Blogging Genesis. Part 2 of 2 reblogs for Genesis 10. |
| I don't present this image as historically accurate. Frankly it doesn't make biological sense, but it illustrates the traditional perspective. |
One
of the most diabolical lies read into history and Christianity is the “Curse of Ham.”
Based
on willfully deceptive readings of Genesis chapters 9 & 10, slave traders created
a doctrine in which it was God’s will for Africans and their descendants to be
enslaved.
Outside
of and inside of the Black community the “Curse of Ham” doctrine still
persists. White preachers still whisper
it as a call to save the pitiful Africans. Based on it Black activists try to
rewrite our national genealogies.
So
let’s just all take a deep breath, and let the Bible speak.
Genesis
9: 20-25, says that after the Great Flood, Noah got drunk and passed out---naked. (In Noah’s defense, given the stress of watching
everybody on the planet die from drowning while being solely responsible for
the survival of the human race in the midst of catastrophic climate conditions
never before seen on the planet---- getting sloppy drunk once is a little
understandable.)
Ham,
Noah’s middle child, made fun of his dad to his two brothers. When Noah woke up and heard about it, he was pissed! Then he
said: “Cursed be Canaan. A servant of servants he shall be to his
brethren.” (Genesis 9: 25)
That’s
the curse part.
But
do you notice a problem?
An
identity problem?
Noah
didn’t curse Ham. Noah cursed CANAAN.
It
could have been that Canaan was Ham’s other name, a nickname his dad used when
particularly mad--- except that the author of Genesis went out of his way to call
Noah’s middle son, Ham, the father of
Canaan (Genesis 9: 22). Kinda like God wanted to make sure we didn’t
confuse Noah’s middle son with Noah’s grandson.
Biblically-speaking, there
is no “Curse of Ham.” There is a Curse of Canaan.
Genesis
10:6 says that Ham had 4 sons: Cush, Mizraim
[also known as Egypt], Put, and Canaan.
The
patriarchs were cousins, and as humanity multiplied and spread, they
intermarried and interconnected even more. Nobody today is just one ethnic
thing. But, there are some clear political
lines of descent.
Canaan
became the patriarch of the Canaanite nations.
You know, all the –ites that Israel displaced when they came into the
Promised Land (Genesis 10: 15-19). The descendants of Cush founded Babylon,
Assyria, and the empires of the African interior (Genesis 10: 7-12). The African
nations most exploited by the Trans-Atlantic slave trade are linked to the line
of Cush. Black Americans are (mainly)
descendants of Cush.
So,
class, let’s review.
Who
made Noah mad? Ham.
Whom
did Noah curse? Canaan, Ham’s son.
Are
African-Americans genealogically linked to Ham? Yes. Yes, we are.
Are
African-Americans from the line of Canaanite nations, the cursed son of Ham? NOPE.
God
never cursed Black people. Everybody who ever said the enslavement and oppression of Africans and Blacks was God’s will was A LYING LIAR TELLING LIES.
Why would Noah curse the grandson instead of the son who shamed him?
Noah couldn’t curse Ham. He didn’t have the authority.
After the Flood waters subsided, God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. (Genesis 9: 1)
Noah’s sons, including Ham, were direct and equal parties with Noah in God’s post-flood covenant.
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you (Genesis 9: 8, 9)
God Himself had personally blessed Ham, and what God blesses no man can curse.
Mad and hungover as Noah was, he couldn’t override God.
There is no Curse on Ham.
O.K., think about it historically.
Racists tried to make the “curse” apply to central and southern Africa, but Ham was also the forefather of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and other great empires in the region. There’s no Genesis curse on them. Revelations, sure; but not Genesis.
And let’s put the last 500 years of African degradation in perspective. That’s 5 centuries out of 10,000 years, or more. Depending on whose archaeology you believe, human civilization might be 200,000 years old or 3.4 million years old. Over the vast majority of that span, Africa and the Middle East where the pinnacle of human achievement. Ham’s kids did pretty darn well for themselves.
Granddaddy Noah’s curse on Canaan was played out when Israel invaded the Promised Land.
You shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you (Deuteronomy 20: 17)
But even then, while honoring a patriarch’s promise, God exercised His sovereign mercy.
Remember Rahab. (Joshua chapter 2)
Jesus, the greatest of all Noah’s descendants, was descended from Rahab, a Canaanite hooker. (Matthew 1: 5-16)
Yes, I just said that Jesus is also a descendant of Ham.
What God blesses no man can curse.
Perhaps the saddest legacy of the so-called curse of Ham is the self-hate it generated. Generations of African descendants subconsciously absorbed the lie of Ham’s curse. Some responded with their own lies in self-defense. They tried to rewrite Africa into an ethnically Hebrew continent. The tried to cast off Ham as an ancestor and reframe our history as that of Israelites.
You don’t have to do all of that.
We don’t have to be someone other than who we are. The descendants of Africans are the descendants of Ham. We are not cursed. As far as Noah was concerned, we were un-cursable.
Anyway, that’s what the Bible says.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.
Support by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
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