Noah is best known as the righteous man God preserved from the universal flood, but afterward occurred another curious incident.
“Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent” (Gen. 9:20–21).
Ham, one of his three sons, saw his father naked and reported it to the other brothers, Shem and Japheth. These two took a cloth, walked backward toward their father and covered him, “and they did not see their father’s nakedness” (v. 23).
When Noah awoke from his stupor he pronounced a curse for being seen naked—not on Ham, but on Ham’s son Canaan. And he blessed Shem and Japheth, and pronounced that Canaan (again, not Ham) would be their slave. The Bible scholars still puzzle over the meaning of this story.
