Genesis 9b

20 Dec 2025 - Theology

Genesis 9:18-29 - Noah’s Misplaced Curse

Problems:

• Noah is really angry, not embarrassed
• awkward mention of Canaan in list of names (18)
• names of sons is not always in birth order, and the order is not consistent through stories (18,24)
• first vinyard mention, but Noah immediately knows how to make wine (20-21)
• this is a very compressed story - it takes at least four years before a vineyard produces grapes
• sons covered the whole earth. There are “four corners” of the earth but Noah only had three sons (19)
• similar to the Garden of Eden story with the taking of the fruit, which then causes chaos to ensue (21)
• nakedness theme, similar to the Garden of Eden
• Noah curses Canaan, who wasn’t the offender or even in the story (25-27)

Principle of First Mention - When you see a unique word/thing/idea, the Eastern, Hebrew mind will think about where it was first mentioned in the text, and that first mention will frame what that image is supposed to communicate to us

Similarities between this story and the Garden of Eden story:

• garden/vineyard
• fruit
• nakedness
• covering the nakedness
• curse

“to see nakedness” (22) - sexual union (marriage or molestation) OR to see and take it (do more than just look)

Deuteronomy 22:30 (ESV translation) - “A man shall not take his father’s wife, so that he does not uncover his father’s nakedness.”

Midrash says Ham castrated his father! Why?

Genesis 2 - Four rivers (Pishon, Gihon, Tigris/Hiddekel, Euphrates)
Hebrews believe rivers can symbolize lineage. Was God’s plan for Noah to have four sons, that would then fill the “four corners” of the earth?

Because Ham took away Noah’s ability to have a fourth son, Noah cursed Ham’s son Canaan.

If this story is a parallel of the Garden of Eden curse story, then Noah would be playing the “God character”.

• God’s curse (Genesis 3:14-19) - God curses the serpent and the ground
• Noah’s curse (Genesis 9:25-27) - Noah curses a human, Canaan If Noah is playing the “God character”, he isn’t doing it very well. He cursed a human, which God did not do, and he even cursed the wrong person who wasn’t the offender!

If this was a story about incest, then Ham and his mother would be the offenders in the wrong. But if this is a story about castration, then Ham as the offender would be in the wrong. The Midrash is trying to show us that Noah is in the wrong here as well because of his curse on Canaan, and his desire for vengence. The writers of Midrash are showing self criticism of Israel in its desire for vengence against Canaan, such as the current day war of Israel against Palestine. It suggests that prolonged conflict risks repeating ancestral sins, rather than fulfilling divine promise.

References

1. The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
2. The BEMA Podcast, Episode 5: A Misplaced Curse
3. The Torah Portion-by-Portion by Rabbi Seymour Rossel (2007)