Why did Noah punish Canaan instead of Ham?

A:The Hebrews of the first millenium BCE despised their neighbours, the Canaanites, whom they regarded as descended from the legendary Canaan. In the passage that follows Genesis 9:18, we see Ham, "the father of Canaan", homosexually rape his own father, Noah, while he is asleep in a drunken stupour. Whenever The Bible talks about a man 'knowing' or 'seeing the nakedness' of another man or woman, it is a euphemism for sex, in this case, the most despised act by Ham of raping his own father and then boasting to his brothers about it: (Genesis 9:22) "And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without."

When Noah realises what has happened, he curses not Ham but Ham's future son Canaan, saying that he (his descendants) will forever be slaves for his brethren. The curse can be seen as part of a passage that seeks to justify future hatred of the Canaanites: (Genesis 9:24) "And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant."

This passage had such obvious political implications that we do not need to believe that it really happened. Noah cursed, not Ham, but Ham's son Canaan, and said that Canaan would forever be the servant to his brethren. When this story was written down, the Canaanites, biblical descendants of the legendary Canaan, were the despised competitors of the Israelites. The curse can be seen as part of a passage that seeks to justify hatred of the Canaanites at the time the story was being told.