For many centuries, the biblical story of the generational curse imposed by Noah on his grandson has haunted the minds of millions. According to Scripture, the patriarch, having tasted the wine, became very drunk and fell asleep naked in his tent.
Ham, one of his sons, seeing his father in an indecent form, hastened to tell his brothers about it. For this act, Noah cursed Canaan, the son of Ham...
This event took place several thousand years BC. So, who are Noah and Ham and why did the patriarch curse his grandson and not his son, the culprit himself, and what was Ham’s sin - this will be discussed in our article.
Noah is the only righteous man in his generation
Noah, mentioned several times in the Bible, belonged to the tenth generation of Old Testament patriarchs, descended in a direct line from Adam. The Orthodox Church honors him as a Saint.
Forefather Noah, Byzantium, XIV century. Master: Manuel Panselin, location: Greece. Athos, Kareya, Protat, Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
Being the only righteous and blameless in his generation, Noah was saved by the Lord from the Flood and chosen for the revival of the human race.
The global flood destroyed humanity on earth, only Noah and his family, by the will of God, were saved
According to the Bible Scripture, God, seeing how great the corruption and bitterness of people was, decided to take the life of every creature on earth. Only Noah did He inform him of his decision in advance.
The Lord commanded the righteous man to build an ark to save his family and all types of animals and birds, two from each species, from the Flood,
"to preserve the tribe for the whole earth."
(Gen. 7:2-3)
The forefather accepted God's commandment with faith and, ridiculed by those around him, began to build the ark.
Noah and his sons built the ark for a hundred years.
At the beginning of construction, the righteous man was 500 years old and had three sons - the eldest, Shem, the middle, Ham, and the youngest, Japheth.
Noah became a father late in life. Having witnessed the fall of mankind for a long time and foreseeing its destruction, he did not want to have children and only at the behest of the Lord entered into marriage.
The sons of righteous Noah - Shem, Ham, Japheth
After completing the construction of the ark, God commanded Noah to board it, taking with him all the members of his family, all the animals and birds in pairs, and all kinds of food.
The righteous man was six hundred years old when the Flood began. For forty days and nights, rain poured down on the earth - the highest mountains were covered with water, the level of which rose for another hundred and fifty days, destroying all people and animals. Only the inhabitants of the ark were saved.
The Flood destroyed almost all life on earth, only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive
According to Scripture, after the flood there was only one race left on earth - the righteous Noah. The Lord blessed the forefather and his descendants, and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, and not allow bloodshed. On the land, purified by the waters, only pious people were now supposed to live.
Noah, his sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth, became the ancestors of all subsequent generations. After the flood, Noah lived another three hundred and fifty years, until he was nine hundred and fifty years old. He was the last one to reach such a ripe old age.
Difficult times
You need to look at the time in which Noah lived - it was by no means simple, but very difficult. People lived the way each of them wanted (permissiveness); there were no laws, rules, or high moral principles. A person could only act according to his own conscience.
If someone didn’t like something, he could easily kill, take away, steal. Sexual corruption was also very great; every thought of man at all times was only evil.
Man forgot about the Creator and became fussy in his thoughts - his disobedience manifested itself in everything.
Before the flood occurred, the Creator repented that he had created man, since nothing remained of God’s creation - everything was saturated with sin and depravity (Gen. 6:6-8).
Just as cancer (disease) destroys the body, so sin destroys a person’s personality and society. Evil and chaos reigned at that time, and everyone lived like that. Except for one person:
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Gen.6:8)
Ham, middle son of Noah, brother of Shem and Japheth
The Bible says:
“The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth.”
(Gen.9:18)
Ham - one of Noah's three sons
The patriarch's middle son was born 100 years before the Flood, when his father was already almost 500 years old.
Like all the survivors, he set foot from the ark on the slopes of Mount Ararat and lived for a long time in the land of Shinar. His wife Yuga (Neelatamek) bore him four sons Cush, Mizraim, Puth and Canaan.
Ham is called the ancestor of the four races that descended from his sons and inhabited the regions of southern Asia and the upper Nile.
The Egyptians, Ethiopians, Libyans, Somalis and the entire Negroid race descended from him, and they call them Hamites. The Philistines, Phoenicians, and Canaanites are also his descendants.
According to the biblical account, Ham behaved shamefully towards his father, for which Noah cursed his youngest son Canaan.
Genealogy of Ham and his descendants
Hama clan
According to Old Testament traditions, Ham had four sons after the Flood (Gen. 10:6-20).
- Kush: (Ethiopians, Cushites, possibly Himyarites and Sabaeans)
- Mizraim: Copts
- Fut: Berbers
- Canaan: pre-Jewish population of Palestine
Descendants of Cush
Main article: Khush
According to the Book of Genesis, Cush was the first son of Ham and had six sons. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Shevta, Raam, Shevtekh and Nimrod.
Descendants of Mizraim
Main article: Mizraim
The seven sons of Mizraim: Ludim, Anamim, Legavim, Naftuhim, Patrusim, Kasluhim and Kaftorim.
Descendants of Foote
Main article: Fut, son of Ham
The Bible does not mention the names of the sons of Foote.
Descendants of Canaan
Main article: Canaan, son of Ham
According to the Book of Genesis, Canaan had eleven sons: Sidon, Heth, Jebusite, Amorite, Gergesite, Hibeite, Arkeite, Sinai, Arvadeite, Zemarite and Himathite.
Noah and Ham: the biblical story of the generational curse
According to the Bible, the first thing Noah did when he came out of the ark was to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. This was an animal sacrifice by burnt offering.
Noah brings sacrifices to the Lord in gratitude for his salvation
Then the Lord blessed the righteous man and his family and made a Covenant with him. He bequeathed to them to be fruitful and fill the earth, and also to never allow bloodshed.
The symbol of the covenant was the rainbow, which became a kind of guarantee that people would no longer be destroyed by water from the earth. Since then, it has served as an eternal reminder to man of God’s promise.
Coming out of the Ark, Noah began to cultivate the land, planted vineyards and invented the art of making wine. One day, heavily intoxicated with wine, he fell asleep naked in his tent.
Ham, who accidentally saw his father's nakedness, left him in this form and, laughing, hastened to tell his brothers about what he had seen.
They, in turn, showed deep respect for their parent - throwing clothes over their shoulders, they came from behind, so as not to see their father’s nakedness, and covered him.
Shem and Japheth, turning their faces away, entered the tent and covered their father.
Noah, having learned about the disrespect shown by Ham, cursed and forced his son Canaan and his descendants into slavery, saying that they would become slaves of Shem and Japheth.
Noah curses Canaan for the indecent act of his father Ham
He blessed his other sons, Shem and Japheth, for showing respect to their parent.
There are several speculations regarding the question: Why did Noah curse Canaan and not Ham?
Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, and said: Cursed is Canaan; He will be a servant of servants to his brothers. (Gen. 9.24-25)
Canaan son of Ham
Over the centuries, this biblical story of a curse has caused much controversy. What is Ham's sin? Why did Noah curse Canaan and not his son?
John Chrysostom suggests that the righteous man, the father of Ham, could not break the blessing given by the Lord to him and his family with a curse. But it was still necessary to punish his son for the indecency of his act.
Righteous Noah punished Ham through his son Canaan.
More than anyone else, Canaan embodied the typical traits of his father and was especially dear and close to him. Thus, it was by cursing the son of Ham that the patriarch inflicted the most severe punishment on him. This was Ham's fatherly curse.
Speaking about the intoxication of his forefather, John Chrysostom notes that the Bible “gives him a complete excuse.” According to him, the righteous man did not know what harm drinking wine could bring him.
Blessed Theodoret also sees in this a just reward for Ham. Having sinned against his father, he received punishment through the curse of his son.
Noah's curse came true - the Canaanites were either exterminated or conquered by the descendants of Shem.
Others, referring to what is said in Scripture: “Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his younger son had done to him,” suggest that by “lesser son” they mean Noah’s grandson Canaan, the youngest of all his grandchildren.
Since it is known that Ham was the middle son of a righteous man, born after Shem, and Japheth was Ham’s younger brother.
It was Canaan who first saw the indecent position of the righteous old man. Laughing, he pointed it out to his father, who, in turn, instead of covering his nakedness, thereby showing his parent due respect, hastened to tell everything to his brothers.
Proponents of this opinion believe that Canaan, who committed evil, was cursed not because of his father, but because of his own transgression. Although they do not consider the punishment completely fair, because Canaan was still at a young age.
Passage describing Ham
A dark-eyed, big-mouthed, ugly, but lively girl, with her childish open shoulders, which, shrinking, moved in her bodice from fast running, with her black curls bunched back, thin bare arms and small legs in lace pantaloons and open shoes, I was at that sweet age when a girl is no longer a child, and a child is not yet a girl. Turning away from her father, she ran up to her mother and, not paying any attention to her stern remark, hid her flushed face in the lace of her mother’s mantilla and laughed. She was laughing at something, talking abruptly about a doll that she had taken out from under her skirt. – See?... Doll... Mimi... See. And Natasha could no longer speak (everything seemed funny to her). She fell on top of her mother and laughed so loudly and loudly that everyone, even the prim guest, laughed against their will. - Well, go, go with your freak! - said the mother, feigning angrily pushing her daughter away. “This is my youngest,” she turned to the guest. Natasha, taking her face away from her mother’s lace scarf for a minute, looked at her from below through tears of laughter and hid her face again. The guest, forced to admire the family scene, considered it necessary to take some part in it. “Tell me, my dear,” she said, turning to Natasha, “how do you feel about this Mimi?” Daughter, right? Natasha did not like the tone of condescension to childish conversation with which the guest addressed her. She did not answer and looked at her guest seriously. Meanwhile, all this young generation: Boris - an officer, the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna, Nikolai - a student, the eldest son of the count, Sonya - the count's fifteen-year-old niece, and little Petrusha - the youngest son, all settled in the living room and, apparently, tried to keep within the boundaries of decency the animation and gaiety that still breathed from every feature of them. It was clear that there, in the back rooms, from where they all ran so quickly, they were having more fun conversations than here about city gossip, the weather and Comtesse Apraksine. [about Countess Apraksina.] Occasionally they glanced at each other and could hardly restrain themselves from laughing. Two young men, a student and an officer, friends since childhood, were the same age and both were handsome, but did not look alike. Boris was a tall, fair-haired young man with regular, delicate features of a calm and handsome face; Nikolai was a short, curly-haired young man with an open expression on his face. Black hairs were already showing on his upper lip, and his whole face expressed impetuosity and enthusiasm. Nikolai blushed as soon as he entered the living room. It was clear that he was searching and could not find anything to say; Boris, on the contrary, immediately found himself and told him calmly, jokingly, how he knew this Mimi doll as a young girl with an undamaged nose, how she grew old in his memory at the age of five and how her head was cracked all over her skull. Having said this, he looked at Natasha. Natasha turned away from him, looked at her younger brother, who, with his eyes closed, was shaking with silent laughter, and, unable to hold on any longer, jumped and ran out of the room as quickly as her fast legs could carry her. Boris didn't laugh. - You seemed to want to go too, maman? Do you need a carriage? – he said, turning to his mother with a smile. “Yes, go, go, tell me to cook,” she said, pouring out. Boris quietly walked out the door and followed Natasha, the fat boy angrily ran after them, as if annoyed at the frustration that had occurred in his studies. Of the young people, not counting the countess's eldest daughter (who was four years older than her sister and already behaved like a grown-up) and the young lady's guest, Nikolai and Sonya's niece remained in the living room. Sonya was a thin, petite brunette with a soft gaze, shaded by long eyelashes, a thick black braid that wrapped around her head twice, and a yellowish tint to the skin on her face and especially on her bare, thin, but graceful, muscular arms and neck. With the smoothness of her movements, the softness and flexibility of her small limbs, and her somewhat cunning and reserved manner, she resembled a beautiful, but not yet fully formed kitten, which would become a lovely little cat. She apparently considered it decent to show participation in the general conversation with a smile; but against her will, from under her long thick eyelashes, she looked at her cousin [cousin] who was leaving for the army with such girlish passionate adoration that her smile could not deceive anyone for a moment, and it was clear that the cat sat down only to jump more energetically and play with your sauce as soon as they, like Boris and Natasha, get out of this living room. “Yes, ma chere,” said the old count, turning to his guest and pointing to his Nicholas. - His friend Boris was promoted to officer, and out of friendship he does not want to lag behind him; he leaves both the university and me as an old man: he goes into military service, ma chere. And his place in the archive was ready, and that was it. Is that friendship? - said the count questioningly. “But they say war has been declared,” said the guest. “They’ve been saying this for a long time,” said the count. “They’ll talk and talk again and leave it at that.” Ma chere, that’s friendship! - he repeated. - He is going to the hussars. The guest, not knowing what to say, shook her head. “Not out of friendship at all,” answered Nikolai, flushing and making excuses as if from a shameful slander against him. – Not friendship at all, but I just feel a calling to military service. He looked back at his cousin and the guest young lady: both looked at him with a smile of approval. “Today, Schubert, colonel of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment, is dining with us. He was on vacation here and takes it with him. What to do? - said the count, shrugging his shoulders and speaking jokingly about the matter, which apparently cost him a lot of grief. “I already told you, daddy,” said the son, “that if you don’t want to let me go, I’ll stay.” But I know that I am not fit for anything except military service; “I’m not a diplomat, not an official, I don’t know how to hide what I feel,” he said, still looking with the coquetry of beautiful youth at Sonya and the guest young lady.
The name Ham is a common noun; its derivative is the concept of “rudeness”
The origin of the word “ham” is associated with the name of the biblical character, Ham, the middle of the three sons of the righteous Noah.
However, over time, its meaning gradually changed, turning into a word meaning such negative qualities as arrogance, rudeness, and deep disrespect for one’s neighbor.
Translated from Hebrew, “ham” means “passion”, “ardor”.
According to Scripture, the biblical Ham saw his father sleeping naked in his tent. Instead of showing him the respect he deserved - covering his father's nakedness, he hastened to tell his brothers about it.
Ham's spoiled nature is seen in his action: not embarrassed by what he saw and without doing anything, he hastened to expose his father in an unsightly light in front of his brothers.
At the same time, he experienced an evil joy in the humiliation of a parent, a pride consoled by the fall of another.
Ham's disrespect for his parent not only brought a curse on his son Canaan and his descendants, but also made him a household name.
Boorish behavior gave rise to the concept of “rudeness.”
For a long time, rudeness was considered a characteristic feature of the lower classes. In Vladimir Dahl's dictionary, “khamuga” is an abusive nickname for lackeys, serfs or servants; serf.
Over time, the meaning of the word gradually changed and began to mean a peculiar characteristic of a person’s behavior pattern - ill-mannered, arrogant, rude.
2 proverbs about rudeness:
- “By beard is Abraham, but by deeds is Ham.”
- “There will be no master from a boor.”
In the modern world, to act boorishly means to behave discourteously, shamelessly, in the harshest form, towards another person.
This meaning for the word “boor” is typical for many languages of the world.
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