Genesis 9:25-27

This oracle, the first time Moses recorded a human uttering a curse, is a prophecy announcing divine judgment on Canaan’s descendants for their sin that had its seed in Ham’s act. Noah, as a prophet, announced the future of this grandson’s descendants (cf. Genesis 49; Deuteronomy 33; et al.).

"For his breach of the family, his [Ham’s] own family would falter." [Note: Kidner, p. 104.]

The Canaanites became known for their shameless depravity in sexual matters. [Note: See Charles Pfeiffer, Ras Shamra and the Bible.] When Joshua invaded their land he proved to be God’s instrument of punishment for the Canaanites.

"With the defeat of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar in 572 B.C. the Canaanites/Phoenicians ceased to be of importance in biblical history." [Note: The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia, 1975 ed., s.v. "Canaan, Canaanite," by A. K. Helmbold, 1:297. See also The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Canaan, Canaanites," by Kenneth A. Kitchen; and Unger’s Bible Dictionary, 1957 ed., s.v. "Canaan, Canaanites," by Merrill F. Unger.]

There is no basis for the popular notion that this oracle doomed the Hamites, who were mainly Africans, to a position of inferiority or slavery among the other peoples of the world. Canaan and his branch of the family are the subject of this prophecy, not Ham and all his descendants.

"There are no grounds in our passage for an ethnic reading of the ’curse’ as some have done, supposing that some peoples are inferior to others. Here Genesis looks only to the social and religious life of Israel’s ancient rival Canaan, whose immorality defiled their land and threatened Israel’s religious fidelity (cf. Leviticus 18:28; Joshua 23). It was not an issue of ethnicity but of the wicked practices that characterized Canaanite culture." [Note: Mathews, p. 423. See also Charles C. Ryrie, You Mean the Bible Teaches That . . ., p. 60; Thomas Figart, A Biblical Perspective on the Race Problem, p. 55; and O. Palmer Robertson, "Current Critical Questions Concerning the ’Curse of Ham’ (Genesis 9:20-27)," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41:2 (June 1998):177-88.]

The general lesson of the passage is that God blesses those who behave righteously but curses those who abandon moral restraint.

"Instructively, the first three heroes of faith listed in Hebrews are from Genesis 4-6 : Abel, Enoch, and Noah. All believed God, but their destinies were significantly different. Abel believed God and died. Enoch believed God and did not die. Noah believed God, and everyone else died in the Flood; eventually he died a natural death at the good old age of 950 years. We cannot dictate where faith will lead. The human tendency is to see only Enoch as the example of faith, but Abel is also given as our example. What all three have in common is that they walked by faith and pleased God. That faith is an example to us." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 155.]