Ham

Ham - (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 [257]ACCAD.)

The race of Ham were the most energetic of all the descendants of Noah in the early times of the post-diluvian world.

Ham

Ham - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

HAM, Sax.ham, a house, is our modern word home, G.heim. It is used in hamlet, and in the names of places, as in Walt-ham, wood-house, walt, a wood, and ham, a house, [not Wal-tham, as it is often pronounced,] Bucking-ham, Notting-ham, Wrent-ham, Dur-ham, _c.

HAM, n. The inner or hind part of the knee; the inner angle of the joint which unites the thigh and the leg of an animal. Hence,

1. The thigh of a beast, particularly of a hog, whether salted and cured or not. But the word is more generally understood to mean the thigh of a hog salted and dried in smoke.

1. The name of one of the three sons of Noah, apparently the second in age. (B.C. 2448.) Of the history of Ham nothing is related except his irreverence to his father and the curse which that patriarch pronounced. The sons of Ham are stated, to have been "Cush and Mizraim and Phut and Canaan." (Genesis 10:6) comp. 1Chr 1:8 Egypt is recognized as the "land of Ham" in the Bible. (Psalms 78:51; 105:23; 106:22) The other settlements of the sons of Ham are discussed under their respective names. The three most illustrious Hamite nations--the Cushites, the Phoenicians and the Egyptians--were greatly mixed with foreign peoples. Their architecture has a solid grandeur that we look for in vain elsewhere.
2. According to the present text, (Genesis 14:5) Chedorlaomer and his allies smote the Zuzim in a place called Ham, probably in the territory of the Ammonites (Gilead), east of the Jordan.

Definition

Ham was the second of Noah’s three sons.

• During the worldwide flood that covered the whole earth, Ham and his brothers were with Noah in the ark, along with their wives.
• After the flood, there was an occasion where Ham was very dishonoring to his father, Noah. As a result, Noah cursed Ham’s son Canaan and all his descendants, who eventually became known as the Canaanites.
• Another son of Ham was Mizraim, which means “Egypt.” His descendants became the Egyptians. For this reason, Egypt is sometimes called, “the land of Ham.”

(Translation suggestions: How to Translate Names)

(See also: ark, Canaan, dishonor, Noah)

Bible References

• Genesis 5:32
• Genesis 6:10
• Genesis 7:13-14
• Genesis 10:1
• Genesis 10:20

Word Data

• Strong’s: H2526