A Healthy Sense of Shame

Scripture:         When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” Genesis 9:24-25

Observation:    Noah has too much to drink and passes out naked in his tent.  His son, Ham (father of Canaan), sees him and ridicules him.  From one act, Ham and his entire lineage is cursed.  What was the big deal?  

            There are many parallels between this act and the fall.  Both incidents involved food—the fruit of the tree and the fruit of the vine.  Both of these involved nakedness.  Both of these resulted in a curse.  Back in Noah’s day, nakedness was a reminder of the fall, a reminder of the shame of separation.  So to be naked or revel in nakedness was a shameful act.

            Noah blew it, not by drinking, but by getting drunk and allowing his sons to see him in shame.  Ham ridicules while Shem and Japheth refuse to engage.  They go out of their way to honor their father, and to reject delight in nakedness.  Shem and Japheth show a sense of shame before God; Ham does not.

            It is not a simple joke that curses Ham.  It is the lack of shame before God that his actions evidence.  His descendants, the Canaanites, would be cursed, ruled over, and defeated by his brothers.  It is no coincidences that nakedness and sexual sin were hallmarks of Canaanite society.  The entire tribe showed a lack of healthy shame before God.

            God blesses those who have a healthy sense of shame.  Jewish Rabbis wrote in the Talmud that one who possessed no proper sense of shame “did not have his feet present at Mount Sinai.”  While shame is often abused and misused today, I tend to agree with these Rabbis.  There is such thing as a healthy sense of shame.  A quick look at our culture shows a society that has been severed from Mount Sinai.

Application:    How do I live out and pass on a healthy sense of shame to my kids?  In our house, we use the words “inappropriate” to describe certain TV shows, music, or movies.  Have I become lax towards shame?  Has soaking in our culture inured me towards shame?    

Prayer:             God, I do not want to be like Ham, reveling in what is shameful.  Help retune my sensitivity today towards sin.  Give me a healthy sense of shame.