Cursed by Canaan


Genesis 9:24–27 (ESV) When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”

After the flood, Noah sins. He plants a vineyard, has too much wine, gets drunk and naked, then passes out in his tent. IN HIS TENT.

Ham, his youngest son comes in the tent and sees his father's nakedness and reports it to his older brothers who back into the tent with a covering for their father. Some have tried to say the words could mean Ham sexually molested his father, but their attempt fail on bad exegesis. The reason people try to make Ham's sin more than what it was is because they cannot understand why Ham's descendant Canaan should be curse for what they perceive to be a small infraction.

But I would suggest the reason we perceive Ham's sin so lightly is because we have such little regard for the honor of our fathers and mothers. One of God's major commandments will call upon God's people to regard their parents with HONOR! The law will call for the execution children who rebel and blatantly disrespect their parents.

Exodus 21:15 (ESV) “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

 This commandment is reinforced by Jesus' own actions as God's Son yet submissive to Earthly parents and the writings of the Apostles in the Epistles.
Colossians 3:20 (ESV) Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Whatever your take is on these passages, one thing is for sure: According to the Bible: God is pro-parental honor.

Genesis is written by Moses for the people of Israel about to enter Canaan. They are wicked nations well known for their immorality.
Deuteronomy 9:4 (ESV) “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. 

I would suggest the reason they had become so wicked and worthy of international judgement at the hand of Israel was because of their disrespect for parents. In the last days, one of the hallmarks of man's evil will be the disobedience of parents:

2 Timothy 3:1–2 (ESV) But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

Instead of honoring his father, Ham took the chance to make a mockery of him. And while what Noah did was wrong in the sight of the Lord, the parental dishonor of Ham was even worse.

 We must remember that God is to be known as our Father (Matthew 6:9; Romans 8:15). Honoring our parents is a direct reflection of honoring God. A generation of disrespect for elders has never rightly prospered.

May our Father help our generation recapture these truths.

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