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In the biblical account of Noah’s nakedness, Ham, one of Noah’s sons, sees his father naked after Noah gets drunk and falls asleep in his tent. The exact nature of Ham’s transgression is debated, but it is generally understood that he did not cover Noah’s nakedness and instead mocked him or told his brothers about the situation. But, is this really what happened?

 

Genesis 9:22-23 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of his father, and he told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, and the two of them put it on their shoulders and, walking backward, they covered the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of their father. And their faces were turned backward, so that they did not see the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of their father. Lexham English Bible (LEB)

 

Question - What did Ham do that made his father angry? Noah’s the one who got drunk and passed out naked! Why is he mad at Ham?

 

Question - Why, if Noah’s going to curse someone, did he curse Canaan and not Ham? Canaan didn’t do anything to Noah, so what on earth is going on here?

 

Question - why is Ham identified as the "father of Canaan" here before Canaan is born and before Genesis provides the detailed genealogy of all the sons of Noah in Genesis 10? This is absolutely not customary of the Bible to identify a person in such a way.

 

Let's examine what "nakedness" means in Biblical language of old. Note how ‘nakedness’ is used interchangeably with the sinning woman and also with ‘the skirt (in Hebrew, corner of the garment):

Deuteronomy 22:30  A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt [the corner or wing of his father’s garment, as in Numbers 15:38 and 1 Samuel 15, 27] Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)

 

Deuteronomy 27:20 Cursed is he that lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's skirt: and all the people shall say, So be it. Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)

 

Leviticus 18:7-18 You must not expose your father’s nakedness [עֶרְוַת] or your mother’s nakedness [עֶרְוַת]—she is your mother; you must not expose her nakedness [עֶרְוַת]. You must not expose the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of your father’s wife—it is your father’s nakedness [עֶרְוַת]. As for your sister’s nakedness [עֶרְוַת], whether your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born abroad, you must not expose their nakedness [עֶרְוַת]. As for the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, you must not expose their nakedness [עֶרְוַת], because they are your nakedness [עֶרְוַת]. As for the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of the daughter of your father’s wife, she is your sister, a relative of your father; you must not expose her nakedness [עֶרְוַת]. You must not expose the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative. You must not expose the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative. You must not expose the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of your father’s brother; you must not have sex with his wife—she is your aunt. You must not expose your daughter-in-law’s nakedness [עֶרְוַת]; she is your son’s wife; you must not expose her nakedness [עֶרְוַת]. You must not expose the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness [עֶרְוַת]. You must not expose the nakedness [עֶרְוַת] of a woman and her daughter, or her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter; you must not take her as wife to expose her nakedness [עֶרְוַת]; they are close relatives—that is wickedness. And you must not take as wife a woman with her sister, to be a rival-wife, to expose her nakedness [עֶרְוַת] before her during her life.

 

Leviticus 20:11 As for a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness [עֶרְוַת]; both of them shall be put to death—their blood is on them.

 

Leviticus 20:20 As for a man who lies with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness [עֶרְוַת]—they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.

 

Need I say more? It's pretty clear that the father's nakedness refers to his wife's nakedness in the Bible, which goes to say that Genesis 9 account most likely refers to Ham "uncovering" his father's wife nakedness. Or, in the spirit of Leviticus' words, Ham had an intercourse with his father's wife.

 

So, now we can comfortably answer our three questions: first, you bet Noah was angry with his son who slept with his wife while he, Noah, was blissfully asleep; second, Noah cursed Canaan because he foresaw the birth of Canaan as the abominable fruit of the horrible sin his son has just committed; and last, twice in this account Ham is referred as the "father of Canaan" prior to any genealogy account to provide us with an unmistakable clue in case we somehow missed the point of this story.