When Noah awoke, he learned what his youngest son had done to him. The episode culminates with Noah cursing Canaan, Cham's youngest son. Perhaps most disconcerting is to read that Canaan is cursed for what appears to be an offense committed by Ham alone.

• Genesis 9:24-25 "When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him. he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers!"

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Note that in Hebrew, the word "son" is not quite explicit, as it means "builder of the family name", an expression that can be used in other languages as a reference to a grandson or even a very distant descendant. Thus, the expression "his younger son" is not necessarily a direct reference to Ham, but may rather imply Canaan "the younger son of Ham".

• According to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 70a), it was Canaan who sinned against Noah in the manner of the sodomites. Cham, having seen the deed, spread the news with mockery. 

• According to Jewish legend, Canaan was the first to discover Noah's nakedness, and he informed his father Ham, who in turn informed his brothers Shem and Japheth; and when Noah woke up, he cursed Canaan for having been the first cause of the scandal.

Thus, the expression "his youngest son" is not a direct reference to Ham, but rather implies Canaan "the youngest son of Ham". In other words, Canaan was not punished for Ham's fault, but only for his own. 

Furthermore, nudity was a taboo in ancient Israelite society, and seeing one's parents' nakedness had connotations of sexual intimacy and sometimes even incest or rape. Note that in the Bible, the notion of "seeing one's father's nakedness" has a very broad meaning and does not exclude the fact that Noah's wife may also have been subjected to the humiliation.

• Leviticus 18:8 "The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness."

All these elements may be implicit in the story, although the text is unclear on the subject. However, it may simply be a matter of Cham's (or Canaan's) lack of respect for Noah's sex life, which he inadvertently witnessed.

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