How Joseph Smith viewed the curse of Ham

[Nofear]

A very interesting discussion from Don Bradley about the historical view point that Joseph Smith on scriptures that others used to justify slavery. TLDR: Joseph did not see it that way, anticipated Africans worshiping in the temple, thought Anglo-Native American interracial marriage was good, and some other fun things.

 

[theplains]

From the Letter to Oliver Cowdery, published in the Messenger and Advocate (April 1836), recorded
in the Joseph Smith Papers.

"It is my privilege then, to name certain passages from the bible, and examine the teachings of 
the ancients upon this matter, as the fact is uncontrovertable, that the first mention we have 
of slavery is found in the holy bible, pronounced by a man who was perfect in his generation and 
walked with God. And so far from that prediction's being averse from the mind of God it remains 
as a lasting monument of the decree of Jehovah, to the shame and confusion of all who have cried 
out against the South, in consequence of their holding the sons of Ham in servitude!"10

"Trace the history of the world from this notable event down to this day, and you will find the 
fulfilment of this singular prophecy. What could have been the design of the Almighty in this 
wonderful occurrence is not for me to say; but I can say, that the curse is not yet taken off 
the sons of Canaan, neither will be until it is affected by as great power as caused it to come;13 
and the people who interfere the least with the decrees and purposes of God in this matter, will 
come under the least condemnation before him; and those who are determined to pursue a course 
which shows an opposition and a feverish restlessness against the designs of the Lord, will learn, 
when perhaps it is too late for their own good, that God can do his own work without the aid of 
those who are not dictated by his counsel".

Sources:

[10]The notion that black slaves descended from the sons of Ham, who were cursed by Ham's father, 
Noah, had been a part of some Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions for centuries, and 
nineteenth-century slaveholders often cited the biblical story as a justification for the practice 
of slavery in the United States. (Haynes, Noah's Curse, 7–8; Goldenberg, Curse of Ham, 168–177.)

[13]The two other authors of anti-abolitionist articles in the April 1836 Messenger and Advocate 
expressed similar sentiments. (See Warren Parrish, "For the Messenger and Advocate"; and "The 
Abolitionists," LDS Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1836, 2:295–296, 301.)

Joseph Smith would later call for their emancipation. See "General Smith's Views of the 
Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States".

"Petition also, ye goodly inhabitants of the slave states, your legislators to abolish slavery by 
the year 1850, or now, and save the abolitionist from reproach and ruin, infamy and shame. Pray 
Congress to pay every man a reasonable price for his slaves out of the surplus revenue arising 
from the sale of public lands, and from the deduction of pay from the members of Congress".

[teddyaware]

On 2/23/2026 at 1:05 PM, Nofear said:

A very interesting discussion from Don Bradley about the historical view point that Joseph Smith on scriptures that others used to justify slavery. TLDR: Joseph did not see it that way, anticipated Africans worshiping in the temple, thought Anglo-Native American interracial marriage was good, and some other fun things.

 

An enlightening insight into that nature and purposes of God’s curses is found in Lehi’s final blessing given to the children of Laman and Lemuel shortly before his death. Remarkably,, it turns out that the curse upon the Lamanites was a blessing in disguise, designed in love to protect the descendants of Laman and Lemuel from being held responsible for the sins and rebellions of their fathers. Equally remarkable is that the fact the curse is described as a blessing upon the descendants of Laman and Lemuel in that the ultimate responsibility for the curse would rest only upon Laman and Lemuel.

3 Wherefore, after my father had made an end of speaking concerning the prophecies of Joseph, he called the children of Laman, his sons, and his daughters, and said unto them: Behold, my sons, and my daughters, who are the sons and the daughters of my firstborn, I would that ye should give ear unto my words.

4 For the Lord God hath said that: inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.

5 But behold, my sons and my daughters, I cannot go down to my grave save I should leave a blessing upon you; for behold, I know that if ye are brought in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it.

6 Wherefore, if ye are cursed, behold, I leave my blessing upon you, that the cursing may be taken from you and be answered upon the heads of your parents. (2 Nephi 4)

Edited March 23 by teddyaware

[The Nehor]

1 hour ago, theplains said:

From the Letter to Oliver Cowdery, published in the Messenger and Advocate (April 1836), recorded
in the Joseph Smith Papers.

"It is my privilege then, to name certain passages from the bible, and examine the teachings of 
the ancients upon this matter, as the fact is uncontrovertable, that the first mention we have 
of slavery is found in the holy bible, pronounced by a man who was perfect in his generation and 
walked with God. And so far from that prediction's being averse from the mind of God it remains 
as a lasting monument of the decree of Jehovah, to the shame and confusion of all who have cried 
out against the South, in consequence of their holding the sons of Ham in servitude!"10

"Trace the history of the world from this notable event down to this day, and you will find the 
fulfilment of this singular prophecy. What could have been the design of the Almighty in this 
wonderful occurrence is not for me to say; but I can say, that the curse is not yet taken off 
the sons of Canaan, neither will be until it is affected by as great power as caused it to come;13 
and the people who interfere the least with the decrees and purposes of God in this matter, will 
come under the least condemnation before him; and those who are determined to pursue a course 
which shows an opposition and a feverish restlessness against the designs of the Lord, will learn, 
when perhaps it is too late for their own good, that God can do his own work without the aid of 
those who are not dictated by his counsel".

Joseph Smith was not very good at the whole history thing. The idea that Africans were mostly slaves going back to antiquity is rubbish. The writer(s) in the Old Testament lambasting Ham/Canaan in the story of Noah’s drunkenness was probably more a polemic against people Israelites hated and not some ancestral truth.

45 minutes ago, teddyaware said:

An enlightening insight into that nature and purposes of God’s curses is found in Lehi’s final blessing given to the children of Laman and Lemuel shortly before his death. Remarkably,, it turns out that the curse upon the Lamanites was a blessing in disguise, designed in love to protect the descendants of Laman and Lemuel from being held responsible for the sins and rebellions of their fathers. Equally remarkable is that the fact the curse is described as a blessing upon the descendants of Laman and Lemuel in that the ultimate responsibility for the curse would rest only upon Laman and Lemuel.

3 Wherefore, after my father had made an end of speaking concerning the prophecies of Joseph, he called the children of Laman, his sons, and his daughters, and said unto them: Behold, my sons, and my daughters, who are the sons and the daughters of my firstborn, I would that ye should give ear unto my words.

4 For the Lord God hath said that: inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.

5 But behold, my sons and my daughters, I cannot go down to my grave save I should leave a blessing upon you; for behold, I know that if ye are brought in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it.

6 Wherefore, if ye are cursed, behold, I leave my blessing upon you, that the cursing may be taken from you and be answered upon the heads of your parents. (2 Nephi 4)

Why not just not curse anyone at all?

[Nofear]

21 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Why not just not curse anyone at all?

Heck. Why have commandments at all? Or blessings? Or cursings? Why can't God just leave us alone!?

[Calm]

7 hours ago, Nofear said:

Heck. Why have commandments at all? Or blessings? Or cursings? Why can't God just leave us alone!?

Curses aren’t in the same category as commandments or blessings, imo, if the idea more punishment and condemnation than showing a pathway forward.

That’s like responding to a complaint that parents shouldn’t spank their children with ‘why should they reward children for good behaviour’ or ‘why bother teaching kids at all’.

(Not saying the difference automatically renders curses useless or worse, though I wonder….)

Edited March 24 by Calm

[The Nehor]

12 hours ago, Nofear said:

Heck. Why have commandments at all? Or blessings? Or cursings? Why can't God just leave us alone!?

I am sympathetic to God just leaving people alone. I am very unsympathetic to the idea of generational curses that are passed on via bloodline. Especially since in practice this is ethnicity in any case and is mostly just a carryover from back when Adonai/Jehovah was a tribal storm and war god who went around beating up the neighbors for the glory of Israel and generational cursings were a pretext for coming over and stealing all your neighbor’s stuff.

[Nofear]

5 hours ago, Calm said:

Curses aren’t in the same category as commandments or blessings, imo, if the idea more punishment and condemnation than showing a pathway forward.

I can totally sympathze with this. I'm not sure we always correctly attribute purpose or intent in divine action. The OT in particular has some post-hoc rationalizations, I believe.  In general I align more with the Gospel Study article (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/curse-curses?lang=eng) where curses aren't anti-blessings.

[Calm]

27 minutes ago, Nofear said:

I can totally sympathze with this. I'm not sure we always correctly attribute purpose or intent in divine action. The OT in particular has some post-hoc rationalizations, I believe.  In general I align more with the Gospel Study article (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/curse-curses?lang=eng) where curses aren't anti-blessings.

They need to lose the label if so

[The Nehor]

7 hours ago, Nofear said:

I can totally sympathze with this. I'm not sure we always correctly attribute purpose or intent in divine action. The OT in particular has some post-hoc rationalizations, I believe.  In general I align more with the Gospel Study article (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/curse-curses?lang=eng) where curses aren't anti-blessings.

I think the post-hoc rationalizations are more pronounced when we try to explain away the things we are uncomfortable about in the OT. Yeah, I believe that the powerful in Israel used the commands of their God/gods to justify things they wanted to do. I think it is kind of silly for us to look back at their polemics and propaganda and try to sanitize it so the commands did actually come from God but the people at the time all misunderstood the reasons. At that point we can’t learn much of anything from the Bible. We aren’t trying to understand what the writer believed and thought. We are just rewriting the whole thing to something we can live with.

[Nofear]

3 hours ago, The Nehor said:

I think the post-hoc rationalizations are more pronounced when we try to explain away the things we are uncomfortable about in the OT. Yeah, I believe that the powerful in Israel used the commands of their God/gods to justify things they wanted to do. I think it is kind of silly for us to look back at their polemics and propaganda and try to sanitize it so the commands did actually come from God but the people at the time all misunderstood the reasons. At that point we can’t learn much of anything from the Bible. We aren’t trying to understand what the writer believed and thought. We are just rewriting the whole thing to something we can live with.

Believing that humans are fallible and that the narrative may have had that fallibility injected (read "plain and precious things taken away") doesn't remove the importance of the scriptures to me. Thankfully we latter-day saints have hedges and guardrails in place for such human failings. 1) personal inspiration and revelation, 2) prophetic guidance, and 3) scripture. When the three align with consistency that greatly increases one confidence that one is on the right track. Sola scriptura. Pffft.

[Nofear]

11 hours ago, Calm said:

They need to lose the label if so

Certainly could be done. In the meantime, I'm quite willing to define the term more appropriately and contextually as I read the scriptures.

[The Nehor]

4 hours ago, Nofear said:

Believing that humans are fallible and that the narrative may have had that fallibility injected (read "plain and precious things taken away") doesn't remove the importance of the scriptures to me. Thankfully we latter-day saints have hedges and guardrails in place for such human failings. 1) personal inspiration and revelation, 2) prophetic guidance, and 3) scripture. When the three align with consistency that greatly increases one confidence that one is on the right track. Sola scriptura. Pffft.

I don’t think it is “plain and precious things taken away”. More like worst impulses of humanity injected throughout. I don’t think the hedges and guardrails work that well. Too often we spend our time justifying evil and that is not a good habit to get into.

[Nofear]

3 hours ago, The Nehor said:

I don’t think it is “plain and precious things taken away”. More like worst impulses of humanity injected throughout. I don’t think the hedges and guardrails work that well. Too often we spend our time justifying evil and that is not a good habit to get into.

Indeed, there is much more to the plain and precious allusion which may or may not include this one aspect. Meh. Also, your skepticism of actual, real divine guidance is well known. /shrug

[The Nehor]

40 minutes ago, Nofear said:

Indeed, there is much more to the plain and precious allusion which may or may not include this one aspect. Meh. Also, your skepticism of actual, real divine guidance is well known. /shrug

True. I haven’t found a reliable source of it.

[theplains]

On 3/24/2026 at 9:36 PM, Nofear said:

I can totally sympathze with this. I'm not sure we always correctly attribute purpose or intent in divine action. The OT in particular has some post-hoc rationalizations, I believe.  In general I align more with the Gospel Study article (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/curse-curses?lang=eng) where curses aren't anti-blessings.

The curse in Alma 3:6-10 and 2 Nephi 5:20-24 could be viewed as punishment.