God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
The utterance was spoken after Noah became intoxicated with wine and lay uncovered in his tent, when the unfilial ones seized on his disgrace to mock and criticize him and spread the report abroad, while Shem and Japheth in true filial love and sympathy laid a garment upon their shoulders, walked backward, and covered their father's disgrace. It was no arbitrary denunciation of wrath or declaration of favor, and it did not fix the character and destiny of his sons. Rather it declared what would result from the course of life they had severally chosen and the character they had developed, expressing God's purpose toward them and their posterity in view of their own character and conduct.
It rests on the rule that as a rule children inherit the dispositions and tendencies of their parents and imitate their example, so that the sins of parents are practiced by children from generation to generation. Thus the vileness and irreverence of Ham were reproduced in his posterity, bringing a curse upon them for many generations. By contrast a brighter future and blessing were promised to Shem and Japheth and their posterity was remembered for good, because by their reverence for their father they showed reverence for the divine statutes, while God rebuked the unfilial conduct and caused its curse to affect its posterity.
The line of Shem was to be that of the chosen people, of God's covenant, and of the promised Redeemer, with Jehovah as the God of Shem. From him would descend Abraham and the people of Israel through whom Christ was to come, so that happy are they whose God is the Lord. Dwelling in the tents of Shem means the descendants of Japheth were especially to share in the blessings of the gospel. At the same time a prophetic curse was pronounced dooming Canaan to slavery and servitude to the descendants of Shem and Japheth.
That doom upon Canaan's posterity was withheld for centuries while God bore with their impiety and corruption as they descended to degrading forms of heathenism. Only when they passed the limits of divine forbearance were they dispossessed and made bondmen to Shem and Japheth. The utterance belongs to Genesis as the inspired words of God, affirmed by Christ, who treats Noah as a literal person who lived and the flood as a fact in history, showing the Old Testament and New Testament cannot be divorced.
The days of Noah prefigure the present age before Christ's appearing in the clouds of heaven, with the character of that generation specifying the character of this age, since human nature uninfluenced by the Spirit of God is the same in both ages. The event behind the utterance remains an example for all sons to honor their father in obedience to the fifth commandment, whose annexed blessing is more valuable than lands or any temporal possessions.
The utterance was spoken after Noah became intoxicated with wine and lay uncovered in his tent, when the unfilial ones seized on his disgrace to mock and criticize him and spread the report abroad, while Shem and Japheth in true filial love and sympathy laid a garment upon their shoulders, walked backward, and covered their father's disgrace. It was no arbitrary denunciation of wrath or declaration of favor, and it did not fix the character and destiny of his sons. Rather it declared what would result from the course of life they had severally chosen and the character they had developed, expressing God's purpose toward them and their posterity in view of their own character and conduct.
It rests on the rule that as a rule children inherit the dispositions and tendencies of their parents and imitate their example, so that the sins of parents are practiced by children from generation to generation. Thus the vileness and irreverence of Ham were reproduced in his posterity, bringing a curse upon them for many generations. By contrast a brighter future and blessing were promised to Shem and Japheth and their posterity was remembered for good, because by their reverence for their father they showed reverence for the divine statutes, while God rebuked the unfilial conduct and caused its curse to affect its posterity.
The line of Shem was to be that of the chosen people, of God's covenant, and of the promised Redeemer, with Jehovah as the God of Shem. From him would descend Abraham and the people of Israel through whom Christ was to come, so that happy are they whose God is the Lord. Dwelling in the tents of Shem means the descendants of Japheth were especially to share in the blessings of the gospel. At the same time a prophetic curse was pronounced dooming Canaan to slavery and servitude to the descendants of Shem and Japheth.
That doom upon Canaan's posterity was withheld for centuries while God bore with their impiety and corruption as they descended to degrading forms of heathenism. Only when they passed the limits of divine forbearance were they dispossessed and made bondmen to Shem and Japheth. The utterance belongs to Genesis as the inspired words of God, affirmed by Christ, who treats Noah as a literal person who lived and the flood as a fact in history, showing the Old Testament and New Testament cannot be divorced.
The days of Noah prefigure the present age before Christ's appearing in the clouds of heaven, with the character of that generation specifying the character of this age, since human nature uninfluenced by the Spirit of God is the same in both ages. The event behind the utterance remains an example for all sons to honor their father in obedience to the fifth commandment, whose annexed blessing is more valuable than lands or any temporal possessions.