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vileness of Ham. As we might have expected, the conduct of the brothers received
meet reward, - the curse descended on Ham, while a blessing, suited to each, was
given to Shem and Japheth. But, in the words of the patriarch, the curse lights
specially upon Canaan, the son of Ham, not to the exclusion of his other sons, but
probably because as Noah had suffered from his son, so Ham was to experience his
punishment in his son; and Canaan may have been specially singled out, either
because he fully entered into the spirit of his father, or more probably because of the
later connection between Israel and the Canaanites, in whom they would see alike the
spirit and the curse of Ham fully realized. In connection with this we mark, that,
twice before (Genesis 9:18, 22), when Ham is mentioned, it is added that he was "the
father of Canaan."
Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who were to repeople the earth, seem to have impressed
their own characteristics on their descendants. Their very names are symbolical and
prophetic. Shem means splendor or glory, Ham burning heat, and Japheth
enlargement. Bearing this in mind, we listen to the words of the patriarch: "Cursed be
Canaan, A servant of servants shall he be to his brethren;" and we know that this has
been the fate of the children of Ham, or the races of Africa; while, strangely, the
name of Canaan has been interpreted as meaning "he who is subject." Again,
"Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, And Canaan shall be their slave:" a prophecy
most signally fulfilled when Israel took possession of the land of Canaan; and, lastly,
"God (Elohim) shall enlarge Japheth (enlargement); And he shall dwell in the tents of
Shem, And Canaan shall be their slave."
This latter prophecy consists of three parts. It promises from God, as the God of
power, that enlargement to Japheth which is the characteristic of his descendants, the
European nations. And it adds that Japheth (not, as some have read it, God) shall
dwell in the tents of Shem, that is, as St. Augustine has said, "in the churches which
the apostles, the sons of the prophets, reared;" thus referring to the blessing which
was to flow to all nations through the Hebrew race.^24 Lastly, Canaan was to be the
servant of Japheth, as seen in the subjection to Greece and Rome, of Tyre and
Carthage, the ancient centers of wealth and merchandise, and of Egypt, the empire of
might and of the oldest civilization.
But the words spoken to Shem, the ancestor of the Hebrew race, deserve special
notice. The blessing here begins quite differently from that of Japheth. It opens with a
thanksgiving to God, for, as Luther says, "Noah sees it to be such that he cannot
express it in words, therefore he turns to thanksgiving." Then, the blessing of Shem is
not outward, but spiritual; for Jehovah is to be the God of Shem. To speak in an
anticipatory figure, Shem's portion, in the widest sense, is that to be hereafter
assigned to Levi, amongst the Jews; and Japheth is to dwell in his tents, - in other
words, Israel is to be the tribe of Levi to all nations. More than that, whereas Elohim
(^)