Canaan's curse. racism?

[creativemotion]

Where in the bible does it mention that Canaan’s skin turned black due to the curse from Noah? I cannot find it. Did it ever say this? i mean in the original, non translated bible.

 

[Nita]

There is nothing in Scripture that says Canaan’s skin turned black because of Noah’s curse.

Genesis 9:24-27 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem, and let Canaan be his slave. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave.”

Perhaps because in America, “slaves” were black, someone falsely equated slavery and black skin. Canaan was a Semite and there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that “racially” he was ever anything else.

 

[nablaise]

Semites are descendents of Shem. Canaan was not.
Cannaan is descendent of Ham, therefore Hamite. But as the curse stated, Canaan and his descendent ended up living in the land of Shem and even spoke a semite language. This is probably the reason they are often mistaken to be semites. Again as the curse stated, and time shows, they have been slaves to Semitic people, specially the Kingdom of Israel after it overtook the land of Canaan. All this happned in Asia. But yes, some racist tried to make up the story and destort it to justify slavely.

This article is quite interesting. One of the things it shows is that Canaanites were not black. This is a chart of the Table of Nation.

 

[Nita]

Thanks Nablaise, I stand corrected.
As far as Canaan, I meant to make the point that racially, he was the same heritage as Noah – the curse didn’t change that. (But, I was sure wrong in classifying Noah as a Semite. Not sure what he was!)

From the Harper Bible Dictionary:
…The land of Ham connotes Egypt in Ps. 78:51, 105:23,27; 106:22; the Ham territory of Gen. 14:5 (cf. Deut 2:20), where the tribe of Zuzim lived, may be Ammon.

 

[creativemotion]

Semites are descendents of Shem. Canaan was not.
Cannaan is descendent of Ham, therefore Hamite. But as the curse stated, Canaan and his descendent ended up living in the land of Shem and even spoke a semite language. This is probably the reason they are often mistaken to be semites. Again as the curse stated, and time shows, they have been slaves to Semitic people, specially the Kingdom of Israel after it overtook the land of Canaan. All this happned in Asia. But yes, some racist tried to make up the story and destort it to justify slavely.

This article is quite interesting. One of the things it shows is that Canaanites were not black. This is a chart of the Table of Nation.

oh i thought canaanites were palistinians. in the bible does it say anywhere that canaan’s skin turned black?

 

[NotWorthy]

I"m going off memory, so bear with me.

Wasn’t one of Canaan’s sons Kush? And the Kushites settled in… you guessed, Africa. That’s the link to the curse that southerners used to justify slavery in God’s name.

 

[nablaise]

I"m going off memory, so bear with me.

Wasn’t one of Canaan’s sons Kush? And the Kushites settled in… you guessed, Africa. That’s the link to the curse that southerners used to justify slavery in God’s name.

Actually no. Kush was a brother of Canaan both sons of Ham. See this flowchart of the Table of Nations I gave also gave above.

The link to the curse is Ham who actually committed the sin and is father of both Kushites and Cannanites. But the curse is not associated with the color of skin. It is associated with servitude of Canaan by the Shem and Japhet in the land (Tent) of Shem (Asia). See the quote:

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants 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.

The curse says that Canaan shall be a servant of both Shem and Japhet IN THE TENT of Shem.

The Tent of Shem is the land of the middle East;…Asia.
The Land of Ham was south: Africa
The Land of Japhet was North: Europe.

But as you will see, some descendants of Japhet were also living in Asia: persian, East Indians, etc of today…They had their empires which obvsiously ruled over Canaanites. But the main slaverly which even the Bible speak of is that of Israel over Canaan, by the time of the Kings of Israel when they had captured the land of Canaan.

The reason Canaan was in in the land of Shem while he was supposed to be in the land of Ham has something to do with the sin committed. Dr. Scott Hahn have given some suggestions about it.
And this is why Israelites, while in the desert,were heading toward the land of Canaan (the promised land) because it was actually their land by right. It was a semite land, not for hamite.

 

[nablaise]

oh i thought canaanites were palistinians. in the bible does it say anywhere that canaan’s skin turned black?

Nop

 

[xixxvmcm85]

You likely heard this from a very old Mormon (or an anti-Mormon) as this was the officially held belief of the LDS church until 1978.

This was pure speculation on the part of Brigham Young (the second “prophet” of the LDS church) which was then used as justification for not allowing Black men to hold the LDS priesthood and for not allowing Black men and women into the LDS temples.

~ A Former Mormon