Among the many things I am learning in my class at the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan is that to understand the Bible, one must study a lot of background material. This includes the customs and cultures of the people of those times. Which brings me to the following point about idioms. In class this week we were studying the book of Genesis. In Chapter 9, we read about Noah and his family. By this chapter the great flood has subsided and Noah & family have left the ark and returned to the land. Noah’s three grown sons (Shem, Ham, and Ja’pheth) and their wives, as well as Noah’s wife, are all living in the same community. Then a puzzling passage is presented. “Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Ja’pheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.” – Genesis 9:20-23 (RSV). The next verses go on to say how terribly upset Noah was when he awoke and learned what had happened. He was so upset with Ham that he cursed him and cursed his descendants.
What was this all about? The father, Noah, was drunk and naked. Wouldn’t a son who stumbled upon this scene normally just pretend he never saw him? Or perhaps cover him up? And why would this seemingly minor problem cause such an extreme reaction on Noah’s part? He cursed Ham and his descendants! Isn’t that extreme for seeing Noah naked? That was the question posed to our class. And here is what we learned.
The people of Biblical times often spoke in idioms. An idiom is a method of saying one thing while you really mean something else. And the audience for which it is intended understands the idiom, that is, what the speaker really means. An example in our time would be if I said, “Boy, my dogs are sure barking tonight!” Most people in our culture can interpret that I am not speaking about my pets nor the noise they are making. Instead, it is a phrase that means that my feet hurt. (You knew that, right?) Or if I were to say that my friend was “given a slap on the wrist,” you know that it does not convey an actual physical punishment, but instead a mild rebuke. And if you said “we are all in the same boat,” I know you don’t mean we were actually in a boat together. Those are idioms.
So, what does this have to do with Noah being naked? This was an idiom, a phrase meaning something totally different. What actually happened was that Noah’s son, Ham, raped his mother. This is and was a terrible sin and was a severe insult to Noah. Warring armies in ancient times would often rape the women of the villages they conquered to show their power and might, and this rape was an action Ham used to grab power from his father, Noah. Since Shem was the older son, he would normally be the favored son, as was the custom of the time. Ham was jealous and wanted to gain a higher place in the family structure. So he raped his mother to gain power, to show his might and usurp his father. Ham’s mother, (Noah’s wife), later gave birth to the child of the rape. He was Canaan. This child was cursed by Noah because he was the child of that rape.
How do we know this is what was meant when Genesis discusses Noah’s nakedness? In the same Revised Standard Version’s book of Leviticus (which contains so many of the laws) Chapter 18, verses 6 through 18, the laws state specifically how one must never uncover the nakedness of one’s father, mother, sister, granddaughter, aunt, daughter-in-law, etc. Again, the phrase is hard to grasp. But if we turn to another translation of the Bible, the New American Bible, the phase in Leviticus shows us a different picture. This version states “None of you shall approach a close relative to have sexual intercourse with her. I am the Lord. You shall not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. Besides, since she is your own mother, you shall not have intercourse with her. You shall not have intercourse with your father’s wife, for that would be a disgrace to your father.” – Lev. 18: 6 – 8, (NAB). It continues to list all other family members one must refrain from having sexual intercourse with.
So we see here that the two phrases “nakedness” and “sexual intercourse” mean the same thing. And that is the meaning behind the idiom. It was a great “AHA!” moment for our class. And it reminded me of how much we need to really study the Bible to understand its truth.
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