Part 5 (2/2)

9:22. Which when Cham the father of Chanaan had seen, to wit, that his father's nakedness was uncovered, he told it to his two brethren without.

9:23. But Sem and j.a.pheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going backward, covered the nakedness of their father: and their faces were turned away, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

Covered the nakedness... Thus, as St. Gregory takes notice L. 35; Moral.

c. 22, we ought to cover the nakedness, that is, the sins, of our spiritual parents and superiors.

9:24. And Noe awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him,

9:25. He said: Cursed be Chanaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Cursed be Chanaan... The curses, as well as the blessings, of the partiarchs, were prophetical: And this in particular is here recorded by Moses, for the children of Israel, who were to possess the land of Chanaan. But why should Chanaan be cursed for his father's faults? The Hebrews answer, that he being then a boy, was the first that saw his grandfather's nakedness, and told his father Cham of it; and joined with him in laughing at it: which drew upon him, rather than upon the rest of the children of Cham, this prophetical curse.

9:26. And he said: Blessed be the Lord G.o.d of Sem, be Chanaan his servant.

9:27. May G.o.d enlarge j.a.pheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Sem, and Chanaan be his servant.

9:28. And Noe lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

9:29. And all his days were in the whole nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Genesis Chapter 10

The genealogy of the children of Noe, by whom the world was peopled after the flood.

10:1. These are the generations of the sons of Noe: Sem, Cham, and j.a.pheth: and unto them sons were born after the flood.

10:2. The sons of j.a.pheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Thubal, and Mosoch, and Thiras.

10:3. And the sons of Gomer: Ascenez and Riphath and Thogorma.

10:4. And the sons of Javan: Elisa and Tharsis, Cetthim and Dodanim.

10:5. By these were divided the islands of the Gentiles in their lands, every one according to his tongue and their families in their nations.

The islands... So the Hebrews called all the remote countries, to which they went by s.h.i.+ps from Judea, to Greece, Italy, Spain, etc.

10:6. And the Sons of Cham: Chus, and Mesram, and Phuth, and Chanaan.

10:7. And the sons of Chus: Saba, and Hevila, and Sabatha, and Regma, and Sabatacha. The sons of Regma: Saba, and Dadan.

10:8. Now Chus begot Nemrod: he began to be mighty on the earth.

10:9. And he was a stout hunter before the Lord. Hence came a proverb: Even as Nemrod the stout hunter before the Lord.

A stout hunter... Not of beasts but of men: whom by violence and tyranny he brought under his dominion. And such he was, not only in the opinion of men, but before the Lord, that is, in his sight who cannot be deceived.

10:10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, and Arach, and Achad, and Chalanne in the land of Sennaar.

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