The Shame of Noah, and the Sin of Ham
GENESIS 9:20-29
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. (Becoming drunk isn’t synonymous with a person necessarily disrobing – the bible is giving us specific and condensed information here, drunkenness and disrobing can often be a prelude to other things. We know that when Lot’s two daughters got him drunk, we know what that led to)
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24 ¶ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. (Notice that Noah didn’t curse Ham for what he had done to him, but something that Ham did to his father caused Noah to curse Ham’s son Canaan, so we know for sure that Canaan was somehow at the centre of the thing of what Ham had “done” to his father)
26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. (Canaan would become like a slave to the others – like he was from a different race of people)
28 ¶ And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
Notice that there were no more children born directly from the loins of Noah for all those remaining years of his life, even though he was married and had a wife. It is possible that at 600 years old he had past the ability to produce children – this is something to note that will also fit in with what we want to present in this study of the shame of Noah, and the sin of Ham.
The Shame of Noah, and the Sin of Ham
In this portion of scripture (that we have just read in Genesis 9), we know that brother Branham did not expound upon this scripture and explain to us what was really going on here like he did with the serpent’s seed doctrine, and so what we are going to look at today is not something that is directly taught in the message in a way that we can just look up quotes like we can with many other portions of scriptures.
**So I want to make it very clear that this is my own personal understanding of this portion of scripture to the best of what I can see that lines up with both the scripture and the message, and I am not alone with this either, as these things are fairly well known of within the message circles and accepted by many others.
And so I will be sharing from the best of my understanding of how I think this seed of the serpent was carried over the flood and into the new world and established itself in the earth on this side of the flood.
GENESIS 9:18
18 ¶ And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. (Notice how that Canaan is mentioned along with the others as if was a seminal head of his own race being group with the three sons of Noah)
We want to carry on with the serpent seed subject a little more in the weeks to come (the Lord willing), but this week we want to put in a parenthetical portion in this series and talk about this event here that takes place in Chapter 9 of Genesis.
Scofield calls this portion of scripture a parenthetical portion, just like what we see in Genesis 38 with the story of Tamar placed within the story of Joseph of how she received seed from Judah by pretending to be a prostitute – receiving this seed of the lineage of Christ was very important to this woman Tamar, just like receiving Christ seed is also very important to the bride of this hour.
It seems like a very shameful thing to be written in the bible, but there is always a great revelation attached to these things that the message reveals to us, because this woman Tamar is mentioned in the lineage of Christ by receiving that seed - she is the first of the four women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy along with Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba.
**So whenever we see a woman mentioned in the bible, we know that it is very important for us to recognise that God is revealing something of great significance to us.
THE.SERPENT'S.SEED_ JEFF.IN V-2 N-4 SUNDAY_ 58-0928E
27-2 Let's follow them a little farther. Then we get them up to the ark. Everything was destroyed: got in such a conglomeration of sin. And they took the rule, and smartest and intelligent, till God looked down, there wasn't very many left, so He just took Noah and his family in the ark and rained the water down, and destroyed the whole thing: took Enoch up beforehand. Is that right? There was all the seed, almost all the seed. But He has purpose has to be fulfilled.
27-3 Now, Noah and his sons which come out, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, come out in the righteous line. How did the seed ever get over? The seed come over in the ark, just like it did in the beginning through the woman, their wives. They carried the seed of Satan through the ark, just as Eve packed the seed of Satan to give birth to Cain, through the woman.
So we do have a direct quote here that Brother Branham is telling us that the seed came through the woman just as Eve packed the seed of Satan to give birth to Cain. Could it be possible that a similar act of adultery with a woman could also be connected with how the serpent’s seed gained access into the new world after the flood?
GENESIS 4:19-24
19 ¶ And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.
21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. (So this woman Naamah is from the serpent seed linage, and her name is place here in the bible along with the men, and whenever we see that happen, we know that God does this because of something that this woman will be used in a way that is very important to lineage. It is generally accepted by scholars that this same woman Naamah was also the wife of Noah that went over with him in the ark – so this information fits in with the statement that brother Branham said of how that the seed came over in the ark through the woman because we have scriptural evidence that this woman Naamah was directly from the serpent seed lineage)
23 ¶ And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. (A young man wounded him and had hurt him, and so in self-defence Lamech had killed him)
24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
(Cain’s murder of Abel was not in self-defence but in cold blood, but Lamech is claiming that he killed in self-defence, so he is he is comforting his wives in saying that if anyone tries to kill him in revenge for his manslaughter, then if Cain was protected seven fold by God for cold blooded first degree murder, then for his man slaughter in self-defence, it should be 70 fold for him because he knows that he is a direct descendent of Cain – so this woman Naamah (who was Lamech’s daughter through his wife Zillah) being a direct descendent from the serpent seed linage also carried the seed of this mark of protection from God, so any children she would bare would also be born under this same privilege)
***Toward the end of 1965, brother Branham makes mention (in about five separate sermons) that he was planning to preach a message called “The Trail of the Serpent”, and that he was going to trace this serpent’s seed trail right through the bible and up into this day, but he never got to preach it because as he was heading back to Jeffersonville to preach it, it was then that the accident happened that took him off the scene 6 days later.
POWER.OF.TRANSFORMATION_ PRESCOTT.AZ V-17 N-1 SUNDAY_ 65-1031M
136 When I go home this time, I'm preaching on the subject, The Trail of The Serpent; the beast at the beginning, and the beast at the end; and trail him right through the Bible, and show how he heads up. See? And you all get that on the telephone, you see, if the Lord permits us to do it.
LEADERSHIP_ COVINA.CA V-7 N-7 TUESDAY_ 65-1207
214 If you ever bought one of my tapes, get this when I get it, when I get home, The Trail of The Serpent; and you'll see where it's at, see where this ends up at. Going home now to speak, if the Lord willing. It's about four hours, so I couldn't keep it at one of the meeting like this. I have to go up there where the church suffers with me so long, patiently. Notice. But now you can listen at the tape sometime in your home.
We are not sure why God did not permit him to speak this message, and maybe in this message he would have spoken things that would have opened up this subject to us in a way that we could have had a more definite understanding concerning this portion of scripture.
But we know that the bible has been opened to us in the hour so that we can see the real revelation of the entire bible and the plan of redemption that has been hidden all these years since the beginning.
**So the entire bible has become a new book to us who are believers of the message of the hour, and that is because we are now reading it through the eyes of an eagle anointing of the revelation of what a prophet has taught us because of the opening of the seven seals.
*So when we study the word of God, and we want to know the meaning of a certain portion of scripture – then we know that it has to always fit in perfectly with the rest of the revelation of the bible of what has been revealed in this day by the seventh angel’s message.
*So then if we want to know the meaning of a certain portion of scripture, then we should always follow the steps to revelation that God showed us in the church ages of Lion, Ox, Man, and then Eagle, because this was the trail that God used from the written word in the Lion age, to the labouring in the Ox age, to the intelligence of man in the man age, and then to the eagle anointing of the eyes to see the whole plan of the entire revelation of the word made clear by a prophetic ministry – it was a progressive pathway of stages that if you try bypass one of these stages, then you could miss the real truth of the word of what has been revealed to us in this day.
THE.HARVEST.TIME_ PHOENIX.AZ V-18 N-6 SATURDAY_ 64-1212
135 First thing He did, He tried Noah. Noah failed Him; got drunk, he failed.
Brother Branham is telling us that Noah’s failure was directly connected to him getting drunk. And if the bible said that Noah got drunk, then we can know for certain that he probably got really drunk to the point that he became unconscious, but it wasn’t just the getting drunk that was the problem, it was what took place while he was drunk that was the real failure.
So we have read the bible scripture (that is the Lion part) and then we have laboured in the word by our study time (that is the OX part) then the next part is to see what the “man-age” dispensation anointing of what the commentators have written regarding this event, and then we need to see what portions of what they say fit with the revelation of this Eagle age truth.
There is your Lion, Ox, Man, and Eagle pathway to truth.
**There are 3 main views regarding this event of Noah becoming drunk and Ham seeing him naked in his tent.
I have taking only the briefest portion of the summaries of these views from a book called the: Journal of Biblical Literature that speaks directly on this subject in the section called Noah’s Nakedness, and the curse of Canaan.
The first view is that Ham offence was Voyeurism.
The view that Ham's offense was voyeurism—that he did nothing more than behold his naked father. It requires the interpreter to assume the existence of a taboo against the accidental sight of a naked parent that is otherwise unattested in biblical or ancient Near Eastern literature. Donald J. Wold remarks, "Scholars who accept the literal view. . . must defend a custom about which we know nothing.
**I have purposely left out some of the more descriptive portions of what they described because I am not comfortable in speaking some of these things with younger ones present. There is certainly quite a variation of views that follow on from this first view.
**The second view is the paternal-incest theory in that Ham unlawfully abused his father while he was drunk – (I am using euphemistic terms here). Again, I am leaving things out that if you want to read the full account, then I have the pdf of this article.
** So far, none of these ideas are supported by direct scripture or by the revelation of this hour.
The third view which is the most credible and is also scripturally supported, and that is that Ham took advantage of his Father’s (Cain descendent) wife (Naamah) in a carnal way while his father was drunk his tent, and that false union between Ham and his father’s wife produced Canaan which Noah cursed because he knew that this serpent seed problem (that had brought the last world to ruination and judgement by God) had now passed over into the new world and would eventually bring the earth to another cataclysmic judgement.
**So this act of adultery between Ham and Naamah is what resulted in bringing the natural serpent seed lineage into existence on this side of the flood through the offspring of Canaan who came through the womb of Naamah just as Cain came through the womb of Eve also by a false union of adultery, and so this view would certainly fit in harmony with the revelation of the message of this hour of the serpent’s seed teaching.
***We are trying to see scripturally how this serpent’s seed came through the ark in the light of the scriptures and the revelation of the message.
In Rabbinic literature, the Genesis Rabbah Midrash lists Naamah (the daughter of Lamech and sister of Tubal-Cain), as the wife of Noah.
GENESIS 4:22
22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.
***Brother Branham tells us that the serpent’s seed came over the flood specifically through the woman and not through the men – if that be so (and we believe that he is telling us the truth here because he is a prophet of God), then this woman Naamah (being a direct decedent from Cain) could not have been the biological mother of Sham, Ham, and Japheth, or the serpent seed linage would have come over the flood in them also.
**So this one statement of the prophet is a very important statement, because if Naamah was Noah’s wife as suggested in various ancient texts, but yet not the mother of Noah’s three sons, then is it possible that Naamah was Noah’s second wife after his first wife who having given birth to his three sons had died.
So when we look into this, there is another woman that we find referred to as Noah’s wife, and her name was Emzara as mentioned in the book of the Jubilees.
The Book of Jubilees (known to have been in use from the late 2nd century BC). Jubilees 4:33 states that “Noah took to himself a wife, and her name was Emzara, daughter of Rake'el, son of Methuselah. (Methuselah was from the line of Seth – so this would also fit with the revelation of this hour).
**So in the light of what the message teaches, it is possible that Emzara was Noah’s first wife from the line of Seth, while this woman Naamah was Noah’s second wife from the linage of Cain.
A second wife for Noah has been suggested in the Book of Adam and Eve (translated from the Ethiopic) that makes mention of Noah having a second wife.
GENESIS 9:20-25 So let’s put this altogether…
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. (This information is immediately suggesting to us something of a sexual nature – we have the example of what happened when Lot’s daughters got their father drunk, also when king David made Uriah drunk in 2nd Samuel 11:13 in order to encourage him to spend the evening with his wife. Brother Branham said that Noah fail God because he was drunk, so is it possible that Noah failed God because he failed to protect his Canaanite wife due to his intoxication, it is possible that Noah’s wife may have also been under some of the same influence that Noah was under, and so what did Ham actually do?
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
We know that a lot can happen between the coma of a verse.
LEVITICUS 18:8
8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
LEVITICUS 20:11
11 And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness:
DEUTERONOMY 27:20
20 Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; because he uncovereth his father's skirt.
In the “Journal of Biblical Literature” page 35 states on this subject of Noah’s nakedness:
Noah and his sons are twice given the command to "be fruitful and multiply" (9:1, 7) Genesis 9:19 ("from these the whole earth was peopled") suggests that the sons fulfilled this command, and 9:18, 22 stress Hams role as progenitor of Canaan. It is not unreasonable, therefore, to interpret Noah’s and Ham's actions in 9:20-22 in the context of procreative activity, however imperfect or distorted. Noah drank and disrobed in an effort to procreate; Ham intervened and succeeded.
Specifically, if Ham's deed is understood as maternal incest, it becomes possible to explain Canaan s origin as the fruit of that union.
Now if we put this all together of our understanding of serpent seed and what the prophet said concerning these things – I am suggesting that this theory is probable the most likely thing that actually took place and that fits with what we understand of what the message teaches - that Ham took advantage of his father’s beautiful (serpent seed line) wife while Noah was unconscious due to his drunkenness, and this union between Ham and Naamah produce Canaan of whom Noah cursed because he knew he couldn’t destroy him because of the protection of God in that who would kill this Cain line, he would be avenged by God seven fold, but Noah also knew that the world would eventually come to judgement again because of this Cain lineage being repopulated again into the post flood world, so then make him a servant to others, do not let him be the head.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness (they didn’t want the risk of seeing Noah’s beautiful wife uncovered in her tent so they walked in backwards to protect themselves from becoming overcome with lust and potentially falling into the same sin as their brother Ham).
24 ¶ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
I have tried to present this information in the most scriptural and sane way that I was able to that also fits in harmony with the revelation of the message of this hour, but please remember that this is the best of my understating and is not a substitute for “thus saith the Lord” directly from the prophet of this generation, so this is why we cannot be fully certain that we have every detail correct because the message of the hour has not expound on this portion of scripture a part from a few key statements and the revelation that we have of the original sin.
If I am shown a better understanding of this portion of scripture that fits the bible and the revelation of the hour with more accuracy, then we are certainly open for more light to be made known to us.