After being cooped up in a boat for weeks while God was drowning every man, woman, and child on earth, Noah and his clan finally beached and the party started.
And what a party! God told Noah’s clan to be fruitful and multiply and they wasted no time getting the begatting going.
Noah however was the mother of all partiers and eventually passed out from partying too hard.
Later something very curious happens:
(Gen 9:24-25 NRSV) When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers.”
What did his son do? Noah wakes up and he immediately knows what his son had done to him, and tells his son that because of what he had done to him, his son will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers. This not only affects him, but all of his descendants.
What did his son do? What did he do??
Well… here it goes… hang on to your seats. Are you ready?
His son… his son… saw him… he… he… saw him…… naked. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Wait a minute. Is that it? Just that?? A son saw his dad disrobed?
Something funny’s going on there. That seems to be awfully tough punishment for a son just peeking at his dad’s ding-a-ling?
Could it be that there was really originally more than just peeking going on?
Non-apologetic scholars think that much of the Bible, especially early on, is heavily edited. There also appear to be stories that have been at least somewhat borrowed from other or earlier cultures. The flood story itself has many similar features to an earlier flood epic from the region that was called “Gilgamesh.” Some think that the drunken Noah story might have originally been closer to a story where the youngest son is trying to prevent the Father from having intercourse with his mother.
How does a son make sure his father doesn’t have intercourse? Let’s see if we can put this together. Has something to do with Noah’s Hoo-haa. Its probably some action that caused Noah to wake up and immediately know what was done to him. Also its probably something that would make a man very very very angry.
Well, in Greek mythology Cronus castrates his father Uranus to prevent him from copulating with his mother (Gia). No one’s saying that this particular story was borrowed by the Bible, but just that it represents a mythological theme and mythological themes tend to repeat themselves in the mythology of different cultures.
This Bible story where Noah’s son sees him naked may have been a castration event which was later toned down by an editor to the ridiculous story that it is now.
When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him… he squeeled in a voice that was not unlike his own mother’s… Cursed… *clears throat*…. Cursed be… … … *ah forget it*…”
Yes, Noah probably had to reach for a chisel and a stone tablet at that point.
Wasn’t Noahs son ham banished and sent into the widlerness and made to breed with the animals. His offspring were made black and this was a justification for enslaving blacks as they were less than human. I’m glad he wasn’t my dad.
This is interesting that the Epic of Gilgamesh says the Noah figure was castrated, for Jewish tradition has held for thousands of years, that not only was Noah castrated by Ham, but was also sodomized by him. The Jewish scholars did not have access to the Epic of Gilgamesh, so this knowledge must have been an oral tradition.
Brian,
I must disagree with your final sentence, as Jewish scholars certainly had access to the Epic of Gilgamesh (and many other Sumerian/Assyrian stories) during their captivity in Babylon. It was during this time that most of the Old Testament was compiled.
T
maybe ham broke his nose… it’s just as likely as your stories
I think that the fact that there was prior mythology that has a son castrating his father makes castration more likely.
As I mentioned, mythology tends to repeat itself in themes. It is thought that these themes may come from archetypes from our subconscious.
It is thought that having Ham castrate Noah (as the text might have originally said) would keep Noah from having more sons and preserve Ham’s inheritance, hence Ham’s motivatation to have done “what he had done to him” and Noah’s motivation for cursing Ham so severely.
At least we apparently agree that Noah didn’t curse Ham for something as ridiculous as simply seeing him naked as the Bible now says?
Hello. I think you guys might be missing the point and then answering the question. The problem wasn’t that Ham saw his father naked, or at least it wasn’t simply that. The sin was that Ham looked on the sin of his father and scoffed at it, making it public knowledge, and thus shaming his father. You might still think this a light matter, but I am sure you can imagine the prevelency of honor in times past and especially that of the father. It would be like exposing someone’s mistakes and laughing at them. This might seem small to you, but it is sin none the less. Although, to look at the words that follow from Noah as just a curse instead of a prophecy is a mistake. Whether or not you believe the Bible, you have to interpret it the way it works. The Bible claims there is a Holy Spirit that works through people and this is an instance of that happening. The fact that Ham himself isn’t the one cursed could speak of the trait that was wrong in him also being present in his son. It was more of a prediction of what would happen thus making it also a warning.
Sorry, but as far as the current form of this story goes, Noah’s son Ham saw Noah naked. That is what they are talking about as far as “what he had done to him.” That’s why in this current form of this myth Ham’s brothers were careful to *not look at Noah’s nakedness* while they were covering him up. That’s why Ham’s brothers weren’t cursed to be slaves and Ham’s son was.
As far as “public humiliation,” there was none because there was no public. Only Noah and his family existed, again according to the creator of this myth. Not much of a chance of keeping the growing of vineyards and consumption of wine a secret from family members. In any case, it’s just as ridiculous a point as seeing someone naked as far as suggesting that someone would curse their grandson into slavery over such a thing.
He sodomised his Dad. Sick freak. At least thats what I heard.