Ham: Warm, hot, and hence the south; also an Egyptian word meaning "black",
the youngest son of Noah
(Genesis 5:32) comp.
(Genesis 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 10:1)ff
is the foundation of the earliest monarchy in Babylonia by Nimrod the
grandson of Ham
(Genesis 10:6,8,10). The primitive Babylonian empire was
thus Hamitic, and of a cognate race with the primitive inhabitants of
Arabia and of Ethiopia. The race of Ham were the most energetic of all
the descendants of Noah in the early times of the post-diluvian world.
