Commentary for Genesis 9:24

בנו הקטן HIS YOUNGER SON — The unworthy and despicable one, as (Jeremiah 49:15) “For, behold, I make thee small (קטן) among the nations, and despised among men" (Genesis Rabbah 36:7).

ויקץ נח, drunkenness makes a person as insensitive to what goes on around him as does sleep. Therefore, the Torah describes his becoming sober as “waking up.”

וידע את אשר עשה לו בנו הקטן, “he realized what his younger son had done to him.” The Torah has a habit of associating misdemeanors with people who had already previously been guilty of other misdemeanors. In this instance, Cham, who reportedly did not obey the commandment of sexual continence while in the ark, is now accused of a misdemeanor actually perpetrated by his son. The term וידע had first been used in the Torah to describe marital intimacy between Adam and Chavah. (Genesis 4,1) In Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer the words וירא חם, are understood to describe Cham’s inactivity; although he observed his father in the nude, he did not bother to cover his nudity.