HAM

HAM (Heb. חָם), one of the three sons of Noah. Although he is always placed between Shem and Japheth (Gen. 5:32; 6:10, et al.), he appears to have been the youngest of the three (9:24). The Bible relates how Ham observed Noah drunk and naked in his tent. He "saw his father's nakedness," implying in the biblical Hebrew a sexual act or even rape, i.e., sodomized him (cf. "see the nakedness" in Lev. 20:17, and see Sanh. 70a). In contrast, when he told his brothers of the incident, they at once covered Noah, doing so with the utmost delicacy (9:22–23). When Noah became aware of what had transpired, he cursed Canaan for his action: "Cursed be Canaan; the lowest of slaves to his brothers" (9:24–25). The reason for Noah cursing Canaan, and not Ham, is not clear. Actually "Ham the father of" in verses 18b and 22 seems to be a somewhat crude link between verses 18–19 and 20ff., in which Noah's sons are Shem, Japheth, and Canaan. Ugaritic epic poetry makes it clear that a son had the obligation to take special care of his drunken father, and not to disgrace him (cf. Isa. 51:17–18). Accordingly, the biblical depiction of Ham-Canaan's depravity is probably to be taken as an ethnic slur rather than as a reflection of Canaanite reality (see Canaan, Curse of ), a tendency continued in Jewish Midrash (see below). Ham had four sons, Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan, who became the progenitors of numerous nations (Gen. 10:6–20). As the home of the most important nation descended from Ham, Egypt is poetically called "Ham" in one psalm whose date is controversial (Ps. 78:51), and "the land of Ham" in two late psalms (Ps. 105:23, 27; 106:22; cf. Genesis Apocryphon, 19:13). Egypt is apparently the nucleus of the Hamite genealogy, the others having been added because of geographical proximity or political ties. (Max Wurmbrand / S. David Sperling (2nd ed.) -In the Aggadah Ham's descendant (Cush) is black skinned as a punishment for Ham's having had sexual intercourse in the ark (Sanh. 108b). When Ham saw his drunken father exposed, he emasculated him, saying, "Adam had but two sons, and one slew the other; this man Noah has three sons, yet he desires to beget a fourth" (Gen. R. 36:5). Noah therefore cursed Canaan (Gen. 9:25), Ham's fourth son, since through this act he was deprived of a fourth son (Gen. R. 36:7). According to another opinion, Ham committed sodomy with his father (Sanh. 70a) and Noah cursed Canaan because Ham, together with his father and two brothers, had previously been blessed by God (Gen. R. loc. cit.). Another tradition attributes the curse to the fact that it was Canaan who castrated Noah. Ham was nevertheless to blame because he informed his brothers of their father's nakedness (PdRE 23). Canaan was so wicked that his last will and testament to his children was: "Love one another, love robbery, love lewdness, hate your masters, and do not speak the truth" (Pes. 113b). Ham was also punished in that his descendants, the Egyptians and Ethiopians, were taken captive and led into exile with their buttocks uncovered (Isa. 20:4; Gen. R. 36:6). Ham was responsible for the ultimate transfer to Nimrod of the garments which God had made for Adam and Eve before their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. From Adam and Eve these garments went to Enoch, and from him to Methuselah, and finally to Noah, who took them into the ark with him. When the inmates of the ark were about to leave their refuge, Ham stole the garments and kept them concealed for many years. Finally, he passed them on to his firstborn son, Cush, who eventually gave them to his son, Nimrod, when he reached his 20th year (PdRE 24; Sefer ha-Yashar, Noaḥ, 22). (Aaron Rothkoff) -BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Reubeni, Shem, Ḥam ve-Yafet… (1932), 71–182; J. Skinner, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis (1912), 181–7, 200–4: Jeremias, Alte Test; Maisler (Mazar), in: Eretz   Israel, 3 (1954), 18–32; U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis (1964); Ginzberg, Legends, 1 (1942), 166–73, 177; 5 (1947), 188–95. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Sarna, JPS Torah Commentary Genesis (1989), 63–72; E. Isaac, in: ABD, 3, 31–2.