The Family Of Ham

Ham, from the Hebrew name pronounced khawm, meaning warm, or hot weather (the English word "ham" is not related; it originated from an Anglo-Saxon word, hamm, which meant bent - referring to a pig's hind leg), was the second-born son of Noah; customarily, sons were listed by order of birth i.e. "Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth" (Genesis 5:52 KJV).

The genealogy of Ham, and his brothers Shem and Japheth (notice also, in verse 2 below, that the Hebrew word pronounced awdawm, meaning man as a species, originally applied to both male and female - "male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam"):

"^5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam.

In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; ^5:2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created [see also Who Was Never A Child?].

^5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: ^5:4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: ^5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

^5:6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: ^5:7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: ^5:8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

^5:9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: ^5:10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: ^5:11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.

^5:12 And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: ^5:13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: ^5:14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.

^5:15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: ^5:16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: ^5:17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

^5:18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: ^5:19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: ^5:20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

^5:21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: ^5:22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: ^5:23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: ^5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him [see What Happened To Enoch?].

^5:25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: ^5:26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: ^5:27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

^5:28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: ^5:29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed. ^5:30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: ^5:31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

^5:32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth." (Genesis 5:1-32 KJV)

"The sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut and Canaan"

The Flood came about 5 years after Noah's father Lamech died ("Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years," while the Flood happened "in the six hundredth year of Noah's life") and within the century of the birth of Shem, and Ham, and Japheth. There were eight people aboard the ark i.e. " Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them."

"^7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. ^7:12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights [see also The Floods Brought By Christ].

^7:13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark [see also Arks Of The Covenant]; ^7:14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. ^7:15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. ^7:16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in." (Genesis 7:11-16 KJV)

After the Flood, humanity ("awdawm") was regenerated from the sons of Noah and their wives (who are not named in the Scriptures - we will have to wait until the Kingdom of God to know who they were). Although many today regard the sons of Ham as those who populated Africa, which some of them did, they moreover populated much of what is today the Middle East, naturally beginning, along with those of the other two sons of Noah, in the area where the ark began and ended its voyage - in Iraq. Most of the lines of Ham produced the Babylonians, the Assyrians and the numerous Canaanite lines, including the Jebusites (Jerusalem was called the Jebusite city before David captured it and made it an Israelite city i.e. "the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem" Joshua 15:8 KJV).

"^9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. ^9:19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread." (Genesis 9:18-19 KJV)

"^10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

^10:7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

^10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. ^10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. ^10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel [see Ancient Empires - Babylon], and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ^10:11 Out of that land went forth Asshur [see Ancient Empires - Assyria], and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, ^10:12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.

^10:13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, ^10:14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, out of whom came Philistim, and Caphtorim.

^10:15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, ^10:16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, ^10:17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, ^10:18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. ^10:19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.

^10:20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations." (Genesis 10:6-20 KJV)

Some have used the incident in Genesis 9 as their lame excuse for racism against "Ham," but notice carefully that Noah's curse was upon Canaan, the father of the Middle East Canaanites, not "Ham, the father of Canaan." The "what his younger son had done unto him" is referring to whatever it was that Ham's younger son, Canaan ("the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan") had done to Noah, not anything that Ham did (Ham was the middle-born, not the youngest son of Noah i.e. "Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth). Ham merely attempted to properly cover his inebriated father's nakedness.

"^9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. ^9:19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

^9:20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: ^9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. ^9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. ^9:23 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.

^9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. ^9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." (Genesis 9:18-25 KJV)

Among the sons of Ham was Mizraim - the name given to Egypt and northeast Africa by the Israelites because of Mizraim's descendants there (it is translated into English as "Egypt" over 600 times in the Holy Scriptures) - hence the reason that it is also called "the land of Ham" i.e. the land of Ham's son Mizraim. The Israelites spent over 400 years there before the Exodus (see The Goshen Refugees and Why Were The Israelites Made Slaves In Egypt?). Jesus Christ lived there for a few years after His birth: "^2:15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son" (Matthew 2:15 KJV).

"^105:23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham." (Psalm 105:23 KJV)

"^78:51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham" (Psalm 78:51 KJV)

"^106:22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea." (Psalm 106:22 KJV)

The progenitors of two of the tribes of Israel, Ephraim and Manasseh, were born in Egypt to a Hamite mother.

"^41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt." (Genesis 41:45 KJV)

"^41:50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. ^41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. ^41:52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction." (Genesis 41:50-52 KJV)

Despite the disapproval of his siblings Miriam and Aaron, Moses married an Ethiopian woman. "Ethiopia" is the English word (derived from a Greek word) used to translate the Hebrew "Cush" - the name given to that area in Africa that was populated by Cush, the firstborn son of Ham ("the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan").

"^12:1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman." (Numbers 12:1 KJV)

Fact Finder: Did "Israel" grow from a family of a few dozen people to a nation of millions of people in "the land of Ham" i.e. Egypt?
See The Israelite Egyptians

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This Day In History, May 22

334 BC: Alexander the Great of Macedonia (see Ancient Empires - Greece) defeated Darius III of Persia (see Ancient Empires - Persia) at the Battle of the Granicus.

1176: Hashshashins (an Arabic word, meaning "hashish eaters," from which the word assassin originated; see Assassins) attempted to assassinate Saladin (the Muslim sultan of Egypt) near Aleppo.

1246: Henry Raspe was elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.

1377: Pope Gregory XI declared five papal bulls (see Papal Bull) against English theologian John Wycliffe.

1455: The opening battle in England's 30-year War of the Roses took place at St. Albans. The Lancastrians defeated the Yorkists.

1541: In Germany, the Ratisbon (Regensburg) Conference ended, its mission to reunify the Catholic Church having failed. From that time on, the Protestant movement became permanent (doctrinally, there is little difference between Roman Catholic and "Protestant" Antichristians; see also Is Your Religion Your Religion? and What's Your Angle?).

1629: The Peace of Luebeck was signed to end hostilities between the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark.

1807: A grand jury indicted former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.

1939: Adolf Hitler (see Presidential Quotes On War, Terrorism, Religion) and Benito Mussolini signed a "Pact of Steel" committing Germany and Italy to a military alliance.

1941: The German battleship Bismarck entered the high seas for the first and last time.

1967: Egyptian President Nassar again (as he did in 1956, which led to the Sinai War) blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba by closing the Tiran Straits to Israeli shipping. It led to the Six Day War.

1968: The nuclear submarine USS Scorpion and its crew of 99 was lost in the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles southwest of the Azores (Portuguese islands in the Atlantic Ocean about 900 miles west of Portugal).

1972: Under its new constitution, Ceylon became a republic and changed its name to Sri Lanka.

1990: North and South Yemen united to form the Republic of Yemen.

2002: A jury in Alabama convicted former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry for the 1963 bombing of a Baptist Church in which four girls were murdered.

2008: 235 tornadoes during this week struck 19 U.S. states and one Canadian province.