Exonerating Ham: An Alternative Reading of Genesis 9:20-27

For over two millennia, a strong consensus has judged Ham as the guilty party associated with Noah’s nakedness in Gen 9:20-27. While no consensus has been reached regarding Ham’s crime, his actions of seeing and telling in verse 22 have been interpreted as signalling inappropriate behaviour. However, the broader context does not comfortably support blaming Ham. Noah identifies the culprit as his ‘youngest son’ (9:24) and curses Canaan (9:25-27). Scholarly attempts to reconcile these inconsistencies in the episode raise as many problems as they solve. An alternative reading of the passage is possible, exonerating Ham and identifying his youngest son, Canaan, as the culprit. This approach offers a more straightforward solution to the questions that attributing blame to Ham raises.