MAIN TEXT: GENESIS 9:18-29
"When Noah awoke from his wine, and found out what his youngest son had done to him..." (Gen.9: 24)
What exactly did Ham do to his father? When he woke up from his drunkard state he found out what his son had done.
If you are following me right now you can read my mind where I am going with this; what did he do to him?
This doesn't sound as if Ham just saw his father naked, it alludes to something he had done to his father and for me that 'done' opens up a space for speculation.
In this article I am hoping to put context to the words, "sons must cover the nakedness of their fathers" This statement is used in defense of Pastors in scandalous situations.
In a world bleeding from gender based violence, Christians can't afford to be enablers and apologists for rape and other forms of GBV.
Is it ethical to use the case of Noah and his son Ham to protect, cover and sweep our 'father's' dirty under the carpet?
I will be very candid in addressing this matter.
The content in this article maybe a little graphic, I ask that if you are a child or weak reading this, please stop reading and pass this post. I will not be held responsible for what is about to be unleashed.
THE CURSE OF HAM; CONTEXT IS DRUNKARDNES
"Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of it's wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent" (Genesis 9: 18)
Noah, like Adam worked the soil. He planted a vineyard. This indicates that After the flood it took about three years to plant and harvest the grapes. He proceeded to make wine and he became drunk.
The first time the Bible mentions wine, the aftermath was generational curses.
The second time wine is mentioned is in the case of Lot and his two daughters.
"One day the older daughter said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as the custom all over the earth. Let's get our father drink wine and lie with him and preserve our family line through our father" (Genesis 19: 31-32)
Perhaps we need to address the context which is drunkenness.
His enjoyment of wine got him so drunk in excess. He lay in his tent naked.
Alcohol impairs judgement. We see this lived reality daily as the consequences of alcohol breaks families, increase gender based violence and it's one of the causes of accidents.
Lot's daughters knew too well that having sexual intercourse with their own father is a taboo. The only way to do it is to get him drunk.
How many of our sisters are deliberately encouraged to drink and get high on drugs in order for the cowards of men to abuse them sexually?
FIRST THINGS FIRST
"The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Sham, Ham and Jepheth (Ham was the father of Canaan)" (Gen.9:18)
The above information the narrator deliberately put here is to prepare the reader for what's coming.
There is a deliberate intent to plant the name Cannan in the readers brains so that in the unfolding drama when we stumble upon the name Cannan, our biases and prejudices will kick in so that we don't feel empathy for the pain, cruelty, and deaths of Cannanites.
We are pre-conditioned to hate Cannan, but Israel we love.
After the flood all the people in the World are wiped out of the face of the earth except Noah and his family.
Sham, Ham and Jepheth are the three sons who will have the task of populating the earth once again.
These three sons are the kingdoms to be, and Ham's offspring (Cannan) will become the nation that Israel will have to conquer.
"Ham is the father of Cannan", this line is deliberately put there to suggest the reason why Canaanites would be conquered in future.
Only one of Noah's grandchildren Cannan is mentioned. Why Cannan?
"When he drunk some of it's wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Cannan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside" (Gen.9: 21-22)
What is happening here? Noah obviously so drunk that he lay naked in his tent. We know that under the influence of alcohol sometimes people act shamefully and also can put themselves in vulnerable situations.
More so women who drink themselves into unconsciousness risk being violated sexually in that state of drunkardness, not that they invite it on themselves.
In answering the question; what did Shem do to his naked father?
We will move into the space of speculation, and these speculation are valid because the text;
"...and found out what his youngest son had done to him". Could there be more going on than meets the eye?
Culturally children seeing the nakedness of their fathers or elders male or female was considered a taboo. He saw the sexual life of his father.
But does the accidental glimpse of the nakedness of elderly people justify the curse on Ham's son Cannan and the nation of Canaanites?
The use of the euphemism "to uncover a man's nakedness" actually suggests sexual intercourse.
The same euphemism used in describing what Ruth did to Boaz.
"When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down"
(Ruth 3: 7)
By definition euphemism is a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant.
For example it's common today to describe the toilet business as number one, for peeing and two for you know what I mean 🙈🙈🙈.
I know that a man wants to pee if he says, I am going to wash my feet.
However, a person who doesn't understand my culture might take that literally.
And scripture especially Hebrew has some of these jokes and sayings that the modern reader of scripture might not fully understand if culture, language and background information is not available.
Getting back "to uncover a man's nakedness" might actually mean sexual intercourse.
"You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Cannan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes" (Leviticus 18: 3)
Notice how Leviticus portrays the land of Cannan. Warning the Isralites not to do what the Cannanites do?
What exactly does Cannanites do?
"None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you should not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness...." (Leviticus 18:1-30)
It's clear from these scriptures that years later after Noah cursing Ham's son Canaan, the Cannanites were uncovering the nakedness of their blood relatives. It's a nation born of incestuous relationships.
It's because of this euphemism "uncover nakedness" which means having sexual intercourse that has raised questions that suggests that Ham did more than seeing his father naked.
Below are the plausible and scandalous things that Ham did to his father to produce such anger as to curse his offspring;
1. That Ham took advantage of his father's drunkardness and nakedness as to have sodomized his father.
2. That upon seeing his father's private parts, he castrated him.
3. The third possibility based on the euphemism "to uncover a man's nakedness" is that Noah who initially removed his clothes so as to have sex with his wife in the privacy of his tent, was so drunk that he slept and Ham took advantage of the situation and had sexual intercourse with his mother.
While others might actually suggest in his drunkardnes Noah impaired by alcohol participated in a three-some sexual orgies; father, son and mother.
It's in that sense as Leviticus 18 puts it that by having sex with your father's wife, you are uncovering the nakedness of your father.
It could then explain why he was so upset as to pronounce curses on Cannan. It is further suspected that Cannan was born out of the incestuous relationship of Ham and his father's wife.
I am not at this point persuading you to accept these speculations. In the absence of a more compiling evidence these remain speculations gleaned from the "uncover nakedness" euphemism which means having sexual intercourse.
REMEDY TO NAKEDNESS
Nakedness speaks of shame, and shame comes as a result of sin. You know those nights when you dream that you are at a function in public but you are naked.
As traumatic as that kind of dream is; it speaks of shame.
Adam and Eve put that shame on themselves, but blamed the serpent for it.
Noah by excessive drinking put that shame on himself. However, I would like to defend Noah on this one. Noah is a righteous man as scripture puts it.
Yes he was drunk, but he resigned peacefully in his tent.
The tent was a private space where a man can completely be naked and have privacy with his wife.
Why would you feel shame for being naked in your bedroom?
And often the children who don't knock open up into the private chambers of their parents and unfortunately some children have seen parents in the deed.
What exactly did Ham come to do in his father's tent?
Ham made the all issue worse by going public about it to his brothers.
"But Shem and Jepheth took a garment and layed it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness"
The response of these two brothers in covering their father's nakedness without looking upon him clearly shows how culture operates.
Children are taught to protect the weakness and even sins of their fathers. This is true of African parents who will never tolerate a rebuke from their children.
IS THIS A CURSE ON BLACK PEOPLE?
"Cursed be Cannan the lowest of slaves will be to his brothers" (Gen.9:25)
For some reason the curse is not pronounced on Ham who sinned but the father. The best way to look at this case is that it was curses on the nation of Cannan the lowest of slaves.
Those who are proponents of a black curse being a curse build their theology of the chosen and rejected from this passage.
That black people therefore are an inferior cursed race reduced to be the lowest of slaves.
Christians worshiped God while keeping black people in chains in the backyard without any form of guilty or condemnation because to them scripture is on their side.
Both Jews, Christians and Muslims have used this in justifying black race being a cursed people.
Four hundred years of slavery, and even now blacks are considered less human.
Black people have been fed religion so much that we believe the sons of slave masters than the sons of the former slaves.
I cannot understand how a black person will pretend they haven't seen the shooting of Jacob Blark who was shot seven times at a close range in the presence of his children the youngest being five.
Black lives clear don't matter. We are treated with different set of rules. It is this theology of the chosen that causes blacks to ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people chosing to side with Israel.
We are indifferent to the suffering of the people who don't agree with us. Our empathy is conditional.
MY REFLECTIONS
1. Nakedness speaks of shame, and shame comes as a result of sin.
I watch with pain in my heart as 'Spiritual fathers' forsaking the word of God have turned rogue indulging in all kinds of nakedness.
They commit adultery without shame, and force themselves on those who refuse to accept their sexual advances.
I ask the question how do you cover the nakedness of your spiritual father who is deeply arrogant with no sign of remorse?
How do you as a father live a reckless life of sin, and expect your children to be cleaning up your mess?
While sins sexual or other can be dealt with inside the house, rape and gender based violence is a crime in our constitution which has to be reported to relevant authorities.
Supporting a rapist because he stands in the pulpit is to resign our sisters, mothers and daughters to be helpless victims of rape perpetually.
Fathers even when in high spirits after drinking alcohol should not lose their minds as to fail to zip up.
Fathers should help their children than reducing themselves to have their immoral lives paraded in public space.
2. If your father is caught up in scandal, while you wanna believe your father you might want to know that perpetrators of crime look like your father.
Loving, kind, hospitable, friendly and generous, these are the descriptions of men convicted of high crimes in our courts.
The fact that your father never sexually violated you doesn't mean he never violated other sisters.
3. The Church should be a safe place. We should not ignore GBV issues calling them feminism.
Until we the Church not only have a strong stand against gender based violence, but to demonstrate it by publicly believing the victim first.
That should be our departure when a woman says the Pastor raped her, believe her and tell her we believe you.
Instead of calling her the devil's tool to destroy the man of God and the Church. The men of God are destroying themselves and giving the name of christianity a bad rap.
4. Finally; the best thing to do when you don't believe your spiritual father did it is by saying nothing.
"I stand with my spiritual father" is about creating a narrative that silences victims.
Allow God to vindicate him.
#Note: I again call for a counter-argument on this matter as my articles are not engraved on the tablets of stone.
Lawrence Musunte
lmusunte@gmail.com
+27845517018
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