Why was Ham the only one among Noah's three sons who had a land named after him. Psalm 105:23

Question

Psalm 105:23 (NKJV) Israel also came into Egypt, And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.

Psalm 106:22 (NKJV) Wondrous works in the land of Ham, Awesome things by the Red Sea.

Noah had three sons; Shem, Ham and Japheth. After Ham gazed at his father's nakedness, Noah retaliated by placing prophetic blessings on his other sons. These prophecies indicated that the Hamites would eventually become culturally and spiritually inferior to their Japhethic and Semitic relatives.

Yet Ham who was not blessed is the only one among the three sons who had a land called after his name in scripture.

Why is this the case?

Answer 1

The Psalms very often contain couplets that mean the same thing:

Then Israel came to Egypt;
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

The second line is just a repetition of the same thing as the first line, but in poetic language (Israel and Jacob are the same person). It is not the actual name of the area. All the sons of Noah spread out and eventually settled in areas that were larger than a single country. The table of nations in Genesis 10 gives a better idea of that spread.

Answer 2

Actually, it's Ham's sons that are associated with nations: Mizraim (Egypt), Phut (Libya), Khush/Gush (Sudan), and Canaan (the southern Levant). The Psalmist's reason for referring to Ham might have been expansive so as to to encompass all of these peoples, or some quality or characteristic of Ham, or perhaps there's a hidden meaning in the name itself.

We don't know much about Ham himself other than his disrespectful behavior toward his father.

The etymology of Ham is best described as obscure, having a number of theories and likely false cognates based on origin theories from Greek, Hebrew/Aramaic, or Egyptian. A good discussion of several etymological theories can be found here:

http://biblehub.com/topical/m/mizraim.htm

Dieter

Answer 3

The phrase "land of X" describes some attribute of that place, which could be an ethnic group in terms of the table of nations, but it could also be a more abstract term ("land of milk and honey").

So this passage should be interpreted as describing the land, not giving some kind of award to Ham. And specifically describing Egypt as

1. a cursed land, because Ham was cursed, and
2. a multi-ethnic land, as opposed to "land of Canaan" or one of the descendants of Ham. Thus many different people groups, all stemming from Ham, are associated to Egypt.

Trying to interpret this passage not as a description of the land but as giving some kind of present to Ham is to misinterpret the scripture.

Answer 4

It was named the land of Ham because Egypt was a major cultural center of the Hamitic people. The Hamites are Africans or black people. When the Sahara was fertile most Africane lived in the North and East sections of Africa along the coastline. In fact many Rabbinic scholars associate Africans with the coastline in general. The Desertification of the Northern and Eastern sections of Africa was an act of judgment from God (Isaiah).

I believe Ham was the oldest Son of Noah following Jepheth and finally Shem. Each son represents an Era of humanity where one sons bloodline dominates. The greatest of which is Shem as his bloodline yilds Jesus the Messiah.

Answer 5

Shem had a whole language group and a large ethnic population named after him. This is a much greater legacy than the mere poetic mention of the "land of Ham," in scripture as an alternative name for Egypt - a name virtually forgotten today.

The Semitic language group includes "Arabic, Amharic, Aramaic, Hebrew, and numerous other ancient and modern languages. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Malta, and in large immigrant and expatriate communities in North America, Europe, and Australasia." footnote 1

The term "Semite" has fallen out of favor, but it still refers to "Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Hebrews, some Ethiopians (including the Amhara and the Tigrayans), and Aramaean tribes. Although Mesopotamia, the western coast of the Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Horn of Africa have all been proposed as possible sites for the prehistoric origins of Semitic-speaking populations." footnote 2

Conclusion: Having a land associated with his name in scripture long after his death is no endorsement of Ham. In fact, it was Shem who was blessed - by having a large ethnic and language group named for him, a name that endures to this day. Indeed, even the actual "Land of Ham" (Egypt) today speaks a Semitic language and is populated by descended of the biblical Shem.

Answer 6

The phrase “the land of Ham” is no endorsement of Ham but speaks to the kind of troubles God’s people had first with Ham then in like manner later with Egypt.

Ham, the father of Canaan (Genesis 9:22), had no reverence or compassion for his father Noah, during Noah’s misguided alcoholic struggle to likely cope with being brokenhearted as he mourned the huge losses from the flood. Ham did not cover him when he found him naked but was more concerned with telling his brothers of his dad’s plight (Gen 9:18-27).

In like manner Abraham went to Egypt during a famine, another time of hardship and poverty, and got into troubles and a form of bondage in Egypt because of Sarah. Abraham misled Pharoah saying Sarah was his sister. So Pharoah took Sarah and was apparently preparing to take her as his wife. This was a major problem for Abraham trapping him in the area but God miraculously pulled him out of it through plagues and a dream to Pharoah (see Gen 12:10-20).

Hundreds of years later the sons of Jacob also ended up in Egypt due to famine and poverty and ultimately fell into major bondage that God brought them out of with a mighty hand.