HAM hăm (חָ֥ם; LXX, Χαμ). 1. One of Noah’s three sons, the others being Shem and Japheth (Gen 5:32; 6:10; 7:13; 9:19, 22; 10:1, 6, 20). Ham had four sons—Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan (Gen 10:6). His descendants were spread abroad in many lands. From him and his brothers came all the nations of the earth. In the Table of the Nations (Gen 10:6-10) Ham is mentioned as the ancestor of the Egyptians and of the peoples who were under the control of Egypt in NE Africa, Arabia, and Canaan—with the exception of Nimrod.

After the flood Noah became intoxicated, and he lay in a drunken stupor in his tent. Ham entered the tent and then told his brothers what he had seen. Shem and Japheth took a robe and walking backward into the tent, so as not to look upon their father’s nakedness, let it fall across their father to cover him. When Noah awoke from his stupor and learned what had happened to him and what his son Ham had done, he cursed Ham’s son Canaan and said that his descendants would be the slaves of the descendants of Shem and Japheth. The story does not make clear why Noah should curse Canaan. Various explanations have been given, one of the most likely being that Canaan had done something not mentioned in the story which deserved cursing.

The word Hamitic is used to designate a group of languages in N Africa related to the Semitic languages. There is no Hamitic race.

2. Ham is also the patronymic of his descendants (1 Chron 4:40; Pss 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:22).

3. The name of a city whose inhabitants, the Zuzim, Chedorlaomar and the kings who were with him smote in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:5). The site is not known.