By Vc Veasey First the text of the curse then my commentary, Genesis chapter 9 20 Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; 21 and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their fathers nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; A slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave.” (Revised Standard Edition) My Commentary Now lets see what this infamous curse is all about. Well it appears that Noah got drunk and passed-out naked in his tent (Verse 21). Ham saw him lying there drunk asleep and told his brothers about it and they covered him with a garment (Verse 22). So it seems that Noah spoke this curse because he was mad that his son, Ham, saw him naked. I guess he was pretty uptight about being seen naked by Ham but not about drinking so much that he’d passed-out and was lying there in the nude where anyone could see him, including Shem and Japheth, Ham just happened to see him first. Now heres where the story gets interesting, Noahs mad at his son, Ham, but he curses his grandson, Canaan (Verse 25). He says “”Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall you be to your brothers.” Why is he cursing his innocent grandson, Canaan, who’s not in this story at all up to this point and whos only mentioned here in passing (Verse 22). And whats so bad about being seen naked that hed want to curse anybody anyway, especially his innocent grandson? Ham committed this “horrible” offense so why doesnt he curse Ham instead? Noah was drunk; so maybe he intended to curse Ham but mistakenly cursed Canaan. At any rate, the person who initially took the forbidden action in relation to Noah was Ham not Canaan. Some people say that seeing Noah naked wasn’t the real reason for his invoking the cursethat the real reason Canaan was cursed was because he sexually molested Noah while he was sleeping. Read the text for yourself folks; Verse 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their fathers nakedness. Do you see anything in the text about Canaan molesting his grandfather, Noah? Does it seem to you that the real reason for the curse was that Ham saw Noah naked? If seeing Noah naked wasn’t the reason why does the writer emphasizes the fact that Ham saw his father’s nakedness and Shem and Japheth didn’t? Anyway, the innocent Canaan received the curse not Ham. Let’s move on. Lets dissect the historical after shocks of this curse. White supremacists and their sympathizers say that Ham was cursed by God with blackness and as a result all of Hams descendants (Black People) are cursed as well and are destined to be slaves. (A good justification for enslaving Africans during the European slave trade.) But as you can see by the text thats not true, God doesnt curse anybody Noah does. (Verse 24-25). Noah doesnt curse Ham he curses his innocent grandson, Canaan and text doesnt say that Ham or Canaan were cursed with blackness. Noah said in Verse 25, Canaan shall be a slave of slaves to his brothers and in Verses 26-27, to his Uncles Shem and Japheth not to white supremacists or any other group. Now who are these brothers Canaan is cursed to be a slave to? Get out your bibles, scroll down to Genesis 10:6 where it lists the sons of Ham, his sons are listed as Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. (This probably means that this story is metaphorical or mythological because these are all names of ancient civilizations in Africa, groups of people not individuals). These are the blacks who (according to the text) are the descendants of Ham; who historically, white racists say were cursed by God with blackness; but, againas you can see from the text thats not the case. God doesnt curse Ham or his sons with blackness but Noah does curse Canaan. So Canaan is cursed to be a slave to his brothers Cush, Egypt, and Put? Canaan is cursed to be a slave to the ancestors of the blacks? Not to mention that if Canaans brothers are blackthat means Canaan is black tooand since Ham, Shem and Japheth all have the same father and mother, its logical to conclude that Noah, his wife, Shem and Japheth are black as well. Remember Ham wasn’t cursed with blackness. So that means that if his sons are black..he’s black… his mother and father are black…and so are his brothers.Thats how absurd this whole thing about blacks being cursed with blackness is. Lets trace the descendants of the innocent cursed Canaan. Go to genesis 10:15-20 and youll see that the descendants of Canaan actually end up populating a large portion of whats now the Middle East. Canaan was the Promised Land (roughly were present day Israel is now) that Moses led the children of Israel to. And since the Israelites were the descendants of Canaans uncle, Shem, that means they actually fought their own relatives for possession the Promised Land. As I said earlier, if Ham was black, then the whole family of Noah was black, therefore by extension, Moses and the people he led out of Egypt were black. Not to mention that Egypt was also a descendant of Ham, where these children of Israel lived and intermingled for 400 hundred years! So if there were any cursed descendants of Ham it looks like they would have to be Canaans descendants. But againthe text doesnt say Canaans descendants were cursed just the innocent Canaan, (Verse 25-26). So what happened to the fabled curse on black people? Unless youre spiritually myopic, you can see from the text that this whole curse thing has just been ethnic propaganda, used for centuries to justify enslaving Africans and their descendants for economic gain and to help relieve the guilt of white Christians for participating in the slave trade. Generally speaking, this myth has allowed all whites to feel superior to blacks for no other reason than that they are white! According to the noted African American Historian and anthropologist, J.A Rogers, in his book “Nature Knows No Color Line” certain Jewish Rabbis in the first or second century A.D. taught that Ham was cursed with blackness for engaging in sex on the ark against Gods command. Heres another source of historical misinformation that help create the psychological climate that made it easier for various White Christian cultures to debase, abuse, and enslave blacks for social and economic gain. The myth that God “cursed” blacks made it easier for White Christians and others to engage in racist behaviors without feeling guilty about it. (Of course not all Whites or White Christians accepted this ideology or engaged in those behaviors and many were totally in opposition to any racist ideology) Blacks must have previously been very powerful and enviously admired in the cultural and religious history of the various White cultures of the world, for so much scorn to have been heaped on them starting in such ancient times. Ironically there are African-Americans who believe this myth about blacks being the “cursed Descendants of Ham” without ever researching it to see if it’s true or not! But that’s the way it is with those who are closed minded whether theyre White or Black. They never critique nor question if what they believe is true or not. They just accept it as true, because thats what they been taughtbut it’s been said we should seek to know the truth if want to free our minds of deception, ” And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free John 8:32 This piece is dedicated to all of you, who believed that blacks were the cursed descendants of Ham based on what you believed or thought that the Bible said about the subject…hopefully this has been an Enlightening Experience for you. May the Light Light up your Mind like Lightening flashing in the darkness! Copyright 2000 EL-Veasey Publishing VC L. Veasey holds Ph.Ds in counseling, political critiques and psychosocial commentary from the University Of Hard knocks Ghetto Town, USA. Email: elveasey at yahoo.com Website: http://www.blackmerda.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vc_Veasey http://EzineArticles.com/?Are-Blacks-the-Cursed-Descendants-of-Ham?&id=149278
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