In the bible, there's a story of a son who saw his father's nakedness...?

Question

...and he was cursed for it? I forget where in the bible it is...but why was the son cursed?

Answer 1

you are talking about Noah, after the flood he planted a vineyard, got drunk and his son Ham disrespected his father by looking upon his naked body. his other two sons went into his tent backwards so as not to disrespect him and they covered his nakedness. the customs of the time, and the actions of Ham were at that time very disrespectful. it doesn't say why he did not try to cover his father but the fact blatantly looked upon his father, maybe in an unholy way , tells how stringently they were raised.

Answer 2

It's in Gen. 9:22- 25. The Bible does not get perverted in what it says but the reason he was cursed is found in vrs. 24. Ham did something to him other than just seeing his nakedness so much so that noah knew "what" he had done.

Answer 3

God is NOT endorsing this behavior. I do not have a lot of time right now to go through all of your examples of this, but I will say that when Ham found Abram, he got a blanket and walked in backwards into the tent to cover his dad up. These are all examples of people doing bad things, and no human is perfect. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 If you read the New Testament, it shows how God saved the human race from sin by sending Jesus to pay the price for the sins we have committed. If he had made us perfect without sin, we would be just like robots, forced to do what we don't want to do. That is why he gave us choice, then sent His son to save us.

Answer 4

Sometime later he became involved in an incident that brought a curse on his son Canaan. Noah had become intoxicated with wine and had uncovered himself in his tent. Ham saw his father’s nakedness, and instead of showing the proper respect for Noah, the family head and the servant and prophet whom God had made an instrument in the preservation of the human race, Ham told his two brothers of his discovery. Shem and Japheth exhibited the proper respect by walking backwards with a mantle to cover Noah so that they would not bring reproach by looking on their father’s nakedness. Noah, on awakening, uttered a curse, not on Ham, but on Ham’s son Canaan. In the accompanying blessing of Shem, which included a blessing for Japheth, Ham was passed over and ignored; only Canaan was mentioned as cursed and was prophetically foretold to become a slave to Shem and Japheth.—Ge 9:20-27.

It is possible that Canaan himself had been involved directly in the incident and that his father Ham had failed to correct him. Or Noah, speaking prophetically by inspiration, foresaw that the bad tendency in Ham, perhaps already manifest in his son Canaan, would be inherited by Canaan’s offspring. The curse was partly fulfilled when the Semitic Israelites subjugated the Canaanites. Those who were not destroyed (for example, the Gibeonites [Jos 9]) were made slaves to Israel. Centuries later, the curse was further fulfilled when descendants of Ham’s son Canaan came under the domination of the Japhetic world powers of Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Some persons have incorrectly held that the black race and enslavement of members of that race resulted from the curse pronounced upon Canaan. On the contrary, the descendants of Canaan, the cursed one, were not of the black race. The black race descended from Cush and possibly from Put, other sons of Ham who were not involved in the incident or the curse.

Answer 5

It is in the book of Genesis. It was Ham. Noah was drunk and Ham saw hem naked on his bed. He disrespected him by going out and telling his two brothers Shem and Japheth. They walked backswards into the tent with a blanket and covered their father's nakedness. When Noah found out he cursed Ham's descedants. " a curse upon the Canaanites," he swore, May they be the lowest of slaves to the descendants of Shem and Japheth." Then he said, "God bless Shem, and may Canaan be his slave. God bless Japheth, and let him share the prosperity of Shem and let Canaan be his slave." One of the descendants of Ham was Nimrod the king of babel.The descendents of Ham were the Jebusites, Amorites and his descendents eventually spread to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Answer 6

I believe that this is the reference that you are looking for:

Gen 9:20-25
20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 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.

24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said:

"Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brethren."
NKJV

The son was cursed, it appears because he found his father in a drunk and naked state and rather than show consideration for his father, he went and publicized the fact. The otehr brithers showed respect and covered him up.

Here is an excerpt from matthew Henry's Commentary which I think covers it well:

Gen 9:18-23
Ham's impudence and impiety: He saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren, v. 22. To see it accidentally and involuntarily would not have been a crime; but,

1. He pleased himself with the sight, as the Edomites looked upon the day of their brother (Obad 12), pleased, and insulting. Perhaps Ham had sometimes been himself drunk, and reproved for it by his good father, whom he was therefore pleased to see thus overcome. Note, It is common for those who walk in false ways themselves to rejoice at the false steps which they sometimes see others make. But charity rejoices not in iniquity, nor can true penitents that are sorry for their own sins rejoice in the sins of others.

2. He told his two brethren without (in the street, as the word is), in a scornful deriding manner, that his father might seem vile unto them. It is very wrong,

(1.) To make a jest of sin (Prov 14:9), and to be puffed up with that for which we should rather mourn, 1 Cor 5:2. And,

(2.) To publish the faults of any, especially of parents, whom it is our duty to honour. Noah was not only a good man, but had been a good father to him; and this was a most base disingenuous requital to him for his tenderness. Ham is here called the father of Canaan, which intimates that he who was himself a father should have been more respectful to him that was his father.

IV. The pious care of Shem and Japheth to cover their poor father's shame, v. 23. They not only would not see it themselves, but provided that no one else might see it, herein setting us an example of charity with reference to other men's sin and shame; we must not only not say, A confederacy, with those that proclaim it, but we must be careful to conceal it, or at least to make the best of it, be doing as we would be done by.

1. There is a mantle of love to be thrown over the faults of all, 1 Peter 4:8.

2. Besides this, there is a robe of reverence to be thrown over the faults of parents and other superiors.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Answer 7

According to Genesis 9:20–25, Noah began to raise grapes after the flood, and became drunk one day. While drunk, he lay naked in his tent. Ham saw his father naked, and told his brothers Shem and Japheth about it. Shem and Japheth went into the tent with their faces away from him, and covered him. When Noah awoke, he realized what had had been done to him, and cursed Canaan, son of Ham, to be the "servant of servants" of Shem and Japheth.

Answer 8

It was Noah & his son, Shem. It is presumed more than just seeing his Dad naked happened.

Answer 9

gen 9:20-25 leviticus 20:11 no one knows for sure but ham might have slept with his mother (sex)

Answer 10

Noah and his three sons cause noah was drunk and naked and uncovered..