10/18/2026
THE UNTHINKABLE SIN OF HAM, THE FATHER OF CANAAN
“22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without” (Genesis 9:22.)
This study is taken from Genesis 9:18-25 concerning Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It concerns Noah becoming inebriated (drunk) from the w**e that he had cultivated from his vineyard (verses 18-21.) Noah was first discovered in his drunken state by Ham, and after Shem and Japheth were made aware of the situation, they too became witnesses. Then, suddenly, without any explanation we read the following in verses 24-25:
“24 And Noah awoke from his w**e, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren” (Genesis 9:24-25.)
Now, let us link verses 21-22 with verses 24-25:
“24 And Noah awoke from his w**e, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”
Naturally, many questions arise from this account because of a lack of information. For instance, what had Noah’s younger son, Ham, done to him (verse 25)? Who was Canaan and why was he cursed instead of Ham? The fact that Noah was unclothed in his tent lead to much speculation by Bible readers. For instance, was Noah s*xually molested? Was he mocked by his son while lying naked?
Now consider verses 18 and 22. They read, respectively:
“18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan” (Genesis 9:18.)
“22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without” (Genesis 9:22.)
Twice we are told that Ham is the father of Canaan. Why is that? We know that the Holy Ghost was not frivolous in having inspired Genesis 9:18 and Genesis 9:22. There is a reason for emphasizing Ham’s son. But that question is beyond the scope of this study. What we need to discover is what Ham did to his father, Noah.
This is one of the more perplexing scriptures in the entire book of scriptures. I will reveal now that it is quite impossible for anyone not familiar with Old Testament idiomatic expressions to come to a definitive understanding of Genesis 9:18-25. Towards that end, let us get a knowledge of an idiom. I briefly studied Spanish in high school. English speaking people will ask the question:
“How old are you?”
The literate Spanish equivalent is:
“How many years do you have?”
This is a Spanish idiomatic expression. An idiom is defined as:
“A type of phrase or expression that has a meaning that can't be deciphered by defining the individual words. It is a common expression with a meaning that differs from a literal interpretation of the words that it includes.”
What Did Ham Do to His Father?
I happen to agree with Bible readers who believe that Ham took advantage of Noah’s drunken stupor and s*xually molested him. (Compare Ham’s reaction to Noah’s n**e condition with that of his brothers’ – Shem and Japheth.) For Noah to have cursed Ham, he had to have done something a lot more disrespectful than making fun of his nudity or otherwise insulting him. We need to consider verse 23:
“23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.”
Note that Shem and Japheth took a garment to cover their father’s nakedness, avoiding so much as looking at his naked body. Verses 21 and 22 contain Hebrew idioms that we need to come to an understanding of. This is very important to realize as we will find out. They are:
(A) (He) (Noah) was “UNCOVERED” (Genesis 9:21.)
(B) (Ham) “SAW the nakedness of his father” (Genesis 9:22.)
We now need to look at Leviticus 18 regarding these idiomatic expressions. Leviticus 20:17 reads:
“17 And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.”
Look at the phrase “And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing.” Any man seeing his sister whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, is labeled “a wicked thing” – wickedness. Compare this with the next to last phrase of Leviticus 20:17, i.e. “he hath UNCOVERED his sister’s nakedness.”
A man “SEEING his sister’s nakedness” has “UNCOVERED his sister’s nakedness”! These idiomatic phrases are equivalent, saying the same thing two different ways.
You may be asking yourself the question, “What is so wicked or evil upon seeing, perhaps unplanned or by accident, your sister undressed?”
We need to go to Leviticus 18 to find the answer. Verse 6 reads:
“6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.”
Leviticus 18:7-16 provides a detailed account of the nakedness of a relative whose “nakedness” MUST NOT BE UNCOVERED! Here is a verse-by-verse breakdown:
(A) Your father or mother (verse 7.)
(B) Your father’s wife (verse 8.)
(C) Your sister (verse 9.)
(D) Your son’s or daughter’s daughter (verse 10.)
(E) Your father’s wife’s daughter (verse 11.)
(F) Your father’s sister (verse 12.)
(G) Your mother’s sister (verse 13.)
(H) Your father’s brother (verse 14.)
(I) Your daughter-in-law (verse 15.)
(J) Your brother’s wife (verse 16.)
It should be apparent by now that uncovering a relative’s nakedness does not mean accidentally seeing him or her naked. SEEING or UNCOVERING nakedness is an idiom meaning to have s*xual in*******se. Ham “apparently” s*xually molested his father Noah which is paternal in**st. But let us reason this out. From what we have been told in Genesis 9:21-22, does it make sense that Ham molested his father? Let us take another look at verses 21-23:
“21 And he drank of the w**e, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.”
Look at the care that Shem and Japheth took when going into Noah’s tent. They walked in backwards with a garment ready to be hastily thrown on the n**e body assuring they WOULD NOT accidentally gaze upon their father’s nakedness. Why such elaborate precautions with a man even if he was their father?
But what if, despite verse 21 saying that Noah lay uncovered within his tent, the body was not that of Noah, but of his wife? Verses 22 and 23 would then make a lot more sense, wouldn’t it.?
A son would take desperate measures to avoid seeing his own mother lying around naked. Leviticus 18:8 applies here. It reads:
“8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.”
Ham went into the tent and saw his mother, his father Noah’s wife, lying unclothed. Seeing Noah’s wife unclothed IS the same thing as seeing Noah unclothed. Ham committed MATERNAL IN**ST having had s*x with his own mother. Yes, Ham r***d his mother!
Let us revisit Genesis 9:24:
“24 And Noah awoke from his w**e, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.”
Rewriting this passage with all idioms interpreted, we have:
“And Noah awoke from his w**e and knew what his younger son (Ham) had done to him, i.e. HAD DONE TO HIS WIFE!”
Here is probably what transpired. Noah and his wife were together in the tent drinking Noah’s home-made w**e perhaps preparatory to having s*x. They both became, shall we say, a little tipsy, and fell asleep from the effects of the w**e. Ham walked in and discovered them. He took advantage of Noah’s inability to defend his wife and r***d her. When Noah recovered from his drunken stupor, he immediately realized that his son had committed MATERNAL in**st and cursed him.
WRAPPING UP
“22 And Ham, the father of Canaan…” (Genesis 9:22a.)
Canaan was the child of Ham’s in**st with his mother. Most of the Nephilim or giants were of Canaanite origin. These giants were unimaginably evil.
If Ham were moral like his brothers Shem and Japheth, he too would have walked into the tent of Noah backwards with a garment in hand ready to cover his mother’s naked body. And he would not have even mentioned what he had seen to his brothers.
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