Cursed Be Canaan

Call to Worship

Psalm 113 NKJV

Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its going down The Lord’s name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, Who dwells on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in the heavens and in the earth? He raises the poor out of the dust, And lifts the needy out of the ash heap, That He may seat him with princes— With the princes of His people. He grants the barren woman a home, Like a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!

Intro

Genesis 9:18–29 NKJV

Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.” And he said: “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.” And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

Last week we covered the first 17 verses of Chapter 9

God blessed Noah and his family

Commanded them to be fruitful and multiply

Allowed Noah’s descendants to eat meat

But prohibited eating meat with blood in it

The lifeblood belongs to God

Futhermore, made it clear that man was even more valuable to God and whoever shed Man’s blood, whether man or beast, needed to be put to death.

Because Man was created in the Image of God

Imago Dei

Capital Punishment is biblical and just BECAUSE of Imago Dei

Lastly, God established the Rainbow as the sign of the covenant that He would not destroy the earth again by water.

Body

Genesis 9:18 “Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.”

Genesis 9:19 “These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.”

Again, this is part of our family history.

We’ll see more details of this next week, but everyone alive today is descended from one of these three sons.

Shem’s (Semite) lineage brings us to Abraham via Eber (Hebrew)

Isaac, Jacob and his 12 sons, the Nation of Israel.

Ham’s lineage gave us Africans, and Canaanites via his son Canaan.

Japheth’s descendants went to northern Mediterranean into Europe.

Canaan is specifically mentioned, because Moses is writing this to the Israelites as they prepare to enter the land of Canaan to claim the Promise Land.

Genesis 9:20 “And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.”

The language is a little awkward, but gives the idea that Noah was “a man of the dirt” and returned to being a farmer.

Gives the impression he was a farmer before his call to build the ark.

So after surviving the global flood, Noah, the de facto King of Earth, returns to his humble vocation of tilling the earth.

A good example for us that tasks are not beneath us.

Genesis 9:21 “Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.”

The first case of drunkenness recorded in Scripture

Perhaps, the post-flood environment caused fermentation that did not occur in before the flood.

We don’t know the conditions, but Noah being a righteous man, we must assume this was accidental.

Maybe, wanting to celebrate his first harvest, he prepared a feast and got drunk as a result.

He ends up naked and passed out in his tent.

Genesis 9:22 “And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.”

Moses wants his audience to know that Ham is the father of Canaan.

It is Ham that “saw the nakedness of his father” and then tells his two brothers.

Nothing seems to weird here

Noah gets drunk and passes out naked in his tent.

His son Ham finds him naked in his tent, and then tells his brothers outside.

What was Ham doing?

Was he wondering where dad had gone?

We’re not told, but we’re given some clues to try to piece together.

Genesis 9:23 “But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.”

Shem and Japheth do not act as their brother Ham.

They don’t look at their naked father.

Instead, they seek to cover his nakedness and do not wish to look up on him.

They walk backwards.

This is a beautiful picture of how we ought to love one another as Christians.

When our brother falls into sin, we don’t parade it about.

We don’t make a mockery of it.

We lovingly cover it in the least conspicuous way.

1 Peter 4:8 “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.””

It is also a good reminder of how to respect our elders.

Of how to honor them.

As our parents and grandparents age, as their faculties fail, how do we respond.

Do we act as Ham and expose our parent’s ,

Or do we seek to cover it; to spare them from further embarrassment?

1 Timothy 5:1–2 “Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.”

Genesis 9:24 “So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.”

This is where it gets a little confusing.

What did he do?

Look at him?

Tell his brothers he was naked?

How would Noah wake up knowing “what his younger son had done to him”?

Genesis 9:25 “Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.””

Why is Canaan cursed for Ham’s sin.

Yes, sin’s consequence can pass on from fathers to sons for generations, but why here?

So there are 3 main theories to what the sin of Ham was and why Canaan was cursed.

The first we already covered; Ham saw his father’s nakedness, mocked him, and tried to expose it to his brothers.

Why was Canaan cursed?

Perhaps Noah being prophetic prophesied in light of the Israelites’ conquest of the Promise Land.

Or maybe Noah refused to curse someone God had blessed (Ham) so cursed his son who already seemed to take after his foolish dad.

We don’t know for sure.

The second theory on Ham’s sin was that Noah was castrated.

Apparently this is rabbinic tradition.

As a power play to usurp his father’s Headship, Ham castrated his father while he was passed out drunk.

When Noah woke up, he immediately knew something had happened to him.

Canaan, they say, was Ham’s 4th son.

We don’t know this, but he is 4th listed from Ham.

Because Noah was prevented from having a 4th son, Ham’s 4th son was cursed.

This makes sense of why Canaan was cursed, but there is no other biblical evidence to support this.

In Greek mythology, The god Ouranos (Uranus) and goddess Gaia, representing heaven and earth respectively, had six children—the titans.

four of their sons, Krios, Koios, Iapetus, and Hyperion held Ouranos, while another son, Kronos, castrated him with a sickle.

Through these Titans, all of humanity descended.

Specifically Iapetus

Iapetus just so happens to be the Greek name for Japheth

Japheth just so happens to be the son from whom the Greek peoples came from.

There are actually quite a few parallels between the sons, grandsons, great grandsons of Noah and various Greek gods.

The third is even more perverse: Maternal incest

I’m going to use vague and biblical language to cover this theory, so as not to offend little ears

Leviticus 20:11 “The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”

Notice the similar language to what we saw in verse 22

Genesis 9:22 “And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.”

Seeing the nakedness is not simply an observation, but can refer to an evil act.

Why would he do such a thing?

Like the previous theory, to usurp his Father’s Headship.

There are other examples of this in Scripture:

Reuben does a similar thing In Genesis 35:22 “And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard about it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:”

Because of this act, even though he was the first born, his birth right was given to the sons of Joseph

Absalom, the son of David, was given advice to solidify the legitimacy of his usurpation of David’s throne in 2 Samuel 16:21 “And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.””

This act was viewed as establishing dominance, like brute animals.

At the end of David’s life, they had a girl sleep with him to keep him warm, but he did not know her.

Her name was Abishag

There were multiple sons that were jockeying to be King, but David announced Solomon as his heir.

After David died, his son Adonijah went to Bathsheba

1 Kings 2:13–25 NKJV

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. So she said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably.” Moreover he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Say it.” Then he said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had set their expectations on me, that I should reign. However, the kingdom has been turned over, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from the Lord. Now I ask one petition of you; do not deny me.” And she said to him, “Say it.” Then he said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.” So Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak for you to the king.” Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother; so she sat at his right hand. Then she said, “I desire one small petition of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.” So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.” And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my older brother—for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a house for me, as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!” So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died.

Did Solomon overreact?

No, he knew his brother was attempting to make a play on the throne by marrying the girl that had slept with his father, the King.

Adonijah was trying to usurp his father’s authority that had been passed on to his younger brother.

If maternal incest was the sin involved with Ham, it would explain why Canaan was cursed.

He was the offspring of that relationship

The product of sin and usurpation,

So he would be cursed.

If that is what happened, a similar thing would happen with in Genesis 19 with Lot and his daughters.

From that incestual relationship, the Ammonites and the Moabites would come.

Who were the main enemies of Israel?

Ammonites

Moabites

Canaanites.

All the result of incest?

Ultimately, we don’t know.

Moses could have been giving us hints by letting us know Canaan was the son of Ham leading up to the event, where no other sons had been mentioned from any of the brothers.

Something sinful happened, and as a result, a group of people was cursed and now it was Israel’s task to remove the cursed people from the land God had promised them.

Genesis 9:26 “And he said: “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant.”

Shem is specifically blessed and the Lord is called “The God of Shem”

As mentioned earlier, Shem’s descendants would lead to Abraham, which would lead ultimately to Jesus.

Canaan’s descendants were to serve the descendants of Shem.

Genesis 9:27 “May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.””

Japheth would also be blessed, enlarged and dwelling in the tents of Shem.

Canaan was also to be Japheth’s servant.

Genesis 9:28 “And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.”

Genesis 9:29 “So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.”

Noah still lived another 350 years after the flood, dying at the rape old age of 950

The third longest life span after Jared (962) and Methuselah (969)

This makes me believe that something that changed with the flood affected the lifespan of humans, since Shem would life to be 600, and after him, no one would live longer over 500.

Conclusion

Whatever it may be that Ham did to be cursed, it is clear that sin is still dominant in the heart of men.

Even Righteous Noah fell into the sin of drunkenness after God reset things on Earth.

Thinking about the Curse and Blessings of Noah’s sons, it’s hard to not think about Christ

I can’t help but think this is prophesying of the Church.

Interesting to think of, but the blessing of Shem lead to Christ.

Through Shem, salvation came to all nations.

Which nations have been the most visibly blessed by Christianity?

Europeans, the descendants of Japheth.

And the word here used for tent is the same as ‘Tabernacle’

The Lord is the God of Shem.

Japheth will dwell in the Tent of Shem, the Tabernacle of God.

Tabernacle is Temple

Jesus is the true temple “I will destroy this temple and rebuild it in 3 days”

Christian Europe grew and prospered in Christ, the tent of Shem.

Whatever our lineage and ethnicity; sin is in our members.

We are doomed to the curse, unless we find shelter in Christ.

Even as a slave, Christ is a good master.

His yoke is easy and his burden is light.