Genesis 6:10; 9:22
Cam (Heb. Jâm, perhaps “hot” or “black”). 1. Noah’s youngest son, born after his father reached 500 years of age (Gen 5:32; 9:24). During his father’s drunken spree, Ham acted shamefully and thereby incurred his father’s displeasure, which brought a curse on Canaan (Ham’s son), who would have been involved in his father’s sin (9: 22-27). To the descendants of Ham belonged the Africans and Arab Cushites (Ethiopians), the Egyptians and the Canaanites. See Ethiopia. 2. Name given to Egypt in OT poetic passages (Psa 78:51; 105:23, 26, 27; 106:21, 22).
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
burning. One of the three sons of Noah, the second, born before the flood Gn 5, 32; 6, 10; 1 Cro 1, 4. C. entered the ark together with his father, brothers and their wives, Gn 7, 13, and, in the same way, he came out of it, after the flood, and from the sons of Noah the ark was repopulated. earth, Gen 9, 18-19. After the flood, Noah got drunk on wine and stood naked in the middle of his tent. C. saw his father’s nakedness and warned his brothers, who covered Noah without seeing him naked. When Noah woke up and found out what C. had done, he cursed him and condemned him to be a servant of his brothers Gen 9, 18-27. C. Ham fathered four sons, from whom the southern peoples of that time are descended: from Kus, the Ethiopians; from Misrayim, the Egyptians; from Canaan, the Canaanites; and from Put, an African town in Libya; Gen 10, 1; 10, 6-20; 1 Chronicles 1, 8.
In the Psalms the name C. is used, to mean Egypt, Ps 78 (77), 51; 105 (104), 23 and 27; 106 (105), 22.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
(Heb., ham, perhaps warm).
1. Noah’s youngest son, probably born about 96 years before the flood, and one of the eight people who survived the flood. Ham became the firstborn of the dark races, not the blacks but the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Lebanese, and Canaanites (Gen 10:6-20).
His indecency when his father got drunk brought a curse on Canaan (Gen 9:20-27).
2. The descendants of Ham (Psa 78:51; Psa 105:23; Psa 106:22). In these passages Ham is another name for Egypt representing the main descendants of Ham.
3. A city of the Zuzites, east of the Jordan (Gen 14:5).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
Name of a person and a place in the OT.
1. Second son of Noah. He had, in turn, four sons: Cush, Mizraim, Fut and Canaan (Gen 10: 6), from whom descend the inhabitants of the African continent, Egypt and Canaan, as well as the peoples of southern Arabia. On the narrative of Gen 9: 22-27, when Noah discovers the effects of the fruit of the vine and † œC., Father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father † many interpretations are given, all with various difficulties. To try to circumvent them, some think: a) that the words “saw the nakedness”, following the idea of Lev. 18, where it is forbidden to “uncover the nakedness” of certain relatives, they suggest some unseemly act beyond the naked eye; and b) that Canaan, the grandson of Noah, participated in some way in said act. This is done to explain in some way the reason why the curse was placed on Canaan and not on C., his father, but this does not satisfy everyone. †¢Canaan. †¢Canaan, Curse of.
. Name by which Egypt is sometimes referred to, such as “the land of C.” (“Afterward Israel came into Egypt, and Jacob dwelt in the land of C.”).
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
tip, BIOG LUGA HOMB HOAT
see, CANAí N
vet, = “tan, brown”. (a) One of the three sons of Noah; father of Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. Mizraim and Put, his descendants, were mainly connected with Egypt. Nothing is known of Ham personally, except his disrespectful behavior towards his father when the latter was drunk, and which brought Noah’s curse on Canaan (Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 9:18, 22; 10:1, 6 , 20; 1 Chron. 1:4, 8). Scholars interested in why it was Canaan, who had not participated in his father’s deed, who was the object of Noah’s curse, are advised to read “Why Noah Cursed Canaan Instead of Ham: A New Approach to an Old Problem” in Arthur C. Custance’s Noah’s Three Sons (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1975). See also the treatment of this text in Matthew Henry’s Commentary, loc. cit. (b) The abode of the aforementioned in Egypt is designated as “the land of Ham” (Ps. 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:22). (c) In their search for pasture for their flocks in the south, the Simeonites came to a place where those of Ham had formerly dwelt; others believe that they were Canaanite nomads.
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
1. One of Noah’s three sons, born after 2470 BC. CE (Ge 5:32; 7: 6; 11:10) Although he is mentioned second at Genesis 5:32; 6:10 and elsewhere, he may have been the youngest son. (Ge 9:24) At Genesis 10:21 Shem is called “the brother of Japheth the elder.” Some believe that the expression “his youngest son” at Genesis 9:24 refers to Canaan, Noah’s grandson. (See CANAí N, CANANEO no. 1.)
Ham had four sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan (Ge 10:6; 1Ch 1:8), from whom descended the Ethiopians, the Egyptians, some Arab and African tribes, and the Canaanites. Although some Hamitic nations and tribes mentioned in Genesis chapter 10 are claimed to have spoken a Semitic language, this does not contradict their having been of Hamitic lineage or originally speaking a Hamitic language. Many peoples adopted the language of their conquerors, that of other peoples with whom they were related or that of the country to which they emigrated.
Ham was married before the Flood and survived this catastrophe together with his wife, his father, his mother, his two brothers and their respective wives. (Ge 6:18; 7:13; 8:15, 16, 18; 1Pe 3:19, 20) His sons were born after the Flood.
Some time later, Ham was involved in an incident that resulted in his son Canaan being cursed: Noah had gotten drunk on wine and stripped naked in his tent. Ham saw his father’s nakedness, but instead of showing proper respect to Noah—head of the family and servant and prophet whom God had employed for the preservation of the human race—he told his two brothers what he had seen. Shem and Japheth showed due respect, as they entered from behind with a cloak to cover Noah so as not to dishonor him by seeing his nakedness. When he woke up, Noah did not curse Ham, but his son: Canaan. Next, when he blessed Shem, he also included a blessing for Japheth, but said nothing about Ham; he just mentioned that Canaan was cursed and prophesied that he would become a slave to Shem and Japheth. (Ge 9:20-27.)
It is possible that Canaan himself had been directly involved in the incident and that his father Ham had not corrected him. Or it may be that Noah, prophetically speaking by inspiration, foresaw that Ham’s improper tendency, perhaps already manifest in his son his Canaan, would be inherited by the latter’s offspring. The curse was partially fulfilled when the Semitic Israelites subjugated the Canaanites. Those who were not eliminated (for example, the Gibeonites) were made slaves of Israel. Centuries later, the curse found further fulfillment when the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, came under the domination of the Japhetic world powers of Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
Some people have mistakenly thought that the black race and the enslavement of black people were the result of the curse pronounced on Canaan. However, the descendants of Canaan, on whom the curse fell, were not black. The black race descended from Cush and possibly Put, other sons of Ham who were unrelated to either the incident or the curse.
2. City of the Zuzim situated E. of the Jordan. (Ge 14: 5) The king of Elam, in coalition with three other kings, inflicted a defeat on this city when he put down the rebellion of the District cities in the Dead Sea region. (Ge 14:1-12) The order in which it is listed at Genesis 14:5, 6 could indicate that it was S of Asterot-qarnaim and N of Savé-quiryataim. The name of the city is preserved in that of the modern population of Cam, located in Wadi er-Rejeileh (also called Wadi Cam), about 6 km SSW. from Irbid, in the `Ajlun, and about 30 km SE. from the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. The ancient city may be located on a nearby mound known as Tell Cam.
3. In the Psalms “Ham” is associated with Egypt, for this nation is called “the land of Ham”. (Ps 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:21, 22; see EGYPT, EGYPTIAN.)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
(heb. ḥām, LXX jam; uncertain etymology). One of the sons of Noah, probably the second (Gn. 5.32; 6.10; 7.13; 9.18; 1 Chr. 1.4, 8; although cf. Gn. 9.20–24), and ancestor of many descendants (* Nations, Table of). In 1 Cr. 4.40 and Ps. 78.51; 105.23, 27; 106.22 this name is used to designate a section of his descent: Egypt (* Mizraim). From its biblical use, the term “Hamitic” is applied by modern authors to a group of languages of which Egyptian is a part, and for greater precision it is limited to this linguistic sense, since modern anthropological classifications do not recognize a Hamitic “race”. In the biblical sense, however, genetic descent is all that is considered, and with the movement of peoples and interracial marriages, as well as the changes of languages that took place in ancient times, common descent from Ham would not indicate necessarily habitation, no language, and not even a common race to any recognizable extent. At the end of the flood, when Noah was drunk, Ham saw him naked and told his two brothers, who covered for him. As a consequence of this, Noah pronounced a curse on Canaan (Gen. 9.20-27). Many explanations have been proposed for this apparent curse on Canaan because of what Ham did, perhaps the most plausible of which is that Canaan did something unspoken but deserving of the curse, and that the phrase “his youngest son ” (benô haqqāṭān, lit. ‘his son/grandson, little’) in vv. 24 could refer to Canaan. This would agree with the statement made twice (vv. 18, 22) that Ham was the father of Canaan.
TCM
Douglas, J. (2000). New Biblical Dictionary: First Edition. Miami: United Bible Societies.
Source: New Bible Dictionary