Dishonor

DISHONOUR

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Genesis 9:18-29

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
Genesis 9:22

It is an important principle to honour fathers. Ham broke this principle and dishonoured his father. It is the curse that followed that governs large sections of the world’s population. Across the world, the inability of the black man to rise above the state of servanthood can only be explained by a curse. Others may differ in their view and I can handle that, but I find it difficult to explain the state of Africa and black people, in general, except by the interpreting it as the curse of Ham. This severe curse came about when a young man forgot the contribution his father had made to his existence. Ham forgot that it was his father Noah who heard from God and obeyed the call. Ham forgot that he did not know God well enough to hear the voice that commanded to build an ark.

Ham forgot that if his father had not built the ark he would have drowned along with the rest of the world. Ham forgot that God considered Noah to be a righteous man, even though he did not. Ham forgot that he was alive only because of his “drunken” father. Ham forgot that every man of God has a right to be naked in his own tent. Ham forgot that he himself was, sometimes, naked in his own tent.

He forgot too many things and he paid the price dearly for his lack of remembrance. Today , the black man can scarcely rise out of the waters of poverty and worldwide despisement.