Noah and his family landed safely
in the ark upon the Mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4). Noah
promptly planted a garden.
“Then Noah began farming and
planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk,
and uncovered himself inside his tent.” (Gen. 9:20-21)
Noah was a spiritual giant who
had been the recipient of God’s grace. But he reverted back to
the power of the flesh. It was not God's design to remove the
sin nature from man. Why? Maybe because the potential evil
within us continuously reminds us of who and what we are apart
from God's saving grace.
We know that God condemned
drunkenness, the abuse of alcohol, or any drug, and the sins
that most often accompany such activity. Lot, Belshezzar,
Ahazuerus, and Judah, all experienced the results of the abuse
of alcohol (Prov. 31:4-7; Isa. 5:11; Isa. 28:7-8; Rom. 13:13).
“Ham, the father of Canaan,
saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers
outside.” (Gen. 9:22)
We are not given any details
here. Noah had evidently passed out! Ham saw his father's
nakedness and either a homosexual act or an act of ridicule took
place (or maybe both). In Israel and in many cultures
throughout the ancient world and throughout history, to dishonor
one's father was sinful.
The Word "Uncover"
The Hebrew word for “uncover” is
found many times in this passage. In this case, it refers to
sexual type sins.
“None of you shall approach
any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness; I am the
LORD. 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. You
shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s
wife; it is your father’s nakedness. The nakedness of your
sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s
daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their
nakedness you shall not uncover. The nakedness of
your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, their
nakedness you shall not uncover; for their nakedness
is yours. The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter,
born to your father, she is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not
uncover the
nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s
blood relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness
of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s blood
relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your
father’s brother; you shall not approach his wife, she is
your aunt. You shall not uncover the nakedness of
your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not
uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s
nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of a
woman and of her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s
daughter or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her
nakedness; they are blood relatives. It is lewdness. You
shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival
while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness. ‘You
shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister
or of your father’s sister, for such a one has made naked
his blood relative; they will bear their guilt. ‘If there is
a man who lies with his uncle’s wife he has uncovered his
uncle’s nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die
childless. ‘If there is a man who takes his brother’s wife,
it is abhorrent; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness.
They will be childless.” (Lev.
18:6-21)
This evidence seems to reveal
that Ham had indeed performed a homosexual act upon Noah. The
expression “Noah knew what his younger son had done to him,”
also suggests a sexual act had occurred. The words “had done to
him” are words that would easily explain the curse upon Ham's
family. But also from the response of the other two brothers,
one could make a case for the scornful ridicule of their
spiritual leader. Either way, the results are the same. Note the
contrast:
“But Shem and Japheth took a
garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked
backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and
their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their
father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew
what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, ‘Cursed
be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall be to his
brothers.’” (Gen. 9:23-25)
This is the first mention of the
word “servant” in the Bible. The meaning is that of a slave!
According to Noah’s prophecy, the Canaanites were to be
subjugated. The prophetic curse that he would be a servant to
his brothers was not placed on Ham but on his youngest son,
Canaan. God had given Noah some prophetic insight that proved to
be extremely accurate throughout history.
Moral Degeneration of Canaan
The moral degeneration of the
people who came from Canaan is recorded throughout the Bible. No
religion has been so perverted by sexual acts as that of the
Canaanites. The land that Canaan settled was along the eastern
shore of the Mediterranean, stretching from the city of Sidon in
the north to Gaza in the south, and reaching inland at least as
far as the Jordan Valley.
“Canaan became the father of
Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth and the Jebusite and the
Amorite and the Girgashite and the Hivite and the Arkite and
the Sinite and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the
Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were
spread abroad. The territory of the Canaanite extended from
Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go
toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as
Lasha.”
(Gen. 10:15-19)
Archaeologists have recovered
texts from the ancient Canaanite city-state of Ugarit,
discovered in 1928 in modern-day Syria. These documents reveal
details of the political and religious lifestyle of the
Canaanites and fully support the way the Bible pictures these
tribes.
The remains found by
archaeologists testify that the Canaanites were intelligent and
very aggressive. Around 3,000 B.C. they had settled the land of
Canaan and by 2,000 B.C. they had written records. They had a
language that contained over 30 different consonants.
Politically, the Canaanites were
organized into independent city-states, each with its own ruler
and aristocracy (Joshua 12). The great majority of people in and
around each city were politically powerless farmers and workers.
The Canaanites had a very complex
religious mythology. The religion of the Canaanites focused on
fertility, and its myths were structured around the agricultural
cycle that came from Nimrod and the tower of Babel. The gods of
the Canaanites were brutal and highly sensual. One myth actually
portrays Baal having intercourse with a young cow. Religious
rites encouraged sensual activity between persons not married to
each other in order to stimulate the gods and goddesses to grant
fertility to the land and to their livestock.
The fertility of the land, it was
believed, depended on the deities’ sensual activity. The
Canaanites even designated homosexual priests and priestesses as
their “holy ones.” These were employed as cult prostitutes.
The Old Testament shows God's
total contempt for these and other Canaanite practices. The Law
commands, “No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine
prostitute” (Deut. 23:17), and established the death penalty for
homosexuality (Lev. 20:13) and bestiality (Lev. 20:15).
Deuteronomy describes other practices of the Canaanites and
strictly forbids Israel from adopting them.
“Let no one be found among
you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who
practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages
in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or
spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these
things is detestable to the Lord.” (Deut. 18:10-11)
The moral and religious depravity
of the Canaanites, portrayed in Scripture and substantiated in
the materials recovered from the Ugarit, explains why God
commanded Israel to totally destroy these people within the
borders of the Promised Land.
Behind the scenes there was an
obvious satanic attempt on the part of the Canaanites to
infiltrate the Jews, first religiously, and then to corrupt them
physically. This may have been done in order to prevent the
prophesied Messiah from coming into the world through Israel.
This would not have been possible if the Jews had lost their
cultural identity.
Much of the book of Genesis
records God's protection of His people from religious
degeneration. God warned Israel through Moses:
“Completely destroy them.
Otherwise they will teach you to follow all the detestable
things they do in worshiping their gods.” (Deut. 20:17-18)
Seen in this perspective, the
command to exterminate the Canaanites was not only justified,
but it was necessary for the good of all humanity in the coming
ages (Gen. 12:5; Num. 34:1-12).
The ancient Phallic cult and the
reputation that followed it, was located in Carthage in North
Africa. Even the Romans were shocked at the perversion of the
Carthinians. It led to snake worship, human sacrifices,
homosexual orgies, sodomy, bestiality, and other insidious
activity.
So Ham’s sin and Noah’s prophecy
became very important to the religious history of Israel. Has
Noah’s prophecy completely come to pass?
Sources
New American Standard Bible
Encyclopedia Britannica
Brown, Driver, Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions
R. B. Thieme, Jr.
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