Bible Dictionary
Ham
The youngest son of Noah and the ancestor of several peoples and kingdoms listed after the Flood. The curse pronounced by Noah fell specifically upon Ham’s son Canaan.
Definition
Ham was the youngest son of Noah and the ancestor of peoples and kingdoms listed after the Flood. The name is associated with “warm,” “hot,” “south,” and an Egyptian word meaning “black.”
Biblical Usage
Ham is named in Noah’s family. Noah’s curse was pronounced specifically upon Canaan, Ham’s son, and was understood in the supplied material in relation to the later destruction of the Canaanites. Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, established an early monarchy in Babylonia.
Historical Background
The descendants of Ham are presented as including the early peoples of Babylonia, Arabia, and Ethiopia. They are described as especially energetic in the early post-diluvian period.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Warm, hot, and hence the south; also an Egyptian word meaning “black”, the youngest son of Noah (Gen. 5:32; comp. 9:22, 24). The curse pronounced by Noah against Ham, properly against Canaan his fourth son, was accomplished when the Jews subsequently exterminated the Canaanites. One of the most important facts recorded in Gen. 10 is the foundation of the earliest monarchy in Babylonia by Nimrod the grandson of Ham (6, 8, 10). The primitive Babylonian empire was thus Hamitic, and of a cognate race with the primitive inhabitants of Arabia and of Ethiopia. (See ACCAD.) The race of Ham were the most energetic of all the descendants of Noah in the early times of the post-diluvian world.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(hot; sunburnt).