Daily Lesson for January 20, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Genesis chapter 9 verses 20 through 25:

20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

For hundreds of years this passage was interpreted as the genesis for a curse on all the dark (meaning African-descended) people of the world. This so-called "Curse of Ham" was then in turn used to justify slavery and all manner of other inequality against blacks. The reasoning? All Ham's descendants were cursed of God and made to be perpetually servants because Ham looked on his father Noah's nakedness and did not try to cover him up.  It was right there plain as day, in chapter 9 of the Bible.

There is a Latin word I learned in seminary for that kind of Biblical interpretation. It is called Bovinus Excrementus.

So here's my take on this story:

Ham is the only brother who was willing to tell the truth about his father (see Daily Lesson from January 18).  The other brothers Shem and Japheth do their best to keep their dad's secret, hide things, and cover up (literally).  So Shem and Japheth are regarded as favorite sons, while Ham gets cursed.

But note who the curse comes from. Ham is not cursed by God, but by Noah -- Noah who got so drunk that he passed out naked.  And we used that to justify slavery?  Hmm.

There is such a thing as a generational curse.  Everywhere we look we can see poverty, substance abuse, domestic disturbance and their consequences passed on from one generation to the next.  But these are not of or from God and it is blaspheme to say they are. It is we who curse ourselves and the generations which follow -- not God.

What God is in the business of is undoing the curse, restoring the family, and restoring the blessing -- from generation unto generation.  And God does it all the time.

This is the good news of who God is and what God does; and anyone who says anything else is preaching Bovinus Excrementus.

A Prayer:
God of the many blessings, undo the curses we have laid upon ourselves and our children and our children's children, and help us to walk in the way of healing, restoration and newness of life.