Week 4: Genesis 9:18-29

Week 4: Genesis 9:18-29

At A Glance:

Author: Moses or J

Form: Ancient Origin Story

Themes: The discovery of wine.  Dishonoring parents leads to curses.  Origin of Canaanite rivalry.  Curse of Canaan. Breakdown of the family similar to Gen 3.

Summary:  This is odd story placed at the end of the flood narrative is typically credited to the J author.  It recounts the first time wine is discovered and how Noah (unwittingly) had too much and became inebriated.  His son Ham “saw his nakedness” told his brothers about it rather than trying to cover up his father.  This brought a curse upon the descendants of Ham through Canaan that explains the rivalry and contempt that the descendants of Canaan (the Canaanites) and the Israelites.

Commentary:

9:20-21 – Taking upon the command to “till and keep” that was given to Adam 10 generations prior, Noah is called “a tiller of the soil”.  He plants the very first vineyard.  The author points out that it was the very first vineyard in order to emphasize that there was no way Noah could have known the effects of too much wine.  He consumed too much wine became drunk and fell asleep naked inside his tent. 

9:22-23 – This is the sin of Ham he “saw the nakedness of his father” and “told his two brothers outside”.  There are some scholars to interpret “seeing the nakedness” in this instance as the sin of incest because it uses laid similar language as Lv 20:17-21.  There is debate on whether this was incest with his own father, or with his mother who was presumably in the tent.  If it was incest with his mother and Canaan was the offspring of that union then the curse upon Canaan in v25-27 would make sense.  The majority of scholars, however, interpret this “seeing the nakedness” in light of v23.  In v23 Shem and Japheth avoided seeing their father’s nakedness by turning away.  It is difficult to interpret the first use of “seeing the nakedness” as incest but then interpret the next use of the term “seeing the nakedness” as simply avoiding looking at nakedness.  Since these uses are in the same context it is more likely that the sin of Ham was not incest but rather dishonoring his father.  By mentioning that Ham told his brothers about what he saw implies that not only did he see his father laying their in a disgraceful manner (presumably passed out drunk) but passed a negative judgment upon his father before his brothers.  In the ancient Near East sons were expected to protect the honor of their father by caring for him when he was drunk without negative judgment.  But why curse Canaan?  An ancient Hebrew interpretation of this text claims that Ham took Canaan with him into the tent (v 18 and 22 may imply that Ham had already fathered Canaan).  By cursing Canaan Noah ensures that the curse follows the line from Ham to Canaan and his descendants and not through the descendants of any other children Ham may have.

9:26-28 – The curses and blessings of the patriarchs are also prophetic.  In this case Noah’s curse of Ham “a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers” foreshadows the later occupation of Canaan by Israel (the descendants of Shem).  There is also a play on words in the Hebrew.  In verse 27 the word “expand” is the Hebrew word “yapt” it plays well with the Hebrew name Japheth or "yepet". 

Final Thoughts:

            This scene feels much like the scene in Genesis 3.  Immediately following the peace and reconciliation that the covenant brings to humanity there is betrayal and sin.  There are even familiar elements present in this story: we have a tiller, the mentioning of nakedness with a sense of shame included, the breakdown of the family, and a curse with echoes of one member of the family dominating over the other member of the family.  This is a pattern we seem to be unable to escape.

            Peculiarly the sin here is not the breaking of one of the conditions of the covenant.  Ham did not eat the blood of an animal nor did he kill any other human, rather he “looked” and “told”.  The covenant was not broken but there is still a sin here. 

This reminds me of the importance of what we choose to look at and what we choose to say.  Speaking from a man’s point of view (the only point of view from which I can speak) I hear men say that what we look at does not matter as long as we don’t act on what we look at.  This pericope imparts an important lesson: What we choose to look at does matter.  The wicked Ham looked, whereas the righteous Shem and Japeth “turned away”.  Jesus reminds us that looking upon a woman lustfully is the same as committing adultery with her (Mt 5:28).  I’m also tired of hearing the excuses men make for ogling women.  “If women didn’t dress so provocatively I wouldn’t be tempted to look.”  Although the way a women dresses may lead to temptation, it is our own choice to give into that temptation or not.  “The dignity of every woman is the responsibility of every man” (St. John Paul II).  I don’t pretend that it is easy to control our eyes; I contend that it is important. 

Some of us have just as hard a time controlling our tongue as we do controlling our eyes.  Here Ham uses his mouth to cast shame and dishonor on his father. 

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell.  For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no human being can tame the tongue--a restless evil, full of deadly poison. – James 3:5b-8

How we choose to talk about others while they are present and especially while they are not present tells us more about the person talking than the person being talked about. 

            Our eyes and our tongue are wild indeed.  Let us take the example of Shem and turn away our eyes and work to tame our tongue.  It is not an easy task but with the help of God’s grace in the sacraments and his grace poured out to us in times of temptation we can gain control of them.  Let us not be slaves to our eyes or slaves to our tongue.  Jesus came to set us free! 

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