This Article: (5 Pages)
1) Noah's Prophecy
Noah speaks to his sons. Instead of making an observation regarding Ham Noah makes the following pronouncement:
Genesis 9:25-27 Cursed be Canaan: a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren And he said Blessed be Yahweh the Elohim of Shem: and Canaan shall be his servant. Elohim shall enlarge (Heb: yapth ‘persuade’) Japheth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem: and Canaan shall be his servant.
This verse has been quoted as an explanation of the subjection of Africa, and the slavery associated with that subjection. However on examination this verse has nothing to say about Africa. It must be pointed out that it does not say ‘Cursed be Ham’. And in any case Ham’s descendants include Cush and from Cush comes Nimrod and the building of Babel and Nineveh, which are not in Africa.
So who is Canaan? In Genesis chapter 10 we are told who Canaan’s descendants are and also where they live. Canaan’s sons are Sidon and Heth, and the Jebusite, Amorite, Girgashite, Hivite, Arkite, Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite and the Hamathite. It notes that afterwards they spread abroad. However, the land of the Canaanite was defined as being from Sidon (near Gerar) to Gaza and From Sodom to Lasha. So the subject of the curse is firmly located in the land of Canaan, later occupied by Israel, sometime called Palestine and now again called Israel.
We see that the scriptures are concerned with that small area of land at the bridgehead of the continents in the Middle East. This passage is solely concerned with the national struggles over the Land of Israel.
Shem and Japheth in Israel
Having established these verses are about events located in the Land of Israel, we can re-examine what is actually said. Verse 26 is quite remarkable. It says that through Shem would come the blessing of Yahweh Elohim. This is remarkable for this was said by Noah before the birth of Abraham. Even though it was formally recorded by Moses later, we have now some four thousand years of history showing that indeed from Shem are the people of The Book. We also have the undoubted history of the occupation of the land of the Canaanites by the Israelites and their subjection of those people called the Canaanites. And just in case we missed the point of who Shem is, Genesis Chapter 11 continues with the descendants of Shem to Abraham and in Chapter 12 Abraham is given an updated version of the blessing.
When we come to what Noah says regarding Japheth (verse 27) we see something even more remarkable. In the Hebrew there is a play on the name of Japheth, which means ‘expansion’. It says ‘Japheth (expansion) the Mighty Ones shall enlarge and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem’. But the word ‘enlarge’ yapth also means ‘entice’ or ‘persuade’ and is translated as that in 1 Kings 22:20. Chapter 10 identifies Japheth as Gomer and Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. Gomer’s sons included Togarmah, and Javan’s sons include Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. And it says, “and by these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands”(verse 5). In other words the descendants of Japheth at that time established many nations to the edges unlike the Hamites and Shemites who stayed in the Middle East area.
This list of names reads like the list of nations in Ezekiel chapter 38. And it is quite remarkable that Ezekiel 38 predicts, just as Noah did, that Northern Gog’s bands (or the Japhethites) would with ‘hooks’ or by perusasion be brought into the Land of Israel/Canaan. The prophet Daniel, who calls Gog the ‘king of the North’ implies the persuasion at ‘the time of the end’ will come after another party styled ‘the king of the South’ had ‘pushed at’ the occupants of the Middle East.
Certainly it was the persuasion of WW1 that brought Britain (a Japhethite from the ‘isles’) to occupy the ‘tents of Shem’ or the Middle East area and subject the Palestinian/ Canaanite to rule until the Israelis declared independance (The Shemites) in 1948. Not only that but Britain and their allies still have military bases in the Middle East, placing them firmly in the ‘tents’ or dwelling place of Shem. But the occupation by Japhethites was already well established. There is an Orthodox Christian quarter in Jerusalem, and it has been there for hundreds of years.
The passage says also that the Canaanite would be Japheth’s servant. There is no doubt looking at Middle East politics of the last 100 years that the Northern Gentile nations have had an inordinate amount of power over the fate of the Canaanite or Palestinian. Some examples include the capture of Jerusalem in 1917 and the Balfour Declaration, the British sponsored Partition plan of 1947-48, the numerous United Nations resolutions regarding Israel and even the Suez invasion by Britain and France in 1956. More recently there are the European attempts to broker peace and determine the Canaanite’s fate. We have even the Americans proposing a “roadmap to peace”, really a road into the tents of Shem!
It is to be noted that an order of events is implied. First Canaan was to be cursed, and that happened, due to their own wickedness, then Shem is to subject Canaan, as the Israelites did after coming out of Egypt until the Babylonian captivity. Then Japheth is to be persuaded to come into the tents of Shem, as the European has since Alexander the Great to make ‘Canaan’ his servant. The ultimate fulfilment of Noah’s prophecy will, of course, come with the fulfilment of Ezekiel’s prophecy in Chapters 38-39.
In conclusion, this prophecy of Noah is about the Land of Canaan or Israel. Those who occupy it as ‘Canaan’ are cursed. For it is only through specific descendants of Shem that blessing comes, and it is the role of the Gentile nations, the Japhethites, to be persuaded to occupy the tents of Shem and subject the Canaanite. The next section will consider examples of Japhethite expansion into another’s territory and it’s effect on the development of the King of the South and their simultaneous incursion into the Tents of Shem and the consequence on the development of Daniel’s latter day King of the North.
2) Tents of Shem, Vikings & Kings of North & South
There is one example of the Northern Gentiles being persuaded to enter the tents of Shem or come to the Middle East. It is contained in the history of the Vikings. It is worth recounting here as their role had a decisive effect on both the development of the king of the North and the king of the South.
The Vikings
Unfortunately the Viking age has been romanticised. In terms of their direct effect on Europe they were minor participants in normal warlike activity. They just happened to like raiding monasteries, were pagan and unbeatable in sea warfare. Their impact could not, for example, be compared to that of the earlier Hun invasions. Compared to the contemporary effect of the Mohometians and Saracens activity they had no real effect on the Holy Roman Empire and they are not mentioned in Revelation.
In Revelation Chapter 9 the fifth Angel sounds and the ‘Star’ Mahomet descends as Allah’s message to the ‘earth’ or people, and the way of the deep of people is opened and ‘smoke’ comes out to darken the ‘sun’ or Byzantine Authority. The locusts (arbeh) have power as scorpions for five months(verse 5) and five months (verse 10). Where ten Lunar months is 300days. This fits the period from 632 AD to 932AD where these ‘Locusts’ torment Europe, as men on horses with crowns like gold, hair of women and tails like scorpions (Saracen artillery) who have a king over them called “destroyer”, identified as the Caliph.
In 800’s AD as the Saracens were harassing Adriatic coasts to Venice and Rome (846AD) fulfilling Revelation chapter 9, the Vikings were plundering Europe’s edges. Though in some ways their role seems similar to the Saracen’s, as their target was mainly the corrupt ecclesiastic system, they should not be associated. The Saracen attack was ordered, directed and based on religious grounds. The Vikings were sporadic and motivated by the gain of plunder. Rather than killing ecclesiastics, the Vikings demanded ransoms.
The Vikings do not fit the Revelation prophecy (in fact they fought in the Byzantine and Franks armies on occasion as mercenaries). Instead their activity was a catalyst for the development of the King of the North and the King of the South. The King of the North is quite clear as the Rus or Russians. In the late 1800’s England established itself in the role of the King of the South by its dominance of Egypt, which was augmented by the construction of the Suez canal as a trade route (to India among other places).
Just over a 1000 years ago the Vikings raiding and then trading came in conquest of the disorganised Angles and Saxons. In this situation King Alfred came to power and was able to use the Viking threat to ensure unification and enlarge the power of the monarchy. This gave the English a sense of common identity. The most significant aspect for the later emergence of a strong Protestant movement out of England was Alfred’s view that the Viking raids, targeted as they were at monasteries, were a result of God’s displeasure with the English people. Though Alfred personally interpreted God’s services as service to Rome, he also introduced a revival of religion and instituted translation of books. In doing this, King Alfred introduced a revival of learning, which is shown in his establishment of a school for the noble youth. As the Word is written, teaching the people to read and learn has a significant effect. As an aside, when later the Scandinavians converted to Christianity they refused (for political reasons) Rome’s power through Bremen (Germany) and sought Bishops from England. The King who first united all England, Canute, is credited with respect of the Creator in two places: a mural in a church and in an account written 100 years after his death. In that account Canute shows the power of the tide to his nobles and takes off his crown and says, “be it known to all inhabitants of the world that the power of kings is empty and superficial, and nobody is worthy of the name of king except for Him whose will is obeyed by heaven, earth and sea in accordance with eternal laws.” The story shows that by 1130AD the English nobility had the attitude that there was only one King. The unprecedented Viking activity was a catalyst for two things: an environment of value for learning the word of God and the beginning of the growth of power and identity of England, the future King of the South. Magnusson (The Vikings, 2000) dates the end of the Viking age with the victory of the Normans (North men or Vikings) in 1066, noting it as the conquest and permanent occupation of a major nation. Their job was done.
In parallel to these developments in the early to mid 900’s AD Viking trading activity was helping establish Rus trading ports along the Volga and Dneper rivers. The Vikings were not there to colonise, and the ones that did were assimilated rapidly. They were there purely because it was a way to access the wealth of the Saracens. In Gotland they have found 50,000 silver Arabic coins of the 8th to 10th centuries and this is despite the majority of silver being melted into artefacts. Gold objects found in Oslo dating in the same period came from Arabia, Byzantine, England, France and Russia. In Gotland an ordinary whetstone has a runic scrawl that shows the range of travel and trade by the general population. It says Ormiga and Ulfar (have been to) Greece, Jerusalem, Iceland and the land of the Saracens (possibly Baghdad). The motivation seems to have been an unusually large quantity of silver found and mined by the Saminid’s in Central Asia. In early 900’s AD many Islamic coins with a high sliver content were reaching Scandinavia but by 965 very few were, and this may have been in part because the silver was running out. By the late 900’s the trade routes had been established as had the Rus state based at Kiev, and just as in England its early rulers had Viking names. It is also interesting as we believe the unification of Europe is a combining of the Western and Eastern Roman Empire, that this trade through the Byzantine Empire gave a Byzantine character to the Rus state. As an aside Scandinavians made up an elite contingent of the Byzantine army at that time, which continued until the Crusades. It seems from the evidence that the trade of the Vikings took them through Russia to the Middle East (and also to Jerusalem), which fostered trading cities, which in turn formed the Rus state. This Rus state then continued trade with the Saracens. And it was all possibly due to a temporary exploitation of silver desired by the Vikings. One could say they were “persuaded”. Again, as in the case of England, the Vikings ceased abruptly trading in late 900’s AD. Their job was done. The Rus, with the aid of the Vikings then are the Japhethites of the isles ‘persuaded’ by the hope of gain into the tents of Shem.
This is only one instance of Japheth expanding or being persuaded to dwell in the tents of Shem. Shortly after the Vikings ceased to trade came the Crusaders, where Japhethites come again to Jerusalem and on a few occasions subjected the Canaanite. Then much later there was Napoleon, who attempted to conquer Jerusalem, which brings us to consider Japheth’s relationship to Shem in our day.
3) Shem and Japheth in the Latter days
Yahweh was to be the Mighty Ones of the Shemites. Shem means ‘name’ or those of the name. However, though Japheth was not the seed, the Japhethites had an important role in Yahweh’s purpose with the earth. Genesis says of Japhethites that by them were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands. Historians locating the names place Japheth in Europe. Truly from the Japhetites we have empire builders, those that ‘expand’ as Japheth means, and make their dwelling in the tents of others. Alexander the great, was a Macedonian, a Japhetite and he lead the Greeks! The Romans arguably are Japhethites and they conquered Britain.
It is Japheth in recent history that has marked the lines on the map and carved up the world between them. In 1815 the Big Four determining the fate of nations were Russia, Austria, Prussia and Britian. In 1918 at Versailles the great powers ordering the world were, USA, Britain and France. Russia, of course, being in revolution. The post WW2 world was shaped at Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam by the USA, Britain, France and USSR and they kept on shaping the world through the new United Nations, specifically, the Middle East. All these are Japheth fulfilling their role assigned at the beginning of the post flood era, around 2500BC. As Daniel writes, “the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men” (Dan 4:17).
4) Great European Power involvement in the Middle East from 1798 to 1948
In the period from 1798 to 1948 there was an intensive focus of great European Power involvement in the Middle East. This involvement was indeed that of a considerably enlarged Japheth, the Europeans, physically occupying the tents of Shem, the Middle East, and in the process subjugating the inhabitants of Canaan, called Palestine. Crombie (1988) in his book Anzacs, Empires and Israel's Restoration, presents an account of this involvement of the European powers in Israel, with a focus on the significant outcomes of the ANZAC involvement there. Crombie points out that at no time was it in the European powers' intent to help establish the state of Israel and that their involvement was due often self interest. However, he argues that from the point of view of an evangelical Christian who literally believes in a Messianic return to Jerusalem, many actions of the European powers had consequences that incrementally opened ways
Crombie shows how Evangelicals, mostly of the British commonwealth, who believed in the establishment of the state of Israel, actively influenced events. Initially, people such as Joseph Mede, Samuel Lee and later the Baptist minister James Bicheno, wrote articles predicting the restoration of Israel as a prerequisite for the return of Messiah. Missionary societies even went so far as to persuade Britain to set up a consulate in Jerusalem, which finally occurred in 1838. Though Crombie does not mention it, John Thomas' work Elpis Israel would have contributed. By the mid 1800's these ideas became so influential they affected even the Anglicans. As it seemed Britain was to be drawn into the Middle East to protect her interests, people such as Lord Palmerston, began proposing plans for a Jewish homeland. The British interest in the bible prompted archaeological expeditions, which in turn prompted interest in the bible. At this time it was the British evangelicals that were encouraging Jews to begin the work of restoration. In fact, it seems they were leading and influencing Jewish thinking. Gilbert (1998) in Israel a History states that the most quoted and influential source of the ideal of a Jewish nation was the British writer George Eliot's book Daniel Deronda of 1876 that inspired many Jews. Eliot, herself, had been inspired by evangelical thinking, which had been inspired by a return to a literal understanding of the role of the Jews in the prophecy of the Bible, which was due to the rejection of catholicism. In the wholehearted embracing of the ideal of a Jewish homeland by the sons of Japheth and their active support for a nation which was not their own, that of Israel, we see them ideologically 'dwelling' in the tents of Shem.
Many of these evangelicals also literally came to dwell briefly in the tents of Shem. Crombie details how in the fighting for Palestine in the first and second World Wars, the significant work was done by commanders who often had strong symapathy for the establishment of a State of Israel due to their evangelical convictions. The armed forces of the British Empire from early 1917 until the defeat of Turkey in December 1917 occupied this land. The first invading force into the Land in 1917 was from New Zealand but included men from Australia, Britain, India and Singapore. Australia's great military moment, the charge of the Light Brigade occured on this Land as they approached Beersheva (a town strongly connected to Abraham, a Shemite). From 11 December 1917 Britain assumed control of Jerusalem, and at that time Japhetities placed Canaan in subjection. In February 1940 Australian and NewZealand Forces (Japhethites from the Isles) set up their tent camps joining the British already in Israel and stayed until the end of 1942.
5) Spiritual Significance of dwelling in the Tents of Shem.
But also it seems that through the Japhethite empire building Yahweh’s name and purpose has been spread to all the isles of the Gentiles. To the Japhetites was given the task of conquering to make evangelising ‘the name’ possible. Some Japethites gave up their native religions and took on another foreign Semitic ‘name’ (Yeshua – Yah shall save) and in that sense too they dwell in the tents of ‘Shem’ or the ‘name’.
Noah's Prophecy Still Being Fulfilled
The ultimate fulfillment of Noah’s prophecy will come when the King of the North makes a servant of the Canaanite, when they come into Jerusalem in the last days. But ultimately the Land designated as Canaan, from Sidon to Gaza and from Sodom to Lasha, is to be given to the Shemites, or those of the Name. Zechariah speaks of all the nations coming to serve at the house of prayer for all nations at Jerusalem, and says, “in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.”(Zech 14:21)
And this, almost the last book of the Hebrew Scriptures brings us back to the first and Noah’s prophecy, where the Canaanite was cursed by Noah. If all nations are to come and there is at that time no more the Canaanite, then Zechariah, in effect, says ‘at that day’, when all shall serve Yahweh Noah’s curse will end. No more Canaanite means no more curse.
Noah was not speaking about the natural physical descendants of Canaan, for it is clear there is to be no racial annihilation, but rather about the occupiers of the land from Sidon to Gaza. Naturally, when YaHWeH occupies the Land there is no more ‘Canaan’.
Noah gave a summary of the international struggle over the Land of Israel. And that won't end until there is no more Cananite and where all nations worship at Jerusalem.
References
Gilbert, Martin (1998) Israel a History, Doubleday, London
Crombie, Kelvin (1998) Anzacs, Empires and Israel's Restoration, VET Publications, Australia
Magnusson, Magnus(2000) in The Vikings, Tempus, Gloucestershire
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