Genesis 9:18-29

The Voice

¹⁸Now Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham, by the way, was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹Yes, these three, Noah’s sons, went on to populate the entire earth.

²⁰Now Noah became a farmer and decided to plant a vineyard. ²¹One day he drank too much of the wine he had made and fell into a deep, drunken sleep in his tent. As he lay there stark naked, ²²Ham (the father of Canaan) peeked in and saw his father’s exposed body. After leaving the tent, he told his two brothers what he had seen. ²³So Shem and Japheth took a large cloak and laid it across their shoulders, and they walked backward into the tent. They never looked behind, as they covered their father’s nakedness. Out of respect, they purposely kept their faces turned away, so they wouldn’t see their father lying there naked. ²⁴When Noah regained consciousness and realized what his youngest son had done, ²⁵he uttered this curse:

Noah: A curse upon your son, Canaan!
        May he become the lowest of servants to his brothers.
²⁶    May the Eternal One, the God of Shem, be blessed,
        and let Canaan be his slave!
²⁷    May God make plenty of room for Japheth’s family
        and give them homes among Shem’s tents.
        And let Canaan be his slave also!

Noah’s words are not idle words. As the story unfolds, the importance of this curse becomes clear. But as the ancients knew, and we now have forgotten, words have power. It was with a word that God created the heavens above and the earth below. Now Noah’s words create a new reality, a harsh reality for Ham and his children.

²⁸From the time the flood was over, Noah lived another 350 years. ²⁹In all, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

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