Another reason
why this is likely a prophecy is that these next two verses clearly are. Noah
gives a very clear prophecy concerning Canaan, that the descendants of Canaan
would be servants of the descendants of Shem.
Notice that no
mention is made of Ham, let alone his other sons. No, Noah is clearly talking
about something which would befall only Canaan.
As for Canaan
being a servant of Shem, it could have happened with the men themselves, but
clearly happened with their descendants; as is usually the meaning with this
kind of prophecy. Canaan's descendants fell into such horrible cruelty as sacrificing
their children to false gods by making them pass through a fire. Their evil
came up before the Lord and he judged them after giving them much time to
repent; and, he did so by Israel marching through and conquering it.
Here is another
interesting thought, though. Noah prophesizes that descendants of Canaan would
be the servants of those of Shem. When God told them to destroy all the
wickedness; so Noah is giving a prophecy that shows God knew that Israel
wouldn't totally obey Him in driving the people out of the land god gave to
Abraham and his descendants. God is merciful, but He is also just,a nd He must
punish sin. Israel's refusal to deal witht he sinful sacrificing of other
people and other evils came back to haunt them, as they, too, fell into such
horrible acts.
And yet, God
showed His mercy int hat He loved them even though He knew they would disobey
Him to much. It is just as Jesus said, crying out on the cross, "Father,
forgive them, they know now what they do!"(Luke 23:34) God is
longsuffering toward us, not willing the any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance.(2 Pet. 3:9)
Indeed, God
takes no pleasure in the punishment of the wicked.(Ezek.33:11) This is
something we should all remember - it's hard for me, too, seeing all the evil
in the world, but while God will mete out His justice someday, He gives time to
repent as well. We should then be forgiving toward others, just as God for
Christ's sake forgave us.(Eph.4:32)
Canaanites
would also be the servants of Japheth. Most of Japheth's descendants lived in
Asia Minor (Turkey) and Europe, so this could have happened right away. It
would explain more easily how Japheth would live in the tents of Shem, because
while israel was a crown jewel for a while during David's and Solomon's reign,
it never truly ruled any of the homes Europeans or those in Turkey would
inhabit, and once the Jews were scattered, it was often the other way around in
Europe.
Of course, we
also have the possibility that other descendants of Shem fit this prophecy.
Remember that we only read of the firstborn after a certain amount of time, and
there were clearly others, sicne the longer life spans had only begun to slowly
diminish; even int he time of Abraham 150-200 years wasn't unheard of; note
that Job lived 210 years in total, and he lived around that time, possibly as
late as the time of Jacob.
