9:20. And Noe a husbandman began to till the ground, and planted a vineyard.
9:21. And drinking of the wine was made drunk, and was uncovered in his tent.
Drunk.... Noe by the judgment of the fathers was not guilty of sin, in being overcome by wine: because he knew not the strength of it.
9:22. Which when Cham the father of Chanaan had seen, to wit, that his father’s nakedness was uncovered, he told it to his two brethren without.
9:23. But Sem and Japheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going backward, covered the nakedness of their father: and their faces were turned away, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
Covered the nakedness.... Thus, as St. Gregory takes notice L. 35; Moral. c. 22, we ought to cover the nakedness, that is, the sins, of our spiritual parents and superiors.
9:24. And Noe awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him,
9:25. He said: Cursed be Chanaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Cursed be Chanaan.... The curses, as well as the blessings, of the patriarchs, were prophetical: And this in particular is here recorded by Moses, for the children of Israel, who were to possess the land of Chanaan. But why should Chanaan be cursed for his father’s faults? The Hebrews answer, that he being then a boy, was the first that saw his grandfather’s nakedness, and told his father Cham of it; and joined with him in laughing at it: which drew upon him, rather than upon the rest of the children of Cham, this prophetical curse.
9:26. And he said: Blessed be the Lord God of Sem, be Chanaan his servant.