To "look upon the nakedness" was apparently an ancient Hebrew idiom which
referred to incest. In this case, it appears that maternal incest took
place, and the result was Canaan. That is why the curse was not upon the
perpetrator Ham, but upon the offspring of the incestual union, Canaan. That
appears to be why Moses warned Israel about the perverse practices of the
people Canaan. Incest was part their ritual worship.
Interestingly, the only other time drunkedness is mentioned in Genesis is
when Lot's daughters deliberately get him drunk, for the purpose of
committing incest.
Homosexual rape (and castration, the other major interpretation) fails to
explain why Noah cursed Canaan rather than Ham.
See F.W. Bassett, (1971). "NOah's nakedness and the curse on Canaan: A case
of incest", Vetus Testamentum 21:232-37.
D. Steinmetz, (1994). "Wineyard, farm, and garden: The drunkedness of NOah
in the contezxt of primeval history" Journal of Biblical Literature, 113,
199-200.
R.W.E. Forrest (1994). "Paradise lost again" JOurnal for the study of the
Old Testament, 62, 3-18.
Adrian.
-----Original Message-----
From: John W Burgeson
To: dickfischer@earthlink.net
Cc: asa@calvin.edu
Sent: 1/26/2002 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: Bare Naked Noah
Dick Fischer wrote: "Bible scholars have wondered at this prophetic
judgment directed at Noah's grandson weighed against the apparent
insignificance of the offense. Why was Noah angered at his son seeing
him naked and telling his brothers? "
According to the book, THE BIBLE AND HOMOSEXUAL PRACTICE, by Robert
Gagnon, 2001, who appears to be a responsible scholar, the text uses
oblique language to refer to what was almost certainly a case of the son
raping Noah. Gagnon makes many references to the surrounding cultures
and how they viewed male-male sexual contacts.
Gagnon comes out with a different position on the gay issue than I do --
but his arguments are both interesting and need to be dealt with. In the
case above, I am personally persuaded he has made an excellent argument
for his analysis.
John Burgeson (Burgy)
http://www.burgy.50megs.com <http://www.burgy.50megs.com>
(science/theology, quantum mechanics, baseball, ethics,
humor, cars, God's intervention into natural causation, etc.)
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