Last week, we looked at what the ESV Study Bible and the Baker Illustrated Study Bible (CSB) study notes said about the incident involving Noah’s drunkenness and nakedness, Ham’s transgression regarding it, and the resultant curse against Canaan. This week, we continue the investigation by looking at the NIV Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible and the NET Full Notes Edition.

As promised, we have a bit more to work with this time.…

NIV Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible

“18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers.”

26 He also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27
May God extend Japheth’s territory;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.” (Gen. 9:18-29 (NIV))

9:18-29 This passage provides a narrative postscript to the flood story, describing how Noah settles into a life of agriculture.

9:18 Ham was the father of Canaan A reminder of the connection between Ham and Canaan; Canaan is cursed by Noah for Ham’s actions (Ge 9:22,25). This account also serves to cast the Canaanites in a negative, shameful light. In that sense, the story resembles the account in 19:30-38, which provides a shameful explanation for the paternity of the Ammonites and Moabites.

9:20 a man of the soil The parallel to Adam is evident and signifies continuity with Adam’s original blessing and mandated task (see 2:15).

9:21 became drunk The first mention of drunkenness in the Bible. lay uncovered inside his tent The ensuing context explains this as nakedness.

9:22-24 Two difficult interpretive issues arise in the incident between Ham and Noah: understanding the nature of Ham’s offense and making sense of why Ham’s son, Canaan, was cursed instead of Ham (see note on v. 25). The text of 9:22 may be literally rendered as “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father.” However, this could be an idiom — it may not be about Noah being nude, but an incident that greatly insults Noah. Ham’s offense could be explained as voyeurism, castration of Noah, sodomy, or incestuous rape of his mother. The voyeurism view is often defended by what Ham’s brothers, Shem and Japheth, do in the wake of the incident — they walk backward into the tent and cover their father’s nakedness. This act doesn’t explain the offense, though; it simply shows their respect for their father. There is no OT prohibition against seeing one’s father naked, so this interpretation would have likely been foreign to the original reader; likewise no such prohibition appears elsewhere in ancient Near Eastern law.

Against the idea that Ham’s offense was voyeurism, the Hebrew phrase which may be literally rendered “saw the nakedness” appears elsewhere in the OT referring to illicit sexual contact and intercourse. To “see [ra’ah in Hebrew] the nakedness [erwah in Hebrew]” of someone is used in the Law (Lev 18; 20) to prohibit certain sexual relations. This idiom suggests that Ham’s offense may have been of a sexual nature, perhaps homosexual rape of his father or paternal incest. However, no combination of the relevant Hebrew words — ra’ah (“see”), galah (“uncover”) and erwah (“nakedness”) — occurs in the OT in reference to homosexuality. The Hebrew phrase for “uncovering the nakedness of [a man]” actually refers to sexual intercourse with a man’s wife. For example, in a literal rendering of Lev 18:7, “the nakedness of your father” means “the nakedness of your mother”; in Lev 18:14, a literal rendering of “the nakedness of your father’s brother” is clarified as “his wife” and “your aunt” (see Lev 18:8; 20:11,20,21). Although the usual expression in Leviticus is to “uncover [galah in Hebrew] the nakedness,” both idioms are used in parallel in Lev 20:17. Therefore, Ham’s offense may have been maternal incest and the forcible rape of his mother. This explains the curse of Ham’s son that follows (see Ge 9:25-27; compare note on 9:25).

9:25 lowest of slaves will he be Noah pronounces a curse on Canaan, not on Ham. Noah does this because Ham likely raped his mother to gain further inheritance (see note on vv. 22-24). Ham’s crime of maternal incest would have been an attempt to usurp Noah’s position of leader of the family clan. This explains why Ham would announce what he had done to his brothers — he was asserting authority over them (v. 22). The fact that Canaan was cursed suggests that Canaan was the offspring of Ham’s sexual intercourse with Noah’s wife. The son bore the punishment for the crime of his father. The curse on Canaan forms the backdrop to the later antipathy between Israel and the Canaanites.

9:29 950 years May or may not be intended literally. See 5:5 and note.

The NET Full Notes Edition is next. As before, I have left in the bracketed letters marking each translation note (tn) and study note (sn) for ease of reference…

NET Full Notes Edition

“18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.)[a] 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.[b]

20 Noah, a man of the soil,[c] began to plant a vineyard.[d] 21 When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself[e] inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan,[f] saw his father’s nakedness[g] and told his two brothers who were outside. 23 Shem and Japheth took the garment[h] and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way[i] so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

24 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor[j] he learned[k] what his youngest son had done[l] to him. 25 So he said,

“Cursed[m] be Canaan![n]
The lowest of slaves[o]
he will be to his brothers.”

26 He also said,

“Worthy of praise is[p] the Lord, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem![q]
27
May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers![r]
May he[s] live[t] in the tents of Shem
and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth!”[u]

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 The entire lifetime of Noah was 950 years, and then he died.” (Gen. 9:18-29 (NET))

a. Genesis 9:18 sn The concluding disjunctive clause is parenthetical. It anticipates the following story, which explains that the Canaanites, Ham’s descendants through Canaan, were cursed because they shared the same moral abandonment that their ancestor displayed. See A. van Selms, “The Canaanites in the Book of Genesis,” OTS 12 (1958): 182-213.

b. Genesis 9:19 tn Heb “was scattered.” The rare verb נָפַץ (nafats, “to scatter”) appears to be a bi-form of the more common verb פּוּץ (puts, “to scatter”) which figures prominently in the story of the dispersion of humankind in chap. 11. And the form here, נָפְצָה (nafetsah), could be repointed as נָפוֹצָה (nafotsah), the Niphal of פּוּץ.

c. Genesis 9:20 sn The epithet a man of the soil indicates that Noah was a farmer.

d. Genesis 9:20 tn Or “Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard”; Heb “and Noah, a man of the ground, began and he planted a vineyard.”

e. Genesis 9:21 tn The Hebrew verb גָּלָה (galah) in the Hitpael verbal stem (וַיִּתְגַּל, vayyitgal) means “to uncover oneself” or “to be uncovered.” Noah became overheated because of the wine and uncovered himself in the tent.

f. Genesis 9:22 sn For the second time (see v. 18) the text informs the reader of the relationship between Ham and Canaan. Genesis 10 will explain that Canaan was the ancestor of the Canaanite tribes living in the promised land.

g. Genesis 9:22 tn Some would translate “had sexual relations with,” arguing that Ham committed a homosexual act with his drunken father for which he was cursed. However, the expression “see nakedness” usually refers to observation of another’s nakedness, not a sexual act (see Gen 42:9, 12 where “nakedness” is used metaphorically to convey the idea of “weakness” or “vulnerability”; Deut 23:14 where “nakedness” refers to excrement; Isa 47:3; Ezek 16:37; Lam 1:8). The following verse (v. 23) clearly indicates that visual observation, not a homosexual act, is in view here. In Lev 20:17 the expression “see nakedness” does appear to be a euphemism for sexual intercourse, but the context there, unlike that of Gen 9:22, clearly indicates that in that passage sexual contact is in view. The expression “see nakedness” does not in itself suggest a sexual connotation. Some relate Gen 9:22 to Lev 18:6-11,15-19, where the expression “uncover [another’s] nakedness” (the Piel form of גָּלָה, galah) refers euphemistically to sexual intercourse. However, Gen 9:22 does not say Ham “uncovered” the nakedness of his father. According to the text, Noah uncovered himself; Ham merely saw his father naked. The point of the text is that Ham had no respect for his father. Rather than covering his father up, he told his brothers. Noah then gave an oracle that Ham’s descendants, who would be characterized by the same moral abandonment, would be cursed. Leviticus 18 describes that greater evil of the Canaanites (see vv. 24-28). sn Saw the nakedness. It is hard for modern people to appreciate why seeing another’s nakedness was such an abomination, because nakedness is so prevalent today. In the ancient world, especially in a patriarchal society, seeing another’s nakedness was a major offense. (See the account in Herodotus, Histories 1.8-13, where a general saw the nakedness of his master’s wife, and one of the two had to be put to death.) Besides, Ham was not a little boy wandering into his father’s bedroom; he was over a hundred years old by this time. For fuller discussion see A. P. Ross, “The Curse of Canaan,” BSac 137 (1980): 223-40.

h. Genesis 9:23 tn The word translated “garment” has the Hebrew definite article on it. The article may simply indicate that the garment is definite and vivid in the mind of the narrator, but it could refer instead to Noah’s garment. Did Ham bring it out when he told his brothers?

i. Genesis 9:23 tn Heb “their faces [were turned] back.”

j. Genesis 9:24 tn Heb “his wine,” used here by metonymy for the drunken stupor it produced.

k. Genesis 9:24 tn Heb “he knew.”

l. Genesis 9:24 tn The Hebrew verb עָשָׂה (ʿasah, “to do”) carries too general a sense to draw the conclusion that Ham had to have done more than look on his father’s nakedness and tell his brothers.

m. Genesis 9:25 sn For more on the curse, see H. C. Brichto, The Problem of “Curse” in the Hebrew Bible (JBLMS), and J. Scharbert, TDOT 1:405-18.

n. Genesis 9:25 sn Cursed be Canaan. The curse is pronounced on Canaan, not Ham. Noah sees a problem in Ham’s character, and on the basis of that he delivers a prophecy about the future descendants who will live in slavery to such things and then be controlled by others. (For more on the idea of slavery in general, see E. M. Yamauchi, “Slaves of God,” BETS 9 [1966]: 31-49). In a similar way Jacob pronounced oracles about his sons based on their revealed character (see Gen 49). Wenham points out that “Ham’s indiscretion towards his father may easily be seen as a type of the later behavior of the Egyptians and Canaanites. Noah’s curse on Canaan thus represents God’s sentence on the sins of the Canaanites, which their forefather Ham had exemplified.” He points out that the Canaanites are seen as sexually aberrant and Lev 18:3 describes Egypt and Canaan, both descendants of Ham, as having abominable practices. See G. Wenham, Genesis vol. 1 (WBC), 202.

o. Genesis 9:25 tn Heb “a servant of servants” (עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים, ’eved ’avadim), an example of the superlative genitive. It means Canaan will become the most abject of slaves.

p. Genesis 9:26 tn Heb “blessed be.”

q. Genesis 9:26 tn Heb “a slave to him”; the referent (Shem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

r. Genesis 9:27 tn Heb “may God enlarge Japheth.” The words “territory and numbers” are supplied in the translation for clarity. sn There is a wordplay (paronomasia) on the name Japheth. The verb יַפְתְּ (yaft, “may he enlarge”) sounds like the name יֶפֶת (yefet, “Japheth”). The name itself suggested the idea. The blessing for Japheth extends beyond the son to the descendants. Their numbers and their territories will be enlarged, so much so that they will share in Shem’s territories. Again, in this oracle, Noah is looking beyond his immediate family to future generations. For a helpful study of this passage and the next chapter, see T. O. Figart, A Biblical Perspective on the Race Problem, 55-58.

s. Genesis 9:27 sn There is some debate over whether God or Japheth is the subject. On the one hand, the brothers acted together and the refrain ending vv. 26 and 27 is the same, which suggests that v. 26 is about Shem and v. 27 is about Japheth. But it is not clear what it would mean for Japheth to live in Shem’s tents. A similar phrase occurs in Ps 78:55 where it means for Israel to occupy Canaan, but there is no reason in this context to expect Japheth to be blessed at the expense of Shem and occupy his territory. If this applies to Japheth, it would make more sense for it to mean that Japheth would participate in the blessings of Shem, but that is not clear for this phrase. On the other hand it is typical to keep the same subject if a new one is not explicitly introduced, suggesting that God is the subject here (see W. Kaiser, The Messiah in the Old Testament, 44-46). In addition, the phrase שָׁכַן בּ (shakhan b…, “to dwell in/among” is often used of the Lord dwelling among Israel, in Zion, making his name dwell there, or the Tabernacle dwelling among them. Referring to the “tents” (plural) of Shem looks ahead to tents of his descendants, not to the Tabernacle, though the Tabernacle being in the middle of the camp would seem to be a realization of the statement, as would Jesus’ presence among Israel.

t. Genesis 9:27 tn In this context the prefixed verbal form is a jussive (note the distinct jussive forms both before and after this in vv. 26 and 27).

u. Genesis 9:27 tn Heb “a slave to him”; the referent (Japheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

The Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible not only lists the four more unsavory interpretations/speculations of Ham’s sin (which is what I was hoping for) but eventually indicates that the writers favor the “maternal incest” view (see note re v. 25). It considers several of the Hebrew words relevant to interpreting the crucial “seeing the nakedness of…” phrase and provides several helpful observations. However, the FISB basically ignores the mere “mocking/disrespect” view and provides no discussion of the “castration” view, which is disappointing.

As expected, the NET Full Notes Edition delves much more deeply into various Hebrew words (and grammar) used in this passage. Interestingly, while the possibility of sexual perversions is discussed, the writers believe that the grammatical evidence leans toward there being no inappropriate sexual acts committed by Ham. (Again, the castration option is unfortunately not addressed.) The NET also provides helpful points regarding the curse on Canaan — e.g., its foreshadowing of the moral shortcomings of his descendants — and addresses an issue I had wondered about regarding the meaning of Japheth’s descendants living in the tents of Shem.

These two study Bibles provided more relevant information, and thus were more helpful, than either of the two we looked at in part 1. But, they were each still deficient in at least a couple areas. Still, I very much appreciated all four contributions.

That’s another weird passage examined! Is your head swimming with disturbing images and strange words like “Hitpael” and “jussive”? Good. Mine, too. But, I definitely have a better understanding of the issues and relative strengths of the different interpretations, and I hope you do, as well.

Tags: Curse of Canaan, difficult Bible passages, disrespect, drunk and naked Noah, Genesis 9, Ham, NET Full Notes Edition, NIV Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible, possible sexual perversion, sin of Ham

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