My Study This Morning: Genesis 9:24-29
Genesis 9:24-29 NKJV
24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren." 26 And he said: "Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant." 28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
Matthew Henry on this:
Noah's Prophecy. (b. c. 2347.)
24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what
his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed
be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his
brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his
servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in
the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Here, I. Noah comes to himself: He awoke
from his wine. Sleep cured him, and, we may suppose, so cured
him that he never relapsed into that sin afterwards. Those that
sleep as Noah did should awake as he did, and not as that drunkard
(Prov. xxiii. 35) who says
when he awakes, I will seek it yet again.
II. The spirit of prophecy comes upon him,
and, like dying Jacob, he tells his sons what shall befal them,
ch. xlix. 1.
1. He pronounces a curse on Canaan the son
of Ham (v. 25), in
whom Ham is himself cursed, either because this son of his was now
more guilty than the rest, or because the posterity of this son was
afterwards to be rooted out of their land, to make room for Israel.
And Moses here records it for the animating of Israel in the wars
of Canaan; though the Canaanites were a formidable people, yet they
were of old an accursed people, and doomed to ruin. The particular
curse is, A servant of servants (that is, the meanest and
most despicable servant) shall he be, even to his
brethren. Those who by birth were his equals shall by conquest
be his lords. This certainly points at the victories obtained by
Israel over the Canaanites, by which they were all either put to
the sword or put under tribute (Josh. ix. 23; Judg. i. 28, 30, 33,
35), which happened not till about 800 years after this.
Note, (1.) God often visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children, especially when the children inherit the fathers' wicked
dispositions, and imitate the fathers' wicked practices, and do
nothing to cut off the entail of the curse. (2.) Disgrace is justly
put upon those that put disgrace upon others, especially that
dishonour and grieve their own parents. An undutiful child that
mocks at his parents is no more worthy to be called a son,
but deserves to be made as a hired servant, nay, as a
servant of servants, among his brethren. (3.) Though divine
curses operate slowly, yet, first or last, they will take effect.
The Canaanites were under a curse of slavery, and yet, for a great
while, had the dominion; for a family, a people, a person, may lie
under the curse of God, and yet may long prosper in the world, till
the measure of their iniquity, like that of the Canaanites, be
full. Many are marked for ruin that are not yet ripe for ruin.
Therefore, Let not thy heart envy sinners.
2. He entails a blessing upon Shem and
Japheth.
(1.) He blesses Shem, or rather blesses God
for him, yet so that it entitles him to the greatest honour and
happiness imaginable, v.
26. Observe, [1.] He calls the Lord the god of
Shem; and happy, thrice happy, is that people whose God is
the Lord, Ps. cxliv. 15. All blessings are included in
this. This was the blessing conferred on Abraham and his seed; the
God of heaven was not ashamed to be called their God,
Heb. xi. 16. Shem is
sufficiently recompensed for his respect to his father by this,
that the Lord himself puts this honour upon him, to be his
God, which is a sufficient recompence for all our services and
all our sufferings for his name. [2.] He gives to God the glory of
that good work which Shem had done, and, instead of blessing and
praising him that was the instrument, he blesses and praises God
that was the author. Note, The glory of all that is at any time
well done, by ourselves or others, must be humbly and thankfully
transmitted to God, who works all our good works in us and for us.
When we see men's good works we should glorify, not them, but
our Father, Matt. v.
16. Thus David, in effect, blessed Abigail, when he
blessed God that sent her (1 Sam. xxv. 32, 33), for it is an honour
and a favour to be employed for God and used by him in doing good.
[3.] He foresees and foretels that God's gracious dealings with
Shem and his family would be such as would evidence to all the
world that he was the God of Shem, on which behalf thanksgivings
would by many be rendered to him: Blessed be the Lord God of
Shem. [4.] It is intimated that the church should be built up
and continued in the posterity of Shem; for of him came the Jews,
who were, for a great while, the only professing people God had in
the world. [5.] Some think reference is here had to Christ, who was
the Lord God that, in his human nature, should descend from the
loins of Shem; for of him, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.
[6.] Canaan is particularly enslaved to him: He shall be his
servant. Note, Those that have the Lord for their God shall
have as much of the honour and power of this world as he sees good
for them.
(2.) He blesses Japheth, and, in him,
the isles of the Gentiles, which were peopled by his seed:
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of
Shem, v. 27. Now,
[1.] Some make this to belong wholly to Japheth, and to denote
either, First, His outward prosperity, that his seed should
be so numerous and so victorious that they should be masters of the
tents of Shem, which was fulfilled when the people of the Jews, the
most eminent of Shem's race, were tributaries to the Grecians first
and afterwards to the Romans, both of Japheth's seed. Note, Outward
prosperity is no infallible mark of the true church: the tents of
Shem are not always the tents of the conqueror. Or,
Secondly, It denotes the conversion of the Gentiles, and the
bringing of them into the church; and then we should read it,
God shall persuade Japheth (for so the word signifies), and
then, being so persuaded, he shall dwell in the tents of
Shem, that is, Jews and Gentiles shall be united together in
the gospel fold. After many of the Gentiles shall have been
proselyted to the Jewish religion, both shall be one in Christ
(Eph. ii. 14, 15),
75
and the Christian church, mostly made up of the
Gentiles, shall succeed the Jews in the privileges of
church-membership; the latter having first cast themselves out by
their unbelief, the Gentiles shall dwell in their tents, Rom. xi. 11, &c. Note, It is
God only that can bring those again into the church who have
separated themselves from it. It is the power of God that makes the
gospel of Christ effectual to salvation, Rom. i. 16. And again, Souls are brought into
the church, not by force, but by persuasion, Ps. cx. 3. They are drawn by the cords of a
man, and persuaded by reason to be religious. [2.] Others divide
this between Japheth and Shem, Shem having not been directly
blessed, v. 26.
First, Japheth has the blessing of the earth beneath: God
shall enlarge Japheth, enlarge his seed, enlarge his border.
Japheth's prosperity peopled all Europe, a great part of Asia, and
perhaps America. Note, God is to be acknowledged in all our
enlargements. It is he that enlarges the coast and enlarges the
heart. And again, many dwell in large tents that do not dwell in
God's tents, as Japheth did. Secondly, Shem has the blessing
of heaven above: He shall (that is, God shall) dwell in
the tents of Shem, that is "From his loins Christ shall
come, and in his seed the church shall be continued."
The birth-right was now to be divided between Shem and Japheth, Ham
being utterly discarded. In the principality which they equally
share Canaan shall be servant to both. The double portion is given
to Japheth, whom God shall enlarge; but the priesthood is given to
Shem, for God shall dwell in the tents of Shem: and
certainly we are more happy if we have God dwelling in our tents
than if we had there all the silver and gold in the world. It is
better to dwell in tents with God than in palaces without him. In
Salem, where is God's tabernacle, there is more satisfaction than
in all the isles of the Gentiles. Thirdly, They both have
dominion over Canaan: Canaan shall be servant to them; so
some read it. When Japheth joins with Shem, Canaan falls before
them both. When strangers become friends, enemies become
servants.
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred
and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine
hundred and fifty years: and he died.
Here see, 1. How God prolonged the life of Noah; he lived 950 years, twenty more than Adam and but nineteen less than Methuselah: this long life was a further reward of his signal piety, and a great blessing to the world, to which no doubt he continued a preacher of righteousness, with this advantage, that now all he preached to were his own children. 2. How God put a period to his life at last. Though he lived long, yet he died, having probably first seen many that descended from him dead before him. Noah lived to see two worlds, but, being an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, when he died he went to see a better than either.
Comments
Post a Comment
The moderator will review the comments at his earliest convenience.