Preface

It is regretful that a topic has to be written about a scriptural passage in Genesis 9 regarding a horrible incident with Noah.  This scriptural passage is wrongly believed by fringe groups of people to be about racism. 

Noah was a Godly great man, who was:

• Singled out of the entire world to lead his family through the Great Flood,
• Had the required Faith in trusting God to building the Ark for safety of Noah's family and the animals onboard,
• Living on the Ark during the flood, that covered the entire Earth, that showed Noah's faith in being safe,
• Starting a new life where everything Noah remembered was gone, and
• Having the faith to trust God that the Great Flood would not happen again, which God promised.

Noah like many of us have some frailties in life.  Alcohol and wine were required in the history of the Earth as a means of mixing with water for purification to allow safe drinking, a preservative, and even cleanings of wounds.  Noah unfortunately, from the scriptural passage, developed a desire to drink in excess that caused a horrible family incident in the Genesis 9 scriptural passage.

See the topic on Historical Racism for more information.

Scriptures absolutely do NOT Condone Racism

There is no place in the entire Bible that condones racism.  Every person that has mistreated other human-beings in past history will absolutely have:

1. Lost Rewards in Heaven if they have Salvation,
2. Have cumulatively worse consequences in the Lake of Fire, and
3. They will have no peace in their Earthly lives. 

Two of the best scriptures, of many, that show that God loves:

• Everyone from every location of the world,
• Everyone of every tribe, and
• Everyone of every language.

are Revelation 7:9 and Matthew 24:14.  Both of these two scriptures, of many, without any doubt prove to all of us that racism and prejudice is scripturally wrong and evil.

The True Curse Spoken in Genesis 9:18-27

1. The drunkenness of Noah,
2. What happened to Noah,
3. How the different sons handled the situation, and
4. Why did the father Noah curse the offspring of the woman who started the Canaan tribe.

The points of the scriptural passage are:

1. Noah became an alcoholic.  The scripture doesn't use that word, but it is evident that is what he became.
2. Noah lost consciousness from the excessive use of alcohol. 
   (a) This author had a marriage end because of a spouse who became an alcoholic and committed adultery. 
   (b) While trying to work through the problems to save the marriage, this author learned many details about alcoholism and heard recovering alcoholics speak at recovery meetings, which spouses of alcoholics are asked to attend for support purposes.
   (c) Alcoholics, after a long periods of being an alcoholic, can have experiences with no memory of their actions which are often very sinful and evil, which they are told by others to the alcoholic.  Additionally alcoholics will have episodes of losing consciousness where they do not know how they got somewhere and how they ended up with problems on their body along with even waking up with no clothes on.
3. Noah's son Ham discovered his father naked in a state of lost consciousness, because of drinking to much alcohol, in Noah's tent.
4. Ham told his two brothers Shem and Japheth of Noah's nakedness.
5. Shem and Japeth walked backwards into Noah's tent to cover their father up with a garment.  They walked backwards as not to see their father in a naked status.  They absolutely had to see quick glimpses of their father Noah in his nakedness as that was required to cover Noah up with the garment.
6. Noah woke up and knew what his youngest son Ham had done something unto him.
7. The scripture doesn't inform the reader what was done.  The possibilities are:
   (a) A rabbinical viewpoint was Ham castrated his father.  This author does not believe that view.  If it were true, then Shem and Japeth would have noticed it because there would have been a great deal of blood along with putting Noah in a horrendous amount of pain.  Also a castration would have most likely have killed Noah because of the loss of blood.  Castration by a son against his father is absolutely evil.
   (b) Another view is Ham conducted a sexual act on his father.  This author does not believe in this view either.  Some commentaries hold to this theory of Ham performing a sexual act on his father because of the phrase "and knew what his youngest son had done unto him" in verse 24.  It is this author's opinion, God would not have allowed it to happen, and it would have been explained more clearly in the verse 24 if it were true.  Additionally, while there are people that are bisexual, we know that Ham has a wife and has three sons, the fourth had not been born yet. 
   (c) It is this author's opinion, which I have never read or heard in any commentary, that Ham did something to embarrass his father which might have been pouring all the alcohol that was left in the containers in the tent on top of Noah.  Noah began to regain consciousness, and when Noah finally completely woke up saw and felt the wine saturating him.  The two brothers Shem and Japeth would not have known about the wine as it would not be noticeable, but Noah felt it and was very angry for three reasons:
   (First) Noah knew Ham did it which means Ham had some history of embarrassing his father because of the drunkenness.  Also this would explain why Ham didn't cover his father's nakedness as Ham most likely was disgusted with Noah's drunkenness, while still loving his father.
   (Second) Ham wasted the wine which was not a trivial task to create.
   (Third) Since Noah believed Ham was embarrassing him, then Ham action of involving his two brothers was an additional embarrassment for Noah.
8. Verse 25 indicates that Ham had sex with Noah's wife or a concubine of Noah, concubine's were considered a lesser wife, who was in the tent. 
   (a) The woman was not Ham's mother.
   (b) The woman is identified as the foremother of the Canaanites.
   (c) There were customs of women wearing veils during intimacy, since Ham was NOT cursed means Ham possibly didn't know her identity and assumed she was a possible prostitute.  Later in the scriptures, Jacob who becomes Israel, was tricked in his first marriage to Leah when he thought he was with Rachel. 
   (d) A Canaanite is not a person from Africa.  The Canaanite people are fair to dark complexion just like other people from that geographical area of the Middle East, which include the people of Israel.
9. In order for a curse to have happened in verse 25 on Canaan, means there is a woman was involved in the event, which is not named, who delivers a baby named Canaan.  The curse, in verse 25, means most likely that Noah learned that the woman that Noah was married to or was his concubine later became pregnant.  Noah considered the act as adultery against him which made Noah curse the woman's child, which was the son of Ham  As already stated, there was no curse on Ham or pronouncement from Noah concerning Ham. 
   (a) This author believes that Noah felt that his son Ham was possibly seduced by the woman, because of something in her character, which Noah had a suspension that was confirmed with the pregnancy.
   (b) Some Biblical Scholars state Ham was using a form of usurping by young sons to try to take leadership of the family by having sex with the patriarch's wife or columbine.  This author does not believe this theory.  Note that this theory does have some merit as Jacob, who God had his name changed to Israel, had his oldest son Reuben have sexual relations with his concubine in a usurping attempt.  Jacob cursed Reuben.  See the topic on prophecies of the Tribes of Israel for more information.  The Tribe of Reuben was and is still loved by God. 
10. The last part of the passage is about the curse and the blessing.  The target of the curse is discussed more in the next section of this topic.

Noah's Curse on the Woman's Child

The contested passage in the Genesis passage regarding the curse is Genesis 9:25-27 verses:

Here are the important points related to the "Cursed be Canaan":

1. Noah's son Ham was never cursed.
2. The cursing was on the offspring of the woman, which was Ham's son named Canaan.
3. This son, named Canaan, was the last son of Ham.  We are not given the mother's name, but she obviously was not the wife that had Ham's other three sons. 
4. It can be inferred that Noah did NOT have any blessing or curse on Ham's other three sons, which also proves that Noah was directing the curse (a prophecy) only on one person and not an entire family of Ham.  Notice that Ham's other sons: Cush, Mizraim, and Phut (or Put) are not named in the curse prophecy.
5. The son named Canaan started the Canaanites tribe.
6. As stated already: A Canaanite is not a person from Africa.  The Canaanite people are fair to dark complexion just like other people from that geographical area of the Middle East, which include the people of Israel.
7. In Noah's prayer to God, the grandson Canaan is TWICE said to be the servant to Shem and Japeth.

A Blessing for Two of the Three Sons of Noah

There is a blessing and a loss of blessing in the Genesis 9:25-27 scriptural verses:

1. Two of Noah's sons, Shem and Japheth have blessing given in Noah's prayer.
2. Ham is not mentioned in the prayer's blessing.
3. Not having a blessing given does not imply a curse.  There are many examples of people in the Old Testament that were passed over for blessings but were still loved by their father and of course God.  The best examples are the passing over of specific sons of Jacob, who becomes Israel, where the different tribes still flourished albeit with some more and lesser outcomes.

Ham's Son Cush a Good Man

1. There is no curse in the scripture on Ham's son named Cush. 
2. The Cushites settled in the north-east African nation of Cush. 
3. Cush's life, with the evidence of the land he settles, in without Nimrod, have a history of being Godly people.
4. The region that the Cushites primarily settled had future large numbers of Jewish converts who later became Christians.
5. The Queen of Sheba, who visits King Solomon of Israel in the scriptures, is from the kingdom of Axum, which had parts in modern-day Ethiopia and Yemen.  The scriptures in the Bible, and also the Quran, have positive points on the Queen.  King Solomon and the Queen have a son name Menilek.
6. The country of Ethiopia is part of the ancient Cushite lands.  The Ethiopians have a belief that they are guarding the ancient Ark of the Covenant in Aksum, Ethiopia at the Church of the Our Lady Mary of Zion.  
7. Phut, or Put, along with the brother Mizraim settled in the areas of modern-day Libya and Egypt, which are also described as fair to dark skin peoples of the Middle East, just like the Israelites. 
   (a) There was no curse on Phut or Mizraim. 
   (b) Egypt later becomes an idiom and a place that was against Israel, but when Israel and his family went there to meet the son Joseph, there was great years until the death of the Pharaoh before the captivity that Moses brought them out of to form the nation of Israel.

Besides Canaan's negative prophecy (the curse) in the scriptures, there is an evil man who was a son of Cush named Nimrod.

1. Cush had six sons: Nimrod, Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabterhah.   Nimrod became a very evil man, where he dwelled in the areas known later as the Assyrian Empire.  Nimrod's empire consisted of the areas of the future Assyrian empire. 
2. The other sons of Cush are NOT mentioned with curses.  Nimrod is the only one that is linked to prophecies with Babylon's fate and the Antichrist.  Nimrod remained and dwelled in the land of Shinar.
3. Cush's other sons, who grew up in the land of Shinar, go down and dwell in the lands that are modern-day Ethiopia, Egypt, Persian Gulf and other surrounding areas.  Their father Cush, as indicated in the scriptures, goes with them.  This author believes they were most likely disgusted with Nimrod and were following God's commandment of Genesis 9:7 to move away from Shinar.

   Genesis 9:7

   “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

Is Cursing Someone Allowed as a Christian?

God exists outside of all Time Domains, where curses stated in the scriptures is because God is actually prophesying what the person or people are going to act sinfully.  The recipient's future is always based on causality of sinful actions that can be against God, those who trust God and even against non-believing peoples.  As already stated above in this topic, a curse spoken anywhere in the scriptures, should always be considered a revealing (prophecy) of the future and not about someone having an undeserved problem or death.

There should never be an action of speaking a curse, especially by the Christian, on someone.  Someone speaking a curse on someone else is an act of vengeance or a hostile aggression that is wrong.  There are many reasons in the scriptures such as Deuteronomy 32:35 and Romans 12:19-21 shown below which deals with God's stating it is for Him only to handle consequences against anyone.

There are two other examples, of a several, that are important about not speaking a curse on someone, which Christians should take into account. 

1. Apostle Paul did NOT curse Hymenaeus and Alexander, but prayed for their protection from God to be partially removed to allow the satanic realm to stop Hymenaeus and Alexander from blaspheming.  Paul had the authority as an Apostle, where we do not.  The goal was for the two to return to serving God.  Note that Paul didn't say blaspheming made them lose their Salvation, which is sometimes a misconception. as it is impossible to lose our Salvation.

2. The Archangel Michael prays for God to rebuke Lucifer in Jude 1:9.  This shows the Michael did not curse even Lucifer for whom he was fighting against.  Of all the examples in the scriptures, it might be thought that we could curse Lucifer, where Jude 1:9 shows that cursing is for God to judge only.  Note that the scriptures do inform us to reject and stand strong against Lucifer in the power of Jesus Christ.

What to read next?

What is Salvation?  Is it possible to lose Salvation?  We have eternal life.  Evolution is not real.  When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it.  Rewards in heaven.  Do we Tithe?  What does the 3rd Commandment tell us?  What is Grace and Mercy?  Is there an Age of Accountability?  Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?