I need some help understanding this one.

Genesis 9-
Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; 21 and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers." 26 He also said, "Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave." 27 God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave." (KJV)



Why isn't Noah at fault for getting drunk and passing out naked in his tent?

"When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him"

What exactly did he "do" to his father?

I really don't understand at all how this one works.

You have to remember that nakedness was considered extremely shameful and it's somewhat amazing that after all that Noah had seen and experienced directly of God's guidance that he would allow himself to get to that state. But I don't think that's the point of the passage. I think the point of this passage is foreshadowing. You have to remember that this was a time before Christ had died on the cross and that curses had real power. You notice that Noah cursed Canaan. I believe that this is actually prophesy coming true. Isreal is the land of Canaan and I believe this is the first instance recorded in history of the house of Isreal being cursed or being denounced by the nations of the earth. So, if taken in that context it would seem to make sense that Moses (typically considered the author of Genesis) would include this passage.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I think Noah was mad at Canaan because Canaan had seen his father naked. Again to show that nakedness was extremely shameful.

This is quite an interesting passage. When I went to my bible to check it out, there was this mentioned in the margin:

"9, 18-27: This story seems to be a composite of two earlier accounts; in the one, Ham was guilty, whereas in the other, it was Canaan. One purpose of the story is to justify the Israelites' enslavement of the Canaanites because of certain indecent sexual practices in the Canaanite religion. Obviously the story offers no justification for enslaving African Negroes, even though Canaan is presented as a "son" of Ham because the land of Canaan belonged to Hamitic Egypt at the time of the Israelite invasion."

Posted by Kenshin Oh, I forgot to mention that I think Noah was mad at Canaan because Canaan had seen his father naked. Again to show that nakedness was extremely shameful.

If I am reading it correctly, it wasn't just that Canaan saw Noah naked, but because he went and made fun of him to his brothers because of it. It was shameful enough for one son to see him naked, but he went out and showed the others as well.