Noah's Cursed & Blessed Sons

With this passage we see the focus of Genesis moves away from Noah towards his sons and their descendants. From Noah's spiritual highs of leading his family through the flood and then offering a sacrifice of worship, we see Noah's lack of self-control leads to the sin of drunkenness, as he lies drunk and naked in his tent. Ham, Noah's youngest son, dishonors and disrespects his father in his drunken condition. One result is that Noah declares a prophetic curse on Ham and his descendants. On the other hand, Shem and Japheth, his other two sons, respectfully cover their naked father. Again, we see Noah declare prophetic blessings on these two sons and their descendants. One of several applications we could derive from this passage is that we should not gloat over other people's sins but seek to "cover " them even as, for example, Joseph intended to quietly divorce Mary when he learned of her pregnancy, rather than subject her to public disgrace.