Satan thereupon slaughtered a lamb, and then, in succession, a lion, a
pig, and a monkey. The blood of each as it was killed he made to flow
under the vine. Thus he conveyed to Noah what the qualities of wine
are: before man drinks of it, he is innocent as a lamb; if he drinks of
it moderately, he feels as strong as a lion; if he drinks more of it
than he can bear, he resembles the pig; and if he drinks to the point
of intoxication, then he behaves like a monkey, he dances around,
sings, talks obscenely, and knows not what he is doing.[58]
This deterred Noah no more than did the example of Adam, whose fall had
also been due to wine, for the forbidden fruit had been the grape, with
which he had made himself drunk.[59]
In his drunken condition Noah betook himself to the tent of his wife.
His son Ham saw him there, and he told his brothers what he had
noticed, and said: "The first man had but two sons, and one slew the
other; this man Noah has three sons, yet he desires to beget a fourth
besides." Nor did Ham rest satisfied with these disrespectful words
against his father. He added to this sin of irreverence the still
greater outrage of attempting to perform an operation upon his father
designed to prevent procreation.
When Noah awoke from his wine and became sober, he pronounced a curse
upon Ham in the person of his youngest son Canaan. To Ham himself he
could do no harm, for God had conferred a blessing upon Noah and his
three sons as they departed from the ark. Therefore he put the curse
upon the last-born son of the son that had prevented him from begetting
a younger son than the three he had. The descendants of Ham through
Canaan therefore have red eyes, because Ham looked upon the nakedness
of his father; they have misshapen lips, because Ham spoke with his
lips to his brothers about the unseemly condition of his father; they
have twisted curly hair, because Ham turned and twisted his head round
to see the nakedness of his father; and they go about naked, because
Ham did not cover the nakedness of his father. Thus he was requited,
for it is the way of God to mete out punishment measure for measure.
Canaan had to suffer vicariously for his father's sin. Yet some of the
punishment was inflicted upon him on his own account, for it had been
Canaan who had drawn the attention of Ham to Noah's revolting
condition. Ham, it appears, was but the worthy father of such a
son.[61] The last will and testament of Canaan addressed to his
children read as follows: "Speak not the truth; hold not yourselves
aloof from theft; lead a dissolute life; hate your master with an
exceeding great hate; and love one another."[62]
As Ham was made to suffer requital for his irreverence, so Shem and
Japheth received a reward for the filial, deferential way in which they
took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and walking
backward, with averted faces, covered the nakedness of their father.
Naked the descendants of Ham, the Egyptians and Ethiopians, were led
away captive and into exile by the king of Assyria, while the
descendants of Shem, the Assyrians, even when the angel of the Lord
burnt them in the camp, were not exposed, their garments remained upon
their corpses unsinged. And in time to come, when Gog shall suffer his
defeat, God will provide both shrouds and a place of burial for him and
all his multitude, the posterity of Japheth.
Though Shem and Japheth both showed themselves to be dutiful and
deferential, yet it was Shem who deserved the larger meed of praise. He
was the first to set about covering his father. Japheth joined him
after the good deed had been begun. Therefore the descendants of Shem
received as their special reward the tallit, the garment worn by them,
while the Japhethites have only the toga.[63] A further distinction
accorded to Shem was the mention of his name in connection with God's
in the blessing of Noah. "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem," he
said, though as a rule the name of God is not joined to the name of a
living person, only to the name of one who has departed this life.[64]
The relation of Shem to Japheth was expressed in the blessing their
father pronounced upon them: God will grant a land of beauty to
Japheth, and his sons will be proselytes dwelling in the academies of
Shem.[65] At the same time Noah conveyed by his words that the Shekinah
would dwell only in the first Temple, erected by Solomon, a son of
Shem, and not in the second Temple, the builder of which would be
Cyrus, a descendant of Japheth.[66]