Genesis 9:18-28
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[a] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27 May God extend the territory of Japheth;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his slave.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.
More parallels to Gen 3 - Noah unaware of his nakedness.
The text does not explain, excuse, or condemn Noah for being drunk.
Leviticus 18:7-8 and Genesis 19 help us interpret what happened with Noah and Ham. To uncover one’s father’s nakedness is connected with sexual intimacy with the father’s wife. Ham probably saw his father and mother both naked while they are being intimate after being drunk.
We don't know what he suggested to his brothers. The similarity to Genesis 19 means it isn't entirely improbable that he was suggesting they have sex with their mother. This is shocking, but this is the language of Leviticus "uncover father's nakedness", and fits with the very angry response of Noah later.
Patriarchal pronouncements of blessings and curses were taken with gravity by ancient people. However, they are not seen as prophesy, or as divinely inspired. Neither did people consider them to carry authority that obliges God to see them through. Pronouncements of the father were from a natural and temporal authority of a father alone. They were more like wishes and desires than prophesy. The spoken wishes and desires of an elderly father are taken very seriously by their children. Whether or not they took place was up to time and the children's choices to decide.
The text regarding Canaan is meant to begin to establish a clear history of their people as being bent from God's original purpose right from the beginning. Like Sodom or the world at the time of Noah, they had to be destroyed.
Just as the curse in Genesis 3 led to a decline of humanity into sin, violence, and their eventual destruction, so too does this curse lead to Canaan's destruction by Joshua's generation.
Ham's curse does not justify slavery.
Noah's story shows us the cycle of sin.
The Table of Nations - Genesis 10
Human culture is diverse and varied. From every one of these names began new traditions, new stories, and new worldviews. Everyone would experience the world uniquely and differently as they experience different plants, animals, and landforms.
The Table of Nations - seventy names represents completion.
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