Genesis 9:18

18 Therefore they that went out of the ship were Noe, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; forsooth Ham, that is the father of Canaan.

Genesis 9:18 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 9:18

And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were
Shem, and Ham, and Japheth
These were born before the flood, and went into the ark with Noah, and came out with him; see ( Genesis 5:32 ) ( 6:10 ) and Ham [is the] father of Canaan;
this is observed for the sake of the following history, concerning the behaviour of the one to Noah, and of the curse of the other by him, which would not have been so well understood if this remark had not been made: the father and the son, as they were, related in nature, they were much alike in manners and behaviour. Cush, the firstborn of Ham, is not mentioned, but Canaan, his youngest son, because he was cursed, as Aben Ezra observes; and who remarks that the paragraph is written to show that the Canaanites were accursed, the father of whom this Canaan was; and who is the same Sanchoniatho ^F25 calls Cna, and says he was the first that was called a Phoenician.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Apud. Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 1. p. 39.

Genesis 9:18 In-Context

16 And my bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and I shall have mind of the everlasting bond of peace, which is made between God and man, and each soul living of all flesh which is on [the] earth. (And my rainbow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and I shall remember the everlasting covenant, which is made between God and man, and each living soul of all the kinds of flesh that be on the earth.)

17 And God said to Noe, This shall be a sign of [the] bond of peace, which I made between me and each flesh on earth. (And God said to Noah, This shall be a sign of the covenant, which I made between me and all flesh on the earth.)

18 Therefore they that went out of the ship were Noe, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; forsooth Ham, that is the father of Canaan.

19 These three were the sons of Noe, and all the kind of men was sown of them on all [the] earth. (These three were the sons of Noah, and all the kinds of people on all the earth came from them.)

20 And Noe, an earth-tiller, began to till the earth, and he planted a vinery, (And Noah, a farmer, began to work the soil, and he planted a vineyard;)