Gen 9:25-27 | KingComments | STEP | Noah curses Ham in his son Canaan ( ) and blesses Shem and Japheth. The special curse is that Canaan will be “a servant of servants” to his brothers, that is the very lowest servant. We see this fulfilled, among other things, in the victories Israel achieves over them, when they conquer the land of Canaan ( ), about 800 years later. Not Ham himself is cursed. Ham and his brothers are blessed by God ( ), and Noah will not undo this. Here the father’s sin is visited to the children ( ), although the punishment for sin is also deserved by the children themselves. The immorality of Ham is expressed in his descendants, the Canaanites. Israel is later warned not to behave in that way: “You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes” ( ). In the realm of peace, the curse of Canaan will find its full fulfillment ( ). The prophecy of Noah contains in a few words the course of world history. In Genesis 10 we see a further fulfillment of it. There we have the generations of the sons of Noah from whom the entire world population originated ( ). God is called here “the God of Shem”. Never before has God been connected to a human being in this way. Later He is also called ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’. This means that Japheth and Ham will have to seek their blessing from Shem, for God is with him ( ).

‏ Genesis 9:25-27

Curse and Blessing

Noah curses Ham in his son Canaan (Gen 10:6) and blesses Shem and Japheth. The special curse is that Canaan will be “a servant of servants” to his brothers, that is the very lowest servant. We see this fulfilled, among other things, in the victories Israel achieves over them, when they conquer the land of Canaan (Jdg 1:28 ; 30 ; 33 ; 35), about 800 years later.

Not Ham himself is cursed. Ham and his brothers are blessed by God (Gen 9:1), and Noah will not undo this. Here the father’s sin is visited to the children (Exo 20:5-6), although the punishment for sin is also deserved by the children themselves.

The immorality of Ham is expressed in his descendants, the Canaanites. Israel is later warned not to behave in that way: “You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes” (Lev 18:3). In the realm of peace, the curse of Canaan will find its full fulfillment (Zec 14:21b).

The prophecy of Noah contains in a few words the course of world history. In Genesis 10 we see a further fulfillment of it. There we have the generations of the sons of Noah from whom the entire world population originated (Gen 9:19).

God is called here “the God of Shem”. Never before has God been connected to a human being in this way. Later He is also called ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’. This means that Japheth and Ham will have to seek their blessing from Shem, for God is with him (Zec 8:23).