Genesis 9:22

Noah cursed Canaan, saying, "Cursed be Canaan. A slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers." But what sin could Canaan have committed even if he had been right behind his father when Ham observed the nakedness of Noah? Some say that because Ham had been blessed along with those who entered the ark and came out of it, Noah did not curse Ham himself, even though his son, who was cursed, grieved him greatly. Others, however, say from the fact that Scripture says, "Noah knew everything that his youngest son had done to him," it is clear that it was not Ham who observed his nakedness, for Ham was the middle son and not the youngest. For this reason they say that Canaan, the youngest, told of the nakedness of the old man. Then Ham went out and jokingly told his brothers. For this reason then, even though it might be thought that Canaan was cursed unjustly in that he did what he did in his youth, still he was cursed justly for he was not cursed in the place of another. Noah knew that Canaan would deserve the curse in his old age, or else he would not have been cursed in his youth.

When Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father's nakedness was uncovered, he told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a cloak, laid it upon their shoulders, and walking backward, covered their father's nakedness; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's private parts. Ham, who saw his father's nakedness and laughed, signifies the Jewish people, who, contradicting and incredulous, rather despised the passion of our Lord and Savior than honored it, rejoicing in their relief at seeing it as contemptible rather than salvific. He also told his brothers outside what had happened to their father because through him the secret of the Lord's passion prophesied was made manifest and somewhat public, reaching the gift of the second generation; hence the Apostle says: "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23). Furthermore, the two brothers, the eldest and the youngest, signify those to whom it was subsequently added: both Jews and Gentiles are called to Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Both the eldest and youngest carry the sacrament of the Lord's past and completed passion as if it were a single cloak from behind, not looking at their father's nudity because they do not consent to Christ's killing, but still honoring it with a veil, as if knowing from whom they were born, so that they could be sons of mercy who were previously sons of wrath. The middle son, that is, the Jewish people, is called the middle because he neither held the apostles' primacy nor was the last to believe among the Gentiles, saw his father's nakedness because he agreed to Christ's death. It is aptly said of the two brothers that they covered their father's modesty with their faces turned away, as if displeased with the deed of the wicked vine; that vine, namely the Jewish nation, is mystically signified as having degenerated from paternal nobility at the time of the Lord's passion and offered vinegar to the thirsting Lord on the cross instead of wine; for He thirsted for the faith and love of that people, but they, instead of the sweetness of faith and the fervor of love, gave Him the sharpness of hatred and unbelief.