“Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brethren.” And he said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.” Genesis 9:25-26
The context of this verse is the immediate aftermath of the Flood. God destroyed the world because all flesh had corrupted themselves (Genesis 6:12). This means that not only was the line of Cain growing in their wickedness but the godly line, the line of Seth called the sons of God, had also given into wickedness by marrying the daughters of the wicked. (We’ll have to deal with the angel theory of the Nephilim at another time for our focus here is the antithesis.) Only Noah, the descendant of Seth, finds grace with God and is saved.
The world after the flood is a new creation ready to be populated by Noah and his sons and their wives. Noah is a new Adam and his wife a new Eve. Admittedly, the sin of Ham is difficult to understand, and theologians have puzzled over what actually happened. But if we focus on the words of scripture themselves instead of trying to recreate a video version of what happened, I believe we get a clearer picture of what’s going on. It has to do with the antithesis re-manifesting itself in the new creation.
Noah is a new Adam tasked with the new dominion mandate to rule the earth (Genesis 9:1). Noah takes Adam’s place as the new priest-king. But like Adam, Noah fails to protect his wife from the serpent. Noah gets drunk, takes off his robe which is a sign of his authority, and Ham uncovers his father’s nakedness. In Leviticus 18 uncovering your father’s nakedness meant unlawful sexual relationship with your mother. This would explain why Canaan is cursed if he is the offspring of this wicked union.
This sexual immorality is consistent with the wickedness that the Canaanites were known for. Their gods Baal and Ashtoreth tell the same story. Baal is the son of El the most high god and Ashtoreth the mother goddess. Baal kills his father and marries his mother so he can rule the world. The worship of the Canaanite’s religion is a celebration of this perverse wickedness.
This scene in Noah’s tent is another fall. Noah has failed to guard his wife. There is nakedness just as there is in the garden. Instead of God Himself covering nakedness, the sons of God, the godly line of Shem and Japeth, re-robe their father in submission to his authority. This is just like the garden in that a curse is then declared that reveals the antithesis. Cursed be Canaan. He will not rule. He will be a servant of servants and the lowest of the low. Shem will rule and Canaan will become his slave.
Shem’s rule is foreshadowed and fulfilled in his greatest descendant, Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15 says that after His ascension into heaven Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father and began to rule heaven and earth. He must rule until all His enemies are defeated, the last enemy being death itself. When Jesus’ victory is complete death, Hades, Satan and the entire seed of Satan will be thrown into the Lake of Fire and then the antithesis will cease.
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn