Biblical Metaphors Shed Light on Ham's Sin in Noah's Tent.

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

Biblical Metaphors Shed Light on Ham's Sin in Noah's Tent.

Introduction:

The Bible has metaphors (or similitudes) within it.

For Hosea 12:10 says,

"I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets."

To not understand the Bible's metaphors is to be in confusion to what God's Word really says. Most Christians agree that the metaphor "knew" in relation to a man and a woman in the Bible can sometimes be in reference to sex; Most Christians believe the words, "slept with his fathers" is defined as death (See examples here, and here at BlueLetterBible). It is just like in Revelation. The seven heads are seven mountains (Revelation 17:9) which was an earlier description of the seven headed scarlet colored beast in Revelation 17:3. So the Bible uses metaphor to help us to gain an understanding of what it is really talking about.

The Metaphors:

Key Verses explaining the Biblical Metaphors used for our understanding on the "Story of Noah and Ham" in Genesis 9:

#1. Key Verse: Leviticus 20:17

"And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity." (Leviticus 20:17).

Breakdown:

(a) See her nakedness = Sex.

(b) Uncovered his sister's nakedness = Sex.

Keywords relating here to sex:

(a) See

(b) Nakedness

(c) Uncovered (such a person's) nakedness.

#2. Key Verse: Leviticus 20:11

"And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." (Leviticus 20:11).

Breakdown:

(a) Lieth with his father's wife = Sex.

(b) Hath uncovered his father's nakedness = Sex (or lieth with his father's wife).

Keywords relating here to sex:

(a) Lieth

(b) Lieth with his father's wife

(c) Uncovered

(d) Father's nakedness

(e) Uncovered his father's nakedness.

#3. Key Verse: Leviticus 18:8

"The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness." (Leviticus 18:8).

Breakdown:

(a) The nakedness of thy father's wife shall you not uncover = Do not have sex with your father's wife.

(b) The nakedness of your father's wife = the father's nakedness (Also see explanation below).

(c) The father's nakedness = his wife or intimate partner in marriage (i.e. an extension of his own body, for the Scriptures say: "The two shall become one flesh." (Mark 10:8)). To "uncover the wife's nakedness" is to see what the husband sees in their joining together in physical union. The wife's nakedness is a part of the husband's nakedness because they both are one flesh (joined together in marriage).

Keywords relating to the Intimacy or Intimate Partner of the Husband:

(a) Nakedness

(b) Nakedness of thy father's wife

(c) Nakedness of thy father's wife you shall not uncover

(d) Thy father's nakedness

The Story:

Taking all these metaphors into account, we understand that when we read the "Story of Noah and Ham," it is something a little different than what we have come to know.

The Hebrew word "רָאָה" (ra'ah) for the English word "saw" in Genesis 9:22 can also mean, "enjoy" (whereby we can see 4 other references for it). So one can read it as saying, Ham enjoyed the "nakedness of his father" (i.e. his father's wife).

Saw:
Strong’s H7200

Enjoy:
Strong's H7200

For we can see "his father's nakedness" = "his father's wife" in Leviticus 20:11.

"And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness:"

Here it is in the traditional text in red:

Gen 9:20 "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

Gen 9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

Gen 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

Gen 9:23 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.

Gen 9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

Gen 9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren."

And here is the text with the words exchanged using Leviticus 20, and the alternate word "enjoyed" for the word "saw.":

Gen 9:20 "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

Gen 9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

Gen 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, enjoyed his father's wife, and told his two brethren without.

Gen 9:23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered his father's wife; and their faces were backward, and they saw not his father's wife.

Gen 9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

Gen 9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren."

So as shocking as this may sound to some, and I know it goes beyond what you have been taught by your good and fun loving pastor, the "Story of Noah and Ham" is sadly about incest between Ham and his mother (i.e. Noah's wife). Whether Ham forced himself upon his own mother is unclear in the text. What we know is that this is what makes the most sense out of the text when Noah curses Ham's son Canaan (in light of applying Biblical metaphors). For Canaan would naturally be cursed by Noah because he is the by-product of an incestuous union. It makes no sense to curse an innocent son (Canaan) for something minor (like looking at the nude body of one's father) that his father (Ham) had done. As for what is traditionally taught on this story: Why would the other brothers care if Ham boasted in seeing his father's naked body? Did they not see their father naked when they were children? Why would they care if Ham said he seen their father naked in his own tent? It makes no sense. On the contrary, with applying Biblical metaphors to our narrative here: It would actually make more sense that Noah's other two sons would try to attempt damage control of a sad event of Ham taking advantage of their own mother.

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

Here is an interesting part of an article on Ham's sin of sleeping with his mother:

The way the text mentions over and over again that Ham is the father of Canaan is further evidence for this interpretation. “It is striking that Ham is named a father at the precise moment when he is introduced as a son (see Genesis 9:18). Later, at the transgression of Ham, exactly the same thing happens: ‘Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father’ (Genesis 9:22)” (Van Wolde, p.146). The text emphasizes that Ham became a father at the same time that he behaved badly.

Finally, I must mention that Leviticus 18:3 admonishes the children of Israel to “not perform the practice of the land of Canaan” (aka, the culture of the descendants of Ham) including uncovering the “nakedness of one’s father.” Is it a coincidence that Canaan is mentioned exactly at the mention on incest laws? We see a similiar phrase used. The words, "Nakedness of his father" is used in both Genesis 9 and Leviticus 18. Both are talking about Canaan, too! Two coincidences?

Mother and son incest is also the subject of Deuteronomy 27:20. Such incestuous acts were often about inner-family power struggles and it was usually an ambitious son who attempted to sexually compromise his mother.

“Ham was trying to usurp his father’s authority by sleeping with his mother. Perhaps that’s why he told his brothers what he’d done, rather than keeping it a secret. This reflects a pattern found elsewhere in the Old Testament, especially where sons resent fathers for showing favor to siblings. For example, Jacob’s son Reuben sought to undermine his (Jacob’s) favored half-brother Joseph by taking his father’s concubine – for which he received a paternal curse (see Genesis 29:32; Genesis 35:22; Genesis 49:3-4). Likewise, Absalom resented the plans of his father, King David, to give the throne to one of his younger half-brothers, Solomon. In response, Absalom drove King David out of Jerusalem and then slept with his father’s concubines–right in public–to signify his seizure of royal power” (Hahn, pp. 87-8).

Source:
Noah’s Wife: A Second Eve

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

Also, have you ever heard of the "law of first mention" in the Bible? Well, if you haven't, the "law of first mention" is said to be the principle that requires one to go to that portion of the Scriptures where a doctrine, truth, event, or word is mentioned for the first time and to study the first occurrence of the same in order to get the fundamental inherent meaning of that doctrine or truth. When we thus see the first appearance, which is usually in the simplest form, we can then examine the doctrine (or truth) in other portions of the Word that were given later. The fundamental concept in the first occurrence remains dominant as a rule, and colors all later additions to that doctrine. In view of this fact, it becomes imperative that we understand the law of first mention.

The book of Genesis has Properly been called the "seed-plot" of the Bible. The word, Genesis, comes from the Greek expression which in its verbal form means to begin, or, to come into existence. This first book of the revelation of God is properly called, therefore, "the book of beginnings."

In Genesis 9, most people believe that Noah got drunk, and naked, which resulted in his two sons covering their father's nakedness. They believe that in the story of Noah's drunkenness in Genesis chapter 9, Ham had uncovered his father's nakedness which then caused Noah to curse Ham's son (Canaan). While this story is partially true in the fact that Noah got drunk and was naked within his tent, most don't bother to ask the question: "Why would Noah curse Ham's child Canaan for what Ham did?"

Well, I believe the fog lifts from the riddle of this question when we read Leviticus 20:11. For in this verse we learn that if one lieth with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness. So the phrase "uncovered his father's nakedness" is in relation to sleeping with one's father's wife. In other words, Ham had uncovered Noah's nakedness (i.e. his father's nakedness) by sleeping with Noah's wife. Now, whether Noah's wife enticed Ham or whether Ham forced himself upon his own mother is not spoken of within the text of Genesis 9. It just says Ham uncovered his father's nakedness (Which would mean the nakedness of Noah's wife if we were to apply the Biblical terminology as spoken of in Leviticus 20:11).

However, if we are to ignore the terminology in Leviticus 20:11, and we are to regard the text as only speaking of Noah and not his wife, then we do have to ask several questions, though.

#1. "Why didn't Noah curse Ham instead of Canaan?"
#2. "Why did Noah's sons cover their father's nakedness if he was uncovered within his tent?
#3. "Why didn't Noah have any more children with his wife? (Genesis 10:1 KJV)"

In fact, if we were to look in Scripture at other related places in the Bible we would see similar instances of drunkenness and sexual immorality taking place. For example: We see Lot's daughters enticing their father with wine and they fornicated with him.

This is also a parallel of what is happening now and what will continue take place all the way up to the End Times when Jesus returns, too. For Mystery Babylon (The spiritual harlot church) who is described as a woman has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication (Revelation 14:8 KJV); And this woman is drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus (Revelation 17:6 KJV).

This is important to note that it is the nations that fornicated with this spiritual harlot who is drunk with the blood of the saints because the result of the sin of Noah's son Ham had caused a ripple effect of sin into his future generation of children from his fornication with his own mother (which resulted in Canaan and the Canaanites); And the Israelites were later commanded by God to destroy the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 20:17 KJV) for their pagan worship of other gods (Deuteronomy 7:3–5) (Deuteronomy 12:2,3) (Exodus 34:12,13); For these Canaanites were obviously the offspring of Canaan which were the result of an act of sin.

The same thing resulted from the drunkenness and fornication that was caused by Lot's daughters. One of their sons, whose name was Moab, had ended up being the father of the Moabites (Genesis 19:37 KJV) and at times, the Moabites were great enemies of Israel. For it was the Balak, king of Moab, who hired Balaam the prophet, hoping that he could curse Israel (Numbers 22-25). It was Eglon, king of Moab, who oppressed Israel in the days of the Judges (Judges 3:12-30). During the time of Saul and David, Israel established a firm control over Moab, but later kings of Israel were not always able to keep them under Israeli dominance; And thus, they were a thorn in the side of God's people.

Sources:
Biblical Research Studies Group-The Law of First Mention
Enduring Word Bible Commentary Isaiah Chapter 15

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

In addition:

Here are some matching points between the narrative of Noah, his wife, and his son Ham, vs. the narrative of Lot and his two daughters:

The two groups both lived around wicked people who are eventually erradicated by God by a miraclous judgment.
The two groups are both saved because they were regarded as righteous at that time.
Both fathers pass out drunk after God's judgment.
Both fathers (as a result of their drunkenness) are involved in an incestous pregancy at the hand of their own children.
Both groups centers around three people as a part of the incident.
The two narratives over emphasize the names of the offspring of these evil children and they become the villians of Israel's Exodus from Egypt and their entry into the Promised Land.

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

Okay. To recap, this same incident between 3 people had both involved:

#1. A righteous man passing out drunk after a major miraculous Judgment.
#2. A pregnancy transpiring as a result of incest among their own children.
#3. The descendants of both of these incidents of incest are destroyed.
#4. The number 9. The first incident happens in Genesis 9 and the second incident happens in Genesis 19.

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

It is very possible Ham wanted to assert his authority by sleeping with his own mother. His gloating about this to his two brothers was a way of showing his authority over them. But we know from the Bible that Noah said that Canaan's descendants would serve his two brothers instead.

So my encouragement is for us to always stay humble and not be like a Ham (who is seeking human power and authority). Follow Jesus. Do what is good and right. Allow Jesus to move in your life. For salvation is His name.

OldWiseGuy · Feb 28, 2018

Several opinions on what happened. This for instance is a popular one.
Ham: The Origin of Black Africans and Black Arabs In The Bible

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

OldWiseGuy said:
Several opinions on what happened. This for instance is a popular one.
Ham: The Origin of Black Africans and Black Arabs In The Bible

Yeah, I believe it is false to say that Noah cursed Ham and that curse was a part of them being black or in the fact that they just happen to be black. I agree with the article on that point. However, I disagree with the article throwing suspicion upon Ham sleeping with Noah's wife. It is clear that is what happened if one were to carefully study and apply the Biblical metaphors used by Moses when he wrote what we have come to know as Genesis 9. The key verses for study are Leviticus 20:17, Leviticus 20:11, and Leviticus 18:8.

I believe God directed Noah to write Genesis 9 this way so as to protect the integrity of Noah and his family.

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

A Summarization of the Real Story of Noah & Ham:

Gen 9:20 Noah begins making wine.
Gen 9:21 Noah gets drunk and passes out naked (Note: It is possible Noah is naked because he got frisky with his wife as a result of his drunkenness).
Gen 9:22 Ham (father of Canaan is highlighted) seeing that his father is incapacitated makes advances on his mother. After all, sex is pleasurable, men tend to desire multiple partners, not many women are available after a global flood, and his mother is probably still attractive due to pre-flood aging conditions. He gloats of his conquest to his brothers.
Gen 9:23 The brothers try damage control. They cover up their mother (is she drunk also?). The Bible tends to omit relevant facts about woman in Genesis (what was her name?).
Gen 9:24 While the text does not specifically say it (and while I am not claiming it as fact), I believe that it is possible that God may have sent a dream to Noah while he was drunk about the consequences of his own sin. Noah's sin was drunkenness. This led to Noah not being sober enough so as to wake up while his wife was being taken advantage of next to him. Noah received a dream from God of his son Ham taking advantage of his wife (when he was drunk) and he seen her getting pregnant. In the dream: Noah then had seen the descendants of Canaan being a wicked and evil people (which God later destroys). So Noah wakes up knowing what his son Ham had done unto him (by Ham taking advantage of his other half in marriage).
Gen 9:25-26 Then Noah curses Canaan and or the new nation that will be formed from this union. In verse 22, it is highlighting Ham as Canaan’s father (which makes sense if the Jewish reader understood the incestuous origin of Canaan). This would also be an anachronistic clarification that would be very helpful to the reader in this circumstance. Otherwise, it makes very little sense.

In Summary, the Literalist Story is Different:

Gen 9:20 Noah begins making wine.
Gen 9:21 Noah gets drunk.
Gen 9:22 Ham walks into Noah’s tent and sees him naked. Ham then has perverted thoughts or has some sort of debased enjoyment (Literalists claim this with no textual evidence).
Gen 9:23 The brothers walk into the tent backwards and cover up their naked father.
Gen 9:24 Noah comes back into consciousness and figures out that Ham saw him naked (how? The text does not tell, so the literalist must think this happened by magic).
Gen 9:25-26 He curses a baby/child/young boy for the sin of the father presumably because the son was wicked (though the text never indicates this).

In short, those who claim that Ham merely saw his father naked have no explanation for Canaan’s curse and end up claiming that God curses children for the sins of their fathers. They also end up believing that multi-generational curses can be levied for mere sight of something that naturally occurs in human beings (nakedness). They also violate their own interpretation rules with candor. The facts point to Canaan being the result of an incestuous relationship between Noah’s wife and Ham.

In fact, we see this event repeated in the Bible elsewhere.

Lot's Daughters get Lot drunk and they take advantage of him and they get pregnant. God destroyed both the nations (offspring) of the result of Canaan and from the two daughters of Lot. Death is the punishment for incest according to God's Word (Leviticus 20:11).

Source Used:
was Canaan the child of Ham and Noah’s wife

JackRT · Feb 28, 2018

Jason --- I find your argument very convincing.

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

JackRT said:
Jason --- I find your argument very convincing.

Thank you.
I believe it is all God who led me to find out about this through an article.
From there I just did more digging in His Word and it has been a real eye opener.

JackRT · Feb 28, 2018

Jason0047 said:
Thank you.
I believe it is all God who led me to find out about this through an article.
From there I just did more digging in His Word and it has been a real eye opener.

I too have done a lot of digging in the Bible and trying to understand the full context of the culture and the literary peculiarities of that time and place. It has changed my understandings in a great many ways and this is one more.

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

JackRT said:
I too have done a lot of digging in the Bible and trying to understand the full context of the culture and the literary peculiarities of that time and place. It has changed my understandings in a great many ways and this is one more.

*Gives you a big hug in the Lord.*

All glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, my brother.

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

This idiom "the father's nakedness" explains several other passages in the Bible as well. Without this explanation the following verses may be hard to understand.

1 Sa 20:30 Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness?

Eze 16:36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;

Hab 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

Side Note:

Oh, and to see one's nakedness is the same as uncovering that nakedness.
For to uncover something means to see something that was once previously covered (but is not currently covered). For example: If my legs were covered with a blanket, you could not see them. But if I uncovered my legs by taking the blanket away, you could then see my legs. So to "uncover" is a similar idiom for saying to "see."

Also, there are other idioms for sexual relations in the Bible, such as "knew" and "slept", as well. Do we read these verses as literal? Surely not. The context determines their use.

Source:
was Canaan the child of Ham and Noah’s wife

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

Another thing God shared with me is the following:

How can we apply today the two brothers walking backwards with the sheet?

Well, one way of looking at this is that the sheet (cloth) is a covering of protection so as not to see the temptation of the flesh:

"Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh." (Romans 13:14) (NIV).

(a) Remember (Go back) and receive what you heard and repent.
(b) Defile not your garments.

Rev 3:3 "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."
Rev 3:4 "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments."
(Revelation 3:3-4).

Going back:
(Back to the Lord):
And put on His bandages (Like a Sheet or Garment):

“Come, let’s go back to the Lord. He hurt us, but he will heal us. He wounded us, but he will put bandages on us." (Hosea 6:1) (ERV).

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
(John 5:39).

Jesus is our cloth or sheet of righteousness.
For if sin hits our family or our lives, we are to walk back to the Lord Jesus and repent to Him.

Hidden In Him · Feb 28, 2018

Jason0047 said:
Gen 9:20 "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
Gen 9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
Gen 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, enjoyed his father's wife, and told his two brethren without.
Gen 9:23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered his father's wife; and their faces were backward, and they saw not his father's wife.
Gen 9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
Gen 9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren."

Jason0047 said:
Gen 9:20 Noah begins making wine.
Gen 9:21 Noah gets drunk and passes out naked (Note: It is possible Noah is naked because he got frisky with his wife as a result of his drunkenness).
Gen 9:22 Ham (father of Canaan is highlighted) seeing that his father is incapacitated makes advances on his mother. After all, sex is pleasurable, men tend to desire multiple partners, not many women are available after a global flood, and his mother is probably still attractive due to pre-flood aging conditions. He gloats of his conquest to his brothers.
Gen 9:23 The brothers try damage control. They cover up their mother (is she drunk also?). The Bible tends to omit relevant facts about woman in Genesis (what was her name?).
Gen 9:24 While the text does not specifically say it (and while I am not claiming it as fact), I believe that it is possible that God may have sent a dream to Noah while he was drunk about the consequences of his own sin. Noah's sin was drunkenness. This led to Noah not being sober enough so as to wake up while his wife was being taken advantage of next to him. Noah received a dream from God of his son Ham taking advantage of his wife (when he was drunk) and he seen her getting pregnant. In the dream: Noah then had seen the descendants of Canaan being a wicked and evil people (which God later destroys). So Noah wakes up knowing what his son Ham had done unto him (by Ham taking advantage of his other half in marriage).
Gen 9:25-26 Then Noah curses Canaan and or the new nation that will be formed from this union. In verse 22, it is highlighting Ham as Canaan’s father (which makes sense if the Jewish reader understood the incestuous origin of Canaan). This would also be an anachronistic clarification that would be very helpful to the reader in this circumstance. Otherwise, it makes very little sense.

Interesting, Jason. Leviticus 20:11 is convincing. The criticism would be over the lack of delineation between Noah's own nakedness in verse 21 and the transition to discussing his wife's nakedness in verse 22. That, and the lack of explanation for why she would not have resisted Ham while in the act. But then the Bible is notorious for leaving many things out. She may have actually been aware and consenting, but the judgment simply fell upon Ham for being a male descendent.

Not fully convinced, but it certainly makes sense out of such an aggressive and far-reaching curse.

Bible Highlighter · Feb 28, 2018

Hidden In Him said:
Interesting, Jason. Leviticus 20:11 is convincing. The criticism would be over the lack of delineation between Noah's own nakedness in verse 21 and the transition to discussing his wife's nakedness in verse 22. That, and the lack of explanation for why she would not have resisted Ham while in the act. But then the Bible is notorious for leaving many things out. She may have actually been aware and consenting, but the judgment simply fell upon Ham for being a male descendent.

Not fully convinced, but it certainly makes sense out of such an aggressive and far-reaching curse.

Take note that the words "see nakedness" is clearly referenced as sex in Leviticus 20:17. The word "saw the nakedness" is used in Genesis 9:22. The Hebrew word for the English word "saw" also has been defined as "enjoyed" in other parts of the Bible (Do a BlueLetterBible search if you are interested). We see in Habakkuk 2:15 that there is looking upon the neighbor's nakedness as a part of getting them drunk. Surely this is in reference to sex here.

Also there is a difference in wording in Genesis 9:21 vs. Genesis 9:22-23. Genesis 9:21 says, "he was uncovered within his tent" (which is not a direct metaphorical phrase from Leviticus) and yet the terminology used in Genesis 9:22-23 that says a variation of the words "father's nakedness" is mentioned 3 times (Which is indeed taken straight right out of Leviticus to mean the nakedness of the wife in relation to sex).

Please carefully take notes on Leviticus 20:17, Leviticus 20:11, and Leviticus 18:8. Soak up all the metaphorical wording or lingo there and see if it matches up with the "Story of Noah and Ham" in Genesis 9.

cfdude · Feb 28, 2018

Jason0047 said:
The Bible has metaphors (or similitudes) within it.

For Hosea 12:10 says,

"I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets."
To not understand the Bible's metaphors is to be in confusion to what God's Word really says. Most Christians agree that the metaphor "knew" in relation to a man and a woman in the Bible can sometimes be in reference to sex; Most Christians believe the words, "slept with his fathers" is defined as death (See examples here, and here at BlueLetterBible). It is just like in Revelation. The seven heads are seven mountains (Revelation 17:9) which was an earlier description of the seven headed scarlet colored beast in Revelation 17:3. So the Bible uses metaphor to help us to gain an understanding of what it is really talking about.

Thank you for the scriptural find of Hosea 12:10!

I think biblical nakedness is deeper in meaning biblically speaking. I'm seeing something within the texts that seems to reveal that "nakedness" is more of an indignity or human shame of being a sinful fallen creature. Look at these verses.

Mic_1:11 Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame; the inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out; the lamentation of Beth-ezel shall take away from you its standing place.

Nah_3:5 Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame.

Rev_3:18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

Good study though. :oldthumbsup:

OldWiseGuy · Feb 28, 2018

cfdude said:
Thank you for the scriptural find of Hosea 12:10!

I think biblical nakedness is deeper in meaning biblically speaking. I'm seeing something within the texts that seems to reveal that "nakedness" is more of an indignity or human shame of being a sinful fallen creature. Look at these verses.

Mic_1:11 Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame; the inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out; the lamentation of Beth-ezel shall take away from you its standing place.

Nah_3:5 Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame.

Rev_3:18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

Good study though.

I agree. The Hebrew word "nakedness" as used in the narrative has no sexual connotation. What I think Ham saw was the disgusting evidence of Canaan's 'shameful' act upon a drunken Noah. It is noteworthy that the narrative begins with Canaan being introduced as the "son of Ham" in two places, indicating strongly that he was a primary figure in the story, and not the result of an incestuous encounter between Ham and his own mother.

cfdude · Mar 1, 2018

OldWiseGuy said:
I agree. The Hebrew word "nakedness" as used in the narrative has no sexual connotation. What I think Ham saw was the disgusting evidence of Canaan's 'shameful' act upon a drunken Noah. It is noteworthy that the narrative begins with Canaan being introduced as the "son of Ham" in two places, indicating strongly that he was a primary figure in the story, and not the result of an incestuous encounter between Ham and his own mother.

I too had believed in the op's point of view previously but after studying the sins of Israel and seeing how God referred to their nakedness as more of an open shame it made me change my mind. The nakedness of Adam and Eve was something of a deprivation that made them even hide themselves but God covered them. This uncovering or revealing of what should be covered is what Satan, the accuser, does in revealing our sin. Sin covered or uncovered is behind the idea. (Look also at Oba 1:10, Job 14:17, Num 19:15, Deut 23:13, Neh 4:5). I believe what is being said in Gen and Lev is that family members or loved ones should be covered as a responsibility to honor and love one another. To fail to cover each others embarrassing or shamefulness is ungodly. It's especially disgraceful to shame an older person, like even an older man's weakness (1 Tim 5:1).

Love this picture btw..Oh, that He might cover my shame.

Biblical Metaphors Shed Light on Ham's Sin in Noah's Tent.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Wake me when it's soup.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Well-Known Member

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Well-Known Member

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Well-Known Member

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Newbie

Wake me when it's soup.

Newbie

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