Curse of Ham Japheth? And why will Japheth "dwell in the tents of Shem"? Further difficulties include Ham's being referred to as "the youngest son", when all other lists make him Noah's second son. Per Sarna, the biggest challenge of the narrative is why Canaan was cursed, rather than Ham, and the concealed details of the shameful incident bear the same reticence of Reuben's sexual transgression. The narrative's short five verses indicate that Canaan's Hamite paternity must have had great significance to the narrator or redactor, according to Sarna, who adds, "The curse on Canaan, invoked in response to an act of moral
Historicity of the Bible Historicity of the Bible The historicity of the Bible is the question of the Bible's "acceptability as a history", in the words of Thomas L. Thompson, a scholar who has written widely on this topic as it relates to the Old Testament. This can be extended to the question of the Christian New Testament as an accurate record of the historical Jesus and the Apostolic Age. Many fields of study span the Bible and history; such fields range from archeology and astronomy to linguistics and comparative literature. Scholars also examine the historical context of Bible passages, the importance ascribed to