Genesis 9:18-28 is a strange bit of the text. For one, it involves the origins of the peoples of the earth. Because the earth was destroyed by the Flood there needs to be a new origin story. From the three sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth come the people who "were scattered over the whole earth". But, this isn't the strange bit of text at all. That seems a pretty logical step from the flood story.
What is strange is the story of how Noah got drunk and passed out naked in his tent. When Ham discovers his father's naked body he tells his brothers. Now his brothers go out of their way to cover their father's body without viewing his nakedness. The Biblical text has already associated nakedness and shame in some ways. In Genesis 2 it states that Adam and his wife were naked but not ashamed. Then, when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they became aware they were naked and covered up. So, at least in this context the nakedness is associated with some level of shame. So what Ham did was shameful to his father whereas Shem and Japheth were doing what they could to cover their father's shame.
When Noah woke up he cursed Ham for his wicked deed and blessed Shem and Japheth for their righteous act. The wording of the curse and blessing are notable. The cursing of Ham is to make Ham's offspring the slaves of his brothers. Harsh curse, but pretty straightforward. The blessing of Shem and Japheth though hints again at Noah's faithfulness to God. In blessing Shem he states, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Shem!" In blessing his other sons, Noah is praising God.
What is interesting here though is contrary to God's cursing of Adam where God cursed the ground and the Serpent more harshly than Adam himself, Noah directly curses the offspring of Ham. I don't know if there is any major difference, it struck me though.
Noah dies in this passage at the age of 950 years old. Again we are struck with an incredible old age of a biblical character and I'm still not sure what to make of it.
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