Why was it so serious for Ham to spot his
father in a naked condition in Genesis 9:22?
Let's get the whole quote. We take it from the NKJV:
'And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.
Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in
his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his
father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth
took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went
backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces
were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness.
So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had
done to him. Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of
servants he shall be to his brethren." And he said: "Blessed be
the LORD, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. May God
enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and may
Canaan be his servant."'
Genesis 9:20-27.
At first sight this does not seem such a serious incident and
many have wondered why the punishment for a young man seeing his
father in a naked condition was so serious.
But times have changed and standards have changed and nakedness
was considered an incitement to sin in the days of Noah, which is
why we note such care by Japheth and Shem to cover their father's
'nakedness', made careless by his intoxication!
But there is much more to this text than might immediately meet
the eye! The explanation is found in the meaning of the Hebrew
phrase, 'to look upon his/her nakedness'. Look up Leviticus
18:6-18 and 20:17. It is very clear that this phrase was used by
the Hebrews to descibe the sin of incest. Many societies
and cultures adopt various terms to describe things which go
beyond the actual term. Today in the west, for example, we talk
of couples "making love", and most people would assume that if a
couple 'make love', that is a description of sexual intercourse
(actually this was not always the case; in a more innocent age,
the expression normally referred to 'kissing and
cuddling').
So 'to look upon his/her nakedness' was a reference to the sinful
act of incest!
So what happened? Ham committed an act of incest with his mother,
thereby uncovering a 'nakedness'which only his father had the
right to see. This sinful act led to the birth of Canaan, who was
Ham's son.
The really interesting thing about this text is that Noah's wife
is never mentioned, except for the fact that she was part of her
husband's 'nakedness.' Almost certainly, both Noah and his wife
were carelessly naked. The text presumes husband and wife to be
one! It is obvious from this Scripture that Noah knew what had
happened but was presumably too drunk to react at the time. Later
he pronounced a curse on his son. So Ham committed what might be
called 'maternal incest' by having sexual intercourse with his
own mother. From the biblical sexual laws, it would appear that
such maternal incest was considered especially evil of all forms
of incest.
It is surely interesting that a state of drunkeness leads to
another act of incest in Genesis. This was when Lot's daughters
deliberately got their father drunk in order to have sex with
him. It is recounted in Genesis 19:30-35. So this was paternal
incest.
The message of the Bible is that the foul sin of incest can only
produce evil results. Canaan became the father of the Canaanites
who apparently inherited the sexual morals of their grandfather,
with a liking for incest and other forms of sexual perversion.
Moses warned the Israelites not to adopt the sexual behaviour and
practises of the Canaanites and other tribes within the Promised
Land in Leviticus 18:6-18 and Exodus 23:23-24.
The incest of Lot's daughters with their father led to the
peoples of Edom, Moab and Ammon (Genesis 19:36-38) and these
people too proved to be continual enemies of Israel!
In Genesis 9, we note the curse which Noah pronounced on his son
for his incest; Canaan's descendants would now have to serve
Shem's descendants which is what happened when the Jews,
descended from Shem, inherited the Promised Land! Shem and
Japheth receive blessings because they reacted with wisdom and
concern when Ham apparently foolishly boasted of his conquest of
his own mother. They entered the tent and covered their father's
'nakedness' (that is, their father and mother). Japheth's
blessing is that he would be 'enlarged' - the descendants of
Japheth are indeed very numerous and would not only include many
'western-types' but another branch of Japheth will be found among
such races as the Chinese, Japanese and Indonesians; a
very populous people!
Incidentally, its worth pointing something else out from Genesis
9:27. The verse says this:
'May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of
Shem...'
We need to remember that the original Hebrew carried no
punctuation, and many feel that there should be a full-stop
(period) after Japheth, rather than a comma, because the next
part, 'And may He dwell in the tents of Shem' is actually a
reference to God, and God 'dwelt in the tents of Shem' in the
tented tabernacle in the wilderness!!
But there is a final question which we cannot ignore. Why would
such acts of wilful incest have occurred at all?
We have to accept the fact that incest were not that uncommon in
the ancient world, but the laws which God gave to the Israelites
strongly warned about such practises; incest is sin! Some
scholars now suggest that such incestuous acts were often all
about inner-family power struggles!
Scott Hahn says this,
'..Ham was trying to usurp his father's authority by sleeping
with his mother. Perhaps that's why he told his brothers what
he'd done, rather than keeping it a secret. This reflects a
pattern found elsewhere in the Old Testament, especially where
sons resent fathers for showing favor to siblings. For example,
Jacob's son Reuben sought to undermine his (Jacob's)
favored half-brother Joseph by taking his father's concubine -
for which he received a paternal curse (see Gen 29:32; 35:22;
49:3-4). Likewise, Absalom resented the plans of his father, King
David, to give the throne to one of his younger half-brothers,
Solomon. In response, Absalom drove King David out of Jerusalem
and then slept with his father's concubines - right in public -
to signify his seizure of royal power...'
(Scott Hahn,A Father Who Keeps His Promises, p 87-88,
Charis Servant Publications, Ann Arbor, 1998).
So there may well have been a bid for leadership by Ham in his
sexual conquest of his own mother - almost certainly, Ham wanted
to be recognised as the leader among Noah's sons! Centuries later
his male descendants would often seek the sexual conquest of
their mothers as a means of attaining fuller priveleges within
their families. But in Ham's case, God caused his evil behaviour
to backfire, and the greater blessings and honour went to Japheth
and, especially, to Shem, from whom the tribes of Israel would
spring!
So it should not be entirely surprising that God gave the sons of
Shem (Abraham and the Israelites) the right to have authority
over the Canaanites.
Museltof
2003