Almost everyone knows the story of Noah and the flood, even though a horrific, world ending event has been turned into a cute children’s story. What most people don’t know, however, is the gross and odd story about Noah and his son Ham. Noah gets way too drunk, and passes out naked in his tent (try to make baby crib bumpers out of that!). His son Ham enters and “sees his father’s nakedness” in Genesis 9:22, which is a Hebrew phrase often used for sex (see Leviticus 18:6ff). The story gets even more tragic, because when Noah wakes up and understands what his son did, he curses Ham’s son Canaan in 9:25, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” The descendants of Ham end up being idolatrous enemies of Israel (Canaan, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria).
This has led some to build a teaching called “generational curses”, which they describe as a spiritual, demonic curse that passes down from father to son in the generational line. It is used to explain the stronghold of sin on an individual or nation, and usually then proscribes some sort of deliverance or breaking of the curse as necessary for freedom. A person may be completely unaware of generational curses that have been passed down to them, and so spiritual discernment must be used to identify and break them. Is there deep sin or spiritual oppression in your life or people group? It could be a generational curse then.
Is this what Genesis 9 is teaching us? are there other passages to back this up? First of all, we must deal with Genesis 9. First, it is important to note that it is Noah, not God, who places the curse on his grandson. We have no proof here that God backed up Noah’s curse, or that there is a spiritual force at work. Second, though these nations do end up idolatrous and evil, there are stories of individuals from these nations becoming part of God’s people (Egyptians in Exodus 12:38, Rahab the Canaanite in Joshua 6:25, Assyrians who repented in Jonah 3 and 4). This could be the beginning of seeing what I would call generational sin, which is the anti God worldview and immorality that can be and is passed on from one generation to another. Remember, unbelievers are open to demonic possession, and sin opens the door wide, so this generational sin would go hand and hand with demonic activity. That doesn’t follow then that these demons or spiritual curses are “passed down” automatically from father to son.
A second verse that I have seen to support generational curses is Exodus 20:5-6, “for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” The first part of the verse is focused on where God “visits the iniquity/sin” to the third or fourth generation. Note that God says “visits the sin” and not “spiritually curses”. “Visiting the sin” would fit with the generational sin explanation I just gave. The main problem I have with interpreting this verse as speaking of curses, is that it ignores the second part of the verse. God says He blesses to the 1,000th generation. So if you take this literally, and speaking of curses, the opposite is true as well. As long as you have someone righteous in your line, then you are blessed for 1,000 generations! Who would worry about curses then?
It is important to remember a foundational principle about how God judges. In Ezekiel 18:20, God rebukes the victum mentality of the Israelites by saying, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” He had already made this clear in the law in Deuteronomy 24:16, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.” Generational curses would seem to contradict the way that God judges and deals with individuals.
Even if we were to allow for generational curses, we would still have to ask whether Christians can have generational curses or not. Galatians 3:13 answers this emphatically, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”. Jesus took on the curse for us on the cross, and broke its power over us forever! Once again, fear has no place in the life of a believer. Of course, generational sin must still be dealt with as Christians. Sins that have been taught and passed down from our parents and culture are not broken easily. They do have spiritual repercussions as we discussed earlier. But, what God has blessed, no one can curse! (Genesis 12:1-4). Don’t make Balaam’s mistake!
The Bible Nerd 