Dc – Cursed be Canaan the Lowest of Slaves Will He Be to His Brothers 9: 20-27

Cursed be Canaan the Lowest of Slaves
Will He Be to His Brothers
9: 20-27

Cursed be Canaan the lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers DIG: From this story, what is your impression of Noah? Of his sons? How does this compare with the image presented in 6:8-10? What do these contrasting images imply about children respecting parents? About righteousness? Does being righteous mean sinless? What does Noah’s prophetic curse mean for his three sons? What does it mean for the Jewish people who are descendants of Shem?

REFLECT: Noah came off a mountaintop experience with ADONAI and was abused. Have you ever experienced an attack after a great experience with God? How did you deal with it? Do you feel it is right for God to punish, even a generational sin? How confident are you that the LORD is good and will be fair in His dealings with mankind? Did this curse mean that individual Canaanites could still repent and worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Why or why not?

This section is about the nature and destiny of the descendants of Canaan, the Canaanites, who would continue to be the enemy of the LORD’s chosen people, Isra’el. There was a new beginning and a new world, but the same old sin was still there. As we read it, our hearts are full of disappointment. And if that is how we feel, think of what ADONAI must have felt! As God afterwards said about Isra’el: What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it (see the commentary on Isaiah, to see link click Ba – The Song of the Vineyard)? As we read this section, we should be careful to apply it to ourselves. How do we deal with an attack from the Adversary?¹⁶⁹

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard (9:20). A believer often finds small temptations the most dangerous. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk (9:21a). Adam fell when he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (3:6); Noah fell when he drank the fruit of the vine. His action is neither condemned nor approved of, but no one can fail to see that this first mention of wine in the Bible points to its potentially destructive effects. The Scriptures do not condemn drinking wine (Judges 9:13; Psalm 104:15; 1 Timothy 5:23), but it does say that drunkenness is a sin (Prov 20:1, 23:20; Eph 5:18). Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, even though he walked with God for 600 years (6:9).

Each of us is dependent on God’s grace, for even in our highest moments of faith we also have low moments when we yield to temptation. A believer is never immune from sin. At those low moments the LORD offers us the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).¹⁷⁰ And a believer is always subject to experiencing entirely new temptations. As we live our lives, evil often takes entirely new forms. We can have a special weakness in our youth that we fight against for years and years, only to find another weakness and sinfulness breaking out in our more mature years.

But why did God record the sin against Noah? If a man had written Genesis, he would have either covered up the sin, or not mention it at all. But ADONAI recorded it for His own purposes. First of all, He did it to encourage the children of Isra’el when they entered the land of Canaan during the time of Moses. They remembered that the LORD had placed a curse on Canaan. He had pronounced His judgment upon the race. All you have to do is read the rest of the TaNaKh and secular history to discover the fulfillment of this judgment. The Canaanites have disappeared. Secondly, it was written to let you and I know something about the weakness of the flesh: For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4). So this story, however shameful, gives us hope. Since Noah was a righteous man who walked with God, and even though he was wronged, maybe there is hope for us also when we are wronged.

Noah drank some of the wine, got drunk, and was uncovered in his tent. Then Ham, Canaan’s father, saw his father’s private parts (9:21-22b). Here, Moshe tells us the story of how it came to be that the Canaanites were subjugated by the Israelites. What was Ham’s horrible crime? Were the Canaanites enslaved merely because Ham saw his father’s private parts? It think not. The curse resulted from Ham’s incestuous, homosexual rape of his father. There are six reasons for this conclusion.

First, the act took place inside Noah’s tent. What was Ham doing inside his father’s tent? Possibly the tent was understood to be off-limits to the sons, explaining why Shem and Japheth were outside and unaware. The cloak was Noah’s, why was it outside the tent?¹⁷¹ Ham brought it with him when he came outside the tent. But why would he bring his father’s cloak outside? You would think that would be the last thing he would want to do! It was the evidence he needed to establish the dominance of his lineage over that of his brothers.

Second, when Noah woke up from his wine, he learned what his youngest son had “done to him” (9:24) – not the expression one would expect to describe an unintended glance or even voyeurism.¹⁷² The Bible says that Noah was uncovered in his tent (Genesis 9:21). Noah was drunk and passed out. Who uncovered him? The continuation in 9:22a, then Ham, Canaan’s father, saw his father’s private parts (which need not be separated from 9:21 with a period) intimates that Ham committed the unspeakable act.

Third, and very important, the language of uncovering and seeing the nakedness of connects with similar phrases referring to sexual intercourse. Leviticus uses the phrase uncover the nakedness of to point to incest (Leviticus 18:6-18, 20:11 and 17-21). In Leviticus 18:19 the same phrase is used of sexual intercourse with a woman during her menstrual cycle. The same phrase is used elsewhere in the Bible of prostitution and adultery, and of rape and/or public exposure for adultery (Ezeki’el 22:10; Deuteronomy 22:30). In Leviticus 20:17, the expression sees his/her nakedness is used to describe sibling incest; in other instances, the phrase seeing the nakedness of merely implies an opportunity for rape.

Fourth, the claim that the text is concerned with Ham’s homosexual rape of his father is bolstered by the depiction of homosexual rape in a Mesopotamian omen text and the Egyptian myth of Horus and Seth; in other words, as attempts at emasculating, disgracing, and demonstrating one’s power over a rival. By raping his father, taking his cloak outside and telling his brothers of the act (9:22b), Ham was attempting to establish his right to succeed his father as patriarch.

Fifth, the brothers’ actions in covering their father’s nakedness and taking great pains not to look at him is compatible with an interpretation of seeing their fathers’ nakedness as sexual intercourse. So, Shem and Japheth took the cloak and laid it over both their shoulders and walked backwards and with it covered their father’s private parts. But their faces were turned away, so they did not see their father’s private parts (9:23). The brother’s actions play on the broader meaning of the phrase. Not only did the brothers not see their father’s nakedness in the sense of not having sex with him, but also they did not even dare to see their father’s nakedness in a literal sense. Where Ham’s act was exceedingly evil, their gesture was exceedingly pious and noble.

Sixth, and possibly the most important, understanding Ham’s action as incestuous, homosexual rape of his father explains the severity of the curse on Canaan. According to Leviticus 18:24-30, 20:22-26, the reason God decided to vomit out the Canaanites from the Land was their participation in such abominable practices as incest and homosexual intercourse, which is singled out for special attention as an abominable practice.

The thrust of Genesis 9:20-27 can be seen in the fact that the Canaanites deserved to be driven from the Land and made slaves because they were, and had always been, avid masters of immoral activity. Therefore, the punishment fit the crime. Just as Ham committed a heinous act with his seed (sperm), so too the curse fell on his seed (son, descendants).¹⁷³ The fact that a divine curse was placed on Ham’s lineage, leaves no doubt that God considers homosexuality a wicked perversion (Leviticus 18:17 and 23).

As a result, Noah said: Cursed be Canaan (9:25a)! There was a curse associated with both Adam and Noah. Because of Adam, the ground was cursed (3:17-19) and Noah cursed Canaan. These next few verses are the only recorded words of Noah anywhere in the TaNaKh. Canaan is focused on because he developed Ham’s negative characteristics. Like father like son. History tells us that the immorality of the Canaanites became great (Genesis 15:16, 18:20-21, 19:4-10; Leviticus 18:1-3; Deuteronomy 12:29-31).

We observe immediately that Noah’s prophecy cannot be used to justify the enslavement of blacks by whites (Some have argued wrongly that certain ethnic groups are superior to others. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan have based their racist beliefs on this passage, and have even argued that slavery is God’s plan for inferior races). As far as we know, Noah’s three sons were Caucasian. But even though some have argued that Ham was ultimately the father of the black race, Noah did not curse Ham but Canaan, and the Canaanites were definitely Caucasian. Historically, various peoples, including the Jews under Joshua, conquered the Canaanites. This is doubtless the main intent of Noah’s prophecy.¹⁷⁴

But why was Canaan cursed instead of Ham? Ham’s actions could not be left without repercussions. There are three principles involved. First, children are punished for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate God (Exodus 20:5, 34:6-7). Secondly, do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please the sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction (Galatians 6:8-9a). Ham sinned as a son, so he was punished through his son. Thirdly, the mercy of the LORD is shown. The sin of Ham was punished in only one of his sons, not all four. The sin of Ham came to life in Canaan and the Canaanites, and they acted as their ancestor did.

The result of the curse on Canaan was that he would become the lowest of slaves to his brothers (9:25b), but this was because the descendants of Canaan lived degrading lives like Ham, not because of what Ham did. The point is that nationally, at least, drunken debauchery enslaves people. That is why, in ADONAI’s program to bless Isra’el, the Canaanites were condemned. They were to be judged by God through defeat in battles as seen in Joshua because their actions were in the same pattern and mold as their ancestor Ham.¹⁷⁵

The Canaanites became servants to the Jews; the Phoenicians, who were the Canaanites, became servants to the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. Carthage marks the final end of the Canaanites and the Roman destruction of Carthage brought the Canaanite history to an end in 146 BC. But Noah’s words seem to be more of a general than a specific prophecy, that the line of Shem will be blessed and the line of Ham in Canaan will be cursed.¹⁷⁶

He also said: Blessed be ADONAI, the God of Shem! So it was the God of Shem who was blessed and not Shem himself. Shem will uniquely possess the knowledge of ADONAI. Adam had three sons and it was through Seth that the Seed of the woman (3:15), or the Messiah, would come; Noah had three sons, and it was in Shem that the messianic line was established. Therefore, the Seed of the woman will come through Shem and not through Ham or Japheth. Messiah belonged to the race of Shem and Semites first spread God’s Word. But then came the curse: May Canaan be the slave of Shem (9:26)!

May God extend the territory of Japheth. This prophecy came true because the descendants of Japheth extended across Asia and Europe.

May Japheth live in, or dwell in, or have fellowship with, the tents of Shem. We know that in the big picture, believing Gentiles have superseded the Jews in spiritual blessings today. The descendants of Japheth, more than the descendants of Ham, adopted the God of Shem. The rabbis believe this verse teaches that the Torah would be translated into Greek and the beauty of Japheth, because the Hebrew word for Japheth means beauty in the Greek language.

Then comes the curse, “And may Canaan be his slave” (9:27). The descendants of Canaan would be the slaves of the descendants of Japheth. The fulfillment would be that the Phoenicians, or Canaanites, would become slaves to the Greeks and the Romans. Thus, these verses are the basis for Isra’el’s foreign policy in the land (Deuteronomy 20:16-18).

A pattern begins in these verses and is repeated in the Torah. The pattern is that we see a father pronouncing a blessing/curse over his children. We see Noah doing so in this passage and we will see Jacob doing the same for his sons, and Moshe, as a spiritual father, will also do the same for his spiritual children, Isra’el.