If Genesis 9 is interpreted as a homosexual act by Ham against his father, then the curse upon Canaan would be an injustice, being meted out for something his father had done. Additionally, if the sin against Noah is a homosexual one, the story would tell us nothing of importance in terms of the types being illustrated about the promises of God for Israel and the coming Messiah.
Remember that Genesis unfolds the story of a people needing a savior and finally a savior comes Joseph , who is a type for Christ.
Then Moses carries the story further into his own day as his own life becomes an illustration for the coming life of Christ. Now, is this interpretation correct? The issue is whether or not the Israelites would have understood the story in this way, being familiar with the idiom and its use elsewhere in the Pentateuch.
Ultimately, it all gets down to the story of Jesus, since these early writings were given to us not only as ancient Israelite history, but as a precursor to the coming of Christ. Just as the Israelites destroyed the Canaanites from the land, so too, Jesus has dealt with the sin in our lives through his death on the cross.
Just as Canaan was illegitimate and was given no family influence, so too, our sin is an illegitimate part of our lives and we must give it no influence in our lives for Christ. Used by permission. Tom Terry is a Broadcast Specialist, having worked in talent and administrative positions in broadcasting for 30 years.
Tom has helped build and train staff of Christian radio and TV stations in three countries. RVR60 Reina-Valera VUL Latin Vulgate. TR Textus Receptus. Search Bible Search. Line-By-Line Order:. Separate Line. Verse Only. Reference Only. No Number. No Delimiter — Square — [15]. Parens — Abbreviate Books. Use SBL Abbrev.
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Theological FAQs [? Multi-Verse Retrieval x. En dash not Hyphen. Deut ; 2 Sam But the narrator does not appear to show interest in her concerns or plight. He does not even emphasize that rape was involved. Rabbi David Frankel did his Ph. He teaches Hebrew Bible to M.
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Gen And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. Gen And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. This is a very interesting text. It brings to mind many questions. Why does Noah not curse Ham? Why is seeing your father naked a sin, after all, can a father not bathe in the same bath as his child?
Why is Noah mad at this? Before addressing the meaning of the text, it is important to understand how the Bible was written, to whom the Bible was written, and how to know the meaning of stories in the Bible. Throughout the Bible, Jewish cultural idioms are used. American authors do this all the time. It would be a tragic injustice for future readers not to understand cultural idioms and, instead, interpret the words literally. Take a few Biblical examples:.
This is a very curious passage. Taken literally, the events described would horrify any normal person. Psa I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psa My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the eart h. It is clear, from the wording of verse 13 and verse 15 that womb and lowest parts of the earth are used interchangeably.
Because the Bible was written to actual human beings by actual human beings to convey actual ideas, sometimes words and concepts are used anachronistically. Although the city was not yet founded, it is normal to give listeners an adequate understanding of events by anachronistically using words and concepts. The Bible does this several times:. Gen And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Gen Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. Gen Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
Before Beersheba is even named, Abraham is said to be wandering in the wilderness of Beersheba. Likewise, take an example from the New Testament. In Luke the story develops John the Baptist far into his ministry before it introduces the birth of Christ:.
Luk And the child [John the Baptist] grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. Someone wishing to critique the Bible might object that this was introduced anachronistically. But because human beings converse, write, and explain concepts anachronistically, these critiques should be ignored. Anachronistic use of words are normal in conversation, especially if they are used to convey meaningful concepts.
The Bible is replete with examples of this:. Did Adam not meet his wife until she had a baby? Or is this a euphemism for sexual relations as used also in Mat Mat Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together , she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Does it mean that he had never seen or talked to Mary before this event?
Or is this a euphemism for sexual relations? Deu When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets :. Pretend a Biblical literalist would come along claiming each word was not to be taken figuratively. Hopefully, the literalist could be explained the concept that human beings communicate in idioms.
Idioms communicate very effectively and efficiently to intended audiences. Where consistent phrases are used that make very little sense by the same author of another culture, the chance is that an idiom is at play.
If an author explains an idiom, texts by that author which use the same words have a high probability of being an idiom. It is curious that Ham is linked with Canaan in verse 21 and then Canaan is cursed in verse Ham, after all, had multiple children 4 boys at least of which Canaan was presumably the youngest. Literalists might claim that Canaan was the most wicked child, but this is nowhere in this text. God tells us that he sees children as nations this would be true while nations are first forming :.
Gen And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. The Israelites are the ones screening day-laborers coming into their territory, not vice versa.
Esau, as an individual, was mightier than Jacob, so much so that when Jacob went to meet Esau he lined up his household in reverse order of importance in case Esau would kill them all Gen The curse was national.
God does not curse babies. If God was cursing an individual it violates all rules of fairness and goodness of God. One does not punish a child for the actions of his father Ezekiel Deuteronomy God rewards individuals who turn to him Jer and Gen So why was the nation of Canaan cursed?
Moses, the same author of Genesis, lets future readers in on the Hebrew idiom:. This idiom explains several other passages in the Bible as well. Without this explanation the verses may be hard to understand. Eze Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;.
Hab Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Gen Noah begins making wine Gen Noah gets drunk Gen Ham father of Canaan is highlighted seeing that his father is incapacitated makes advances on his mother. After all, sex is pleasurable, men tend to desire multiple partners, not many women are available after a global flood, and his mother is probably still attractive due to pre-flood aging conditions.
He gloats of his conquest to his brothers. Gen The brothers try damage control. They cover up their mother is she drunk also? The Bible tends to omit relevant facts about woman in Genesis what was her name? Gen Noah comes back into consciousness and figures out that his wife is pregnant after some time.
Gen He curses the new nation that will be formed from this union. This would also be an anachronistic clarification that would be very helpful to the reader in this circumstance. Otherwise, it makes very little sense. Why Canaan over his brothers?
The lapse in time in verse 24 can be explained as would a normal storyteller would use lapses in time. In Mat , Jesus appears, out of nowhere and fully grown. The last time Mathew had talked about him, Jesus was just a child. Nowhere is there a development transition. It is normal to skip large segments of time in telling stories.
Ham then has perverted thoughts or has some sort of debased enjoyment Literalists claim this with no textual evidence.
Gen The brothers walk into the tent backwards and cover up their naked father. Gen Noah comes back into consciousness and figures out that Ham saw him naked how?
The text does not tell, so the literalist must think this happened by magic. Note the time lapse between verses 24 and 25 in this version as well. Did Noah wake up, realize what had happened and then proclaim a curse all without talking to the brothers or even leaving the tent?
Some sort of time lapse is indicated in the sentence. Storytellers use time lapses for convenience. They also end up believing that multi-generational curses can be levied for mere sight of something that naturally occurs in human beings nakedness.
They also violate their own interpretation rules with candor. Noah may have had another wife, who could have been very close to the age of Ham or even younger than Ham.
They probably became attracted to each other. Therefore Ham wrongfully had sexual relations with her and impregnated her. I do not believe that Ham would have and could have have sexual relations with his own mother.
That translation is offensive and quite misunderstood. So, you must be saying that Noah had an original wife that perished before the flood or during the flood. Another thing to keep in mind is that incest was not illegal or immoral during the initial phase of humanity.
Where did Cain get his wife? IIt was not uncommon for older men to marry younger women and often the women died younger so yes, it is possible as you said, the wife that went in the arc with Noah could have been a second wife. Noah may have become a widow and remarried another woman.
However Ham could have been taken in as a son by Noah during his years prior to entering the arc. Keep in mind they did not use the word adoption back then. The Book of Jasher 5th chapter says when Noah was years old he got Naamah, age , as a wife and she bare him Japheth then Shem was born when Noah was years old. Remember, back then they did not age like we do today and lived hundreds of years in apparent good health and vigor.
In this case it could have been due to desire but Ham had a wife already. More often than not this type of action was a way to assert power over a man, sort of like animals do out in the wild. Only his brothers did not go along with him and instead covered their dad showing their respect and intentions in so doing,.
As to why Noah did not curse Ham there could be two reasons. Again back then a grandson was often regarded as a son thus Noah may have said younger son meaning Canaan. That or Canaan indeed was born from the incestuous union. Either way Canaan was a rebellious man who did not even settled in the area Noah assigned to him west Africa but STOLE part of the land Noah assigned to Shem, what it turns out to be the same land Yahveh promised Abraham later on see Book of Jubilees.
By the way, Abraham learned Torah as a ten year old from Shem himself Jubilees. Right on, Christopher! But notice the genealogies in Gen 4 and Gen 5. Noah is the goal of the line of Seth, while Naamah is the goal of the line of Cain. Genesis six is explaining how human gigantism survived the flood.
Noah, a son of God, brought Naamah, a daughter of men, onto the ark which produced Canaan via Ham. Canaanite incest manifested gigantism later.
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