Ham

hot; heat; brown

Ham

(hot; sunburnt).

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.

Ham

1. Burnt, swarthy, black, A son of Noah, Genesis 5:32 7:13 9:18 10:1. The impiety revealed in his conduct towards his father, drew upon him, or rather, according to the Bible statement, on his son Canaan, a prophetic malediction, Genesis 9:20-27. Ham was the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan, that is, the ancestor of the Canaanites, Southern Arabians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, and the Africans in general, Genesis 10:6-20.

2. A poetical name for Egypt, Psalm 78:51 106:22.

3. An unknown place of the Zuzim, Genesis 14:5.

HAM (1)

ham (cham; Cham):

1. The Youngest Son of Noah:

The youngest son of Noah, from whom sprang the western and southwestern nations known to the Hebrews. His name first occurs in Genesis 5:32, where, as in 6:10 and elsewhere, it occupies the second place. In Genesis 9:18 Ham is described as "the father of Canaan," to prepare the reader for 9:25-27, where Noah, cursing Ham for having told Shem and Japheth of his nakedness, refers to him as Canaan. On account of this, it has been suggested that "Canaan" stood originally in all the passages where the three brothers are spoken of, and that this was later changed to "Ham," except in the verses containing the curse. It seems more likely, however, that the name "Canaan" is inserted prophetically, as Noah would not desire to curse his son, but only one branch of that son's descendants, who were later the principal adversaries of the Hebrews.

2. Ham as a Nationality:

The name given, in Psalm 105:23, 17; Psalm 106:22 (compare 78:51), to Egypt as a descendant of Ham, son of Noah. As Shem means "dusky," or the like, and Japheth "fair," it has been supposed that Ham meant, as is not improbable, "black." This is supported by the evidence of Hebrew and Arabic, in which the word chamam means "to be hot" and "to be black," the latter signification being derived from the former.

3. Meaning of the Word:

That Ham is connected with the native name of Egypt, Kem, or, in full pa ta' en Kem, "the land of Egypt," in Bashmurian Coptic Kheme, is unlikely, as this form is probably of a much later date than the composition of Genesis, and, moreover, as the Arabic shows, the guttural is not a true kh, but the hard breathing h, which are both represented by the Hebrew cheth.

4. The Nations Descending from Ham:

Of the nationalities regarded as descending from Ham, none can be described as really black. First on the list, as being the darkest, is Cush or Ethiopia (Genesis 10:6), after which comes Mitsrayim, or Egypt, then PuT or Libyia, and Canaan last. The sons or descendants of each of these are then taken in turn, and it is noteworthy that some of them, like the Ethiopians and the Canaanites, spoke Semitic, and not Hamitic, languages-Seba (if connected with the Sabeans), Havilah (Yemen), and Sheba, whose queen visited Solomon. Professor Sayce, moreover, has pointed out that Caphtor is the original home of the Phoenicians, who spoke a Semitic language. The explanation of this probably is that other tongues were forced upon these nationalities in consequence of their migrations, or because they fell under the dominion of nationalities alien to them. The non-Sem Babylonians, described as descendants of Nimrod (Merodach), as is welI known, spoke Sumerian, and adopted Semitic Babylonian only on account of mingling with the Semites whom they found there. Another explanation is that the nationalities described as Hamitic-a parallel to those of the Semitic section-were so called because they fell under Egyptian dominion. This would make the original Hamitic race to have been Egyptian and account for Ham as a (poetical) designation of that nationality. Professor F. L. Griffith has pointed out that the Egyptian Priapic god of Panopolis (Akhmim), sometimes called Menu, but also apparently known as Khem, may have been identified with the ancestor of the Hamitic race-he was worshipped from the coast of the Red Sea to Coptos, and must have been well known to Egypt's eastern neighbors. He regards the characteristics of Menu as being in accord with the shamelessness of Ham as recorded in Genesis 9:20.

See JAPHETH; SHEM; TABLE OF NATIONS.

T. G. Pinches

HAM (2)

(ham):

(1) A place East of the Jordan named between Ashteroth-karnaim and Shaveh-kiriathaim, in which Chedorlaomer smote the Zu-zim (Genesis 14:5). No name resembling this has been recovered. Septuagint reads bahem "with them," instead of beham, "in Ham." Some have thought that "Ham" may be a corruption from "Ammon"; or that it may be the ancient name of Rabbath-ammon itself.

(2) A poetical appellation of Egypt: "the land of Ham" (Psalm 105:23, etc.) is the land of Jacob's sojourning, i.e. Egypt; "the tents of Ham" (Psalm 78:51) are the dwellings of the Egyptians. It may be derived from the native name of Egypt, Kemi, or Khemi.

See MIZRAIM; SHEM.

W. Ewing

Warm, hot, and hence the south; also an Egyptian word meaning "black", the youngest son of Noah (Genesis 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 Genesis 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.

1. (n.) Home.

2. (n.) The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal space; the hock.

3. (n.) The thigh of any animal; especially, the thigh of a hog cured by salting and smoking.

1990. Ham -- a place in Palestine
... << 1989, 1990. Ham. 1991 >>. a place in Palestine. Transliteration: Ham Phonetic
Spelling: (hawm) Short Definition: Ham. ... NASB Word Usage Ham (1). Ham. ...
/hebrew/1990.htm - 5k

2680. chatsi Hammanachti -- Chatsi-ham-Menachtite or descendant of ...
chatsi Hammanachti. << 2679, 2680. chatsi Hammanachti. 2681 >>. Chatsi-ham-Menachtite
or descendant of Chatsi-ham-Menuchoth -- half of the Manahethites. ...
/hebrew/2680.htm - 6k

1023. beth hammerchaq -- Beth-ham-Merchak, a place in Palestine ...
... Beth-ham-Merchak, a place in Palestine -- place that was far off. Transliteration:
beth hammerchaq Phonetic Spelling: (bayth ham-mer-khawk') Short Definition ...
/hebrew/1023.htm - 6k

2679. chatsi Hammenuchoth -- Chatsi-ham-Menuchoth, an Israelite ...
... Chatsi-ham-Menuchoth, an Israelite -- half of the Manahethites. Transliteration:
chatsi Hammenuchoth Phonetic Spelling: (chat-tsee' ham-men-oo-khoth') Short ...
/hebrew/2679.htm - 6k

6316. Put -- a son of Ham, also his desc. and their land
... Put. 6317 >>. a son of Ham, also his desc. ... Word Origin of uncertain derivation
Definition a son of Ham, also his desc. and their land NASB Word Usage put (8). ...
/hebrew/6316.htm - 6k

3667. Kna'an -- a son of Ham, also his desc. and their land West ...
... Kna'an. 3667a >>. a son of Ham, also his desc. ... From kana'; humiliated; Kenaan, a
son a Ham; also the country inhabited by him -- Canaan, merchant, traffick. ...
/hebrew/3667.htm - 5k

1719. Dedan -- a descendant of Ham, also a descendant of Abraham ...
... Dedan or Dedaneh. 1720 >>. a descendant of Ham, also a descendant of Abraham, also
the tribes desc. ... of Ham, also a desc. of Abraham, also the tribes desc. ...
/hebrew/1719.htm - 6k

3568. Kuwsh -- a son of Ham, also his desc., also a land in the S. ...
... Kuwsh. 3568a >>. a son of Ham, also his desc., also a land in the S. Nile Valley.
Transliteration: Kuwsh Phonetic Spelling: (koosh) Short Definition: Cush. ...
/hebrew/3568.htm - 5k

3568a. Kush -- a son of Ham, also his desc., also a land in the S. ...
... << 3568, 3568a. Kush. 3568b >>. a son of Ham, also his desc., also a land in the
S. Nile Valley. Transliteration: Kush Short Definition: Cush. ...
/hebrew/3568a.htm - 5k

3667a. Kenaan -- a son of Ham, also his desc. and their land West ...
... << 3667, 3667a. Kenaan. 3667b >>. a son of Ham, also his desc. and ... Word Origin
from kana Definition a son of Ham, also his desc. and ...
/hebrew/3667a.htm - 5k