Word of Encouragement (01/06/2022)
When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers” (Gen. 9:24-25).
This curse was used by some in the past to justify the enslavement of black people. People no longer hold that view, I hope. But do you know why? Today, we will see why that view is wrong by observing who this curse was intended for and what its redemptive-historical significance is.
You know what prompted Noah to pronounce this curse. After the flood, Noah and his three sons and their wives settled down in the land and Noah became “a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard” (9:20). He drank the wine he made, got drunk, and fell asleep naked in his tent. Ham came into the tent, saw his father fast asleep in his drunken stupor, and told his brothers about it. Upon hearing this, Shem and Japheth went into Noah’s tent and covered him with a garment, all the while looking backward so as not to see their father’s nakedness. When Noah woke up and found out what happened, he uttered this prophetic curse.
We know that this curse was not uttered in a drunken rage. By that time, Noah slept off his drunkenness. It was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that he pronounced this curse. We know this because it was fulfilled (as we will soon see) as well as accompanied by his prayer of blessing on Shem and Japheth (which also came true). We must view this incident in light of the enmity God established between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Even as this enmity existed within the household of Adam and Eve (i.e., between Cain and Abel first and then between Cain and Seth), it exists here in Gen. 9 as it will show up again within the household of Abraham (between Ishmael and Isaac) and of Isaac (between Esau and Jacob). The term, “servant,” which is mentioned for the first time here, highlights this enmity. Their brotherhood would be broken, and Canaan would be a servant. In the ancient days, the primary way servants/slaves were acquired was through war.
Notice who the actual recipient of this curse was—not Ham but Canaan: “Cursed be Canaan....” If you read the second half of Gen. 9 (vv. 18ff), you will see that Ham is introduced as “the father of Canaan” (vv. 18, 22). But Ham had other sons, too: Cush, Egypt, and Put (Gen. 10:6). Yet, in the second half of Gen. 9, Ham is identified only as the father of Canaan, and only Canaan is cursed. Why should Canaan be cursed when Ham was the one, who committed this offense? The reason is not that of causality (i.e., Canaan was unfairly cursed for the sin of Ham). Rather, it is that of likeness between Ham and Canaan. Ham and Canaan shared the same kind, or degree, of wickedness. After all, Ham had three other sons but only Canaan was cursed!
So then, this curse applied quite specifically to the Canaanites, not the black people in general. And this curse was not primarily about physical slavery (even though many Canaanites were subjected to labor for a time during Israel’s tenure in the land of Canaan); it was about the destruction of the Canaanites at the hand of Israel as part of the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (which continues even now, not through ethnic division but the spiritual division between the city of God and the city of man). This curse will be fulfilled on Judgment Day when all those who oppose Christ and His gospel will be defeated and thrust into hell forever.
Today, we see the importance of understanding the Bible rightly. When we misunderstand it, problems are bound to arise, both small and big. In order to understand the Bible properly, we must stand under its authority and ask, “What does the Bible really say?” instead of projecting on to it what we want it to say. May the Lord give us the desire to grow deeper in our understanding of His Word and the will to follow through!