What is the Sin of Ham? It Might NOT Be What You Think.

Genesis 9:18-29 tells us that Noah and his family get off the boat, and Noah plants a vineyard. Then the story jumps forward to Noah getting drunk off the wine and laying uncovered in his tent. Verse 22 says “And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.”

Noah wakes up and “knew what his youngest son had done to him” and then curses Canaan, not Ham, with the curse of being a servant.

Weird, right?

So, what’s going on here? What was the sin of Ham? And why does Canaan get cursed? And why is the curse to be a servant to his brothers? Well, there are three main views. And they get more interesting as we go.

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[caseymcpherson]

The contextual clues regarding the actions of Shem and Japheth do tend to point more towards a word for word literal interpretation (Ham simply witnessing his father while his father was drunk and naked), first there's the matter of why they were there, Shem and Japheth both went to the tent because Ham called them there to show them (exposing his father being a form of mockery and disrespect) and they walk backwards with a blanket to cover him, the walking backwards to avoid looking at him in his shameful condition indicates that it really was a matter of simply not wanting to shame him by looking at him while he was naked. It's worth noting that the first thing Adam and Eve did after eating the forbidden fruit was to cover themselves because they were suddenly aware of their nakedness and ashamed. People don't seem to think about how much significance was placed on modesty within the first few generations, Noah was a righteous man, and if any of Adam and Eve's views were passed on, exposing someone's body would have likely been seen akin to presenting their sins public setting, it would have been extremely humiliating, particularly for Noah who, from what we're told, at least tried to do everything in his power to live in a Godly manner.

I think the significance of the event is lost on our present generation because it doesn't take the things of G-d seriously, and the pornagraphic culture we've made, which exalts lewdness, mocks chastity, and demeans parents, makes it very difficult for people to understand something like this through the lens of someone who cares about modesty and seeks to be dignified in the eyes of G-d and man.

[theaxehandle]

This was quite the video to watch while having breakfast

[BeLightHim]

If you wrote a book on apologetics, I would definitely buy it for myself, and for my family.

[J.F.]

These are my notes on Genesis 9:22 from some time ago. Hopefully this is a benefit to some.

There have been many different interpretations of this passage

1. Many have explained Ham’s sin to be simply making fun of his father and laughing at him for being drunk and naked and trying to get his brothers to join in on the fun but is that really what he did? If so, why would his fourth son be cursed and made a slave. The punishment certainly doesn’t fit the crime and such a punishment seems quite severe.

2. Another interpretation is that Ham committed a homosexual act against his intoxicated father but there is nothing in the passage that indicates that this lewd act occurred.

3. Another interpretation is that Ham castrated his father. Again, nothing in the passage gives us any impression that such a violation occurred.

4. Finally the interpretation that I believe makes the most sense and is consistent with how Moses uses the term “your father’s nakedness” is that Ham committed an incestuous act against his mother, Noah’s wife resulting in pregnancy and the birth of a child whom was to be named Canaan. Bear with me as I lay out this case.

The Nakedness Of Your Father:

Leviticus 18:7-8 NASB
[7] 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. [8] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.

This passage is clearly indicating what Noah's nakedness is; it is the nakedness of one’s father is actually the nakedness of his wife, or in this particular case, one’s mother.

So what did Ham do? Did he simply just see the nakedness of his father (Noah wife, Ham’s mother) and lusted for her?

Leviticus 20:11 NASB
[11] If there is a man who LIES WITH his father's wife (commits a sexual act), he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

By looking at both Leviticus 18 and 20 it is clearly explaining what Ham did. Ham had incestuous relations with Noah's wife, his own mother. This makes perfect sense as to why Noah would curse Canaan (Ham’s son) and not Ham himself. Canaan was the direct result of Ham and Noah's wife, he was their offspring.

If you want more proof, read all of Leviticus 18. Moses opens up this chapter with warnings to not practice the sexual acts of the Egyptians or the Canaanites. The Canaanites (Ham's descendants) are known for several sexual perversions that God lays out, and says to not practice such things.

This includes:
•Incest
•Homosexuality
•bestiality

The Canaanites picked up the same sexual perversions that their ancestor Ham did to Noah's wife, his mother.

Now one may object to this interpretation and say, “Ham ‘SAW’ his father's nakedness (Noah’s wife’s nakedness), and perhaps lusted after her, but nothing in the passage indicates to us that Ham acted on this lust or committed an incestuous act on his own mother, Noah’s wife. What other evidence is there to solidify this claim?

Leviticus 20:17 NASB
[17] 'If there is a man who takes his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, so that he SEES her nakedness and she SEES his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has UNCOVERED his sister's nakedness; he bears his guilt.

To SEE one's nakedness is the same as UNCOVERING one's nakedness and according to Leviticus 20:11, to uncover one’s nakedness is to lie with them in a sexual way and this is what Ham is guilty of and this is why Canaan was cursed because he was the offspring of a incestuous sexual act.

Moses wrote both Genesis and Leviticus, and would have no reason to contradict himself in his writings. Furthermore, God the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write these things; therefore, God would not contradict Himself or else He would be a liar.

The nakedness of Israel and her harlotry:

Ezekiel 16:8 NASB
[8] "Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine, " declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 16:36-37 NASB
[36] Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to idols, [37] therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, even all those whom you loved and all those whom you hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and expose your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness.

Ezekiel 22:10 NASB
[10] In you they have uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity.

Ezekiel 23:10, 17-21 NASB
[10] They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they slew her with the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgments on her. [17] The Babylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry. And when she had been defiled by them, she became disgusted with them. [18] She uncovered her harlotries and uncovered her nakedness; then I became disgusted with her, as I had become disgusted with her sister. [19] Yet she multiplied her harlotries, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt. [20] She lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses. [21] Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth.

Ezekiel 23:29-31 NASB
[29] They will deal with you in hatred, take all your property, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your harlotries will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotries. [30] These things will be done to you because you have played the harlot with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols. [31] You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.'

[markfry]

Then how does that fit with the rest of the story because then it says the other two brothers walked in backwards and covered Noah's nakedness?

[markfry]

So that's why they don't eat Ham...

[programmer]

And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent....how does this magically become Noahs' wife ?

[Mojo]

Wow I read that plenty of times and just now thought, what did he say. Now I have to go back and look at it again. I terribly and totally missed the part of the genealogy no wonder I did not have a good understanding of it. Thanks 🙏🕊️❤️✝️

[TheAbstract]

While “nakedness” is used occasionally elsewhere in the Bible to mean something other than exposing of one’s own body, the account in Genesis pretty clearly means Noah was drunk and naked and Ham behaved disgracefully towards seeing Noah naked.
It says Noah “uncovered” himself, nobody else. Ham “saw” Noah’s nakedness then told his brothers. Japheth and Shem take great care to not see Noah as they took a “garment” and “covered” Noah’s nakedness. Pretty clear what happened and how it was remedied.
The difficult thing for us as modern Westernized Christians and Bible readers is understanding how such a severe consequence can be brought down in someone for something we are inundated with all the time and see no reason to be upset about it. Nudity is not held as shameful in our culture whereas the Hebrews viewed it quite the opposite. God had the approach to his altar designed specifically so the Israelites would not defile it by showing their nakedness Exo 20:26.
When we read difficult passages or things that don’t give us the same outrage, sadness, or joy as expressed by those in the passage, take a step back and try to immerse yourself in the culture this was written to while removing your own preconceived notions of morality

[SE-kdlo]

Thank you so much for this! I was wondering about this passage for SO long and what you said corroborated some research I had done on my own but wasn't sure about. I would LOVE it if you did more videos like this

[maxalaintwo]

I think Ham simply saw his father literally naked and instead of helping him up just made fun of him and kicked him while he was down so to speak. For this he was cursed while the other brothers protect their father's honor.

[AtomicSea]

It’s nice to see short form content being made for stuff like this. Very concise and not forced. You left it up to the people to decide which they think is right.

I favor no.3 since it’s the Bible that interprets itself. The other 2 options seemingly force the reader to distinguish the use of nakedness in genesis vs Leviticus. And I haven’t seen any good reason as to why we ought to disconnect them.

Very cool video!!

[biblethumper.]

The problem with the more salacious understanding is that it doesn't make sense of the rest of the account. If "uncovered his nakedness" means something akin to having relations with either Noah or his wife, then the rest of the account (Ham telling his brothers and them walking in backwards to cover Noah's nakedness) is nonsensical, unless the latter is also some idiom since lost. Whereas, if Ham simply saw his father naked and mocked him for it (perhaps joked about it with his brothers), then the reaction of the two older brothers makes more sense in context too.

[TheRawKeyPets]

This is great! Please make many more of these. 🙏

[tonytran]

Had to repost this because some self-proclaimed pastor is stalking me trying to force me to believe in his ways and hates that I don't agree with him.... some pastor right...?
I always interpreted as: "Instead of covering his father's nakedness, he went out and bad mouthed his father to his 2 brothers and possible their wives. The 2 brothers did not... they instead honored the father by walking in backwards, covered their father's nakedness, and left."
1. It clearly did say he went and tell his 2 brothers that Noah was naked right after that verse.
2. If he told the brothers, surely their wives was around... shaming Noah in front of his sons and his daughters in law
3. Please note that he is shaming the man that saved the last remnant of humanity - the man chosen by God.

Personally I still stand with this view.

[comfortablynumb]

Awesome, great stuff, keep this new avenue open and I appreciate the quick appraisals, God Bless you

[vesseleightyseven]

Wow! I never thought of the last one! Great video bro 😎 thanks so much 😊

[fenixrebornmusic]

The case that is made for the 3rd scenario sounds the most probable to me. Thank you for breaking that down and it is something I definitely scratched my head about.

[mlts]

I’ve done extensive research, and the unquestioned assumption we make is that the wife of Noah is the mother of Ham. There is substantial evidence that Noah may have lost his first wife (the mother of his 3 sons) and taken a new wife at the same time as his sons, when they entered the ark. This parallels similar stories such as Reuben and Bilhah, and Absalom and David’s harem (he even erected a tent, just like in Genesis 9)

[kienanmaxfield]

This was fun to hear alternative ideas. I have never heard any of the ideas that aren’t the plain reading of the text, but it’s interesting to hear them.

I would love more content along these lines. There are lots of stories where it’s like “I wonder why he did that??”

Thanks!!