A Canonical Journey through the Bible – Reading 6

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 

Comments

[Abi Svoboda]

It seems likely to me that instead of the time of slavery in the States resulting from this misinterpretation of Noah's curse, it was a way for the Believers who indulged in owning slaves to excuse their responsibility. That's just my view, however, I'm not sure about the chronology of the situation.
It's tragic how pulling a line out of Scripture without understanding the context can be used so cruelly.

[Liz Miller]

It's interesting how this passage's misinterpretation concerning the perception that the curse was aimed towards the black race became accepted. Furthermore, when and how did this belief dissolve?

[Joseph Williams]

Unfortunately, there are still themes of exploitation centered around religious practices that are influenced by wrongful interpretation of the Holy text. Undoubtedly, we remain a segregated faith community because we lack the ability to empathize with one another relative to various church practices.

Within the context of the church, white people fail to acknowledge black religious customes as universally accepted practices, such as the spontaneity in worship and inflammatory sermonic themes of injustice from the pulpit (i.e. Jeremiah Wright).

In my opinion--respectfully, it is only until the entire faith community understand the era of slavery in the United States that a more sincere approach in building cross cultural sacred communities will occasion. While I also consider the fallacies of religious afrocentrism, I submit that others must take a greater initiative because we remain subordinate in society, and the church is the only institution in which we have full control.