Noah – A Patriarch’s Curse

Following the NASB translation, from the grapes, Noah made wine. He drank enough to become drunk and passed out in the privacy of his tent in a state of nakedness. Ham saw his father naked and told his two brothers. Shem and Japheth covered their father out of respect. When Noah woke up, he recognized that something had been done to him by his youngest son.

Before we go further, Noah uncovered his nakedness in his tent (according to both Jewish and Christian translations of the text). The word naked is ערוה which has the given meanings as:

nakedness, nudity, shame, pudenda
(a) pudenda (implying shameful exposure)
(b) nakedness of a thing, indecency, improper behaviour
(c) exposed, undefended (fig.)

Strong’s H6172

It is also the same word used in Deuteronomy 24:1 and translated as “indecency”. From the previous vignette Adam – The Second Patriarch Part 2 – A Patriarch’s Fall, we learned that this word indicates that the person to whom it is applied has stepped outside of his or her covering. The text is ambiguous but does hint that something bad happened with respect to Noah’s uncovering his nakedness and we aren’t going to speculate here, although there is at least one plausible scenario. Whatever it was, an angry Noah pronounced a curse on Canaan.

Then Noah followed the curse with a blessing upon the respectful sons, Shem and Japheth.

“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.
“May God enlarge Japheth,
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.”

Genesis 9:26-27

Canaan, the youngest [grand]son of Noah, was cursed to be a servant to both of his uncles. Shem appears to be particularly close to his father’s God and had established his own personal relationship with YHVH, as indicated by the term “The God of Shem”. Japheth was blessed with enlargement, but still subordinate to his brother. Ham was not mentioned in neither the curse nor the blessing. I take that to mean that his disrespectful conduct towards his father did not merit a blessing, but neither was it sufficient to earn a curse. Ham was “ignored”.

However, it strikes me that Noah’s tent was the scene of profound disrespect and misconduct, and at the same time, the blessing of Japheth involved dwelling in Shem’s tents. There may be more than one conclusion to draw here, but one I believe should be drawn is that the personal dignity of the family patriarch should always be maintained, and he should not be put to shame by younger family members. Canaan somehow shamed his grandfather, and earned a curse. Shem and Japheth earned blessings because of their filial respect to their father.