The entire story unfolds this way.
It doesn’t have to be true. But it’s fun!
From the Wikipedia article on the word/name “Eber:”
The 13th-century Muslim historian Abu al-Fida relates a story noting that the patriarch Eber, the great-grandson of Shem, refused to help with the building of the Tower of Babel. As a result, his language was not confused when the tower was abandoned. He and his family alone retained the original Adamic language, which he identified as Hebrew, a language named after ʿEber.
Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.
Later the Canaanite clans scattered and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.
Genesis 10:15-19 (NIV)
Any reader with even the tiniest exposure to Bible stories should read these names and say, “oooh.”
God seems to execute on the curse by wiping these people out later in the story.
What does it mean to curse? It seems like the generations that Noah cursed become a threat to his favorite and blessed son Shem.
Perhaps those we curse become a curse to us.
When something is repeated in scripture, it might be because you are supposed to pay attention to it. Underline it. Highlight it.
I wondered why the text uses this word אֲחֹרַנִּית (ahoraneeth) twice in the same sentence. Backwards, or Reverse.
But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were [a]turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
Genesis 9:23 (NASB)
[a] Lit backward
If you’ve followed along, you know that I have to chase these words down and try to find meaning in them and their usage in the text. Sometimes, this results in dead ends, but often it’s quite enlightening.
But sometimes, it gets very interesting…
One learning is that Genesis is full of spiritual versions of words that later are demonstrated in physical words.
Examples:
Good is the spiritual root of beautiful
Shame is the spiritual root of naked/uncovered
So we’re supposed to view them in a related way. This is the nature of parables.
The Genesis Ark is covered inside and out in “pitch,” and we later learn that this word is the same word used for “atonement.” In Exodus, when Moses is in the basket (same word: Ark), it’s also covered in “pitch,” but it’s the natural version of this word. But it’s linked.
And then there is the relationship between the Genesis Ark (“tayVah”) and the Exodus Ark (“ahRon”) of the Covenant. Same concept… except different words are used. One covered in pitch/atonement, the other covered in gold/purity. Sort of like our house vs God’s house? Maybe.
So anyhow, this word “backwards” appears here in Genesis 9, and the next time we see it is in 1 Samuel 4.
Samuel learns that his two wicked sons have died and that the Ark of the Covenant has been taken. In his shock, he falls backwards and dies.
Then the one who brought the news replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great defeat among the people, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas are also dead; and the ark of God has been taken.” When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. And so he judged Israel for forty years.
1 Samuel 4:17-18 (NASB)
Isn’t that interesting?
Eli has two wicked sons who die, and Noah has two good sons who are blessed. The Ark was taken away instead of God’s people exiting it. Eli falls backwards, breaks his neck, and is forever shamed in the text for being fat vs. the two good sons walking in backwards to protect Noah’s dignity to prevent further shame. These stories seem so connected.
Kind of weird, right? But stranger yet, we later have three back to back instances in Scripture that point to another set of “backwards.”
It’s when Elijah demonstrates the power of God to Hezekiah. He appears to reverse the clock, and then set it forward again by 10-degrees.
So Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but have the shadow turn backward ten steps.”
2 Kings 20:10 (NASB)Then Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
2 Kings 20:11 (NASB)Behold, I will make the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
Isaiah 38:8 (NASB)
Incidentally, ten degrees by the sun-dial equates to… 40 minutes. And we’ve already learned that 40 = testing or trials. It represents a time of testing.
So here’s an interpretation:
Noah cursed Canaan instead of forgiving him. He thinks he has good reason for this: he wants vengeance.
We can choose vengeance (Noah’s way) or forgiveness (God’s way). There’s time to consider it – a time of testing where God makes the clock stand still. Through our forgiveness or acting out in wrath, we move the sun. We either move forward or backward. We create or destroy.
That’s what forgiveness and wrath do: they create and they destroy. They move creation forward or they undo it and send it back into chaos.
Perhaps we’re meant to see this and understand that time is connected to all of this. God is telling us how to move through time rightly.
The last, and possibly most important instance of “backwards” is in the center of the listings, in 1 Kings 18. This is when Elijah faces off against the prophets of Ba’al, when he calls down fire from heaven.
He prays that God turns the clock of hearts… “backwards.” Back to Him.
Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that You, Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back.
—
And here’s another thought:
Based on these connections, I suspect Noah did not merely curse Canaan. He pummeled him with his fists.
Why?
Because Eli’s sons names are as follows:
Phinehas: – root meaning: mouth. This points to the curse from Noah’s mouth.
Hophni – root meaning: fist. This points to the physical beating from Noah’s hands.
Their deaths points to undoing all of Noah’s vengeance as God turns the clock back.
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.
Immediately after God blesses Noah and his sons in Genesis 9, we are given this strange and dark change: the animals of the world will view humanity with FEAR and DREAD.
In the Midrash, the rabbis note the change from Genesis 1, where humanity was blessed, told to be fruitful & increase and fill the earth, but were specifically given the authority/dominion over the animals. To RULE over them.
This authority to RULE appears to have been lost.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:28 (NIV)
This word “rule” (רָדָה, “radah”) is used a few more times in the Scriptures, but it isn’t shown to be restored or given back to humanity until Numbers 24, in the oddest way. It’s from Balaam, when he tries to CURSE Israel, and God turns the curse into a blessing:
“I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of all the people of Sheth.
Edom will be conquered;
Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
but Israel will grow strong.
A ruler will come out of Jacob
and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Numbers 24:17-19 (NIV)
The Christian sees Jesus in this, whereas some Jews point to King David or future Messiah.
In the Messiah interpretation, it points to a future when God’s own hand empowers a star to rise from Jacob’s bloodline with the scepter of authority. To rule RIGHTLY.
This Ruler will not rule creation with FEAR and DREAD the way humanity will wield it, as expressed in Genesis 9. The Ruler will rule creation the way God intended in Genesis 1.
Of course, someone will note that the Balaam prophecy looks a lot like “FEAR” and “DREAD” for the enemies of God’s people.
Yes. But the “enemies of God’s people” are spiritual things, not nations or tribes or people. This is a parable.
When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers.”
Genesis 9:24-25 (NIV)
Why did Noah’s curse in Genesis 9:25 fall on Canaan and not on Ham?
Perhaps Ham might not be able to be cursed, because he was already blessed in Genesis 9:1.
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.”
Genesis 9:1 (NIV)
No curse can fall on him because the Lord had already blessed him, and Noah’s curse cannot be greater than God’s blessing.
Here are the clues:
Noah had three sons, and could not have four.
Ham had four sons (Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan); Noah curses Canaan, who is the fourth one.
And there is one more clue.
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)
The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.
The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur.
And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Genesis 2:10-14 (NIV)
A quick glance at Genesis 2 lists four rivers. I broke down the verses by river, and you see a clearly descending order of detail, with the Pishon given a lot of page-space, and the Euphrates barely being described at all.
Ironically, we have no clue where the Pishon or the Gihon are. They don’t exist anymore. They’re never even mentioned outside these verses listed, or outside the Bible. But we know the Tigris and the Euphrates.
You might think the Genesis writers were like, “Oh, everybody knows the Tigris and Euphrates, so we don’t need to describe them much,” but that would mean you haven’t been paying attention. That’s not how how the writers organized the words.
There are allegories here.
Rabbi Fohrman wrote that the Genesis 2 account of rivers is a prophetic cutting-off of what should have been. God told Noah to be fruitful and multiply: to have a fourth river, but Ham’s action (whatever it may have been) made it impossible.
The river is named, but it goes nowhere, like a child you’ve named in the womb, or a child you dreams of having.
Noah’s action of cursing Ham, in this view, is retaliation: you cut me off, so I’m cutting you off in the same way; your fourth for my fourth. Your river for my river.
Maybe Noah even named this fourth planned son, but the plan goes nowhere.
So maybe Noah stopped trusting God at this point.
When Adam and Eve were told to be fruitful and multiply, the consequence of eating the fruit was death, which created the first “oh no! How will God fulfill his blessing of *be fruitful and multiply* if humanity dies?”
God’s solution: Adam names his wife Eve, which means LIFE. The antidote to death.
When Eve thought that Cain was God’s promise, only to have Cain kill Abel, this was the second “on no! How will God fulfill his blessing? There are no more sons!”
God’s solution: Seth is born. God appointed Seth as the conduit to bring His promises into humanity.
When God sees the whole world is corrupt and will wipe it all out in a flood, the reader experiences the third “oh no!”
God’s solution: He preserved Noah and his family, even though the sons were not “good” according to the story. They were corrupt like the world.
So Noah is accustomed to this. When God tells him directly to be fruitful and multiply (to replace his corrupt sons?), whatever Ham does creates the next “oh no!”
Rather than wait for God to provide a solution, Noah unleashes a curse into his own family line.
So what will God do now?
God’s solution: I will use Shem, broken or not, and I will bring the fulfillment of my promise through him. I will maintain the goodness of my Name through him.
And “Shem” means “name.”
The story of Scripture is about God fulfilling His promise, no matter what happens, whether it’s our own disobedience, or the disobedience of our children, or of the whole corrupt world.
God will not be stopped from fulfilling His promises.
1. You can forgive them and teach them how to live rightly.
2. You can harm them, exacting vengeance on them so they experience your pain.
Which do you choose?
This is a story of Noah.
Here is the setup:
There are Four Characters
There is Deception
There is Nakedness
There is Shame
There is a telling (Who told you that you were naked?)
There is Curse and Covering / Covering and Curse
Genesis 3 and Genesis 9 include these same elements in almost the exact same order
In Genesis 3 we have FOUR CHARACTERS: God, Adam, Eve & the serpent. There is DECEPTION, causing disobedience which leads to seeing their NAKEDNESS. They are ASHAMED. There is a (TELLING OF NAKEDNESS: who told you?). God CURSES the serpent & the ground, and then COVERS Adam & Eve.
In Genesis 9, we have FOUR CHARACTERS: Noah, Shem, Japheth & Ham. There is DECEPTION (Proverbs 20:1 links deception to wine) which leads to seeing Noah’s NAKEDNESS. He is SHAMED by his son Ham to his brothers as there is a (TELLING OF NAKEDNESS). The brothers COVER Noah, and then Noah CURSES Ham’s son.
Rabbi Marty Solomon, quoting Rabbi Fohrman sees a clear link here. He suggests Noah was familiar with the story of Genesis 3, and he could have learned the lesson: God cursed a wicked thing and forgave the ones who disobeyed.
Instead, Noah curses the one who shamed him, even after the brothers cover him.
In this view, Noah is even reminded about the covering by his sons before he launches into vengeance. He had every opportunity to stop and remember God’s handling of Adam and Eve. He could have forgiven them and covered their shame.
But he choses violence instead.
I’m tempted to fault Noah here, but given the power to forgive, taking the pain on myself or the chance to exact vengeance where I can inflict my pain back on them (7-times? 77-times?), how often do I fail to forgive?
This is a story about all of us. And here, we are shown the consequence of what happens when we fail to forgive.
By cursing Canaan, an entire people are subjected and enslaved. This curse is so great that Israel’s suffering is largely because of the generations of Canaan that live in the Promised Land.
Perhaps generational curses are the result of unforgiveness.
Perhaps forgiveness changes the world.
There’s a break in the pattern with Noah, and it is profound.
In Genesis 5, we have this repeating pattern in the genealogy. A person was born, they had a son, then they had other sons and daughters, and then they died. Over and over again, from Adam to Lamech.
But not so with Noah.
You might first think, “Well, of course not with Noah. Noah is still alive by the end of Genesis 5,” and you’d be right. He is.
But jump to the end of Genesis 9, and what do you see?
After the flood Noah lived 350 years. Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
Genesis 9:28-29 (NIV)
Where is the “and had other sons and daughters?” It’s missing.
Remember – the pattern (and deviations from it) IS the story. And in the case of children, it is explicitly tied to the blessing of “be fruitful and multiply” in Genesis 9:7.
But Noah is not fruitful. He does not multiply. This is meant to catch your attention.
The rabbis wondered about this. In the Midrash, one teaching suggests Ham’s sin wasn’t about “shaming dad’s nakedness,” but rather was about castration. In doing this, he prevented Noah from having more children. So Noah retaliates against Ham’s child.
Another view points to Leviticus, where the phrase “your father’s nakedness” comes into view, and it’s associated with sleeping with your father’s wife, although this is generally about a second wife, and not one’s own mother. But maybe Ham is Oedipus?
The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness.
Leviticus 18:8 (NKJV)
I have another view.
When Noah is reintroduced in Genesis 9:21, we are told he is a “man of the soil.” Literally, Noah is “ish ha’adamah.”
Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
Genesis 9:20 (NIV)
This word “ish” does mean “man,” but when we first saw this word, it was in Genesis 2, when man met his wife: Ish and Isha. Husband and Wife.
Perhaps Noah fell in love with the ground. Perhaps he first loved the Creator, and then turned and loved the created thing, and devoted all of his time to it, neglecting God and his own wife.
How much dedication does it take to tend a vineyard so you can get drunk from it?
In any event, this is my view. In Jewish studies, this is called “drash,” and it’s only as true as it holds up to other clear teachings/truths in the Torah.
From this drash, I see: love God, love your neighbor. Don’t love the earth or the things in it above people and God.
But the rabbis point out four things about Noah. Narratively, Noah introduces the following to humanity:
1. Planting – he plants a vineyard.
2. Drunkenness – he shames himself with wine.
3. Curses – he curses his grandson.
4. Slavery – he condemns his grandson’s house to slavery.
We tend to leave out the Genesis 9 parts of Noah’s life when we teach Sunday School to little children, but there they are in glaring detail.
There’s obviously nothing wrong with planting, but Noah’s other 3 actions seem quite disastrous.
From Genesis 5 to 8, we see a man who obeys God; his heart appears inclined towards God.
But in Genesis 9, we have a different picture. I can’t help but see an angry, bitter man who yells at his grandchildren, drowning himself in wine to cope with the tragedy of the flood.
It’s a tragic end. But God uses him.