Gen 9 - Canaan was cursed for what Ham did?

The first 17 verses in this chapter are Elohim’s response to Noah's faithful sacrifice that he made initially upon leaving the Ark.

Elohim is going to reiterate instructions for man's government. These instructions, those of which that Noah was probably aware, but they're being reiterated in a covenant form. This is a covenant between Elohim and Noah.

Much of Christianity teaches “dispensationalism.” This school of thought teaches biblical history as a number of successive, but different, economies or administrations under Elohim, and each different administration is called a "dispensation."

According to Christian dispensationalism, the original dispensation was one of perfection that was at creation until sin became known. The next era is where man allegedly is governed by his own conscience. They claim that man was governed by his own conscience because there allegedly there wasn't a law to go by. The next era is between the time of the flood and the time of Mount Sinai which is called the era of "Human Government. The time from Mount Sinai until the time of Jesus is called the dispensation of the law. Then after Jesus, we're now in the dispensation of "Grace." They claim that Elohim changed his methods of dealing with man as time went on. He has to keep trying "stuff" until He gets it right.

The problems with this viewpoint are numerous. It essentially says that Elohim changes His mind. No, He doesn’t. Dispensationalism essentially claims that Elohim is trying the trial-and-error method in dealing with mankind. How do I deal with these people I made? Well, let's try conscience. Let’s try law. Let’s try Grace. Why didn't He think of grace to begin with? Elohim does not change.

Malachi 3:6
“For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

1 Samuel 15:29
“And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

Elohim never changes His mind! While He doesn't change His mind, there are times when He changed His actions to reflect His grace and mercy. For instance, when He said He was going to destroy all of Israel, Moses prayed, and Elohim did not destroy them. He changed His actions to display His grace and mercy. But did He change His mind and think the sins of Israel were okay? Of course not!

Psalms 102:26-27
“Even they will perish, but You do endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them, and they will be changed.” But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.

And His word does not change either, His word does not change.

Matthew 24:35
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.

Psalms 89:34
“My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

Psalm 119:89
Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.

Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.

That's why we are obedient to His Torah. The Torah is the direct communication of Elohim to us. He doesn't ask much out of us: don't murder each other, don't steal, rest every Saturday, a few times a year get together and honor the Feast Days with a party, avoid worshiping other gods and anything that resembles that, don’t eat unclean things like scavengers or predators that weren’t created for food. What's so hard about obedience? Those things are not difficult. His Torah is such a blessing to His people! It is a tremendous honor to have a realization of obedience to His word!

We will also go over drinking, the Ancestors of Ham (that’s a big one) and how Noah continued living well past the Tower of Babble incident. He lived well past that and as a matter of fact, if there's no gaps in the genealogy, he lived until Abraham was 58 years old.