To better understand the significance of the curse of Canaan and the descendants of Ham, we have meticulously and carefully analyzed the validity of these claims, while incorporating two elements: keeping in mind the biblical narrative, and taking into account the historical figures involved. And, in keeping with the Lord's Word, those who aspire to know the truth must necessarily consult ancient history.​

• Isaiah 46:9 "Remember what happened long ago..."

• Job 8:8 "Please inquire of past generations and consider the discoveries of their fathers."

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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 believe.

• 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!"

However, if you read Genesis 9:21-25 very carefully, you will realize that it is a very ambiguous verse and raises a number of questions and problems. Such complexities have led modern biblical critics to speculate on the entanglement of numerous sources and textual corruptions that might have generated such confusion, or to speculate that something might have changed in an earlier version of human history. Indeed, this brief account presents the following challenges in terms of interpretation.

Many experts and scholars maintain and teach that Japheth is the eldest of Noah's sons. However, in all genealogies, the Bible systematically lists the male children according to their birth order. In the following verses, the birth order of Noah's children is as follows:

• Genesis 5:32 "After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japhet"

• Genesis 7:13 "In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark"

• Genesis 9:18 "The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth."

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Note that this order is also consistently repeated in several non-canonical Books classified as apocrypha.

• "And in the twenty-fifth jubilee Noah took to himself a wife, and her name was Emzara, the daughter of Rakeel, the daughter of his father's brother, in the first year in the fifth week: and in the third year thereof she bare him Shem, in the fifth year thereof she bare him Ham, and in the first year in the sixth week she bare him Japheth." |The Book of Jubilees, chap. 4:33|

• "And she bare unto him three sons. Sham, Ham, and Japhet." |The Book of Adam and Eve, chap. 3-1:8|

• "As to those three sons of Noah, the first of them is Shem; the next is Ham; and the third is Japhet." |The Book of Adam and Eve, chap. 3-3:5|

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In Genesis 10:21, Most Bibles clearly state that Japheth is the youngest son of Shem, his elder brother..  

• "And unto Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born." |JPS Tanakh 1917|

• "And Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber." |Holman Christian Standard Bible|

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But the King James Bible seem to imply that Japheth is the eldest.

• "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. |King James Bible|

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In Genesis 9:24, it is written that it was the youngest son who humiliated Noah. If no Scripture has ever clearly designated Ham as Noah's youngest son, why was he given the title of youngest and not Japheth? Why is it that the traditional sequence of genealogies doesn't seem to apply to Japheth, and although he's listed last, he's still not the youngest?  

Something is obviously amiss.

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