Cursed be Canaan (Genesis 9:25)

2023-08-09

And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. (Genesis 9:25)

It is a rather sad thing that because of Ham’s wicked behavior, one of his sons bore the curse for it. The children often feel the effects of their parents’ actions. This had consequences for his descendants for centuries to come. Canaan’s descendants were all the surrounding peoples of Israel. “And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad” (Genesis 10:15-18).

The Canaanite was in the land for a long time though Israel was supposed to remove them because of their wicked practices. However, this curse came to full fruition in the words of Zechariah: “Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 14:21).