Faith

Ham’s Children: More Than Slaves

DUANE HENRY

“If anything, it becomes obvious that the liberties taken with Black people throughout the centuries are the result of sin, causing people to no longer see those of a different colour as brothers or sisters.”

When the miniseries “Roots” was aired on television back in the 70s, as a young boy, I was horrified by the few scenes of oppression I peeked at. My older siblings found it fascinating, but I found it frightening and sad. It was especially painful to watch people who looked like me suffer brutalities and humiliation as they fought for their freedom. At that time, I was too young to ask where all this animosity I was witnessing came from.

Decades later, I watched the movie “12 Years A Slave.” Some of the images of cruelty from that movie are still in my mind; the way people were treating each other in inhumane ways was hard to watch. To think that this was not a work of fiction is that much more unsettling. It reminds me of the lyrics of a pop song: “I can’t understand/What makes a man/Hate another man/Help me understand.”¹

Where did all of this begin? Well, let’s go to the Old Testament.

After the flood, Noah and his family emerge from the ark. Noah receives God’s promise to never again use flood waters to cover the earth and destroy all life.

Soon after, we read that from the three sons of Noah, “came all the people who now populate the earth” (Genesis 9:19, NLT). Noah creates a vineyard and lies naked in his tent, having sampled too much wine (Genesis 9:20, 21). Ham, Noah’s youngest son, fails to cover his father’s nakedness. Once Noah returns to his senses, Noah is displeased and calls a curse upon Ham’s son Canaan, declaring that Canaan will be “the lowest of servants to his relatives” (Genesis 9:25, NLT).

After reading this biblical account, some coined the phrase the “Curse of Ham.” Since Ham’s descendants have been identified as those of African origin, they used this ideology to justify the blight of slavery on Black people. An article from the website The Conversation explores this in further detail, speaking of the church’s role in perpetuating a narrative of Black people being forever subject to enslavement; “In fact, some Christian leaders argued that it was in the Africans’ interests to be enslaved, because their captivity would hasten their conversion, purifying and redeeming their souls in readiness for Judgement Day.”² This thinking creeps into the modern mind to justify superiority complexes that continue to this day and exist in several sectors of societal life.

This train of thought effectively goes off the tracks when one considers the early legacy of Ham’s children, who include Canaan as well as Cush, Mizraim and Put followed by Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca, succeeded by Sheba and Dedan (Genesis 10:7). For the Curse of Ham theory to be consistent, there would need to be signs of this curse throughout all the generations of people to come from Canaan. That is simply not the case.

With Cushites being among these people, consider Nimrod, a descendent of Cush and “the first heroic warrior on earth” (Genesis 10:8, NLT) and Caleb, a Kenizzite from the line of Canaan, one of 12 spies sent into the Promised Land. Caleb gives the encouraging report, “Let’s go at once to take the land … We can certainly conquer it!” (Numbers 13:30b, NLT). These figures are incredibly important to the biblical landscape and do not fit the mould of being predestined for permanent subservience.

Indeed, there are further outstanding examples of Ham’s descendants playing pivotal roles in divinely revealing God’s nature. Zipporah is a Cushite who finds herself the subject of dispute because of her interracial marriage with Moses, to the displeasure of Aaron and Miriam (Numbers 12:1). Zipporah is also responsible for saving Moses’s life—albeit in a way most might not understand—and, in so doing, preserves the life of the future deliverer of Israel (Exodus 4:24-26). In addition, her father, Jethro, introduces Moses to a model of leadership that involves delegation of responsibility, allowing Moses to tend to the most important matters of leading the nation (Exodus 18:13-26).

Ebed-Melek, a Cushite eunuch serving under King Zedekiah, is instrumental in rescuing the prophet Jeremiah from a cistern and certain death by starvation (Jeremiah 38:1-13).

In Acts 8, the New Testament tells us about the Ethiopian eunuch. He is serving as a treasurer for the Queen of Ethiopia when the Apostle Philip interprets prophetic Scripture for him. The eunuch would go on to be baptized immediately, fully willing to identify himself as a follower of Jesus. In doing so, the Bible records him as the first person to publicly declare his faith following the events of the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Simon of Cyrene, the man who carries Jesus’s cross, is mentioned in three biblical accounts. Since Cyrene was an ancient Greek city in eastern Libya in North Africa, most (but not all) believe him to have been a dark-skinned man.³ This is another prominent example where someone from Africa who may have been Black holds a place of importance in the gospel story.

In conclusion, we can use the biblical text to discover the role of Ham’s children. While a measure of suffering has historically taken place, this measure is not the result of a God-given decree marking an entire race as nothing more than implements for the whims of others. If anything, it becomes obvious that the liberties taken with Black people throughout the centuries are the result of sin, causing people to no longer see those of a different colour as brothers or sisters. This was never the way God intended it. By including the names shared in this article in the Bible, we see that God had—and has—other things in mind.

Duane Henry serves as the senior associate pastor of CONNECT at PORTICO Community Church. Duane is happily married with two children.

This article appeared in the January/February/March 2025 issue of testimony/Enrich, a quarterly publication of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. © 2025 The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Photos © istockphoto.com.