Another curse

“And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”

As long as Noah was drunk, he didn’t realise what had happened but as soon as he was sober again he realised that his son had seen his shame. So much so that his other two sons had to cover his shame and that made the whole thing worse. When Adam and Eve sinned they realised that they were naked and they were ashamed so we know that nakedness is associated with sin. When the priests went up to the altar they were not allowed to climb up on steps so that they would not expose their nakedness (Exodus 20: 26). This shows that it was considered to be a serious sin in those days and Ham was guilty. He could easily have looked away, not only did he refuse to look away but he told his brothers and brought more shame into the situation. The Bible always deals with the first example of sin in a serious way so that everyone can take a warning from that example. In this case, Noah cursed his grandson, Ham’s son, for this sin. Some people have used this passage to justify slavery, however this is not a justification for slavery. Only Canaan and his descendants were cursed; this curse was fulfilled when Israel took possession of the Land of Canaan and the his descendants were enslaved by the Israelites who didn’t kill them as they were commanded. This slavery was one of the root causes of their decline into sin. Slavery can cause the slave owner to become debased and it will destroy the culture that uses it.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)