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NASB | Genesis 9:25 So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 9:25 So he said, "Cursed be Canaan [the son of Ham]; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers." [Deut 27:16] |
Subject: I understand that but why did Noah curse |
Bible Note: Thanks for the response. Right about Canaan not being born yet… sorry. It actually is immaterial, though… whether Noah saw rebellion in him during or after the ark. I shouldn’t have jumped to the conclusion. So I checked out some commentary at http://www.ldolphin.org/canaan.html The author claims that Ham took sensual pleasure in seeing his father naked. Noah sensed this weakness in Ham but did not want to incriminate himself (for his drunkenness and nakedness) by cursing Ham directly. Noah sensed a more sever weakness in Canaan, so he cursed him to bear sow the continued fruits of this generational sin of sexual immorality. The site goes on to explain the immorality of the Canaanites through history, etc. Interesting that God chose that land (probably before any Canaanite ever stepped there, though) as the place His people would dwell, and His people were ordered to kill all of them because of their idolatry. God said that they had to kill them, otherwise they would be drawn away to worship their gods. This area of sin seems to be one of the most enticing for people still today. Another good point from the site, speaking to the idea of the curse to the 3rd and 4th generation (much more eloquently than I): “The curse on Canaan is the most difficult to understand because, as we suggested in an earlier question, it is hard to see why he should be cursed rather than his father, who actually did the wrong. But we note the following. First, it is a biblical principle (whether liked by us or not) that the sins of the fathers are visited on the children even to the third and fourth generations (Exod. 20:5). Second, the punishment, though inflicted on Canaan, was appropriate to Ham since he reaped exactly as he had sown. He sinned as a son and was punished in his son. Third, the assigning of the punishment to Canaan may have been (as is so often the case in God's judgments) a function of the mercy of God, who could have cursed Ham and all his descendants but instead restricted the punishment to only this fourth part, Canaan being only one of Ham's four sons. Whatever the reasoning may be, the judgment is nevertheless pronounced: "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers" (v. 25).” For another interesting interpretation, check out this site: http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.showResource/CT/BQA/k/119 It claims that it's actually Canaan that saw Noah naked. I don't really agree w/ that... but it doesn't mean I'm not wrong. Hope this all helps in your search. GB |