Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Genesis

[Cinnamon]

Just started reading. What does it mean to curse someone?

Like the title says i just started reading the Bible. I'm at the part where noah curses canaan because ham saw noah naked and blacked out drunk.

What about noah allows him to cast a curse, and could anyone back then curse someone? Just curious how this curse works and why noah could do it on canaan. I guess it's cause he got gods covenant but that's kinda a boring answer

[jimwalton]

The Old Testament does have other examples of men cursing men: Josh 6.26; 9.23; Jer. 20.14, 15-17. The hard part is figuring out if they are a wish or a decree. In this particular case there is no warrant to view Noah's pronouncement as a prophecy originating from God. There is no "This is what the Lord says:..."! Instead, it's Noah's emotion at the moment because of Ham's indiscretion concerning what he sees as the destiny of Ham's descendant, Canaan. This kind of pronouncement was common in Genesis (24:60; 27:27-29, 39-40; 48.15-16; and all of chapter 49). Even if they're not prophecies from God, they were taken seriously in that culture and considered to influence people's destinies, whether this is true or not (they may not have had influence). As it turns out, this came true with Israel's defeat and subjugation of Canaan (Josh. 9.23; 1 Ki. 9.20-21). Moses uses the incident to indicate the depth of generations of moral pollution in the Canaanite population.