Men in the Bible: the Men that Cover their Parent’s Shame

Men in the Bible: the Men that Cover their Parent’s Shame

by | Nov 21, 2025 | Archives, Men

Men in the Bible: the Men that Cover their Parent’s Shame And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But…

Men in the Bible: the Men that Cover their Parent’s Shame

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him… And he said: “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.” – Genesis 9:22-24, 26-27

Today, we shall consider the counterpart lesson of yesterday’s spotlight by profiling two men who demonstrated unusual maturity by covering their parent’s shame. We shall be looking at the story of Shem and Japheth, who covered the nakedness of their father.

Shem, the firstborn of Noah, and Japheth, the lastborn, demonstrated wisdom and an uncanny sense of nobility in the way they handled the news of their father’s nudity and what they did thereafter to redress the situation. Contrary to the expectation of their frivolous brother, Ham, they did not see what was funny about the news of their father being drunk and naked.

Ham had come to them, hoping to give them a good laugh with his gist. But the two men were only sober upon learning about their father’s shameful state. And they must have left Ham giggling alone where he was to go and look for a piece of clothing to cover their naked father.

What they did when they found the cloth was even more impressive. Rather than giving in to their own natural instinct for curiosity to at least see what their father looked like in nudity before they covered him, as most people would have done, Shem and Japheth did not give in to this primordial instinct. Instead, each of them took the wrapper they found at opposite ends and then walked backwards into the tent where their father was to cover him up without looking down at him. This was a most noble gesture indeed.

More impressive was the case of Japheth, the lastborn, who could be forgiven for being young and immature to join his immediate older brother in the ridicule of their father and having fun at his nakedness. But Japheth showed that he was wiser, more mature and more grounded a character than his older brother, indeed, maturity is not a matter of age.

Interestingly, too, Noah, in his inebriated state, was still conscious enough to note all that his three sons did. He saw the one who was having a good laugh while looking at his nudity and was probably removing his clothing so that he could have a better look. Noah also noted the two sons who walked backwards, heads straight, eyes closed, into his tent to cover his nakedness.

And each got his due rewards. The first son, the immature Ham, was cursed with an everlasting curse to become a slave and servant to the descendants of both the older and the youngest sons. The mature and wise sons, Shem and Japheth, on the other hand, were blessed forever and decreed masters over the descendants of the fun-loving son. So, who had the last laugh?

Bringing this home, it is worth repeating that a child should never celebrate the nakedness of his or her parents. Nakedness in this regard can be literal, as in physical nudity, or metaphorical, such as their failings, weaknesses, flaws, wretchedness, struggles, or other forms of negatives that one should be ashamed of.

This can also be stretched further to include not making jokes about anyone occupying the role of a parent or authority in someone’s life. It is not advisable to make fun of them or joke about their failings, either in private or publicly. It is a dangerous breach of divine protocols, with retribution sure to follow a violation.

Selah!

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Men in the Bible: the Portrait of A Gossip and An Accursed

Men in the Bible: the Portrait of A Gossip and An Accursed

by | Nov 20, 2025 | Archives, Men

Men in the Bible: Ham – the Portrait of A Gossip and An Accursed And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of…

Men in the Bible: Ham – the Portrait of A Gossip and An Accursed

And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside… So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.” – Genesis 9:20-22, 24-24

The man in the Bible for our spotlight today is Ham, the lastborn of Noah. In Ham, we will see the portrait of a gossip and an accursed man. This is not a particularly good note, but hopefully, we all can learn from his mistakes and steer clear of them.

Ham made a fundamental mistake, fundamental because it was destiny-defining, even though it was also subtle and is a common mistake some of us still make today. Ham saw the nakedness of his father. That was bad in itself. But he then went to do something worse; he went to gossip about his father’s nudity to his older brothers, Shem and Japheth.

The first lesson here is that a child, no matter how old, big, prominent, or great he or she becomes in life, is not allowed to celebrate the nakedness of his or her parents. Nakedness in this regard can be literal, as in physical nudity, or figurative, meaning the flaws or hubris of the parents.

The truth is children, at different stages in their lives, might stumble upon their parents’ nudity. That was the case with Ham, as he must have entered his father’s tent only to inadvertently see the man unashamedly sprawled on the floor naked. However, a child who chances upon his or her parent’s nakedness must exercise discretion and not turn that into a topic for gossip. That was where Ham went wrong. He saw his father’s nakedness and went to look for his brothers outside so that he could gossip and giggle about his discovery. That proved costly for him.

Figuratively, because of proximity, a child may get to see the character flaws, personal weaknesses, hubris and foibles of their parents. However, these are not something to joke about, either within the family unit itself or shared with an outsider. Children are not permitted to make fun of their parents’ nakedness or weakness. Honor is the basic instruction of God to children towards their parents.

In the case of Ham, his behavior was even more baffling because he himself was already a father at this time, as the Bible refers to him as ‘the father of Canaan.’ The more reason his immaturity was disappointing. To him, his father’s nudity was the joke of the day or a piece of entertainment to have fun with.

Sadly, it proved very costly for him, as it earned him and his descendants a curse from his father, a generational curse that was never revoked.

Selah!

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Men in the Bible: A Large-Hearted and Accommodating Man

Men in the Bible: A Large-Hearted and Accommodating Man

by | Nov 19, 2025 | Archives, Men

Men in the Bible: A Large-Hearted and Accommodating Man So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had… Then…

Men in the Bible: A Large-Hearted and Accommodating Man

So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had… Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.  – Genesis 12:20, 13:1-2

Another lesson we can learn from Abraham’s lifestyle was his large-heartedness. He was not only large-hearted but also very accommodating.

Abraham left Egypt a rich man, as he had been lavished with wealth by Pharaoh, who wanted to marry Abraham’s supposed sister, Sarah. However, when the truth was revealed about Sarah’s identity and Abraham and his family were sent packing out of Egypt, all their acquisitions were also dispatched along with them; nothing was taken from them. This made Abraham leave Egypt a wealthy man. Pharaoh at that time was the most powerful man on earth, presiding over a vast spread of kingdom and vast resources. So, you can imagine the kind of assets he must have endowed Abraham with to marry his “sister”.

Meanwhile, even with his newfound wealth, one thing remained constant about Abraham: his accommodating nature. This was reflected in his allowing his young nephew, Lot, to tag along with him at every part of his journey. Some men with lesser fiber would have ditched Lot in Haran and headed for Canaan without him. After all, it was not he, Abraham, that brought Lot from Ur in the first place. It was his late father, Terah. And having brought him to Canaan, Abraham could have justifiably left Lot there before heading to Egypt during the famine. But he still took him along.

After departing Egypt, however, considering the acrimonious way he and his family left the land of opportunity, after Pharaoh’s discovery that Sarah was not Abraham’s sister but his wife. Abraham, still smarting from the reprimand of Pharaoh, might have done little wrong by parting ways with Lot afterwards. But this was not the case. He still took him along. Wherever he went, he took his young relative along and did not resent his tagging along or attempt to ditch him at any point, as some would have done.

Even when Lot started to become rich through association with him, Abraham did not mind. He must have given him enough assets to start him off on his own to the point that Lot himself can be described as a wealthy man, all from the resources he got either directly from his uncle Abraham or by virtue of his association with him. Yet, there was no record that Abraham resented Lot in any way or rubbed it in that he was the one who made him, as some in his shoes would have relentlessly done. He remained his large-hearted and accommodating self throughout their relationship. He was not a me-and-my-family-alone man.

We can all learn from that.

Selah!

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