Sermon Tone Analysis

Noah

The book of Genesis is the story of beginnings.

The book can be divided into 2 parts.

the first part being: Four Main Events.

The second part being: Four Main Persons.

The Story of Noah and his sons is recorded in chapter 9, verses 17 continuing to Chapter 10:32: This means that it falls in the category of Part 1, “The Third Main Event (The Flood).

The text begins with the group who survived the flood getting off the ark.

There are two things we should notice right here:

God had destroyed the world because of sin

Sin was still present in those whom He saved

Genesis 9:18

Ham

What we know about Ham is that he saw and told.

Look, we all could do without the visual of Noah being drunk and naked, and we would not have known if Ham had not saw and told.

The text says that Noah was drunk and uncovered inside his tent, and Ham saw it and told his two brothers outside.

Read Genesis 9:20-23

Interpretation of Noah’s Nakedness and Curse of Canaan

The episode involving Noah’s nakedness has various interpretations.

Some scholars suggest that Ham simply saw his naked father and failed to cover him (Westermann, Genesis 1–11, 488; Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 200; Hamilton, Genesis 1–17, 323).

Others argue that “seeing another’s nakedness” is a euphemism for a sexual act with either one’s father or mother (see Bassett, “Noah’s Nakedness,” 232–37).

Although the exact nature of Ham’s behavior remains undecided, Noah’s response—cursing Canaan, the youngest of Ham’s four sons (Gen 9:25–27; 10:6)—clearly indicates a negative connotation.

Scholars have paid significant attention to the lack of biblical explanation for Noah’s curse against Canaan (rather than Ham).

Some have speculated that Canaan was born of Ham’s incest with his mother (Bassett, “Noah’s Nakedness,” 235), though this seems problematic in context.

Others have suggested that Canaan participated somehow in Ham’s behavior against Noah but that this detail was omitted “on the grounds of delicacy” (Sarna, Genesis, 66).

Another view proposes that Canaan, in this reference, represents the Canaanite people as a whole, with Ham’s behavior typifying both the sins of the Canaanites and Yahweh‘s response to that sin (Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 201).

Contemporary biblical scholarship has rejected what is known as the “Hamite (or Hamitic) Myth,” which applied the curse to Ham and was used to justify racist objectives.

Some interpretations focus on Israel’s superiority over the Canaanites.

Noah declares that Canaan will be the “lowest of slaves” (Gen 9:25 NRSV) to his brothers—including Shem, the ancestor of Abraham and of the Israelite people.

This passage—which immediately follows the flood story—may be seen as depicting Israel’s exaltation over the Canaanites, who occupied the promised land prior to the Israelites.

As Brueggemann notes, “This narrative is an opportunity to root in pre-history the power relations between Israel and Canaan and to justify it on theological grounds” (Brueggemann, Genesis, 90).

In addition to Canaan, Ham is said to be the ancestor of other bitter enemies of Israel (i.e., Egypt, Cush).

One of Ham’s grandsons, Nimrod, supposedly started his kingdom at Babel and later built the city of Nineveh (Gen 10:6–11).

Canaan

Cursed be Canaan.

These are the words that Noah used in Genesis 9:24-27, when he awoke from his drunken stupor.

His issue is with Ham, not with Canaan.

Ham is the one who betrayed his trust, it was Ham who exposed him, it was Ham that hurt him.

You have heard it been said that “hurt people, hurt people”.

Noah had been hurt by his youngest son Ham, but he does not aim his anger at Ham alone but he gets him where it really hurts by cursing his son Canaan.

We might ask the question “Why Canaan”?

Gen 10:6

We are told here that Ham was the father of Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

The Easton’s Bible Dictionary says:

CANAAN—(1.)

The fourth son of Ham (Gen.

10:6).

His descendants were under a curse in consequence of the transgression of his father (9:22–27).

His eldest son, Zidon, was the father of the Sidonians and Phoenicians.

He had eleven sons, who were the founders of as many tribes (10:15–18).

And so Canaan was the “Baby of the Bunch”.

Think with me for a minute: as we look at this situation we could correctly surmise that when people try to hurt you, they usually target what will hurt you the most.

My contention is that Noah targeted Canaan because he knew how much he meant to Ham.

And so Noah relegated Canaan to be the servant of his Uncles Shem and Japheth.

God Made Me Negro

Just in case you all didn’t know it, Ham is believed to be the father of Negro people.

The idea of the Hamite developed initially from the Hebrew biblical myth of the origins of humankind; what they called the Table of Nations.

In it the sons of Noah were said to form the different people that occupied the earth after the flood.

This myth on its own was harmless enough.

Many different cultures have used the metaphor of an original family peopling the earth to explain their origins.

But this is merely allegorical and not to be taken literally.

However, to justify the enslavement of the Canaanites and the seizing of their lands by the Jews it was injected into the Hebrew story that the children of Ham were cursed with slavery and were forever destined to serve their brothers, Shem and Japheth.

it makes no sense to try to change it (cosmetically or otherwise), as we have seen others do.

The case of Michael Jackson comes immediately to mind.

As if there is something wrong with the skin that you are in!”

Can I get a few of y’all to help me?

Say it Loud, I’m black and I’m proud!

Easton, M. G. (1893).

In Easton’s Bible dictionary.

New York: Harper & Brothers.

curse

How can you say that?

We just read Gen 9:24-27

How can I say that I am proud to be black when this text says that I am under a curse?

And there are people in this present world who really believe that the negro is suppose to be nothing but a slave.

So, how can I tell you that you ought to be proud to be a black?

Let’s unpack it together.

God Made Me

The Bible says in Genesis 1:26, that God made me.

In Gen 2:7, it says that God made me.

Gen. 2:18,21,22 says He made me.

When we look into this narrative this afternoon, what we should understand is that Ham’s place in the story is because God made him.

Listen, God made him black.

God Remembers Me

Noah, in his anger, wrote Canaan out of any glory in the story.

His action here must come under question, because what we know about Our Heavenly Father says that this curse was not from him.

This is Noah’s curse , but the sad reality is that people treat it like it came from God. Noah by his curse was saying that Canaan was insignificant.

That which is insignificant is soon forgotten.

That’s what we see in Joseph, Jacob’s son, experience.

You remember how his brothers sold him into slavery.

They didn’t want him around, they wanted him forgotten.

He was 17 years old when they conspired to kill him, but opted to sell him into slavery.

He was 30 years old when he rose to power in the kingdom of his cousin Egypt.

Though his brothers wanted him forgotten, God had not forgotten to remember.

The worst possible that could happen to a person is to be in slavery.

They were trying to curse him but God turned around and blessed him.

if you keep reading the book of Genesis 12:1-3, you will discover that “after Noah cursed, God used Abraham to bless.

Can you help me say I’m proud because He remembers me.

He Redeemed Me

Canaan’s situation in the text bothers us because he is in this situation because of sin; though not necessarily his own.

Turn you bibles to Ezekiel 18:3-4 and see that God does not even operate like that.

Noah was saying in essence that Canaan’s station in life is directly related to something that his father did.