1. Genesis 9:18-29 Created by David Turner www.BibleStudies-Online.com

2. Genesis 9:18–23 (NET) 18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated. 20 Noah, a man of the soil, began to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside. 23 Shem and Japheth took the garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

3. Genesis 9:18–29 24 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor he learned what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves he will be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Worthy of praise is the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem! 27 May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers! May he live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave!” 28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 The entire lifetime of Noah was 950 years, and then he died.

4. Gen. 9:18-29 has been used to justify racism and the enslavement of black Africans.  Origen (circa 185-c. 254): “For the Egyptians are prone to a degenerate life and quickly sink to every slavery of the vices. Look at the origin of the race and you will discover that their father Cham, who had laughed at his father’s nakedness, deserved a judgment of this kind, that his son Chanaan should be a servant to his brothers, in which case the condition of bondage would prove the wickedness of his conduct. Not without merit, therefore, does the discolored posterity imitate the ignobility of the race [Non ergo immerito ignobilitatem decolor posteritas imitatur].” Homilies on Genesis 16.1

5. Gen. 9:18-29 has been used to justify racism and the enslavement of black Africans.  “Mar Ephrem the Syrian said: When Noah awoke and was told what Canaan did...Noah said, ‘Cursed be Canaan and may God make his face black,’ and immediately the face of Canaan changed; so did of his father Ham, and their white faces became black and dark and their color changed.” Paul de Lagarde, Materialien zur Kritik und Geschichte des Pentateuchs (Leipzig, 1867), part II

6. Gen. 9:18-29 has been used to justify racism and the enslavement of black Africans.  The Eastern Christian work, the Cave of Treasures (4th century), explicitly connects slavery with dark-skinned people: “When Noah awoke...he cursed him and said: ‘Cursed be Ham and may he be slave to his brothers’...and he became a slave, he and his lineage, namely the Egyptians, the Abyssinians, and the Indians. Indeed, Ham lost all sense of shame and he became black and was called shameless all the days of his life, forever.” La caverne des trésors: version Géorgienne, ed. Ciala Kourcikidzé, trans. Jean-Pierre Mahé, Corpus scriptorium Christianorum orientalium 526-27, Scriptores Iberici 23-24 (Louvain, 1992-93), ch. 21, 38-39 (translation).

7. Gen. 9:18-29 has been used to justify racism and the enslavement of black Africans.  Eutychius, Alexandrian Melkite patriarch (d. 940): “Cursed be Ham and may he be a servant to his brothers… He himself and his descendants, who are the Egyptians, the Negroes, the Ethiopians and (it is said) the Barbari.” Patrologiae cursus completes…series Graeca, ed. J.P. Migne (Paris, 1857-66), Pococke’s (1658-59) translation of the Annales, 111.917B (sec. 41- 43)

8. Gen. 9:18-29 has been used to justify racism and the enslavement of black Africans.  According to Catholic mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich, "I saw the curse pronounced by Noah upon Ham moving toward the latter like a black cloud and obscuring him. His skin lost its whiteness, he grew darker. His sin was the sin of sacrilege, the sin of one who would forcibly enter the Ark of the Covenant. I saw a most corrupt race descend from Ham and sink deeper and deeper in darkness. I see that the black, idolatrous, stupid nations are the descendants of Ham. Their color is due, not to the rays of the sun, but to the dark source whence those degraded races sprang". [7] [7]

9. Gen. 9:18-29 has been used to justify racism and the enslavement of black Africans.  After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., Brigham Young, the church's second president, taught that people of African ancestry were under the curse of Ham. Young also taught that the day would come when the curse would be nullified through the saving powers of Jesus Christ.  In addition, based on his interpretation of the Book of Abraham, Young also believed that as a result of this curse, modern people of African descent were banned from receiving the Priesthood.  In 1978, Spencer W. Kimball claimed to have received a revelation which officially extended the Priesthood to all worthy males

11. Gen. 9:18–19 18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated. All the nations, tribes, peoples of the earth are descendants of these three brothers. Canaan is the son of Ham.

12. Gen. 9:20–21 20 Noah, a man of the soil, began to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. Genesis 6:9 9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a godly man; he was blameless among his contemporaries. He walked with God. This act is out of character with Noah. Noah is a Man of the soil. Noah drank wine and became drunk. Fruit caused problems before and after the fall. Noah uncovered himself in his tent.

13. Gen. 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside. What was Ham’s sin?  Was it just seeing his Father?  Sodomy or Castration RashiRashi, the main medieval Jewish commentator on Torah, explains the harshness of the curse: "Some say Cham saw his father naked and either sodomized or castrated him. His thought was "Perhaps my father's drunkenness will lead to intercourse with our mother and I will have to share the inheritance of the world with another brother! I will prevent this by taking his manhood from him! When Noah awoke, and he realized what Cham had done, he said, "Because you prevented me from having a fourth son, your fourth son, Canaan, shall forever be a slave to his brothers, who showed respect to me!"

14. Gen. 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside. What was Ham’s sin?  Was it just seeing his Father?  Sodomy or Castration?  Did he have sex with Noah’s wife? Leviticus 18:6–8 6 “‘No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual intercourse with her. I am the Lord. 7 You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have intercourse with her. 8 You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness.

15. Gen. 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside. What was Ham’s sin?  Was it just seeing his Father?  Sodomy or Castration?  Did he have sex with Noah’s wife?  He did not preserve the dignity of his Father. “It is difficult for someone living in the modern world to understand the modesty and discretion of privacy called for in ancient morality. Nakedness in the Old Testament was from the beginning a thing of shame for fallen man. As a result of the Fall, the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened, and, knowing they were naked, they covered themselves. To them as sinners the state of nakedness was both undignified and vulnerable. The covering of nakedness was a sound instinct for it provided a boundary for fallen human relations. Nakedness thereafter represented the loss of human and social dignity. To be exposed meant to be unprotected; this can be seen by the fact that the horrors of the Exile are couched in the image of shameful nakedness (Hab. 3:13; Lam. 1:8; 4:21). To see someone uncovered was to bring dishonor and to gain advantage for potential exploitation. There seems to be a taboo in the Old Testament against such “looking” that suggests an overstepping of the set limits by identification with the object seen (Gen. 19:26; Exod. 33:20; Judg. 13:22; I Sam. 6:19). Ham going out to tell his brothers about it without thinking to cover the naked man aggravated the unfilial act.. Within the boundaries of honor, seeing the nakedness was considered shameful and impious. The action of Ham was an affront to the dignity of his father. It was a transgression of sexual morality against filial piety. Because of this breach of domestic propriety, Ham could expect nothing less than the oracle against his own family honor.” Ross, Alan P., “Studies in the Book of Genesis Part 1: The Curse of Canaan”, Bibliotheca Sacra 137, July-Sept. 1980: pp. 223-240

16. Gen. 9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

17. Gen. 9:24 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor (lit. wine) he learned (lit. He knew) what his youngest son had done to him. “what his youngest son had done to him” More than simply seeing him. Ham showed an irreverence for his Father’s authority.

18. Gen. 9:25 So he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves he will be to his brothers.” Noah foresees an attribute in Ham that would find it’s full manifestation in the descendants of Canaan. “Canaanite religion presents us with no pretty picture.... Numerous debasing practice, including sacred prostitution, homosexuality, and orgiastic rites were prevalent.” John Bright, A History of Israel (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1959) p. 108 “the amazing thing about the gods, as they were conceived in Canaan, is that they had no moral character whatever. In fact, their conduct was on a much lower level than that of society as a whole, if we can judge from ancient codes of law.... Worship of these gods carried with it some of the most demoralizing practices then in existence.” George e> Wright and Floyd V. Filson, The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1945). P. 36 “the Canaanites, with their orgiastic nature worship, their cult of fertility in the form of serpent symbols and sensuos nudity, and their gross mythology, were replaced by Israel, with its nomadic simplicity and purity of life, its lofty monotheism, and its severe code of ethics.” William F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1964) p. 214

19. Gen. 9:25 So he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves he will be to his brothers.” Not all of Ham’s descendents are cursed (he has four children: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan) Canaan’s descendents would become slaves to the descendants of his brothers: Cush, Mizraim and Put. The Canaanites were not black.

21. Gen. 9:26 He also said, “Worthy of praise is the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem! It is the God of Shem that is praised. The descendants of Shemites (not to be confused with Semites) that include the Hebrews. The descendants of Canaan would be servants to Shem’s descendants.

22. Leviticus 18:1–10 (NET) 1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘I am the Lord your God! 3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not walk in their statutes. 4 You must observe my regulations and you must be sure to walk in my statutes. I am the Lord your God. 5 So you must keep my statutes and my regulations; anyone who does so will live by keeping them. I am the Lord. 6 “‘No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual intercourse with her. I am the Lord. 7 You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have intercourse with her.

23. Leviticus 18:1-30 (cont.) 8 You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. 9 You must not have sexual intercourse with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have sexual intercourse with either of them. 10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual intercourse with them, because they are your own nakedness. 11 You must not have sexual intercourse with the daughter of your father’s wife born of your father; she is your sister. You must not have intercourse with her. 12 You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh. 13 You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s flesh. 14 You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must not approach his wife to have sexual intercourse with her. She is your aunt.

24. Leviticus 18:1-30 (cont.) 15 You must not have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife. You must not have intercourse with her. 16 You must not have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You must not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter; you must not take as wife either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse with them. They are closely related to her – it is lewdness. 18 You must not take a woman in marriage and then marry her sister as a rival wife while she is still alive, to have sexual intercourse with her. 19 “‘You must not approach a woman in her menstrual impurity to have sexual intercourse with her. 20 You must not have sexual intercourse with the wife of your fellow citizen to become unclean with her. 21 You must not give any of your children as an offering to Molech, so that you do not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord!

25. Leviticus 18:1-30 (cont.) 27 for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become unclean. 28 So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it just as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, the persons who do them will be cut off from the midst of their people. 30 You must obey my charge to not practice any of the abominable statutes that have been done before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.’”

26. Deuteronomy 9:4–6 (NET) 4 Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn people!

27. Gen. 9:27 May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers! May he live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave!” The name Japheth comes from the verb meaning “to enlarge”. Descendants would be those to the north (Greeks, Europeans).

29. Gen. 9:27 May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers! May he live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave!” Japheth’s descendents would be blessed because of Shem. Genesis 12:3 (NET) I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.”

30. Gen. 9:27 May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers! May he live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave!” Canaan’s descendants will be a slaves to Japheth’s descendants. “The Greeks and the Israelites, willy-nilly, were allies against the Canaanites and the Hittites during the great world conflict which came down through the historical memory of many peoples by many different names.” Neiman, “The Date and Circumstances of the Cursing of Canaan,” p. 131 Although Israel conquered many cities, and at times enslaved the Canaanites, they were never able to subjugate them on their own. The Canaanites survived until the final colony at Carthage was destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C.

31. Gen. 9:28–29 28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 The entire lifetime of Noah was 950 years, and then he died.

32. The Curse of Canaan had nothing to do with races. Black people were not cursed. Racial prejudice is Sin. The Curse against Canaan is no longer in effect. There are no Canaanites left. Honor your Father. Don’t slight him. Don’t take sexual sins lightly. If God viewed the sins of the Canaanites with such animosity, how must he view the sexual sins of our present world? Trust in God’s plan of Salvation presented through the descendant of Shem.