more prosperous than others? Why, for example, are Europeans (on the whole) richer than Africans? Why does the nation of Israel still exist, while the Edomites, Moabites and Babylonians have disappeared?

It’s not that any one nation is innately superior to any other. Rather, the answer is to be found in a patchwork of geographical factors and historical events. Natural resources, climate, decisions made by distant ancestors, wars and plagues… and God’s overruling (Acts 17:26).

Noah’s oracle is a case in point. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see how God worked both blessing and curse into later history. Like father, like son: the Canaanites became notorious for their sexual perversions (which included drunken orgies), and eventually they lost their homeland to the Israelites (Leviticus 18:24,25).

And the blessings on Shem and Japheth? Japheth’s lands (Europe and Western Asia) have turned out to be more extensive and more economically prosperous than Shem’s (the Middle East). However, it is through the Semites (and specifically the descendants of Abraham) that the world has received its spiritual enlightenment.

But don’t get the idea that our destinies (whether national or individual) are pre-determined by God and cannot be altered. History is not pre-planned in such minute detail! Blessings can be forfeited through complacency. Curses can be overcome through faith (e.g. I Chronicles 4:9,10). Thus it was that a Canaanite woman even managed to find her way into the genealogy of Jesus… (Matthew 1:5)

[Speks]

1 hour ago, Deborah_ said:

Blessings can be forfeited through complacency.

There's a lot of truth in that.

[BibleStudent100]

The expression “saw his father’s nakedness” may indicate some abuse or perversion that involved Canaan. For in most instances incest or other sexual sins are meant when the Bible speaks of ‘laying bare’ or ‘seeing the nakedness’ of another. (Le 18:6-19; 20:17) So, it is possible that Canaan had committed or attempted to commit some abuse on the unconscious Noah and that Ham, though having knowledge of this, failed either to prevent it or to take disciplinary action against the offender, and compounded the wrong by making known to his brothers Noah’s disgrace.

Another point regarding the way in which Noah became drunk; after the Flood, the fermentation rate could have changed due to the thick, moist cloud cover that no longer existed and so Noah was unprepared for the powerful effects of fermented grapes, i.e. wine and so was so drunk that he either fell asleep or even passed out, at which point Canaan took advantage of that weak moment on Noah's behalf.
 

[leah777]

5 hours ago, BibleStudent100 said:

The expression “saw his father’s nakedness” may indicate some abuse or perversion that involved Canaan. For in most instances incest or other sexual sins are meant when the Bible speaks of ‘laying bare’ or ‘seeing the nakedness’ of another. (Le 18:6-19; 20:17) So, it is possible that Canaan had committed or attempted to commit some abuse on the unconscious Noah and that Ham, though having knowledge of this, failed either to prevent it or to take disciplinary action against the offender, and compounded the wrong by making known to his brothers Noah’s disgrace.

Another point regarding the way in which Noah became drunk; after the Flood, the fermentation rate could have changed due to the thick, moist cloud cover that no longer existed and so Noah was unprepared for the powerful effects of fermented grapes, i.e. wine and so was so drunk that he either fell asleep or even passed out, at which point Canaan took advantage of that weak moment on Noah's behalf.
 

There a mountain of speculation in your post. I have the view that a scripture says what it says, not a starting point for us to make a story out of with nothing to back it up.

It can come perilously close to adding to scripture when we take speculation too far.

[Dennis1209]

1 hour ago, leah777 said:

There a mountain of speculation in your post. I have the view that a scripture says what it says, not a starting point for us to make a story out of with nothing to back it up.

It can come perilously close to adding to scripture when we take speculation too far.

Hi ya leah777,

The Bible is chock full of Hebrew expressions that carried a meaning and understanding; in addition to similes, paraboles, metaphors and symbolism. 

 

[leah777]

55 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

Hi ya leah777,

The Bible is chock full of Hebrew expressions that carried a meaning and understanding; in addition to similes, paraboles, metaphors and symbolism. 

 

I know. Still doesn't come close to the speculation I am commenting on.

[Dennis1209]

On 10/16/2020 at 1:59 AM, Deborah_ said:

Noah’s behaviour was a disgrace to his position (as head of the human family), but his son Ham committed a worse sin by publicising his father’s loss of dignity. Some things are better left unseen and unreported! In contrast, Shem and Japheth upheld their father’s honour, showing him due filial respect even at a time when he did not deserve it.

Noah punished his youngest son Ham by cursing Ham’s youngest son Canaan, while giving all the descendants of Shem and Japheth a blessing. (In ancient times, people were much more aware than we are of what we would call “family solidarity”; they expected their own behaviour to have consequences for their descendants as well as for themselves.) Shem received the family priesthood, while Japheth was promised the eldest son’s ‘double portion’ of territory.

The incident illustrates how moral values vary between generations and cultures. Today we have very little respect for either age or rank: Ham would have made a video of his discovery that would probably go viral, the media would applaud him for exposing his father’s inadequacies, and there would be demands for Noah’s resignation from his position of leadership!

But God upheld Noah’s authority and endorsed his pronouncements.

Why are some nations so much more prosperous than others? Why, for example, are Europeans (on the whole) richer than Africans? Why does the nation of Israel still exist, while the Edomites, Moabites and Babylonians have disappeared?

It’s not that any one nation is innately superior to any other. Rather, the answer is to be found in a patchwork of geographical factors and historical events. Natural resources, climate, decisions made by distant ancestors, wars and plagues… and God’s overruling (Acts 17:26).

Noah’s oracle is a case in point. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see how God worked both blessing and curse into later history. Like father, like son: the Canaanites became notorious for their sexual perversions (which included drunken orgies), and eventually they lost their homeland to the Israelites (Leviticus 18:24,25).

And the blessings on Shem and Japheth? Japheth’s lands (Europe and Western Asia) have turned out to be more extensive and more economically prosperous than Shem’s (the Middle East). However, it is through the Semites (and specifically the descendants of Abraham) that the world has received its spiritual enlightenment.

But don’t get the idea that our destinies (whether national or individual) are pre-determined by God and cannot be altered. History is not pre-planned in such minute detail! Blessings can be forfeited through complacency. Curses can be overcome through faith (e.g. I Chronicles 4:9,10). Thus it was that a Canaanite woman even managed to find her way into the genealogy of Jesus… (Matthew 1:5)

Morning Deborah,

I've always wondered about this and speculated based on my own faulty reasoning. Finally I got around to digging deep into it and trying to find the correct answer. But first I had to shed my technical western thinking mind, and try to start thinking like they did back then in their culture, practices and beliefs. It took awhile, but the following is the way I understand it now. A key is the consistent use of idiom's. Below is a copy of my notes I recorded studying this. Let me know if you think it's plausible. 

What did Noah’s younger son Ham do to Noah? There’s three popular theories: (1) Homosexual; (2) Castration; (3) Maternal incest. The first two are ruled out. Notice it’s repeated ‘twice’ for emphasis in Genesis 9:18 & 23; Ham is the father of Canaan [but who's the mother?]. Ham raped Noah’s wife and produced Canaan. Canaan is Noah’s half son. Here's the evidence:

Ezekiel 22:10 (KJV) In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution. 11. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. [Their fathers’ nakedness always is associated with sexual intercourse].

Leviticus 18:7 (KJV) The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. 8. The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness. 

This phrase is explicitly missing for homosexuality in Lev. 18:22-23.

Noah’s tent is his wife’s tent: Genesis 24:67 (KJV) And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. [His tent is her tent]

In Genesis 19: 30-38 you have the same story; the two daughters of Lot getting Lot drunk and having incestuous relations.

Why did Ham proudly and boldly tell his brothers? Because that was how you usurped the family authority of the time. Now in Ham’s eyes, he’s the head of the whole world.

Canaan was not Noah’s biological son; it was by incest. Now we see why Canaan was cursed. We now see why the Canaanites were such a thorn and enemy in Israel’s history.

Noah was roughly 600 years old when this incident occurred, he lived to be 950 years old. It’s interesting to note that in the following 350 years after this story, nothing more is said about the life of Noah, save for genealogies.