Did you know that: There is nothing like the “curse of Ham”
Ham was never cursed in the Bible. Ham can never have been cursed. Noah does not have the authority or power to curse Ham. Why? The Bible says
“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth (Gen 9:1).
Noah knew he could not curse Ham because God had, according to Genesis 9.1, already blessed Ham. Whoever God has blessed is blessed indeed. No man can reverse it.
Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it (Num 23:20).
For this reason, the fact that God had already blessed Ham (Gen 9.1), Noah cursed Ham’s son Canaan for his bad behaviour in Genesis 9.22.
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without (Gen 9:22).
In the scripture above Canaan was introduced to the bible reader as the son of Ham before Noah pronounced his famous curse which is erroneously called the “curse of Ham”. Three verses after this introduction, in verses 25 and 26 of the same chapter Noah pronounces his curse-
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant (Gen 9:25-26).
Hence, the curse, punishment for Ham’s bad behaviour was pronounced on Canaan, one of Ham’s four sons because God had blessed Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japhet when they came out of the Ark (Gen 9.1) and no man can reverse God’s blessing. Noah cursed Canaan, Ham’s son instead (Gen 9:25-26).
The sons of Noah were apportioned distinctive portions of land, divided into tribes, nations and had their languages. It is instructive to note that the cursed son of Ham, Canaan, had his eleven descendants- Sidon, Heth, Jebusite, Amorite, Girgasite, Hivite, Arkite, Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite, Hamathite (Gen 10.15-18) apportioned as individual nations into the territory known as Canaan (Gen 10.19). They were also referred to collectively as the Canaanites (Gen 10.19) as far back as around 2000BC.
And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha (Gen 10.19).
The land of Canaan, the territory of the Canaanites is the same land promised to Abraham and his descendants (Gen 15:18-21).
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites (Gen 15:18-21).
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God (Gen 17:8).
This land is today called Palestine.