First the text of the curse then my commentary.

Genesis chapter 9

20 Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; 21 and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers." 26 He also said, "Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave." (Revised Standard Edition)

My Commentary

Now lets see what this infamous curse is all about.

Well it appears that Noah got drunk and passed-out naked in his tent (Verse 21). Ham saw him lying there drunk asleep and told his brothers about it who covered him up (Verse 22). So it appears that Noah spoke his curse because he was mad that his son, Ham, saw him naked. I guess he was pretty uptight about being seen naked by Ham but not about drinking so much that he'd passed-out and was lying there in the nude where anyone passing by could see him, including Shem and Japheth. Ham just happened to see him first!

Now here's where it gets interesting, Noah's mad at Ham but he curses his grandson, Canaan (Verse 25). He says "A slave of slaves shall you be to your brothers." Why is he cursing his innocent grandson, Canaan, who's not in this story at all up to this point and who's only mentioned in passing (Verse 22). And what's so bad about being seen naked that he'd want to curse anybody anyway much less his own grandson, Canaan? Since Ham committed this "horrible" offense why doesn't Noah curse him instead?

It's been pointed out to me that Ham wasn't Noah's youngest son, and that he was referring to his youngest grandson, Canaan when he spoke his curse after he awoke to find out what had occurred. But read the text for yourself: Verse 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan;

Maybe I'm dyslexic but it looks like youngest son not youngest grandson to me! (Since Noah was drunk or hungover, maybe he meant to refer to Ham but made a mistake and said Canaan! You decide what makes more sense. At any rate, the person who initially took the action in relation to Noah was Ham.)

It's also been said that seeing Noah naked wasn't the real reason for his invoking the curse. That Canaan was cursed because he sexually molested Noah. Again read the text for yourselves;

Verse 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness.

If seeing their father's nakedness wasn't a problem why is that the writer emphasizes the fact that Canaan saw his father's nakedness and Shem and Japheth didn't? Also nowhere in the text do I see anything about Canaan molesting his grandfather! Canaan is not mentioned in the text before or after this segment.

Let's move on.

Let's dissect the historical after shocks of this curse. White supremacists and their sympathizers say that blacks are the cursed descendants of Ham, that Ham was cursed by God with blackness and that all black people (Africans) who descend from him are cursed as well and are destine to be slaves! (A good justification for enslaving Africans during the European slave trade.)

But as you can see by the text that's not true. God doesn't curse anybody Noah does (Verse 24-25). Noah doesn't curse Ham he curses his innocent grandson, Canaan and the text doesn't say he was cursed with blackness! Noah says Canaan shall be a slave of slaves to his brothers (Verse 25) and his uncles Shem and Japheth (Verse 27) not slaves of white supremacists or any other group! Now who are these brothers he's supposed to be a slave to?

Get out your bibles, move down to Genesis 10:6 where it lists the sons of Ham who are, Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. These are all ancient civilizations in Africa. These are the blacks who (according to the bible) are the descendants of Ham; who historically, white racists say are supposedly cursed with blac

kness by God; but as you can see from the text this is not the case! God doesn't curse them but Noah does curse Canaan.

So Canaan is to be a slave to his brothers Cush, Egypt, and Put (and his uncles). Canaan is to be a slave to the ancestors of the blacks? (The text doesn't say his descendant's just Canaan), not to mention that if his brothers are black (they weren't cursed with blackness) that Canaan is black also! And since they all have the same mother and father, It would be a logical conclusion that Noah, his wife, Shem and Japheth are all black, as well! (That's how silly this whole thing about blacks being cursed with blackness is.)

Let's trace the descendants of the innocent cursed Canaan.

Go to genesis 10:15-20 and you'll see that the descendants of Canaan actually end up populating a large portion of the Middle East. Canaan was the Promised Land (roughly where present day Israel is now) that Moses led the children of Israel to, which means they were actually fighting their own relatives for the so-called Promised Land! (As I said earlier, if Ham was black, then the whole family of Noah was black, therefore by extension, Moses and the people he led out of Egypt were black! Not to mention that Egypt was also a descendant of Ham, where these children of Israel lived and intermingled for 400 hundred years!)

This makes Canaan's descendants the fabled cursed descendants of Ham, not the descendants of his brothers Cush, Egypt, or Put who populated Africa and are also Ham's descendants. The text doesn't say Canaan's descendants were cursed just the innocent Canaan, Verse 25-26. So what happened to the fabled curse on black people?

Unless you're spiritually myopic, you can see from the text, that this whole curse thing has just been ethnic propaganda, used for centuries to justify enslaving Africans and their descendants for economic gain, and to help relieve the guilt of white Christians for participating in the slave trade! Generally speaking, this myth has allowed all whites to feel superior to blacks for no other reason than that they are white!

According to the noted African American, Historian and anthropologist, J.A Rogers, in his book "Nature Knows No Color Line" certain Jewish Rabbis in first or second century A.D. taught that Ham was cursed with blackness for engaging in sex on the ark against God's command. This is another source, adding to the picture of how it became so easy for various Judeo-Christian cultures to debase, abuse, enslave and punish blacks, because God had made it ok to do so because he had originally "cursed" them! But as you've seen this is false because God didn't curse them!

Blacks must have previously been very powerful and enviously admired, in the cultural and religious history of different societies of the world, for so much scorn to have been heaped on them starting in ancient times.

Ironically there are African-Americans who believe this myth about blacks being the "cursed Descendants of Ham" without ever researching it to see if it's true or not! But that's the way it is with those who have a closed religious mindset (Whether they consciously think of themselves as being religious or not).

They never question or critique if what they believe is true or not. They just accept what they believe as true on faith, rather than on if what they believe is really true or not! But Jesus said you should seek to know the truth not to know belief, " And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free John 8:32 "(King James Version.)

So all of you who believed that blacks were the cursed descendants of Ham based on what you'd heard, believed or thought that the Bible said about the subject, hopefully this has been an Enlightening and Clarifying experience for you!

May the Light always give you an understanding Heart and an equally understanding Mind!

Copyright 2000 EL-Veasey Publishing

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