After the Ark landed on Mount Ararat, Genesis tells us how Noah’s family became dysfunctional. The three sons of Noah, Ham, Shem, and Japheth had different personalities and related to their father in different ways. Like every family, it seems, there is always a black sheep. In Noah’s family, that seems to have been Ham. Ham “uncovered” his father’s “nakedness,” and Noah responded with the age-old parental curse, “I hope you have a son that does to you that you have done to me!” I’m sorry to say that I can remember my mother saying similar things to me. However, God was in Noah’s curse on Ham’s son, Canaan. There are many suggestions as to what Ham’s sin was. Michael Heiser makes a convincing argument that the sin was that Ham had sex with Noah’s wife. That was his own mother! He considers the context of the Phrase “uncovered his nakedness.” It shows up in the Old Testament on several occasions. To uncover a man’s nakedness is to have carnal knowledge of his wife. If this is the case, the offshoot of Ham’s relationship with his own mother gave the world Canaan. It explains why the curse fell on Canaan. This abhorrent sexual behavior became associated with the Canaanites.
Canaan was the father of the Canaanites. They became Israel’s greatest enemy. Kent Hughes observes that “The Canaanites were a sensually depraved people. Everything the pagan Canaanites did was an extrapolation of Ham’s lurid sensuality. From the moment Abram entered the land, the Canaanites were there spreading corruption… Leviticus 18 describes the degenerate practices of the Canaanites with a litany of euphemisms so as not to offend the reader, employing the word ‘nakedness’ twenty-four times.” Uncovering one’s nakedness in Leviticus was to perform some kind of disgraceful sexual practice. Thus, we have an explanation why God insisted that Israel drive out the Canaanites before they occupied the land.
Of course, Israel failed to do so. The lurid practices of the Canaanites infiltrated the Israelites during nearly every generation. It corrupted their faith in God and lead them to all kinds of sin. Samson fell victim to wiles of the Canaanite women. David did also. Solomon married the daughters of the princes of the Canaanites to build strong alliances with them to avoid war. Every generation fell prey to the seduction of the Canaanites. This helps me understand why God commands Israel to drive out the “Canaanites” and to obliterate every visible evidence of their presence. The Canaanites as a people no longer exist. But their practices do. We are still commanded to drive out the “Canaanites” and to eliminate any hint of their presence in our own lives.