Cursed be Canaan] Canaan was the sonne of Ham, vers. 18. and shall the sonne beare the iniquitie of the father, contrary to that of the Lord by the Prophet, Ezek. Chap. 18. 5: 20. especially, if (as some thinke) he was yet unborn; for he was none of the eight persons that were preserved in the Arke. Answ. It is more probable that he was now born and of a competent age both to know his dutie to his grand-father, and to deserve a curse for his contempt; and the rather, if he first saw the uncomely nakednesse of Noah, and deriding him alone called his father to beare him company in that contempt, which made him more worthy of the curse by Noah pronounced against him. But why was not Ham rather cursed then Canaan, since his sinne is evident; and his dutie obliged him more to honour his father, as more neere in relation, and more mature in discretion? Answ. By naming of Canaan, Ham is not passed over with patience and impunitie, but his curse both presupposed and aggravated; presupposed, because he was the principall offender; and aggravated, in that parents wish well to their children, especially, if they be like them, and they are more tender and chary of them many times then of themselves; as then Joseph is said to be blessed in Jacobs blessing of his children, Gen. 48. vers. 15, 16. so is Ham cursed in his sonne Canaan, and the curse intailed to his posteritie; and the rather is his name and person mentioned, and the curse intitled to it (though Ham have foure sonnes named in the next Chapter, of which, as he is ranked, he seemeth to be the youngest, Chap. 10. vers. 6.) because God intended to make the curse hereditary to the name and Nation of the Canaanites; And he may justly punish the iniquitie of the fathers upon the children, not only to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him, as Exodus 20:5. but to a thousand generations, if they continue in the same sinne; and if they be partners in the same sinnes, he may make them partakers in the same plagues, not only temporally but eternally; but in respect of humane Justice God hath given another rule (which man is bound unto, though God be free to doe with his creatures as he pleaseth) and that is, that the parents shall not be put to death for the children nor the children for the parents, Deuteronomy 24:16. see 2 Kings 14:6. Jer. 31. 29, 30. But should not Noah rather have prayed for his son and grandchild, then have cursed them both? It was not with Noah as we read in Just. Martyr. Dialog. cum Tryph. that inflamed with wine and wrath he was too hasty with his curse; for his sleep no doubt had setled his braine in a right temper; and now awakened out of it, he uttered but that which the spirit of God suggested unto him; for both his curse and blessing were propheticall, and ratified by God himselfe, so that here is no warrant for parents to be so bitter to their children, as passionately to powre out curses against them, especially, without or upon a very small cause; and though in such a case the causelesse curse doe not often come to passe, Proverbs 26:2. sometimes notwithstanding it may have a temporall ratification of God for their punishment who rashly utter it; whereof there are many examples in humane stories, and therefore it is the childrens part to take heed they provoke not their parents, especially as Ham and Canaan by deriding of them, for against such there is a particular curse upon record, Proverbs 30:17. and the parents dutie, to take heed of such precipitation of spirit as makes them ready to denounce a curse when they should pronounce a blessing. a servant of servants] That is, a most vile slave; for the Hebrew phrase expresseth the superlative degree by such a duplication: as Ecclesiastes 1:2. Hosea 10:15. The condition of servitude fals upon some by povertie of estate, weakenesse of reason, or the prevailing power of warre, but upon some it cometh as a particular curse, as in this case, where the Canaanites are foredoomed to a most slavish estate. Object. This prediction in part tooke place in the Gibeonites who were Canaanites; see Joshua 9. but it may seeme to faile of effect because it tooke not place in Ham nor Canaan, nor in the descendants from Ham or Canaan to the third and fourth generation, according to the commination of God, Exodus 20:5. for the posteritie of Ham were Kings, and the first Monarch Nimrod was of his race; nor came the Canaanites under subjection to the Israelites untill foure hundreth and thirty yeares after the promise made to Abraham. Resp. But first, the principall part of the curse upon Ham and Canaan and their issue was spirituall, which made them slaves to sinne, and so justly excommunicate from God, and contemptible as the vilest slaves unto the godly. Secondly, though God professe himselfe more prone to mercy then to revenge, (when he mentioneth the third and fourth generation in visiting the iniquitie of the fathers upon the children,) he doth not thereby bind himselfe either to begin his punishment so soone, or to end it there: and whereas in this prediction there is no set time chosen for accomplishment, the curse may come at what age or time, & begin with what person he pleaseth; as in the time of Joshua wtih the Gibeonites, Joshua 9:21. Gods forbearance of the Canaanites was not in favour, but that they might fill up the measure of their iniquitie to the full; see Genesis 15:16. and so receive a full and finall reward according to their wickednesse, wherein the delay was recompenced with a degree of vengeance so much the more severe, as it was more slow and long in coming; yet was not this curse so intailed upon the Canaanites but that some of them might become proselytes and converts to the covenant of Israel, as Araunah the Jebusite, 2 Samuel 24:18. unto his brethren] They are called brethren as united in the brother-hood of Shem, Ham, and Japhet.