Genesis 9:25-27

Genesis 9:25-27

[25] And he said,  Cursed  be Canaan;  a servant  shall he be unto his brethren.  [26] And he said,  Blessed  be the LORD  God  of Shem;  and Canaan  shall be  his servant.  [27] God  shall enlarge  Japheth,  and he shall dwell  in the tents  of Shem;  and Canaan  shall be his servant. 

What does Genesis 9:25-27 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

This oracle, the first time Moses recorded a human uttering a curse, is a prophecy announcing divine judgment on Canaan"s descendants for their sin that had its seed in Ham"s act. Noah, as a prophet, announced the future of this grandson"s descendants (cf. Genesis 49; Deuteronomy 33; et al.).
"For his breach of the family, his [1] own family would falter." [2]
The Canaanites became known for their shameless depravity in sexual matters. [3] When Joshua invaded their land he proved to be God"s instrument of punishment for the Canaanites.
"With the defeat of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar in572 B.C. the Canaanites/Phoenicians ceased to be of importance in biblical history." [1]
There is no basis for the popular notion that this oracle doomed the Hamites, who were mainly Africans, to a position of inferiority or slavery among the other peoples of the world. Canaan and his branch of the family are the subject of this prophecy, not Ham and all his descendants.
"There are no grounds in our passage for an ethnic reading of the "curse" as some have done, supposing that some peoples are inferior to others. Here Genesis looks only to the social and religious life of Israel"s ancient rival Canaan, whose immorality defiled their land and threatened Israel"s religious fidelity (cf. Leviticus 18:28; Joshua 23). It was not an issue of ethnicity but of the wicked practices that characterized Canaanite culture." [5]
The general lesson of the passage is that God blesses those who behave righteously but curses those who abandon moral restraint.
"Instructively, the first three heroes of faith listed in Hebrews are from Genesis 4-6 : Abel, Enoch, and Noah. All believed God, but their destinies were significantly different. Abel believed God and died. Enoch believed God and did not die. Noah believed God, and everyone else died in the Flood; eventually he died a natural death at the good old age of950 years. We cannot dictate where faith will lead. The human tendency is to see only Enoch as the example of faith, but Abel is also given as our example. What all three have in common is that they walked by faith and pleased God. That faith is an example to us." [6]