Genesis

בייה

The Torah says Noah cursed his grandson Canaan for his youngest son Ham’s offense. The Torah Speaks about a parent’s love and hate relationship with their children. There is a key for us to be mindful of. (Exodus 20.5-6) Says, ‘You shall not bow down yourself to them [engraved images and other gods], nor serve them; for I [the] Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And [on the other hand I] show mercy to thousands of those who love Me, and Observe My Commandments.’

Noah’s rage regarding Ham’s offenses and Shem’s blessing were permitted because he was within his parental rights regarding his children and grandchildren. Remember that Noah wore the hat of a father/grandfather, a Prophet of the Lord God, a High Priest/Priest of the Lord God when he cursed Canaan. The curse and the blessing had unique and interesting levels. Noah’s blessing/approval of Shem and his curse/opposition of Ham relay an essential message to us. It is good for Ham’s descendants to dwell in Shem and Japheth’s tents – Israel providing we are Jews who live according to the Torah. (Genesis 12.3) Says, ‘And I will bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you; and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.’

The Blessing

The sons of Jacob owned indentured servants. Eliezer was the chief servant of Abraham’s house. Eliezer was a Canaanite. The servants under Eliezer are the Canaanite servants of servants [See: Genesis 15.2 and 24.32]. In Gaza today, there are servants of servants who are the descendants of Canaan. There is supposed to be a significant difference between the treatment of Hebrew servants in comparison to how Hamas treats the Gazans.

Why didn’t Noah curse Ham?

(Genesis 9.1) He says, ‘And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.’

What God has blessed who can curse it?

(Numbers 23.8) Says, ‘How shall I curse, he whom God has not cursed? Or how shall I defy he whom the Lord has not defied?’

We have been studying about Noah and his sons from a variety of angles to help us understand the impact of what they faced and why our world is at the edge of war in the Middle East. Noah’s curse on Canaan invoked supernatural power to punish Ham through his fourth son, Canaan. (Genesis 9.25) Says, ‘And [Noah] said, אָר֣וּר Aw Roor – Cursed כְּנָ֑עַן Chi Nah Ahn – [be] Canaan; עֶ֥בֶד Ay Vehd – [a] servant עֲבָדִ֖ים Ah Vaw Deem – [of] servants shall he be to his brothers.’ This is what we are observing in Gaza today. The fulfillment of Noah’s prophetic words, ‘A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.’ In other words, Cursed be Canaan. Canaan shall be a servant to Kush, Egypt, and Put.

Hamas, who are descendants of Canaan, force the descendants of Canaan living in Gaza to the lowest level of servitude. They use the Gazans as shields against Israel and other nations. Hamas, who descended from Canaan, murder, rape, sexually abuse and steal supplies from Gazans for use in the institutions in Gaza as they choose. They teach Gazans to hate Israel and other nations. Recently, we learned that the UNRWA – United Nations Relief Works Agency – Gaza is the largest employer of Gazans. They employ hundreds of thousands of Gazans in perpetuity. Canaanites/Gazans receiving funds roll on from parents to children to grandchildren. Hamas manages this and other United Nations agencies in Gaza.

(Genesis 48.5-7) Says, ‘Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are their swords. O my soul, do not come into their council; to their assembly, let my honor not be united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their wanton will they lamed an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.’

(Genesis 10.15-19) defines who Noah’s curse engulfed ‘And Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as you come to Gerar, to Gaza; as you come to Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, to Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and their nations.’

(Genesis 15.18-19) Says, ‘In the same day [the] Lord Made a covenant with Abraham, saying, To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates; The Kenites, and the Kenazites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’

These nations and people are suffering from Noah’s Curse of Canaan.

‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, I am the Lord your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, shall you not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan, where I bring you, shall you not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall do my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk with them; I am the Lord your God. You shall, therefore, keep My Statutes and My Judgments; which if a man does, he shall live in them; I am [the] Lord.’

Good Sabbath.

Dr. Akiva Gamliel Belk

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