Genesis 9:22 Commentary and Bible Study

In preparation for the judgment that will follow, every time that Ham is named, he is named as the father of Canaan. Ham went into the tent and ‘saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.’ Now, clearly because he is going to be so severely punished for this, when he saw the nakedness of his father, he obviously had a very sinful attitude. We can read this into the passage because he comes under such severe judgment . He leered at his father. He laughed at his drunken father and scorned him. The old preachers all used to say, he was rejoicing at the sight of his father’s shame. It is telling us something about him. Ham may have been a drunkard himself, for all we know. He may have been the sinner in the family. He may have been reproved. This is speculation, but it is very likely because of the judgment that followed. He may have been reproved by his father Noah before this. So how delighted he is to see that his father has fallen, and his father is in a drunken stupor and lying naked in his tent. He is not appalled and troubled by this; he is gleeful and he is filled with a kind of malicious scornfulness. His father had sinned, but the son still has a duty to protect his father’s dignity, even in this tragic fall.How ungrateful he is that Noah’s godliness has saved his life. If Noah had not been a man of God, and God had not blessed him and delivered him through the ark with his family, there would be no young man. Young man? Actually he is an old man; he is a hundred years old. He is not just an impetuous youth. He is not an immature chap who is now going to be judged because in his tender years he did something foolish. He is a mature person, and yet he fails to protect, to safeguard the honour of his father. What does he do? He goes outside and he finds Shem and Japheth, and he tells them. We can imagine that he told them in a way that lacked any sense of shame that his father should have got into this state; he had discovered this, and he was going to make it known. He does not keep his counsel. He does not attempt in any way to cover the shame of his father. He almost gloats about it and he tells them.