Genesis 9:27

God shall enlarge Japheth,.... Or give him a large part of the earth, and large dominions in it, as his posterity have had; for, as Bochart (r) observes, to them belonged all Europe, and lesser Asia,

God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth.

God shall enlarge Japheth; or, enlarge to Japheth. Understand here his place, as , or his border; which was very literally made good to him, because he had a very numerous posterity; and by them he possessed the largest part of the world, even all Europe, a great part of Asia, and it is probable America also. Or, God shall persuade Japheth to do what follows, to dwell in Shem’ s tents, where God dwelleth; and so to be reunited to his brother Shem both in affection and in religion, in both which the Gentiles, the greatest part of whom were Japheth’ s posterity, were for a long time at an irreconcilable distance from the Jews. He shall dwell in the tents of Shem, i.e. shall be of the same church with Shem, i.e. of the church, which is called in Scripture the tents or tabernacles of Judah, or of Jacob, or in general of the saints, , and here of Shem, in whose posterity the church was first and longest settled. And to dwell with another notes friendly association and communion with him, as when God is said to dwell with men; and when the wolf is said to dwell with the lamb, . Possibly this may note Japheth’ s succession into Shem’ s tents, or coming into their place and stead, or the calling of the Gentiles, together with the rejection of the Jews; as the Reubenites are said to dwell in the tabernacles of the Hagarite, whom they subdued and expelled, . Canaan shall be his servant. This was eminently accomplished; for though Shem and Japheth, in their posterity, did successively conquer and rule one over the other, yet none of Ham’ s posterity did ever bear rule over Japheth; but Ham, though for a time he bore sway in his son Nimrod, yet that dominion soon expired, and the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Grecians, and Romans ruled the world for a succession of many ages, and Ham’ s people were constantly their servants and subjects.

Genesis 9:27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.Ver. 27. God persuade Japhet.] For none else can do it. Men may speak persuasively, but to persuade is proper to God alone. He "speaks to the heart"; we to the ear only. He persuadeth and allureth, not only by a moral persuasion, but by an irresistible inward drawing. In the Hebrew there is a sweet alliteration; q.d., God shall persuade the persuasible. He shall draw them to faith and obedience, Monendo potius quam minando, docendo quam ducendo , saith St Austin; by informing, not enforcing. He brings in his elect by a merciful violence. He sent forth at first, not swordsmen but fishermen; and prevailed by them in those places where the Romans could never come with all their forces. Elisha could do more with a kiss than his man could do with a staff, in raising the dead child. "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth," and then follows, "Draw me; we will run after thee." And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.] The Church’ s abode here, is but in tents; she hath "no continuing city, on earth, but seeks one to come". This, whether prophecy or prayer, was fulfilled when "God was manifested in the flesh, preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in the world," some thousands of years after. The Gentiles were converted by virtue of this prayer, as Paul was by St Stephen’ s, and as we enjoy the gospel by Latimer’ s "yet once more," and the prayers of other martyrs. Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo tamen subdita . - Tertul.

(27) God shall enlarge Japheth.—First, the Deity is here Elohim, following upon Jehovah in the preceding verse, and that with extraordinary exactness. Jehovah has never been the special name of the Deity worshipped by the race of Japheth, though doubtless it is the Greek Zeus and the Latin Jove. But it soon became the proper title of God in covenant with the race of Shem. It is plainly impossible to divide this most ancient poem into Elohistic and Jehovistic sections, and the theory, however plausible occasionally, fails in a crucial place like this. Next, there is a play upon the name of Japheth, or rather, Yepheth, our translators having made the same mistake as in changing Hebel into Abel. The Hebrew is Yapheth Elohim l’Yepheth, “God enlarge the enlarger” (not “God shall enlarge”). While, then, it is the special blessing of Shem that through him the voice of thanksgiving is to ascend to Jehovah, the God of grace; it is Elohim, the God of nature and of the universe, who gives to Japheth wide extension and the most numerous posterity. If the most ancient civilisation and the earliest empires in Egypt and on the Tigris were Hamite, the great world- powers of history, the Chaldean, the Medo-Persian, the Greek and Roman, the Hindoo, were all of Japhetic origin, as are also the modern rulers of mankind. He shall dwell in the tents of Shem.—(Rather, let him dwell). In one sense Shem now dwells in the tents of Japheth: for the Jews, the noblest representatives of Shem, dwell dispersed in Aryan countries; and except in the Arabian peninsula, once Cushite, the Shemites have no home of their own. But the religious privileges of their race now belong to the family of Japheth. Carried by Jewish missionaries, like St. Paul, throughout the Roman world, they have become the property of the leading members of the Aryan race; and thus Japheth takes possession of the tents which by right of primogeniture belonged to Shem. For “to dwell in the tents of Shem” is not so much to share them as to own them; and if the Jews retain some degree of faith, it has lost with them all expansive power; while the right interpretation of their Scriptures, and as well the maintenance as the propagation of the religion of their Messiah, are now in the hands of the descendants of Japheth. Yet Shem does not lose all pre-eminence: for again we read— Canaan shall be his servant (rather, their).—If Shem lose the foremost place of primogeniture, he is still a brother, and Canaan but a slave.

27. God] The blessing on Japheth is introduced with the name not of “Jehovah,” but of “Elohim.” Jehovah is the God who reveals Himself through the descendants of Shem. The blessing of Japheth shall come from God; but Japheth will not know God by His name Jehovah. enlarge] The word in the Hebrew, yapht, is employed on account of its resemblance in sound to the name of Japheth. The blessing means, “May God extend the rule of Japheth,” i.e. may the meaning of his name be realized in the extension of his power! let him dwell] Better than he shall. The “he” in this clause is not God, but Japheth. The clause contains the prayer that Japheth may ever continue on terms of peace with Shem, and that his descendants, dwelling as guests among the Israelites, may partake of their privileges. That “to dwell in the tents of Shem” should mean “to dispossess the Shemites and occupy their homes” (following the analogy of the phrase in Psalms 78:55), is an explanation quite unsuited to a clause of blessing. The conjecture that “Shem” in this verse is not a proper name, but is the Hebrew word meaning “name” or “renown” (as in Genesis 6:4), so that the meaning is “and let him dwell in the tents of renown,” would hardly have been suggested, unless the clause had been one of some obscurity. his] Better, as R.V. marg., their. See note on Genesis 9:26. 28 (P). And Noah lived] This and the following verses are the conclusion of P’s account of the Deluge. In contents and character they belong to the genealogy of the Sethite patriarchs in ch. 5.

27. God — Elohim, the generic, not the covenant name, as used with Shem. Shall — Rather, let. Enlarge Japheth — Japheth goes forth to conquer worlds of matter and worlds of thought.