Canaan was cursed by his father (Noah) because of his youngest son Ham.

 ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” – Genesis 9:24-25

The Jebusites were descendants of Canaan.

The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. – Genesis 10:6

Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,– Genesis 10:15-16

When the Lord brought the people of Israel into the promised land, He said that they were to drive out all the inhabitants of the land and he told them why. He said that they would be like barbs in their eyes and thorns in their sides.  They shall trouble Israel and face consequences like forced labour.

In Judges we learn that the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites from the land as they were supposed to. And so, the Jebusites lived with the people of the Benjamin in Jerusalem.

And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.” – Numbers 33:50-56

Judges 1:27-tells us that the tribes that did not drive out the inhabitants of the land faced consequences like forced labour.

Judges 1:20-21 And Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said. And he drove out from it the three sons of Anak. But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

My question here is did this cause Benjamin to turn away from God.

In Judges 19, we read the account of a man, a Levite, whose story is quite disturbing, but I’m reminded that God in his wisdom gives us the whole bible with intention, and a story like this really shows us the wicked heart of man that God seeks to cure.

This Levite went to bring his wife back home from her father’s house as she had left. And after he spent some time there, he started his journey back home with his wife and this is where things went upside down. When night caught them on the road, he refused to stop at the Jebusites’ city (because this was not his people) and went to the next city which belonged to the Benjamin (A tribe of Israel). The next part reminds us of what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah with the angels of God. It shows us the vast wickedness of Benjamin. What’s interesting is that the Levite refused to stop at a foreign people’s city and went onto one that belonged to the people of Israel but yet still he experienced great wickedness there. How did the people of God get to this point?

As we read on, we see that much of the tribe of Benjamin was wiped out because of this sin (Judges 19, 20). In Chapter 21, Israel mourns Benjamin.

God had told the people not to marry into foreign nations as they would turn their hearts away from the Lord, and we see this happen to Solomon. The account tells us that the Jebusites lived with the people of Benjamin; therefore, we shouldn’t find it strange to see that Benjamin’s heart was turned away from God, and this could have been a contributing factor.

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³ He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. – 1 Kings 11:1-4

And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will not come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. David said, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites first shall be chief and commander.” And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief. And David lived in the stronghold; therefore it was called the city of David. – 1 Chronicles 11:4-7

Later, David conquered the Jebusites and won the city of Jerusalem and it was referred to as the city of David. This city went on to be a very significant city to the people of God.

So, we followed the curse from Noah to Ham and Canaan and maybe the Jebusites who lived with Benjamin. And we see Benjamin commit such sin like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, which lead to their demise. I can’t say for sure that the sin started with Ham and escalated to Benjamin but from the scriptures we do see that evil communication corrupt good manners.

³³ Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.- 1 Corinthians 15

This account also highlights how wicked the human heart can be when we are without God. We see here how sin can start small but grow so enormous, and there are great consequences. But as I always remind myself, there is so much hope in God.