xix. 24; 2 Sam. ix. 6. “
The driving of Jehu
the SON (grandson)
of Nimshi.” 2
Kings ix. 20. See also Ruth iv. 17; 2 Sam. xxi.
6; Gen. xxxi. 55. Shall we forbid the inspired
writer to use the same word when speaking of Noah’s
grandson? Further, Ham was not the “
younger
son.” The order of enumeration makes him
the
second son. If it be said that Bible
usage varies, the order of birth not always being
observed in enumerations; the reply is, that, enumeration
in that order, is the
rule, in any other order
the
exception. Besides, if a younger member
of a family takes precedence of older ones in the
family record, it is a mark of pre-eminence, either
in endowments, or providential instrumentality.
Abraham, though sixty years younger than his eldest
brother, stands first in the family genealogy.
Nothing in Ham’s history shows him pre-eminent;
besides, the Hebrew word
Hakkatan rendered “the
younger,” means the
little, small.
The same word is used in Isa. lx. 22. “A
LITTLE ONE
shall become a thousand.”
Isa. xxii. 24. “
All vessels of SMALL
quantity.” Ps. cxv. 13. “
He
will bless them that fear the Lord both SMALL
and great.” Ex. xviii, 22. “
But
every SMALL
matter they shall judge.”
It would be a literal rendering of Gen. ix. 24, if
it were translated thus, “when Noah knew what
his little son,"[B] or grandson (
Beno Hakkatan)
“had done unto him, he said cursed be Canaan,”
&c. Further, even if the Africans were the descendants
of Canaan, the assumption that their enslavement fulfils
this prophecy, lacks even plausibility, for, only a
fraction of the inhabitants of Africa have
at any time been the slaves of other nations.
If the objector say in reply, that a large majority
of the Africans have always been slaves
at home,
we answer:
It is false in point of fact,
though zealously bruited often to serve a turn; and
if it were true, how does it help the argument?
The prophecy was, “Cursed be Canaan, a servant
of servants shall he be
unto his BRETHREN.,”
not unto
himself!
[Footnote A: So av, the Hebrew word for
father, signifies any ancestor, however remote. 2
Chron. xvii. 3; xxviii. 1; xxxiv. 2; Dan. v. 2.]
[Footnote B: The French follows the same analogy;
grandson being petit fils (little son.)]
OBJECTION II.—“If a man smite
his servant or his maid with a rod, and he die under
his hand, he shall surely be punished. Notwithstanding,
if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished,
for he is his money.” Ex. xxi. 20, 21.
What was the design of this regulation? Was it
to grant masters an indulgence to beat servants with
impunity, and an assurance, that if they beat them
to death, the offence should not be capital?
This is substantially what commentators tell us.
What Deity do such men worship? Some blood-gorged