The Sin of Doing Nothing

Canaan’s Curse

20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.  21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.  22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.  23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.  24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him,  25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan;  a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” - Genesis 9:20-25 ESV

Genesis 9:20-25 is a passage that is often overlooked, but it is historically significant for Israel. The context is Noah’s flood. The waters have subsided and Noah and his family have now settled on dry land. God renewed a covenant with Noah and blessed his family, charging them to be “fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

This would be a new start for humanity. All of Adam and Eve’s descendants, apart from this one family, had perished in the flood. God had poured out His anger on the earth, destroying man, animal and vegetation. If Adam and Eve understood loving fellowship with God in a perfect world, Noah and his family understood the wrath of God in a sinful world. They knew the consequences of rebellion against God in a way that Adam and Eve did not.

As Noah and His family settled into this new world, the knowledge of God’s deep anger over rebellion and disobedience was a powerful theme. The question was whether the knowledge of God’s wrath would keep them from evil.

After the flood, Genesis 9:20 tells us that Noah “began to be a man of the soil.” In particular, Noah planted a vineyard and became a winemaker. Genesis 9:21 recounts a time when Noah, drank the wine he had made and became drunk.

Somehow in his drunken state, Noah “lay uncovered in his tent.” We are not told how this happened, nor is there any indication of anything immoral taking place at the time. Had Noah’s thinking been clearer, he would have covered himself with a blanket but his drunken state clouded that judgement and he ended up exposed for those entering his tent to see. The incident, though not the focus of the chapter, does subject Noah to two errors. First, he lost control of his thoughts and actions and second, he put himself in a compromising situation shaming himself as a father, husband and man of God.

While the incident was a blight on Noah’s character, it is not the focus of the passage. What is of greater significance here is the response of Noah’s sons.

Notice first the response of Ham, Noah’s youngest son, in verse 22:

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Verses 24 and 25 tell us that when Noah “woke from his wine” and discovered “what his youngest son had done to him,” he cursed him and made him a servant to his older brothers. Note the wording of Noah’s curse: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” – Genesis 9:25b ESV

According to verse 22, Ham was the father of Canaan. For his actions, Noah cursed not only Ham but his descendants after him. The day would come when God would hand the land of Canaan over to the Israelites. They would slaughter the descendants of Ham and take over their land – a land they occupy to this day.

What was so evil and repulsive to Noah that he would curse his own son and every child born in his line? The answer seems to lie in the response of Shem and Japheth in verse 23:

23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. - Genesis 9:23 ESV

When Shem and Japheth heard that their father lay drunk and exposed in his tent, they took a garment and covered Noah’s shame.

What would you do if someone you loved was being exposed to harm, or public shame? Would you turn your back and leave them to suffer the indignity? That is what Ham did. Shem and Japheth loved and respected their father enough that they did not want to see him humiliated. Ham showed nothing but disrespect by leaving him exposed for all to see.

Jesus, quoting from the Old Testament, says this:

4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ - Matthew 15:4 ESV

To dishonour one’s parents was a crime worthy of death under Old Testament law.  While that law had not yet been written, what Ham did that day brought a curse upon himself and his descendants for generations to come.

The flood did not change the human heart. Ham’s heart remained rebellious against the purpose of God for his family. His descendants would turn from the God of his father, settle in the land of Canaan and walk in paganism.  Listen to the words of Moses to the people who were going to inherit the land of Canaan:

16 But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,  17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded,  18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God.  - Deuteronomy 20:16-18 ESV

God reserved complete destruction for the Canaanites because of their “abominable practices.” The son of Noah became the father of a nation without the knowledge of God, devoted to destruction.



Ham did not walk in his father’s faith. His children and grandchildren would grow up not knowing Noah’s God. As one generation followed another, any evidence of the faith of their ancestor Noah had completely disappeared. Will your faith be passed on to the next generation or will future generations walk in ignorance of your God? Could it be that by repeating Ham’s sin of doing nothing, whole generations will be plunged into darkness.