Language:
French
Year of publication:
2019
Titel der Quelle:
Judaïsme ancien
Angaben zur Quelle:
7 (2019) 119-132
Keywords:
Noah
;
Bible. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Bible. Criticism, Redaction
;
Alcoholism in the Bible
;
Nudity Biblical teaching
Abstract:
After the Flood, Noah planted a vineyard, drank of its wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent when Ham, his son (Canaan’s father), entered and saw his nakedness. But when he awakened from his wine, Noah said: “Cursed be Canaan!” (Genesis 9:20-27). This story of Noah’s drunkenness and of the curse of Canaan remains an exegetical jigsaw. What does the expression “to see his nakedness” really mean and why was Canaan, the son of Ham, cursed instead of the real offender? In this brief study, I examine the various assumptions that have been ever proposed since the Antiquity to explain this narrative. For many scholars, the expression “to see the nakedness of someone” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse. And, for a few of them (and in my opinion) the two words (in Hebrew) - חם אבי - “Ham, the father of” just before “Canaan” at the beginning of this episode, are an ancient interpolation. In the primeval story, Canaan was the Noah’s youngest son (Gen 9:24) and he was the offender. When the redactor embedded this narrative in the Book of Genesis he harmonized with the more traditional Biblical genealogy of Noah’s descendants.
Note:
With an English summary.
DOI:
10.1484/J.JAAJ.5.119151
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
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