Ham [Hăm]—hot or dark, colored, swarthy. The youngest son of Noah and father of Canaan and founder of many peoples (Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 7:13; 9:18, 22; Ps. 78:51).

The Man Whose Sin Brought a Curse

In consequence of the improper conduct of Ham when Noah was drunk, the heart of his father was set against him. Without doubt, Ham’s act was the manifestation of an impure heart. Perhaps he had always been a filthy dreamer.

Because every imagination of our heart is defiled (Gen. 8:21), we are all the sons of Ham in this respect. There is none clean, no not one (Rom. 3:10, 12).

The indignation of Noah found expression in the thrice repeated curse (Gen. 9:25-27). How tragic it is that the wickedness of Ham appears to have influenced the whole of his descendants whose history is one of folly and crime. The sin of one man polluted many peoples. Ham sinned, and a curse came upon Canaan. The Hamites were condemned to be hewers of wood and drawers of water.

The Hebrew word for Ham means “hot” and is surely prophetic of the climates that have created the blackness of the skin of the Negro, and the dark complexions of other peoples from the same stock. Egypt is called “the land of Ham” (Ps. 105:23) and the Egyptian word for “Ham” is Kem, meaning black and warm. From Ham we have the Egyptians, Africans, Babylonians, Philistines and Canaanites.