19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
We are all descended from Shem, Ham, or Japheth. Noah is our greatest grandfather after Adam.
Noah's occupation was making wine; but, it didn't come without it's downsides.
One day, Noah got drunk and passed out in his tent. Ham went into the tent, then he went out to talk about it to his brothers.
Shem and Japheth decided to do something about it, so they went in with a blanket and covered Noah up.
Back in those days, it was shame to see another man's nakedness. But, that wasn't the worse part. The worse part is having someone go out and talk about it behind your back.
When Noah woke up and found out what his son had done, since it was obvious he had been found out, as evidenced by the blanket over him, Noah was so angry that he cursed Ham's children!
Seeing evil is not going to get you in trouble near as bad as talking about it. When you talk about evil that you see, you are spreading it's effects abroad. If Ham had kept his mouth shut and stayed away, none of that anger would have had to have been dealt with.
How many times have you had to deal with people who talk about you behind your back? A lot of times, what they have to say is blown way out of proportion and can cause people to lose respect for you faster than if someone had seen something and kept their mouth shut and let you work it out for yourself.
The shame of sinning is bad enough without having to deal with people laughing behind your back and pointing fingers.
The respectful thing to do is to go and talk to the person who committed the sin in private and settled the matter without fanfare, if it is possible, first. If the matter is not taken care of, THEN it becomes okay to talk to someone else, in private and take them with you to help intercede. But, it must be made obvious that you are not intending to shame someone in public.
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