Genesis 9:20-27
Up to this point, we have had a lot of drama, no tears, but like an onion, keep peeling away at it and if your tear ducts are working properly, the effects of it will surely cause you to cry.
Take for instance, Noah, "a righteous man" - a man who "walks with God." A man, who at the tender age of 500 became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth (NRSV 5:32). "Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent." Well..., wonder where this is going? I tell you, there is nothing wrong with a little "drink" every now and again, but it appears Noah may have had a bit more than a "little" of his own personal reserve. I don't know about you, but I've heard it takes quite a bit of wine to reach a place of drunken nakedness. Good Lord! Suffice it to say, Noah had a bit too much to drink and apparently drank himself right out of his outer garments and there he lay - drunk and butt naked in his tent. Then, "along came a spider...," I'm sorry, a Ham. Yes, Ham, the "youngest" son of Noah, who had to be at least 100 years old (vs.11) happens upon his drunk, unconscious and butt naked father. The unfortunate Ham goes out and informs his brothers who the text tells us, "took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness." Noah finally awakens from his drunken stupor and curses poor little Ham, for he "knew what his younger son had done to him" (vs.24).
Although it is never stated, there has always been an implied undercurrent of sexual inappropriateness surrounding the reading and interpretation of this text. What is explicit, however, according to misguided and prejudicially motivated preachers, teachers, Christian conservatives and Old World scholars is the justification for chattel slavery: "Cursed be Canaan, lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers... Blessed be the Lord my God of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. May God make space for Japheth, and let him live in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave (vs. 25-27). Alas, for the first time in the scripture, we are introduced to the word "slave." The result; for hundreds of years, it was the standard upon which proponents of slavery based their positions, arguing the "natural" plight of the enslaved Africans was the manifestation of God's divine order of things and their place on earth.
African Americans have and many still continue to think this is why the enslaved Africans and their descendants are cursed to live out our earthly time subservient to the power and authority of those who created and continue to benefit from the system of chattel slavery. It may also be the basis behind the notion of the African American male/female's sexual "prowess" and its twin, "deviance."
I tell you, after all that, indeed "my soul looks back and wonder, how I got over?!"
© Dorinda G. Henry, 2010
THEOLOGIA HABITUS EST!
Up to this point, we have had a lot of drama, no tears, but like an onion, keep peeling away at it and if your tear ducts are working properly, the effects of it will surely cause you to cry.
Take for instance, Noah, "a righteous man" - a man who "walks with God." A man, who at the tender age of 500 became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth (NRSV 5:32). "Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent." Well..., wonder where this is going? I tell you, there is nothing wrong with a little "drink" every now and again, but it appears Noah may have had a bit more than a "little" of his own personal reserve. I don't know about you, but I've heard it takes quite a bit of wine to reach a place of drunken nakedness. Good Lord! Suffice it to say, Noah had a bit too much to drink and apparently drank himself right out of his outer garments and there he lay - drunk and butt naked in his tent. Then, "along came a spider...," I'm sorry, a Ham. Yes, Ham, the "youngest" son of Noah, who had to be at least 100 years old (vs.11) happens upon his drunk, unconscious and butt naked father. The unfortunate Ham goes out and informs his brothers who the text tells us, "took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness." Noah finally awakens from his drunken stupor and curses poor little Ham, for he "knew what his younger son had done to him" (vs.24).
Although it is never stated, there has always been an implied undercurrent of sexual inappropriateness surrounding the reading and interpretation of this text. What is explicit, however, according to misguided and prejudicially motivated preachers, teachers, Christian conservatives and Old World scholars is the justification for chattel slavery: "Cursed be Canaan, lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers... Blessed be the Lord my God of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. May God make space for Japheth, and let him live in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave (vs. 25-27). Alas, for the first time in the scripture, we are introduced to the word "slave." The result; for hundreds of years, it was the standard upon which proponents of slavery based their positions, arguing the "natural" plight of the enslaved Africans was the manifestation of God's divine order of things and their place on earth.
African Americans have and many still continue to think this is why the enslaved Africans and their descendants are cursed to live out our earthly time subservient to the power and authority of those who created and continue to benefit from the system of chattel slavery. It may also be the basis behind the notion of the African American male/female's sexual "prowess" and its twin, "deviance."
I tell you, after all that, indeed "my soul looks back and wonder, how I got over?!"
© Dorinda G. Henry, 2010
THEOLOGIA HABITUS EST!
Interesting that the person delivering the curse is the person that is naked and drunk!
ReplyDeleteDrunkenness, Nakedness, Slavery...oh my. At thoses ages they had plenty going on.
ReplyDelete