Genesis 9:22-28 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
2007-11-21 14:50:40 · 6 answers · asked by deacon 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
In our culture, we will often use the term "sleeping together" to talk about sexual relations between two people - even though little "sleeping" is actual involved.
In the Hebrew culture, they used the term "uncovered their nakedness" to mean the same thing. When it speaks of Ham seeing the nakedness of his father, it is an idiom for having sexual relations with him while he was passed out. It means that he raped Noah.
2007-11-21 14:57:39 · answer #1 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To "see the nakedness" of someone is a metaphor for forbidden sexuality such as fornication or harlotry.
From Tektonics.org:
The grammar specifically indicates that it was a third party who "uncovered" Noah: "This is the only place in the Hebrew Bible where this form (hith pael third-person masculine singular) of the verb gala appears. Because of the way verses 21-22 are normally punctuated, the reader is made to pause after verse 21 and begin a new thought with verse 22. But the original Hebrew text did not have punctuation marks. If the thought at the end of verse 21 is continued at the beginning of verse 22, with the sequential waw ("and") introducing verse 22a in apposition to verse 21b, then Ham may be associated with the verb gala. It is a passive verb and Noah is the subject. He was acted upon. The implied actor in this view is Ham, and we could understand that Noah was uncovered by Ham."
2007-11-21 23:00:37 · answer #2 · answered by D2T 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Allowing the Bible to interpret itself, the sin that was commited is clearly shown.
Lev 18:7 'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness.
v.8 'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
According to this scripture, The nakedness that was uncovered was Noah's wife. It also noted in Gen.22 that the father of Canaan was Ham.
The 18th chapter of Leviticus lists the forbidden unions, of which are close blood relations.
It is my belief that Noah was just affirming that Canaan was cursed, If he really wanted to curse someone I believe it would have been Ham, but Canaan was the cursed one because of the incestuous relationship.
2007-11-21 23:13:42 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Genesis 19:24 is incorrect. The footnotes in my Bible
for 9:21 says "immodest behavior". It was a disgrace to
look upon a father's naked body. Ham did this, but his
brothers Shem and Japheteh did not so as to avoid
further disgrace to their father.
2007-11-21 23:06:47 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Mine basically says Noah got drunk and his son Ham saw him laying there naked and he went out and told his brothers. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and walked into the tent backwards so they would not see their father naked and they dropped the garment on Noah.
2007-11-21 23:02:53 · answer #5 · answered by 9_ladydi 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
He essentially showed disrespect to his dad. He saw his dad naked and started spreading that info about his father's weakness/sin in drinking too much wine and subsequent nakedness and went out and told his brothers in a way that seems derogatory for the culture. By contrast, his brothers showed extra respect for their father and "covered" him without looking at him in order to laugh at him.
One of the commands in the Big Ten is to honor our father and mother. Ham didn't and Shem and Japeth did.
2007-11-21 22:58:04 · answer #6 · answered by No substitute for privacy online 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋