Genesis 9:25

And he said,.... Not in a drunken fit, as some profane persons would suggest, for he was awaked from his wine; nor in the heat of passion, but by inspiration, under a spirit of prophecy: cursed [be]

And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said - apparently upon awaking and learning what had happened.

And he said, not from the passion of revenge, but by Divine inspiration, and the Spirit of prophecy, Cursed be Canaan; hateful to God, abhorred by men, miserable in his person and posterity. Quest. Seeing Ham committed the crime, why is the curse inflicted upon his son Canaan? Answ. 1. When Canaan is mentioned, Ham is not exempted from the curse, but rather more deeply plunged into it, whilst he is pronounced accursed, not only in his person, (which is manifestly supposed by his commission of that sin for which the curse was inflicted), but also in his posterity, which doubtless was a great aggravation of his grief; as on the contrary Joseph is said to be blessed when his children are blessed, . 2. It seems therefore very probable from these words, and the Hebrew doctors and others affirm it, that Canaan did partake with his father in the sin, yea, that he was the first discoverer of his father’ s shame. 3. Canaan is particularly mentioned by the Spirit of prophecy, in regard of the future extirpation of that people; and this is here remembered for the encouragement of the Israelites, who were now in their expedition against them. 4. This may be an ellipsis, or defect of the word father; for such relative words are ofttimes omitted and understood in Scripture, as , James of Zebedee, for the son of Zebedee; , Mary of Cleopas, for the wife of Cleopas; , Emmor of Sychem, for the father of Sychem, as our English translation rightly supplies it from . Thus Goliath is put for Goliath’ s brother, as is evident by comparing , with . So here Canaan may be put for the father of Canaan, as the Arabic translation hath it, that is, Ham, as the Seventy here render it. And though Ham had more sons, yet he may be here described by his relation to Canaan, because in him the curse was more fixed and dreadful, reaching to his utter extirpation, whilst the rest of Ham’ s posterity in after-ages were blessed with the saving knowledge of the gospel. A servant of servants, i.e. the vilest and worst of servants; as vanity of vanities is the greatest vanity, ; and great wickedness, , is in the Hebrew wickedness of wickedness; and King of kings is put for the chief of kings.

Genesis 9:25 And he said, Cursed [be] Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.Ver. 25. And he said, Cursed be Canaan.] Because an imitator, and abettor of his father’ s sin. Neither good egg, nor good bird, as they say. God himself hath cursed such captives with a curse. "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother; the ravens of the valley shall pick it out; and the young eagles shall eat it." Now they are cursed with a witness, whom the Holy Ghost thus curseth, in such emphatical manner, with such exquisite terms. Their parents also, through their unnaturalness, are compelled to curse them, as Noah here: as Oedipus of old; and our Henry II., who, seeing a few hours before he died, a list of their names that had conspired, with the King of France and Earl Richard (his son and successor), against him, and finding therein his son John to be the first, falls into a grievous passion, both cursing his sons, and the day wherein himself was born; and in that distemperature, departs the world, which so often himself had distempered. "The causeless curse," indeed (though from a parent’ s mouth), "shall not come". Such was it that befell Julius Palmer, martyr, who, when he asked his mother’ s blessing, "Thou shalt," said she, "have Christ’ s curse and mine, wheresoever thou goest." He, pausing a little, as one amazed at so heavy a greeting, at length said: "O mother, your own curse you may give me, which God knoweth I never deserved; but God’ s curse you cannot; for he hath already blessed me, and I shall be blessed." "As for money and goods," said she, "which thou suest to me for, as bequeathed thee by thy father, I have none of thine. Thy father bequeathed nothing for heretics. Faggots I have to burn thee; more thou gettest not at my hands." "Mother," said he, "whereas you have cursed me, I again pray to God to bless and prosper you, all your life long." And so he departed, and shortly after, valiantly suffered for the truth, at Newbury in Berkshire, having some time been Fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford, and all King Edward’ s days an obstinate Papist. Thus for the causeless curse of parents. But where it is just, it lights heavy. The very complaint of a parent makes a loud cry in God’ s ears. It is said, that God, by cutting off Abimelech, "rendered the wickedness that he did to his father". And who can read with dry eyes that pitiful supplication of the old Emperor Andronicus to his young nephew of the same name (Turk. Hist., fol. 172)? But when it proceeds to a curse, lamentable effects have followed.

(25) Cursed be Canaan.—The prophecy of Noah takes the form of a poem, like Lamech’s boast in Genesis 4. In it Ham is passed over in silence, as though his unfilial conduct, recorded in Genesis 9:22, made him unworthy of a blessing, while it was not so wicked as to bring on him a curse. The whole weight of Noah’s displeasure falls on Canaan, whose degraded position among the nations is thrice insisted upon. A servant of servants. That is, the most abject of slaves. This was fulfilled in the conquest of Canaau by Joshua, but the race had nevertheless a great future before it. The Hittites were one of the foremost nations of antiquity, and the Sido-nians, Tyrians, and Phœnicians were such famous traders, that Canaanite is in our version translated merchant, without even a note in the margin (e.g., Proverbs 31:24). But the whole race was enslaved by one of the most terrible and degrading forms of idolatry, and as Shem’s blessing is religious, so possibly is Canaan’s curse. Lenormant (Manual of Ancient History of the East, 2:219) says of their religion, “No other people ever rivalled them in the mixture of bloodshed and debauchery with which they thought to honour the Deity.” He also quotes Creuzer, who says, “The Canaanite religion silenced all the best feelings of human nature, degraded men’s minds by a superstition alternately cruel and profligate, and we may seek in vain for any influence for good it could have exercised on the nation.”

Verse 25. Cursed be Canaan] See on the preceding verses. In the 25th, 26th, and 27th verses, instead of Canaan simply, the Arabic version has Ham the father of Canaan; but this is acknowledged by none of the other versions, and seems to be merely a gloss.

18–27. Noah, as the Vine-dresser, and his three Sons. (J.) In this section the narrative, which begins at Genesis 9:20, is introduced by the two connecting Genesis 9:18-19, which either conclude J’s account of the Flood, or are an editorial insertion by the compiler. (a) 18, 19 Noah and his family leave the ark: (b) 20–24 Noah plants a vineyard, drinks wine, becomes intoxicated, is observed and ridiculed by Ham, but Shem and Japheth shew respect: (c) 25–27 the curse of Noah on Canaan, the blessing on Shem and Japheth.

25. And he said — Render the whole prophecy thus:Cursed be Canaan, A servant of servants let him be unto his brethren.And he said:Blessed be Jehovah, God of Shem; And let Canaan be a servant unto