Cursing Canaan/2/en

Noach's Vineyard

Exegetical Approaches

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Canaan Sinned

Noach punished Canaan because it was Canaan who had wronged him.

Sources:opinion in Bavli SanhedrinSanhedrin 70aAbout the Bavli, R. Nehemiah in Bereshit Rabbah,36:7About Bereshit Rabbah R. Yosef Kara, RashbamReconstructed Bereshit 9:18About R. Shemuel b. Meir, Ibn EzraBereshit 9:18-27Additional Commentary Bereshit 9:18-27About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, R. Yosef Bekhor ShorBereshit 9:18-27About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, RalbagBereshit Beur HaParashah 9About R. Levi b. Gershom, SefornoBereshit 9:18-27About R. Ovadyah Seforno

"אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לוֹ בְּנוֹ הַקָּטָן" – All these sources assume that the verse cannot be speaking of the action done by Cham, since he was not the youngest of Noach's sons.¹  They disagree, though, regarding who is the subject of the phrase:

• Canaan – Most of these commentators maintain that the term refers to Canaan, the youngest son of Cham.²  Seforno explains that Canaan is called Noach's son, despite his being his grandson, because 'בְּנֵי בָּנִים הֲרֵי הֵם כְּבָנִים', (a person's grandsons are like his sons). R. Yosef Kara, Ibn Ezra, and Ralbag assert, instead, that the "וי"ו" of "בְּנוֹ" refers back to Cham.³
• Shem – R"Y Bekhor Shor, in contrast, suggests that the verse refers to Shem whom, he claims, was Noach's youngest son.⁴  According to him, the verse speaks not of the evil which was done to Noach, but rather the good.⁵  Its purpose is to emphasize that, of the three sons, Shem acted most appropriately and was thus the most blessed.

What did Canaan do?

• Revealed Noach's nakedness – According to R"Y Bekhor Shor,  the word "וַיִּתְגַּל" is not a reflexive form, but rather means that Noach was revealed by others.  As such, he suggests that it was Canaan who did so, while Cham simply saw the nakedness.⁶
• Castrated/sodomized Noach – The other sources maintain that Canaan did a much more severe act, with Rashbam, Ralbag and Seforno positing that he castrated his grandfather and the Bavli suggesting that he sodomized him.  All these sources are probably picking up on the language of "‎וַיֵּדַע אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לוֹ",‎⁷ and thus look for an active crime that Canaan might have committed.⁸  Moreover, they all assume that his deed was worse than that of his father to justify his being cursed.

"וְחָם הוּא אֲבִי כְנָעַן"

• Introduction – Rashbam and R"Y Bekhor Shor suggest that Cham is introduced as Canaan's father because this is relevant for later in the story.  This way the reader understands who Canaan is when he is cursed.
• "Like father, like son" – According to Ibn Ezra, Ralbag and Seforno, on the other hand, the text comes to identify father and son in their evil ways.⁹

"וַיַּרְא חָם אֲבִי כְנַעַן אֵת עֶרְוַת אָבִיו" – Seforno posits that the word "ערוה" here means shame, pointing to such usage in Ezra 4:14.  Thus, the verse is saying that, unlike his brothers who covered their father, Cham looked at his father's castration and disgrace.¹⁰

Contrast to Shem and Yefet – According to this approach there is a vast gap between Canaan and Shem/Yefet.  While the former committed an egregious sexual crime, the latter did not even look at their father.  Canaan therefore merited punishment while the others received a blessing.

Measure for measure punishment – Ralbag posits that Canaan purposefully prevented Noach from having other children so as to maximize the inheritance and land that he would get.  Since he desired a larger dominion, Noach punished him that he would get the opposite, and be enslaved to his brothers.

Purpose of Story

Canaan Born from Cham's Sin

Canaan was cursed as an illegitimate child born of the illicit union between Cham and Noach's wife.

Sources:Hoil MosheBereshit 9:28About R. Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi, I. Elizur

"וַיַּרְא חָם אֲבִי כְנַעַן אֵת עֶרְוַת אָבִיו" – This position compares the phrase to the similar one in Vayikra 20:11, "וְאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁכַּב אֶת אֵשֶׁת אָבִיו עֶרְוַת אָבִיו גִּלָּה".  There, "revealing a father's nakedness" is equivalent to "sleeping with the wife of your father". ¹¹ As such, in our verse, too, Cham is not simply viewing his father nakedness, but rather having intercourse with his father's wife.

"אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לוֹ בְּנוֹ הַקָּטָן" – This approach understands this verse as referring to Cham and would likely suggest that the word "הַקָּטָן" refers to lowly stature, rather than young age.¹²  When Noach awoke he realized what his deprecated son had done to him by sleeping with his wife.

"וַיִּתְגַּל בְּתוֹךְ אׇהֳלֹה" – Hoil Moshe explains that in his drunkenness, Noach had relations with his wife openly, without any thought to modesty.  Cham, thus, saw, and was filled with desire.  I. Elizur suggests that the exceptional spelling of "‎אׇהֳלֹה"‎¹³ is Tanakh's euphemistic way of hinting to the fact that this took place in the bedroom tent of Naoch's wife ("her" tent).¹⁴

"וְחָם הוּא אֲבִי כְנָעַן" – Since outsiders might mistake Canaan for Noach's son, the verse goes out of its way to emphasize that Cham, not Noach, was the father of Canaan. Similarly, the following verse repeats the already known fact, "שְׁלֹשָׁה אֵלֶּה בְּנֵי נֹחַ", to highlight that these three alone (and not four) were the sons of Noach.

Contrast to Shem and Yefet – I. Elizur suggests that Shem and Yefet covered not their father, but their mother. ["עֶרְוַת אֲבִיהֶם" consistently refers to Noach's wife.]  It was she they turned their faces from and made sure not to look at/touch.

Punishment - "עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים יִהְיֶה לְאֶחָיו" – Canaan, who was the disgrace of Noach, was punished to be a scorned servant.  According to this position, it is possible that in verse 25 when Noach says that Canaan will be enslaved to "his brothers", he is referring not to the other sons of Cham, but to Shem and Yefet themselves (his half-brothers).¹⁵  He is declaring that Canaan is not to be on equal footing with them, but rather to serve them.

Canaan Cursed for Cham's Sin

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1:6:1About Josephus, opinion in Bavli SanhedrinSanhedrin 70aAbout the Bavli, opinions in Bereshit Rabbah36:7About Bereshit Rabbah, Targum Pseudo-JonathanBereshit 9:20-27About Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, RashiBereshit 9:18-27About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, RambanBereshit 9:18, 20, 26About R. Moshe b. Nachman, ShadalBereshit 9:18-27About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto

Sources:Despite the fact that it was Cham who acted wrongly, for technical reasons Canaan was cursed instead.

"אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לוֹ בְּנוֹ הַקָּטָן" – These sources maintain that the verse is speaking of an action done by Cham, but differ regarding why he is called "הַקָּטָן":

• Youngest – Ramban asserts that despite the fact that Cham is named in the middle of the progeny lists, he was in fact Noach's youngest child.  He points to  Bereshit 10:21 as evidence that Yefet was the oldest, and to our verse that Cham was the youngest.  Shem, the middle child, is consistently listed first only due to his loftier stature.¹⁶
• Low Stature – Bereshit Rabbah and Rashi, in contrast, suggest that Cham is not the smallest in age, but in stature.  He is referred to as the "smallest" because of the denigrated act that he did.

"וַיַּרְא חָם אֲבִי כְנַעַן אֵת עֶרְוַת אָבִיו" – According to these sources,

Canaan not Cursed

Canaan was never cursed; only Cham was.

Sources:R. Saadia GaonTafsir Bereshit 9About R. Saadia Gaon

¹ When the three sons are mentioned together (Bereshit 6:10 and 9:18 and 10:1), they are ordered, Shem, Cham, and Yefet, suggesting that Shem is the eldest and Yefet the youngest, while Cham is in the middle.

² As evidence that he is Cham's youngest, they point to the order of sons mentioned in the genealogy list in 10:6, "וּבְנֵי חָם כּוּשׁ וּמִצְרַיִם וּפוּט וּכְנָעַן."

³ In other words, the verse reads "And Noach realized what the youngest son [of Cham] had done to him.

⁴ As evidence, he points to the genealogy list of Chapter 11 which first lists the descendants of Yefet, then of Cham, and finally of Shem, and asserts that this order represents the true birth order.  Shem is listed first in other cases due to his importance, not his age.  As further support of this order, R"Y Bekhor Shor points to 11:21, which speaks of Yefet as the "older brother" ("וּלְשֵׁם יֻלַּד גַּם הוּא אֲבִי כׇּל בְּנֵי עֵבֶר אֲחִי יֶפֶת הַגָּדוֹל").  [However, it should be noted that this verse, too, is ambiguous and can be understood to say instead that Shem was the older brother of Yefet.]
Cf. Ralbag who agrees with R"Y Bekhor Shor regarding the son's ages, though he disagrees regarding how to read this specific verse.

⁵ It is, thus, connected to the immediately preceding verse rather than the following one.

⁶ See R. Nehemiah who similarly says that Canaan was the first to "see" Noach's nakedness.

⁷ Since R"Y Bekhor Shor reads this verse to refer to Shem, he finds the hint to Canaan's deed elsewhere in the story.

⁸ See also R"Y Kara and Ibn Ezra who similarly see in this verse evidence of Canaan's depraved action, but do not state what it was explicitly.

⁹ While Ibn Ezra claims that Canaan followed in his father's ways, Seforno suggests that the verse is saying that Cham was like the infamous Canaan.

¹⁰ Ibn Ezra, R"Y Bekhor Shor and Ralbag also all emphasize that Cham's sin was one of looking, and not more than that.

¹¹ Throughout Vayikra 18 and 20, the variations of the phrase "גילוי ערוה" are a euphemism for having sexual intercourse.

¹² See Bereshit Rabbah and Rashi below.  Alternatively, they might assume, like Ramban, that Cham was in fact Noach's youngest son and maintain that neither the lists of Noach's progeny in Bereshit 6:10, 9:18 and 10:1, nor the genealogy of Chapter 11, preserve the true birth order.  This approach could also take a third possibility and follow R"Y Bekhor Shor above who reads the verse as referring to Yefet.

¹³ It ends with a  "ה" rather than a "ו".

¹⁴ As another example, he points to the same spelling of the word in the context of Reuven's relations with Bilhah in Bereshit 35:21-22.

¹⁵ Alternatively, Noach might be cursing Cham two-fold, that he is to serve all his half brothers, those from his father (as mentioned in his own curse) and also those from his mother (as mentioned in the blessings of Shem and Yefet.)

¹⁶ He suggests that the verses list Shem and then Cham, rather than Yefet, since Cham chronologically followed Shem, and Yefet was not so meritorious so as to change the entire order.  The one exception to Shem's being listed first is the genealogy list in Chapter 10, where his descendants are listed last. This might be explained on thematic grounds, for that list leads into the story of Terach and Avraham (descendants of Shem) in Chapter 11.