Bible
Readings: Genesis 9; Joshua 5; Psalm 6; Matthew 4:1–11
The Torah reading, Genesis 9, contains some one the most misused text from the
Bible. It is generally termed as Noah’s curse, or God’s curse on black people. The
narrative describes Noah as a very fallible person—this after his acts of faith
in the previous flood narrative. He gets drunk and goes into a state of
nakedness. We must note that in Hebrew this is the same word that describes the
serpent in Genesis 3:1, arum. This is
more than a physical form of nakedness. This action should be seen as a
reference to the “nakedness” ritual actions, which were practiced in Ancient
Near Eastern religions. In the narrative, Ham, one of his sons “sees” his
nakedness. This was another ritual act in ancient religions.
Noah’s response to his son’s ritual act is contained in Genesis 9:25–27, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and may [God] dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”
Unfortunately, in the Antebellum South, these words were interpreted as a divine
curse on the black race. Theologians and pastors of the 19th century in the Antebellum
South viewed the African people as the descendents of Ham, and because of Ham’s
sin against his father, Noah, they concluded that the Hamitic race or the black
race would be forever doomed to slavery.
This, quite clearly is very bad exegesis of the text. One, the text is not
talking about the black race. The children of Ham, the text makes clear, were
the Canaanites, not the African people. Two, this is not a prediction of
slavery, but rather, a description of the Canaanite religion, which had bizarre
sexual elements attached to it. Three, the primary purpose of the passage is to
describe the Messianic prophecy that God will incarnate through the descendents
of Shem, i.e.: through the children of Israel. In Hebrew the text quoted above
revolves around the phrase, “May He [meaning God] dwell in the tents of Shem.”
In ancient Jewish thought this indicated the incarnation of the divine Messiah
through the descendents of Shem, and more particularly, through the descendants
of Abraham and David.
In Joshua 5, interestingly, the children of Israel had to face the kings of the Canaanites as they enter the Promised Land. Kings in Canaanite religion were the gods of the people, and this was considered to be a daunting task. However, just before they enter the Canaanite territory, Joshua encounters a man. Poignantly, Joshua hears the same words, which Moses heard when he encountered God in Exodus 3, “Take off you sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy” (Joshua 5:15). This was no ordinary human being. This was God himself, who would lead them into the Promised Land.
The reading from the Gospels, Matthew 4:1–11, brings the above picture to a
full circle. Jesus is the Incarnate One—God becoming man. He fulfills the
prophecy of Genesis 9:25–27. He also fulfills the pictures of God seen in
Exodus 3 and Joshua 5. We must note, in this narrative Jesus is thrice
challenged by the devil on this very point. “If you are really the Son of God .
. . turn these stones into bread . . . throw yourself down [from the pinnacle
of the Temple]. . . fall down and worship me. “ Jesus, however, does not fall
for the trap. He knew his identity as the Son of God—the Incarnate One. We may
note that the words of the devil are depictions of the religious rituals of
that time, which supposedly caused people to realize divinity. Jesus knew that
he did not need to prove that he was God through these strange rituals. He is
the Son of God.
It seems clear that in interpreting Genesis 9:25–27 to be the curse of God upon
black people, the theologians of the Antebellum South did a grave injustice to
the text of the Bible. This resulted in a tragic period of slavery in the antebellum
period. This text is not about a curse against anyone. Rather, it is
descriptive of Canaanite society and religion. More importantly, it is a
prophecy about the God who becomes incarnate in Jesus the Messiah, through the
family of Shem, Abraham, and David. This Jesus, in the New Testament, does not
take the shortcuts offered by the religions of his time to prove that he is the
Son of God. Instead, he dies on the cross, and rises from the dead. This is the
ultimate proof that he is truly God.
–Dr. Boaz Johnson, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies