HAM, THE SON OF NOAH - DR. GIL HAAS, ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, OKLAHOMA CITY

The Psalms refer to Egypt as “the land of Ham”.  Ham was the middle son of Noah.  He was born when Noah was 500 years old; Noah was 600 years old at the time of the flood.  After Noah’s ark was grounded on Mount Araret, each of Noah’s three sons was told to repopulate one-third of the earth.  Ham was told to procreate descendants in the lands west of the Nile River.  Before Ham left for his inheritance, he “saw” the naked body of his drunken father, Noah.  Talmudic scholars deduce that either Ham castrated his drunken father (to prevent a fourth son) or sodomized him (based upon the use of the word, “saw”, in other Old Testament scenarios).  When Noah awoke and realized what had happened, he did not curse Ham directly, but instead he cursed Ham’s fourth son, Canaan, to be forever “a servant of servants”.  When the nations were scattered following the Tower of Babel debacle, Ham’s family (except for Canaan) journeyed to their allotment which was to become Egypt and all of Africa.  Taken together, these passages concerning the cursed Biblical heritage of Ham’s descendants were later used to justify their enslavement.  
~Dr. Gil Haas, St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, Oklahoma City