Canaan, the son of Ham, is identified as the perpetrator of a perverse act against Noah while he was drunk and uncovered in his tent. Ham, Canaan's father, is noted twice in the account as being the first to witness the aftermath of his son's actions and reported it to his brothers, Shem and Japheth, for counsel. When Noah awoke, he knew what had been done to him and cursed Canaan for the violation. Canaan, listed last among Ham's sons—Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan—is confirmed as the youngest son of Ham, bearing the punishment for his own sin.

Following the Flood, as memories of it faded among the descendants of Noah, sin began to reemerge in the generations that followed. Among these descendants was Canaan, son of Ham, whose sin was notably destructive. This grievous act, influenced perhaps by the earlier sin of Noah himself, stands as a somber reminder of human susceptibility to temptation, even among those who have witnessed God's mighty judgments. As the population grew and kingdoms like Nimrod's arose, the moral decline continued, showing how quickly mankind drifted from obedience to God despite the historical reality of the Flood.