The curse of Canaan, also known as the curse of Ham, is often interpreted as a reference to black skin. However, if Ham was born with black skin long before Noah uttered any curse, this would mean that his skin color could not have been a curse, since he was born that way.

​

The name "Canaan" means "humiliated". Following Noah's humiliation, he uttered a curse against the posterity of Canaan, and not against the whole posterity of Ham, as some people tend to believe. In fact, contrary to popular belief, there never was a “curse of Ham”, because Ham was not the beneficiary of the curse but rather his younger son, Canaan.

• Genesis 9:21-25 "But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside...  When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him. he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers!"

When Noah awoke, he learned what his youngest son had done. The episode culminates when Noah curses Canaan, Ham's youngest son. Perhaps most disconcerting is the fact that Canaan is severely cursed on account of Ham's indiscreet witnessing of Noah's sexuality.​​

​

Why impose such a heavy yoke on Canaan, if he was not the author of the humiliation?

1 - According to Jewish legend, Canaan was the first to uncover Noah's nakedness, and he informed his father Ham, who in turn informed his brothers Shem and Japheth; and when Noah woke up, he cursed Canaan for having been the first cause of the scandal. 

2 - Another version mentions that it was Canaan who sinned against Noah in the manner of the Sodomites. Ham, having witnessed the act, spread the news mockingly. 

3 - According to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 70a), Noah was castrated or raped. The Gemara explains that in castrating his father Noah, Ham deprived him of the possibility of having a fourth son, which Noah desired but could no longer have, and thus Noah cursed Ham through Canaan, his fourth son. And whoever says that Ham sodomized Noah infers that the verbal analogy of the words “and he uncovered his father's nakedness” alludes to sexual intercourse.​ It is a fact that nudity was a taboo in ancient Israelite society, and uncovering one's parents' nakedness had connotations of sexual intimacy and sometimes even incest or rape. Note that in the Bible, the notion of "uncovering one's father's nakedness" has a very broad meaning and does not exclude the fact that Noah's wife may also have been subjected to the humiliation.

• Leviticus 18:8 "The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness." 

4 - In Hebrew, the word “son” is not entirely explicit, as it signifies “builder of the family name,” an expression that can be used to refer to a grandson or even a very distant descendant. Thus, the expression “his youngest son” is not necessarily a direct reference to Noah's youngest son, but could well imply Canaan “the youngest son of Ham.” In other words, Canaan would not have been punished for Ham's fault, but only for his own.

 ​

All these elements may be implicit in the story, although the text is unclear on the subject. 

You be the judge, and we encourage you to do your own research.