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			{{short description\|Biblical figure, son of Noah}}
	'''Ham''' ({{Hebrew Name\|חָם\|Ḥam\|Ḥām / Ḫām}} ; ] Χαμ , Cham ; ]: '''{{lang\|ar\|حام}}''', {{IPA2\| xam }}, "hot"), according to the ] in the ], was a son of ] and the father of ], ], ], and ].<ref>David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, Astrid B. Beck, ''Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible'', (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing: 2000), p.543</ref><ref>Stanley E. Porter, Craig A. Evans, ''The Scrolls and the Scriptures'', (Continuum International Publishing Group: 1997), p.377</ref>
			{{Infobox person
			\| name = Ham
			\| alt =
			\| image = Ham02.jpg
			\| caption = 16th-century depiction by ]
			\| birth_date =
			\| birth_place =
			\| death_date =
			\| death_place =
			\| nationality =
			\| other_names =
			\| known_for =
			\| occupation =
			\| parents = ]
			\| children = ]<br />]<br />]<br />]
			}}], {{circa\|100 AD}}); Ham's sons are in blue.]]

			'''Ham'''{{efn\|{{Hebrew Name\|חָם\|H̱am\|Ḥām}}; ] Χαμ ''Kham'', ]: ካም ''Kam''; ]: {{lang\|ar\|حام}}, ''Ḥām''}} (in {{Langx\|he\|חָם}}), according to the ] in the ], was the second son of ]<ref>{{cite EB1911 \|wstitle=Ham (biblical) \|volume=12 \|page=868 \|first=William Henry \|last=Bennett }}</ref> and the father of ], ], ] and ].<ref>David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, Astrid B. Beck, ''Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible'', (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing: 2000), p. 543</ref><ref>Stanley E. Porter, Craig A. Evans, ''The Scrolls and the Scriptures'', (Continuum International Publishing Group: 1997), p. 377</ref>
	== Ham in the Bible ==

			Ham's descendants are interpreted by ] and others as having populated Africa. The Bible refers to ] as "the land of Ham" in Psalm 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:22; 1 Chronicles 4:40.
	The story of Ham is related in {{Bibleverse\|\|Genesis\|9:20–25,\|HE}}

			== Etymology ==
	<blockquote>And Noah the ] began, and planted a ]. And he drank of the ], and was ]; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of ], saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.</blockquote> <blockquote>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.</blockquote> <blockquote> And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done unto him. And he said: Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said: Blessed be the L<small>ORD</small>, the God of ]; and let Canaan be their servant. God enlarge ], and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be their servant..<ref></ref>
			] (between 1896 and 1902). ] (], ]). Ham is in the centre with stereotypically African features: dark skin and hair, and a broad nose.]]
	</blockquote>

			Since the 17th century, a number of suggestions have been made that relate the name ''Ham'' to a Hebrew word for "burnt", "black" or "hot", to the Egyptian word '']'' for "servant" or the word '']'' for "majesty" or the Egyptian word '']'' for "Egypt".<ref>{{cite book\|last= Goldenberg\|first= David M.\|chapter= Was Ham Black? \|title= The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam\|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iTyJ3HiNOAsC&q=burnt+swarthy+black&pg=PA144 \|year= 2005\|edition= New\|publisher= Princeton University Press\|isbn= 978-0691123707\|page= 144}}</ref> A 2004 review of David Goldenberg's ''The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity and Islam'' (2003) states that Goldenberg "argues persuasively that the biblical name Ham bears no relationship at all to the notion of blackness and as of now is of unknown etymology."<ref>
	=== Curse of Canaan also known as the Curse of Ham ===
			{{cite journal
			\|last=Levine\|first=Molly Myerowitz
			\|title=David M. Goldenberg, The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
			\|journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review\|year=2004
			\|url=http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2004/2004-02-53.html\|access-date= 2016-09-08
			\| quote = Through a very thorough, often highly technical linguistic analysis, G administers a telling blow to traditional derivations of the name Ham from a semantic field of heat, darkness, or blackness, and demonstrates that these all turn on a misunderstanding of ancient Hebrew linguistics that can be traced back to no earlier than the first century. Contrary to the assumptions of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish exegesis, G argues persuasively that the biblical name Ham bears relationship to the notion of blackness }}
			</ref>

			== In the Bible ==
	The ] deduces two possible explanations (attributed to Rab and Rabbi Samuel) for what Ham did to Noah to warrant the curse. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 70a.) According to one explanation, Ham ] Noah, while the other says that Ham ] Noah. The textual argument for castration is as follows: Since Noah cursed Ham by his fourth son Canaan, Ham must have injured Noah with respect to a fourth son, by emasculating him, thus depriving Noah of the possibility of a fourth son. The argument for sodomization from the text draws an analogy between “and he saw” written in two places in the Bible: With regard to Ham and Noah, it is written, “And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father (Noah)”; while in {{Bibleverse\|\|Genesis\|34:2,\|HE}} it is written, “And when Shechem the son of Hamor saw her (]), he took her and lay with her and defiled her.” Thus this speculation deduces that similar abuse must have happened each time that the Bible uses the same language.
			]'' uses the spelling "Cham".]]
			{{bibleref\|Genesis\|5:32\|9}} indicates that Noah became the father of ], Ham and ] at the age of 500 years old, but does not list in detail their specific years. (Noah was 600 years old at the time of the flood in Genesis 7.) An incident involving Ham is related in {{bibleref\|Genesis\|9:20–27\|9}}:

			<blockquote>
	This "]" by Noah was likely connected to the conquest of Canaan by ]. Both the conquest of Canaan and the curse, according to the '']'' 10:29-34, are attributed, rather, to Canaan's steadfast refusal to join his elder brothers in Ham's allotment beyond the ], and instead "squatting" within the inheritance of Shem, on the eastern shores of the ], in the region later promised to Abraham.
			And Noah began to be an husbandman, and planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 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.

			And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done unto him. And he said,
	== The existence of Ham ==
			:Cursed be Canaan;
			:A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
			And he said,
			:Blessed be the {{Lord}}, the God of Shem;
			:And let Canaan be his servant.
			:God enlarge Japheth,
			:And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
			:And let Canaan be his servant.
			<br />—]</blockquote>

			== Curse of Canaan ==
	According to the ], Ham was one of the ] who moved southwest into ] and parts of the near ], and was the forefather of the nations there. The Bible refers to ] as "the land of Ham" in ('']'' 78:51; 105:23,27; 106:22; 1Ch 4:40). The Hebrew word for Egypt was ] (probably literally meaning '']''), and was the name of one of Ham's sons. The Egyptian word for Egypt was '']'' (or '']''), meaning "black land" (in reference to the fertile dark soil along the ]).<ref>Nicolas Grimal (1994) ''A History of Ancient Egypt'' Blackwell pp.171-172: "black (land)"</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author=Rosalie David \|title= \|publisher=Routledge \|year=1997 \|page=18 \| quote=The name they gave to their whole country was 'Kemet', which means the 'Black Land'. This referred to the cultivation, fertilised for countless years by the black mud of the inundation.}}</ref><ref></ref> Ham could plausibly be a name derived from Khem, or vice versa, via sound change, due to the change in language between Egyptian and Hebrew, corresponding to the well known phonological change of /k/ into /x/ (voiceless velar fricative) into /h/.{{Fact\|date=June 2009}} The names of Ham's other children correspond to regions within Egyptian influence - ], ], and ] (probably identical with the ''Pitu'', a Libyan tribe, though often associated with ], an ancient name for ]).
			{{main\|Curse of Ham}}
			]

			What is commonly known as "The Curse of Ham" was not bestowed upon Ham himself; rather, Noah indirectly cursed him through his son ].
	]
	Creationist scholars hold that some early civilizations came to worship humans deified as gods in the generations after the flood, perhaps owing to the extraordinary longevity of the first few generations after leaving the ark. Minimalist scholarship holds a parallel view, that many (but not all) early gods (or deified humans, e.g. ]) are representative of personified ]s of races, i.e., their family trees being codified descriptions of the inter-relatedness of each race and tribe (with some of the older/earlier generations being more speculative). Both of these distinct viewpoints agree that there is a connection between the family tree of the characters (whether gods or men) and that of tribes and races (although the extent of that connection varies, both amongst the characters in question, and amongst the scholars).

			The ] presents two possible explanations, one attributed to ] and one to ], for what Ham did to Noah to warrant the curse.<ref>Babylonian Talmud, ] 70a.</ref>
	In the minimalist view, the early tribal name either became seen by later generations as the name of the "old ones", and thus gradually evolved into that of a god, or else was deliberately transformed into the name of a god, demi-god or hero, for the purpose of making it easier to tell the tale of a tribe representatively. However, minimalists generally prefer to avoid giving any credence to accounts of tribes being named for eponymous ancestors.{{Fact\|date=April 2009}}

			According to Abba Arika, Ham ] Noah on the basis that, since Noah cursed Ham by his fourth son Canaan, Ham must have injured Noah with respect to a fourth son. Emasculating him thus deprived Noah of the possibility of a fourth son.
	Counter arguments are often put forward that the connection is only between the ] word and the typical ] of Hebrew ? as {{IPA\|/x/}} ("kh") rather than {{IPA\|/ħ/}} (as was the case with ], and suggest that the appearance is lessened with the original Hebrew ?? {{Unicode\|''Ḥam''}} with Northwest ] {{IPA\|/ħ/}} (such as in Hebrew, ], and ]). Further, ''Kam'', the version of the name in ]—a South Semitic language—is seemingly borrowed from Biblical Hebrew ''via'' the ] and perhaps does not reflect a native derivation of the word.

			According to Samuel, Ham ] Noah, a judgment that he based on analogy with another biblical incident in which the phrase "and he saw" is used. In {{Bibleverse\|\|Genesis\|34:2\|HE}} it reads, "And when Shechem the son of Hamor saw her (]), he took her and lay with her and defiled her." With regard to Ham and Noah, Genesis 9 reads, " And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 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."<ref>{{bibleref\|Genesis\|9:20–27\|9}}</ref> According to this argument, similar abuse must have happened each time that the Bible uses the same language. The Talmud concludes that, in fact, "both indignities were perpetrated."
	In the 19th century, there was an erroneous ] of the Egyptian for '']'' as {{Unicode\|''ĥm''}} ("khem"), purely by coincidence. Since this ''Khem'' was worshipped most significantly in ], the separate identity of ''Khem'' was reinforced, ''Akhmim'' being understood as simply a corruption of ''Khem''. However, ''Akhmim'' is a corruption of ''?m-mnw'', meaning ''Shrine of Min'', via the ] form ''šmn''. The existence of a god named ''Khem'' was later understood as a faulty reading, but unfortunately it had already been enshrined in books written by ]—now out of ] and widely reprinted. Thus this error still finds a home among some writers, who often use it to identify Ham with the imaginary god Khem, who may also be identified with the Greek ] ]. (''See the article'' ''']''' ''for more details.'')

			Although the story can be taken literally, in more recent times, some scholars have suggested that Ham may have had intercourse with his father's wife.<ref>For example, Frederick W. Bassett, "Noah's nakedness and the curse of Canaan: A case of incest?" ''VT'' 21 pp. 232–237.</ref> Under this interpretation, Canaan is cursed as the "product of Ham's illicit union."<ref>John S. Bergsma and Scott Hahn, "Noah's nakedness and the curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20–27)," '']'' 124 p. 39.</ref>
	Nevertheless, since Khem (meaning black) was normally used to describe the fertile soils by the Nile, it was sometimes used as an epithet for Min, as the god of fertility. Since Khem was also an Egyptian name for Egypt (precisely because it described the soil of the Nile valley), there is also an association with Ham, who represented the forefather of the north-east African nations including Egypt.

			===Jubilees===
	== Identifications based on Jasher ==
	Some of the names of Ham's descendants in the list below do not appear anywhere in the Bible, but rather originated from the mediaeval rabbinic work, the ]. Among the ethnic groups various modern authors{{Who\|date=August 2008}} have attempted to link to Ham's children include:

			The chronological scheme of the ]l ] has Ham born in the year 1209 ] (A.M.) – two years after ], three before Japheth, and 99 before the flood. It gives the name of ] as ''Na'eltama'uk''. After his youngest son Canaan was cursed in 1321 A.M., he left Mount Ararat and built a city named for his wife on the south side of the mountain. In 1569 A.M., he received a third division of the earth along with his two brothers for his inheritance: everything west of the ], and to the south of ]. In 1639 A.M. when the nations were scattered following the failure of the ], Ham and his children journeyed to their allotment, with the exception of Canaan, who settled in Shem's territory, thus receiving another curse.
	* ]<ref>{{Jasher\|7:10}}</ref> - also Chus, Kush, Kosh (], ], ], ], and other related groups).
	* ] "double lands" (sons were Lud, Anom, Pathros, Chasloth and Chaphtor)<ref>{{Jasher\|7:11}}</ref> - also Misraim, Mitzraim, Mizraite, Mitsrayim (], ], ], and other related groups).
	* ] "a bow" (sons were Gebul, Hadan, Benah and Adan)<ref>{{Jasher\|7:12}}</ref> - also Putaya, Putiya, Punt, Puta, Put, Libia, ] (], Cyrenacians, Tunisians, ],],The extinct ] of the ], ], and other related groups).
	* ] "down low" (sons were Zidon, Heth, Amori, Gergashi, Hivi, Arkee, ], Arodi, Zimodi and Chamothi)<ref>{{Jasher\|7:13}}</ref> - also ], Cana, Chna, Chanani, Chanana, Canaana, Kana, Kenaanah, Kena'ani, Kena'an, Kn'nw, Kyn'nw, Kinnahu, Kinahhi, Kinahni, Kinahna, Kinahne (].

			According to ''Jubilees'' 10:29–34, this second curse is attributed to Canaan's steadfast refusal to join his elder brothers in Ham's allotment beyond the Nile, and instead "squatting" within the inheritance of Shem, on the eastern shores of the ], the region later promised to Abraham:
	== References ==

	{{No footnotes\|date=August 2008}}
			<blockquote>And Canaan saw the land of Lebanon to the river of Egypt, that it was very good, and he went not into the land of his inheritance to the west (that is to) the sea, and he dwelt in the land of Lebanon, eastward and westward from the border of Jordan and from the border of the sea. And Ham, his father, and Cush and Mizraim his brothers said unto him: 'Thou hast settled in a land which is not thine, and which did not fall to us by lot: do not do so; for if thou dost do so, thou and thy sons will fall in the land and (be) accursed through sedition; for by sedition ye have settled, and by sedition will thy children fall, and thou shalt be rooted out for ever. Dwell not in the dwelling of Shem; for to Shem and to his sons did it come by their lot. Cursed art thou, and cursed shalt thou be beyond all the sons of Noah, by the curse by which we bound ourselves by an oath in the presence of the holy judge, and in the presence of Noah our father.' But he did not hearken unto them, and dwelt in the land of Lebanon from Hamath to the entering of Egypt, he and his sons until this day. And for this reason that land is named Canaan. – ''Jubilees '' 10:29–34.</blockquote>The usurpation theory is similarly believed by ]. According to Barnes' exegesis of Genesis 10:18, the Canaanite clans scattered after the ] incident and settled in the southern Levant, where they named the region after themselves. It is unknown whether they were dispersed violently or not. However, Canaan's cousin, ], had a "grasping tendency", making Barnes believe that Canaan had similar qualities. Thus, Canaan's settlement of the southern Levant was interpreted as a violent conquest, with Canaan "seizing upon the country with a high hand".<ref>{{Cite web \|date=2024 \|title=Genesis 10 Barnes' Notes \|url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/genesis/10.htm \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206091716/https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/genesis/10.htm \|archive-date=February 6, 2024 \|website=Biblehub.com}}</ref>
	{{reflist}}

			==Supposed tomb==
			A tomb in ], ], has been claimed by local residents to be the site of Ham's burial since 1891, when Hafiz Sham-us-Din of Gulyana, Gujrat, claimed Ham had revealed this to him in a dream. A plaque on the tomb since erected over the {{Convert\|78\|ft\|m\|-long\|adj=mid}} gravesite states that Ham, locally revered as a prophet, was buried there after having lived 536 years.<ref> {{webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222104140/http://jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2007-weekly/nos-11-11-2007/foo.htm \|date=2015-12-22 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://the6news.com/tomb-of-hazrat-ham-requires-attention-of-the-government/\|title=The6news.com\|access-date=2015-09-12\|archive-date=2015-09-16\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150916071411/http://the6news.com/tomb-of-hazrat-ham-requires-attention-of-the-government/\|url-status=dead}}</ref>

			==Family tree==
			{{chart/start\|align=center}}
			{{chart\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| HAM \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|HAM=Ham}}
			{{chart\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|,\|-\|-\|-\|-\|-\|-\|-\|-\|^\|-\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|.\| \| \| \| \| \|}}
			{{chart\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| CUS \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| MIZ \| \| PUT \| \| CAN \| \| \| \| \|CUS=]\|MIZ=]\|PUT=]\|CAN=]}}
			{{chart\| \| \|,\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|^\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|.\| \| \| \|!\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|!\| \| \| \| \| \|}}
			{{chart\| \| SEB \| \| HAV \| \| SBT \| \| RAA \| \| SAB \| \| NIM \| \| \|!\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|!\| \| \| \| \| \| SEB=]\|HAV=]\|SBT=]\|RAA=]\|SAB=]\|NIM=]}}
			{{chart\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|,\|-\|^\|-\|.\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|!\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|!\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|}}
			{{chart\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| SHE \| \| DED \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|!\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|!\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|SHE=]\|DED=]}}
			{{chart\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|,\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|^\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|.\| \|!\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|}}
			{{chart\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| LUD \| \| ANA \| \| LEH \| \| NAP \| \| PAT \| \| CAS \| \| CAP \|!\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|LUD=]\|ANA=]\|LEH=]\|NAP=]\|PAT=]\|CAS=]\|CAP=]}}
			{{chart\| \| \|,\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|+\|-\|-\|-\|v\|-\|-\|-\|.\| \|}}
			{{chart\| \| SID \| \| HET \| \| JEB \| \| AMO \| \| GIR \| \| HIV \| \| ARK \| \| SIN \| \| ARV \| \| ZEM \| \| HAM \|SID=]\|HET=]\|JEB=]s\|AMO=]\|GIR=]\|HIV=]s\|ARK=]\|SIN=]\|ARV=]\|ZEM=]\|HAM=]}}

			{{chart/end}}

	== See also ==		== See also ==
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]		* ]
			* ]
			* ]

	==~~External~~ ~~links~~==		== References ==
			'''Informational notes'''
	*
	{{~~Sons of Noah~~}}		{{notelist}}

			'''Citations'''
	]
			{{reflist}}

			{{Sons of Noah}}
			{{Noah's Ark}}
			{{Authority control\|additional=auto\|state=expanded}}

			{{DEFAULTSORT:Ham (Son Of Noah)}}
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Latest revision as of 21:19, 24 December 2024

Biblical figure, son of Noah

Ham
16th-century depiction by Guillaume Rouillé
Children	Cush Mizraim Phut Canaan
Parent	Noah

Ham (in Hebrew: חָם), according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was the second son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan.

Ham's descendants are interpreted by Josephus and others as having populated Africa. The Bible refers to Egypt as "the land of Ham" in Psalm 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:22; 1 Chronicles 4:40.

Etymology

Since the 17th century, a number of suggestions have been made that relate the name Ham to a Hebrew word for "burnt", "black" or "hot", to the Egyptian word ḥm for "servant" or the word ḥm for "majesty" or the Egyptian word kmt for "Egypt". A 2004 review of David Goldenberg's The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity and Islam (2003) states that Goldenberg "argues persuasively that the biblical name Ham bears no relationship at all to the notion of blackness and as of now is of unknown etymology."

In the Bible

Genesis 5:32 indicates that Noah became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth at the age of 500 years old, but does not list in detail their specific years. (Noah was 600 years old at the time of the flood in Genesis 7.) An incident involving Ham is related in Genesis 9:20–27:

And Noah began to be an husbandman, and planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 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.
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done unto him. And he said,

Cursed be Canaan;

A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

And he said,

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;

And let Canaan be his servant.

God enlarge Japheth,

And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;

And let Canaan be his servant.

—Revised Version

Curse of Canaan

Main article: Curse of Ham

What is commonly known as "The Curse of Ham" was not bestowed upon Ham himself; rather, Noah indirectly cursed him through his son Canaan.

The Talmud presents two possible explanations, one attributed to Rabbi Abba Arikha and one to Rabbi Samuel, for what Ham did to Noah to warrant the curse.

According to Abba Arika, Ham castrated Noah on the basis that, since Noah cursed Ham by his fourth son Canaan, Ham must have injured Noah with respect to a fourth son. Emasculating him thus deprived Noah of the possibility of a fourth son.

According to Samuel, Ham sodomized Noah, a judgment that he based on analogy with another biblical incident in which the phrase "and he saw" is used. In Genesis 34:2 it reads, "And when Shechem the son of Hamor saw her (Dinah), he took her and lay with her and defiled her." With regard to Ham and Noah, Genesis 9 reads, " And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 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." According to this argument, similar abuse must have happened each time that the Bible uses the same language. The Talmud concludes that, in fact, "both indignities were perpetrated."

Although the story can be taken literally, in more recent times, some scholars have suggested that Ham may have had intercourse with his father's wife. Under this interpretation, Canaan is cursed as the "product of Ham's illicit union."

Jubilees

The chronological scheme of the pseudepigraphal Book of Jubilees has Ham born in the year 1209 Anno Mundi (A.M.) – two years after Shem, three before Japheth, and 99 before the flood. It gives the name of his wife who also survived the flood as Na'eltama'uk. After his youngest son Canaan was cursed in 1321 A.M., he left Mount Ararat and built a city named for his wife on the south side of the mountain. In 1569 A.M., he received a third division of the earth along with his two brothers for his inheritance: everything west of the Nile River, and to the south of Gadir. In 1639 A.M. when the nations were scattered following the failure of the Tower of Babel, Ham and his children journeyed to their allotment, with the exception of Canaan, who settled in Shem's territory, thus receiving another curse.

According to Jubilees 10:29–34, this second curse is attributed to Canaan's steadfast refusal to join his elder brothers in Ham's allotment beyond the Nile, and instead "squatting" within the inheritance of Shem, on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, the region later promised to Abraham:

And Canaan saw the land of Lebanon to the river of Egypt, that it was very good, and he went not into the land of his inheritance to the west (that is to) the sea, and he dwelt in the land of Lebanon, eastward and westward from the border of Jordan and from the border of the sea. And Ham, his father, and Cush and Mizraim his brothers said unto him: 'Thou hast settled in a land which is not thine, and which did not fall to us by lot: do not do so; for if thou dost do so, thou and thy sons will fall in the land and (be) accursed through sedition; for by sedition ye have settled, and by sedition will thy children fall, and thou shalt be rooted out for ever. Dwell not in the dwelling of Shem; for to Shem and to his sons did it come by their lot. Cursed art thou, and cursed shalt thou be beyond all the sons of Noah, by the curse by which we bound ourselves by an oath in the presence of the holy judge, and in the presence of Noah our father.' But he did not hearken unto them, and dwelt in the land of Lebanon from Hamath to the entering of Egypt, he and his sons until this day. And for this reason that land is named Canaan. – Jubilees 10:29–34.

The usurpation theory is similarly believed by Albert Barnes. According to Barnes' exegesis of Genesis 10:18, the Canaanite clans scattered after the Tower of Babel incident and settled in the southern Levant, where they named the region after themselves. It is unknown whether they were dispersed violently or not. However, Canaan's cousin, Nimrod, had a "grasping tendency", making Barnes believe that Canaan had similar qualities. Thus, Canaan's settlement of the southern Levant was interpreted as a violent conquest, with Canaan "seizing upon the country with a high hand".

Supposed tomb

A tomb in Gharibwal, Pakistan, has been claimed by local residents to be the site of Ham's burial since 1891, when Hafiz Sham-us-Din of Gulyana, Gujrat, claimed Ham had revealed this to him in a dream. A plaque on the tomb since erected over the 78-foot-long (24 m) gravesite states that Ham, locally revered as a prophet, was buried there after having lived 536 years.

Family tree

Ham

References

Informational notes

Hebrew: חָם, Modern: H̱am, Tiberian: Ḥām; Greek Χαμ Kham, Ge'ez: ካም Kam; Arabic: حام, Ḥām

Citations

Bennett, William Henry (1911). "Ham (biblical)" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 868.
David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing: 2000), p. 543
Stanley E. Porter, Craig A. Evans, The Scrolls and the Scriptures, (Continuum International Publishing Group: 1997), p. 377
Goldenberg, David M. (2005). "Was Ham Black?". The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (New ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0691123707.
Levine, Molly Myerowitz (2004). "David M. Goldenberg, The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved 2016-09-08. Through a very thorough, often highly technical linguistic analysis, G administers a telling blow to traditional derivations of the name Ham from a semantic field of heat, darkness, or blackness, and demonstrates that these all turn on a misunderstanding of ancient Hebrew linguistics that can be traced back to no earlier than the first century. Contrary to the assumptions of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish exegesis, G argues persuasively that the biblical name Ham bears relationship to the notion of blackness
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 70a.
Genesis 9:20–27
For example, Frederick W. Bassett, "Noah's nakedness and the curse of Canaan: A case of incest?" VT 21 pp. 232–237.
John S. Bergsma and Scott Hahn, "Noah's nakedness and the curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20–27)," JBL 124 p. 39.
"Genesis 10 Barnes' Notes". Biblehub.com. 2024. Archived from the original on February 6, 2024.
Jang.com.pk Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
"The6news.com". Archived from the original on 2015-09-16. Retrieved 2015-09-12.

v t e Descendants of Noah in Genesis 10
Shem and Semitic	Elam Ashur Arpachshad Lud Aram
Ham and Hamitic	Cush Mizraim Phut Canaan
Japheth and Japhetic	Gomer Magog Madai Javan Tubal Meshech Tiras

Noah's Ark

Theology

Source	Genesis flood narrative in the Book of Genesis
Characters	Noah Shem Ham Japheth Wives aboard Noah's Ark
Related	Book of Noah Generations of Noah Gopher wood Noah's wine Seven Laws of Noah

Media

Television	Captain Noah and His Magical Ark (1967) "Noah's Ark" (1992) Noah's Island (1997) Noah's Ark (1999) VeggieTales: Noah's Ark (2015) The Ark (2015)
Film	Noah's Ark (1928) Father Noah's Ark (1933) The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966) O Trapalhão na Arca de Noé (1983) La Biblia en pasta (1984) Angel's Egg (1985) Stowaways on the Ark (1988) Genesis: The Creation and the Flood (1994) Noah (1998) Fantasia 2000 (1999) Raining Cats and Frogs (2003) Noah's Ark (2007) Evan Almighty (2007) 40 Days and Nights (2012) Noah (2014) Ooops! Noah Is Gone... (2015) Noah's Ark (2024) The Ark and the Aardvark (TBA)
Stage	The Flowering Peach (1954 play) Two by Two (1970 musical)
Opera	Il diluvio universale (1830) Le Déluge (1875) Noé (1885) Noye's Fludde (1958) The Flood (1962)
Paintings	Scenes from the Life of Noah (1436-1440) Noah's Ark (17th century) The Return of the Dove to the Ark (1851) After the Deluge (1891) Genesis (1960)
Songs	Die Sintflut "The Unicorn" (1968) "Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo" (1970) "The Prophet's Song" (1975) "Animals" (1980) "Forever Not Yours" (2002)
Games	Noah's Ark (1992) Super 3D Noah's Ark (1994) Noah's Ark (2002)
Literature	Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948) The Moon in the Cloud (1969) Noah's Ark (1977) Not Wanted on the Voyage (1984) Noah's Brother (1985) Many Waters (1986) Noah's Ark (2002) Not the End of the World (2004) Ararat (2017)

Other cultures

Science

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