Ham
Ham (Hebrew חם) was the oldest son of Noah born in 1556 FC (2412 BC) when Noah was 500 years old. At that time the world was troubled by violence and crime,[1] and God had warned his father Noah of the coming judgment and instructed him to build an Ark.[2] Ham and his brothers presumably helped Noah with the construction. He got married before the Flood,[3] and fathered Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan after the Flood.[4] He is also the grandfather of Nimrod, who built the cities of Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh.[5]
Ham is mentioned in Genesis 9 where Noah had become drunk and was lying in his tent naked.[6] Verse 22 says that it was Ham that saw his father’s nakedness, but curiously Noah cursed Canaan, not Ham (although Ham was pointedly left out of the blessings given to Japeth and Shem). In verse 24, the phrase “his younger son” means “his little one” but could also mean “grandson”.[7] Ham saw his father naked, which was a sin,[8] and told his brothers Shem and Japheth who went in backwards to cover their father. But in the meantime, Canaan did something that was a sin to Noah and was cursed for it. Canaan’s descendants were to be “servants of servants to his brethren” (verse 25).
Ham is the father of the African peoples. His son Cush is the father of the Ethiopians, another son Mizraim is the father of the Egyptians, and another son Canaan was the father of the Canaanites and Phoenicians. Very little is said about his last son Phut, but it is believed they may be the Libyans.[9]
Contents
Etymology
Ham means “hot” or “warm” or “from the tropical habitat”.[10] He was given a land that was hot. It could also be said that his nature was “hot”, as in hot-blooded or passionate.
The Land of Ham
The name alone means “hot”, and that means if we’re choosing between Africa, Asia, and Europe, only one can honestly fit the description “hot”. The land of Ham[11] is the continent of Africa.
Ham’s oldest son was Cush[12], whose name in Hebrew means “black”.[13] This was also the Biblical name for the country of Ethiopia; when you see Ethiopia in your Bible, it is always translated from the Hebrew word/name Cush, named for the first Ethiopian, black Cush, son of Ham.
The Bible makes it clear that the Cushite’s skin was different from the Israelite with a comment in Jeremiah 13:23.
The word/name “Ethiopia” is a Greek name, meaning, literally “black”. The logic is clear that the black race, and Africa in general, is easily traced back to Ham, and particularly to Cush.
But all Hamites were not pure black. The Caananites, according to the art of history, were not black, but a dusky brown color somewhat like modern Arabs. Mizraim, another son of Ham, was the father of the Egyptians; except in the genealogies, Mizraim is always translated as “Egypt” in your Bible. And although it is hotly debated today, it seems that while ancient Egyptians were dark, they were not black.
This can easily be explained by the gene pool. Even if Ham and his wife were both black, when his son married a daughter of a white son of Noah, their children would average dark. If they had four children, one would be very white, one very black, and two would be brown, according to Mendel’s laws of genetics[14] Add another generation or two, and you can get any combination of color and feature in the human rainbow.
References
- ↑ Genesis 6:5
- ↑ Hebrews 11:7
- ↑ Genesis 7:7
- ↑ Genesis 10:6
- ↑ Genesis 10:6-10
- ↑ Genesis 9:20-27
- ↑ See Strong’s H1121
- ↑ Leviticus 18:7
- ↑ Genesis 10:6
- ↑ Strong’s H2526
- ↑ Psalms 105:23, 27
- ↑ Genesis 10:6
- ↑ Strong’s 3568
- ↑ Mendel’s Laws
