Bible Study - What Happened Between Noah and His Son Ham? (A Breakdown of Genesis 9:18-29)

This is one of the oddest passages in the bible. This is the most controversial subject yet, but I won't shy away from analyzing it. I take a comprehensive look at this passage and analyze it using the tools of letting the bible interpret itself, parallels, themes and of course using connections. Please like, share, and subscribe so I can continue to connect the Word of God.

The bible is the inerrant Word of God, on this channel we believe that the Bible is the truth. Although it was written by 40 different human authors, there was one common ghost writer and that is The Holy Spirit which inspired all of them. This channel tries to stay away from theology but instead focuses on a unique Bible Study approach by connecting the bible as a whole book using tools such as typology, parallelisms, and multiple-layered contextualized connections. Yes, God can operate on different levels at the same time, to mean more than one thing at the same time.

I enjoy a deep dive Bible Study, and always will cite scripture to back up the conclusions.

I hope you enjoy my other videos on my channel such as:

The Theory of Ezekiel's Temple

What is the Significance of the Disciples Catching 153 Fish?

The Potter and the Clay

The Beautiful Statue in the Book of Daniel

The Beautiful Gate

The Two Pillars Named Jachin and Boaz

Here is a 3 part series following the connections from Holy Spirit to the 2 pillars mentioned throughout the bible and follow that into the end times in Revelation:
Part 1, The Tower of Pentecost:
Part 2 - The Two Pillars:
Part 3 - The Two Witnesses

Jesus and his ride into Jerusalem on a Donkey with the sons of David:
Absalom
Adonijah

Moriah, The Holy Land

The Divine Helper

The Mercy Seat

It is Finished

Repent, What Does it Mean to Repent?

Ezekiel, The Two Sticks Prophecy

The Naming of Adam in Original Hebrew

[MysterENigma]

The ONLY other person I've heard explain it like this is a Rabbi. Context is EVERYTHING. To have the proper context, you must understand the culture to whom The Word was first given and not look at it purely through the lens of Western understanding.

[marciechittenden]

One thing that is being ignored here: Ham was not cursed! Ham son Canaan was. Why? Because prior to Ham’s sin, God blessed Noah and his sons; you cannot curse what God has blessed!

[tashawashington]

When David son Amnon raped his half sister Tamar, there were no codes used. The writings were plain. Why wouldnt the story be written the same for Ham and Noah?...

[wha-sucklee]

If Ham raped, then why did he tell his two brothers? Verse 23 then speaks of the exact same nakedness being reversed by a physical garment. So a garment reverses rape? Illogical!

[eLLBdotmusic]

This video breakdown was mind-blowing to say the least! I need to have you on bible snapshots podcast. This was phenomenal. I would love for you to share how you did your research. In order to see you you definitely was exploring every word a piece to a puzzle. Thank you so much for sharing. I believe God led me to this video to widen my spiritual eyes.

[beverly]

You may have gone down the wrong rabbit hole. There are so many things wrong with your analysis that I can't begin to list them. But the most logical thing you fail to consider is time element: The Bible says Noah "began to be a farmer" and he planted a vineyard. So stop there -- How long after leaving the ark did Noah decide to "become" a farmer and plant a vineyard -- one year, two, 10, 15...? Then, also how long after that would it take for the vineyard to produce grapes... one year... two years? I bring this up because you mentioned there were "only 8 persons saved on the ark" -- which is true, but wouldn't it be logical that Noah's sons and their wives began to have children after leaving the ark -- which means by the time of Noah's unfortunate incident there were more than three males on the earth? Another thing you forget to consider is that in the Bible grandsons were often referred to as "sons." Genesis 10:6 states the sons of Ham were Cush, Mizriam, Put, and Canaan -- so Canaan would be Ham's youngest son and thus Noah's "youngest son." So when Noah awoke and realized what his "younger son" (or grandson) had done is more likely referring to his grandson Canaan -- the son of Ham. Logical sequence of events -- so when Ham happened to walk into his father's tent and saw his father naked, he went and got his brothers, so that the two of them could cover their father's nakedness. They walked backwards and Ham may have "guided them" -- otherwise they would have seen Noah naked also. Another thing you failed to consider is that Genesis 9:18 names Noah's sons, and Genesis 9:19 states: "THESE THREE" were the sons of Noah, and "FROM THESE" the whole earth was populated. Then, one of the most profound statement that you seem to overlook is that "God cursed Canaan." Does it make sense to you that God would curse Canaan for something Ham did and not mention Ham at all? You've made this into an unnecessary soap opera -- when it didn't have to be. If there was some untoward deed such as Ham raping his own mother and having a child, the Bible would have told the story -- just as it did all of the other sordid tales -- Lot's daughters raping him and bearing sons; the men of Sodom trying to rape the two angels that came into Lot's house; Reuben raping his father's concubine; Judah thinking Tamar was a prostitute; David and Bathsheba and what he did to Uriah the Hittite; David's son Amnon raping his sister Tamar... the Bible will tell us what happened, we don't need made up stories... Selah

[Truth.Is.Intolerant]

I don't think this story is about incest, it's about dishonoring father and mother, which is also a capital sin. Western culture puts no emphasis on dishonoring a part but God says it's extreme ly serious.
Ham made fun of his father when he talked to his brothers, he dishonoured him and shamed him. Noah knew God's laws and knew how God would react and simply prophesied to that fact.

[JRT]

And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. (NKJV)

In this text we discover:
1) Noah became a farmer.
2) Noah planted a vineyard.
3) Noah drank of the wine.
4) Noah got drunk.
5) Noah got naked.

Then in v. 22, we read that Ham saw his father’s nakedness. If this is to be taken as Ham raping his mother, why all the detail of Noah getting drunk and naked? All of that could have been skipped for it would have had nothing to do with Ham’s offense.

Furthermore, if uncovering the nakedness of one’s father is “code” for having sex with one’s father’s wife, how come it is written that Noah’s other two sons put a garment on their shoulders and walked backward into Noah’s tent so as not to see their father’s nakedness? Are we to interpret that as meaning that Shem and Japheth walked into their father’s tent backwards so that they would not commit incest with their mother? And, given the nature of the crime of incest, it is doubtful that Ham would have told his brothers about it.

Also note that when Noah sobered up, he realized what his son had done to him. Ham did something and he did it to Noah, not Noah’s wife. Ham was likely a sexual deviant of some sort. He DID something to Noah. He did not accidently walk into Noah’s tent.

It is also important to note that once Noah sobered up and realized what his son had done to him, he issued the blessings/curses. Your insistence that this was an end-of-life blessing is without Scriptural foundation. Yes, other blessings were recorded as end-of-life blessings, but we cannot force that pattern on all of them. Noah’s words are recorded as though they were spoken shortly after he sobered up and realized what had happened but sometime after Canaan had been born, for how could he have known of Canaan’s existence had he not already been born? If Canaan were the offspring of Ham and his mother, Noah’s words would have needed to be spoken at least nine months after the events in Noah’s tent, and if they were, indeed, an end-of-life blessing, that would have needed to be near the end of his life, unless you want to assume that Noah never did or said anything about his son’s horrible conduct until many years after it happened. But the record does not support that.

The more plausible explanation is that Noah cursed his son, Ham, in the name of the name of the son of Ham that Noah foresaw would most fully express the sexually perverse nature of Ham. After all, Sodom and Gomorrah were Canaanite cities! In fact, it could be that the events in the tent were far enough after the flood that Canaan had already been born and had shown his perverse tendencies.

I have read that it was a known practice to curse someone in the name of one of their sons. And this make sense for it seems that Canaan’s brothers and Japheth and Shem are one and the same. It might be argued that this would support the idea of incest. However, in chapter 10, the sons of Noah are listed as Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Canaan is not listed as Noah's son; he is listed as Ham’s son. So, it is not as though whatever happened in the tent caused Ham to be written out of the lineage. Rather, in the blessings/curses, Noah refers to his son, Ham, by the name of the son of Ham who would prove to be most like Ham.

And it is not surprising that the Scriptures would belabor the point that Ham was the father of Canaan, for it was the descendants of Canaan who had occupied the land that God would later give to the descendants of Shem through Abraham. Since Moses wrote this as the Israelites were in the wilderness, he was simply making it obvious that the Israelites were going to dispossess the descendants of a specifically cursed people.

As to the nakedness of one’s father’s wife being equated with the nakedness of one’s father, it is important to read a larger portion: Leviticus 18: “7The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness.” Note that specific mention is made of one’s mother separately from one’s father’s wife. Also, the nakedness of one’s mother is not called the nakedness of the father, but is mentioned distinctly – she has her own nakedness, so to speak. So, Leviticus 18.7 refers to “biological parental incest” while 18.8 refers only to a sort of “legal parental incest, ” for the woman involved is not related to the offender in any but a legal sense. It should also be noted that to uncover a person’s nakedness did not merely mean to take the clothes off of someone. Later in Leviticus 18, uncovering the nakedness of one’s granddaughter is prohibited. Does this mean that a man would be prohibited from changing a granddaughter’s diaper? No, it is rather clear that uncovering someone’s nakedness (or purposefully looking in on a person’s accidental nakedness) included the idea of sexual purpose.

So, the meaning of the passage in Genesis 9 is most likely that Ham purposefully looked at his father’s nakedness with perverse pleasure (and maybe did more since it would appear that Noah was not just drunk, but passed-out drunk) and when Noah sobered up and realized what Ham had done to him, he issued the blessings/curses found in Genesis 9, cursing his son, Ham using the name of the son of Ham who would express the greatest tendency to Ham’s perverse nature.

[debraford]

I wondered about this and thought there had to be more facts to the incident. This is amazing. We, as believers in the scriptures, need to quit looking at the Bible in a fairytale like manner and start looking at it as real events, which happened in history and encompasses a much larger message. The information contained is not just random information. It is a guidebook for us to find our Heavenly Father through is Son, our Redeemer.

[irinaferguson]

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ... Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door ... I was blessed today to find your video! Amazing how you tided it together... Praise the Lord!!! Thank you very much for your time, love, and sharing! Many blessing!!!❤

[tokkieandrews]

As is written Leviticus, it clearly says that a son / daughter should not look on your father or on your mothers nakedness, but Ham told his brothers to come and look at their father's nakedness in other words he made a fool of his father which he took as a joke, it says nothing about raping their mother, and it was Noah that cursed Ham for making fun out of him being naked. God did not curse Ham, but he allowed it .

[lordsgirl]

100%‼️ AND Absolam usurped David’s throne and had sex with his fathers concubines! The first son…in a power struggle? Ham, Rueben and Absolam in a power struggle? Is this what it is all about in the end. Usurping the father’s authority?
I love this. Please keep it coming.

[arcyhicks]

To uncover your father's nakedness simply means to lay with his wife. That should be plain and clear enough.

[arthurmcdanielsen]

LEVITICUS 18:8
“The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.”

LEVITICUS 20:11
“And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

[yosef]

You have guts for using scripture to interpret scripture! I am set on a course to discern and detect false and timid Christian teachers, by searching out their teachings on the most controversial portions of scripture, and let the truth fall where the Holy Spirit dictates and confirms truth through prayer. I believed your interpretation of the curse of Canaan before I heard it from your channel. Thank you for the second witness.

[revelationunsealed]

I'm very skeptical about some " new" interpretations of the Bible, but this one is amazing, logical, and makes perfect sense...and answer many questions who i have myself and have been asked about the story of Noah..Thank you!!!

[domestigoddess]

I have never had a Bible study this way. I love how you interconnected the story.

[gewgulkansuhckitt]

It's also possible that the major infraction was not viewing his father naked, but telling his brothers about it and thus publicly humiliating his father. Noah found out what had happened while he was passed out presumably because his other sons told him. He knew that every single person on the planet now knew that he got drunk and passed out naked. We even know about it today, thousands of years later.

I don't like extrapolating unknowns in the Bible by use of patterns. Patterns do exist in the Bible, but not everything fits into one or fits the way we think it fits. There's no harm in not trying to figure out everything that's not explicitly stated in the Bible. Some things that aren't stated just aren't that important.

I think the story is very straight forward in light of the presumed patriarchal culture of the time. Remember in Leviticus, striking or cursing your parent was punishable by death. If your father spit in your face, you would be disgraced for 7 days. Presumably raping a parent (much worse than just striking one) would also be punishable by death.

[Benjamin-oljx]

How did Shem and Japheth not see the nakedness of their father SIMPLY by turning their heads away?
Doesn't seem consistent with Ham seeing his father's nakedness being interpreted as sleeping with his mother.

[DenisLarson-jh]

This assumes Noah knew his wife was not just pregnant from the rape, but knows the name of said child as well.