[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Many bible scholars think this story is an euphanism for something deserving of a curse on a whole tribe. I am not going beyond orthodox interpretations.

I think you need to drop your concepts..consider what Jewish and Christian scholars have to say.

For example a Roman Catholic apologist writes


Ham was trying to usurp his father's authority by sleeping with his mother. Perhaps that's why he told his brothers what he'd done, rather than keeping it a secret. This reflects a pattern found elsewhere in the Old Testament, especially where sons resent fathers for showing favor to siblings. For example, Jacob's son Reuben sought to undermine his (Jacob's) favored half-brother Joseph by taking his father's concubine - for which he received a paternal curse (see Gen 29:32; 35:22; 49:3-4). Likewise, Absalom resented the plans of his father, King David, to give the throne to one of his younger half-brothers, Solomon. In response, Absalom drove King David out of Jerusalem and then slept with his father's concubines - right in public - to signify his seizure of royal power...'
(Scott Hahn, A Father Who Keeps His Promises, p 87-88, Charis Servant Publications, Ann Arbor, 1998)

Sleeping with your father's pretty concubine (like Reuben or that guy in Corinth) is a world of difference from raping your own mother.

But I understand EvenJelly is stuck on this, and wants me to "drop my concepts" like Ham apparently dropped his drawers.