Noah's Nakedness and the Curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27)‪.‬

The compressed, elusive narrative of Gen 9:20-27 has been an exegetical puzzle since antiquity. (1) The terseness of the account, with its inexplicable features and subtle hints of sexual transgression, has left generations of readers and scholars feeling that there is more to the story than the narrator has made explicit. As many have pointed out, interpretive debates generally revolve around two interrelated questions: (1) the nature of Ham's offense (why would Ham's "seeing" Noah's nakedness merit a curse?), and (2) the rationale for Canaan's punishment (if Ham was the perpetrator, why was Canaan cursed?). (2) The basic outlines of the story (Gen 9:20-27) are well known. After the flood, Noah plants a vineyard, drinks of its wine, becomes drunk, and uncovers himself in a tent (v. 21). Ham, identified as the father of Canaan, "sees the nakedness of his father" ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) and tells his brothers outside (v. 22). Shem and Japheth take a garment and enter the tent backwards. With eyes averted, they cover their father (v. 23). When Noah awakens, he realizes what Ham had "done to him" ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], v. 29). He then blesses Shem and Japheth, but curses Ham's youngest son, Canaan (vv. 25-27).