Drunkenness

I never understood this story to be so bad.

The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled. Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan; lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers." He also said, "Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. May God make space for Japheth, and let him live in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave." After the flood Noah lived three hundred fifty years. All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years; and he died. - Gen. 9:18-29

According to the story, Ham saw Noah naked and ran to tell his brothers.

Childish?  Perhaps, but on the surface, no more than that.  

The two brothers entered the tent with a blanket to cover their father, and they kept their eyes turned away so as not to see Noah naked.

That signals respect, which Ham failed to show.

But is that all there is?

Commentaries suggest that more might have gone on in that tent, since Noah awoke angry with his son.

Flashback to my college days, when gatherings to test one's limits of alcohol were commonplace.  I remember one time getting so drunk in front of my friends that I went up to bed and passed out.

Some time later, I half awoke to the sound of laughter and I caught a glimpse of several of my buddies covering me with shaving cream and putting my hand in warm water.  That was believed to be the way to get someone to wet themselves while asleep.

I didn't have the energy, strength or soberness to react at the time, but later, when I did, I remembered who had been in the room and took my revenge.

So, Noah, even though he was drunk, probably awoke with a partial memory bad enough to curse the descendants of Canaan, Ham's son.

In reading commentaries, it is evident that people try to read all sorts of things into the story when words or meanings are left out.

I won't get into all that here, but I tend to doubt the validity of speculative commentary, so maybe we are better to just take things as we hear them or read them, and try to make sense of our own lives.

All the more reason to read Scripture daily.  You never know what insight you might gain