Latest / Commentary on Genesis, Sin, and the Flood / Chapter IX. Part V.
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- 0:00Section thirty three off Commentary on Genesis, Volume two Luther on Sin and the
- 0:06Flood by Martin Luther, translated by John Nicholas Linker, Conrad Bruno, Godis,
- 0:12and others. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
- 0:17Jillian Henry, Chapter nine, Part five. Ham cursed Shem and Jaffyth blessed
- 0:24a the curse pronounced upon Ham one hundred and seventy four. But there is
- 0:30another reason for this repeatedly uttered curse. God cannot forget such great irreverence toward
- 0:36parents, nor does he suffer it to go unpunished. He requires that parents
- 0:41and rulers be regarded with reverence. He requires that elders be honored, commanding
- 0:46that one shall rise up before a hoary head Leviticus chapter nineteen, verse thirty
- 0:51two, And speaking of ministers of the word, he says, quote he
- 0:56that despiseth you, despiseth me, and quote Matthew chapter ten, verse forty
- 1:00Luke chapter ten, verse sixteen, one hundred and seventy five. Hence,
- 1:06disobedience of parents is a sure indication that kurse and disaster are close at hand.
- 1:11Likewise is contempt of ministers and of rulers punished when the people of the
- 1:15primitive world began to deride the patriarchs and to hold their authority in contempt.
- 1:22The flood followed when among the people of Judah the child began to behave himself
- 1:26proudly against the old man. As Isaiah has it, Chapter three, verse
- 1:30five, Jerusalem was laid waste and Judah went down. Such corruption of morals
- 1:37is a certain sign of impending evil. We justly fear for Germany alike fate
- 1:42when we look upon the prevailing disrespect for authority. One hundred and seventy six.
- 1:47Let us, however, bear witness of a practice to which both Holy
- 1:51writ and our experience testify. Because God delays the threatened punishment, he is
- 1:57mocked and considered a liar. In this practice. We should see the seal
- 2:00as it were to every prophecy. Ham hears that he is accursed, but
- 2:05inasmuch as the cursed does not go into immediate effect, he securely despises and
- 2:09derides the same one hundred and seventy seven. Thus did the first world hold
- 2:15Noah's prophecy in ridicule when he spoke of the flood. Had they believed that
- 2:20such a punishment was close at hand. Would they have gone on in a
- 2:23feeling of security? Would they not rather have repented and begun a better life.
- 2:30If Ham had believed that to be true, which he heard from his
- 2:32father, he would have sought refuge in mercy, and, confessing his crime,
- 2:37craved forgiveness. But he did neither. Rather, did he haughtily leave
- 2:42his father to go to Babylon. There, with his posterity, he gave
- 2:46himself up to the building of a city and of a tower, and made
- 2:49himself lord of all greater Asia one hundred and seventy eight. What is the
- 2:54reason for this feeling of security? It lies in the fact that divine prophecies
- 3:00must be believed. They cannot be perceived by our senses or by experience.
- 3:04This is true both of divine promises and of divine threats. Therefore the opposite
- 3:08always seems to the flesh to be true. One hundred and seventy nine.
- 3:14Am is cursed by his father, but he lays hold upon the greater portion
- 3:17of the earth and establishes vast kingdoms. On the other hand, Shem and
- 3:23Japhith are blessed, But in comparison with Ham, they and their posterity are
- 3:27burglarly, Where then are we to sake the truth of this prophecy? I
- 3:31answer this prophecy and all others, whether they be promises or threats, cannot
- 3:37be understood by reason, but by faith alone. God delays both punishments and
- 3:43rewards. Hence there is need of endurance. For quote he that endureth to
- 3:47the end, the same shall be saved. End quote. As Christ says
- 3:52Matthew, chapter twenty four, verse thirteen, one hundred and eighty, the
- 3:58life of all pays people is holy of faith and hope, the evidence of
- 4:01our senses, history, and the way of the world. Who teach us
- 4:05the opposite. Ham is cursed, yet he alone obtains dominion. Shem and
- 4:11Japhith are blessed. Yet they alone bear reproach and affliction. Since both the
- 4:16promises and the threats of God reach out into the future, the issue must
- 4:20be awaited in faith. Habakuk says chapter two, verse three. Quote it
- 4:26will surely come, it will not delay end quote one hundred and eighty one.
- 4:31Great is the wrath of the Holy Spirit, which here prompts him to
- 4:34say of Ham quote a servant of servants, shall he be end quote that
- 4:40is the lowest and vilest of slaves. But if you let history speak,
- 4:44you will see Ham rule in Canaan, whereas Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and
- 4:48others who followed and had the blessing lived like servants among the Canaanites. The
- 4:55Egyptians are Ham's offspring. And how cruel was the servitude Israel suffered there one
- 5:00hundred and eighty two. Now, then was it true that Ham was cursed
- 5:03and Shem was blessed? In this way, the fulfillment of the promise and
- 5:08of the threat was in the future. This delay is ordained in order that
- 5:12the wicked may fill their measure of sin and may not be able to accuse
- 5:15God of having given them no room for repentance. On the other hand,
- 5:19when the righteous suffer at the hands of the unrighteous, had become the servants
- 5:24of servants, they undergo such trial and discipline for the purpose of increasing in
- 5:29faith and in love toward God, so that trained in manifold vexations and tribulations,
- 5:34they may attain the promise. When the time was fulfilled, the might
- 5:39of Ham's posterity was not great enough to withstand the posterity of Shem then indeed
- 5:44was fulfilled that curse which Ham and his posterity had so long despised and disbelieved
- 5:50one hundred and eighty three. It is much the same with us to day.
- 5:55We have the true doctrine and the true worship. Hence we can boast
- 5:59that we are the true Church, having the promise of spiritual blessings in Christ.
- 6:02As the Pope's Church condemns our doctrine, we know her to be not
- 6:06the Church of Christ, but of Satan, and truly, like Ham,
- 6:11a servant of servants. And yet any one may see that the Pope rules
- 6:15while we are servants and the off scouring, as Paul says First Corinthians,
- 6:19Chapter four, verse twelve, one hundred and eighty four, What then shall
- 6:25we, poor oppressed people do we are to comfort our souls? Meanwhile,
- 6:29with our spiritual dominion, we know we have forgiveness of sins and a gracious
- 6:33God through Christ. Until also temporal freedom shall be vouchsafed on the last day.
- 6:40And we are not without traces of temporal freedom even in this life.
- 6:44For while tyrants stubbornly oppose the Gospel, they are cut off from the earth
- 6:48root and branch one hundred and eighty five. So was the Roman Empire destroyed
- 6:55after all the other world powers perished, but God's Word and Church remain forever.
- 7:00Likewise, Christ weakens the Pope's power little by little, but that he
- 7:04may be utterly removed and become a servant of servants with wicked Ham is a
- 7:10matter for faith to await. Ham is shut out from the Kingdom of God
- 7:14and possesses the kingdom of the world for a time, just as the Pope
- 7:17is shut out from the Church of God and holds temporal dominion for a time,
- 7:21but his dominion shall vanish one hundred and eighty six. The divine law
- 7:28and order is that the righteous have dominion, but by faith being satisfied with
- 7:32such spiritual blessing as a gracious God of the certain hope of the heavenly Kingdom.
- 7:38Meanwhile, we leave possession of the kingdoms of the world to the wicked,
- 7:42until God shall scatter also their worldly power, and through Christ make us
- 7:46heirs of all things one hundred and eighty seven. Furthermore, we learn from
- 7:51this prophecy that Noah, by a special elimination of the Holy Spirit, was
- 7:57enabled to see in the first place, that his postoge t would remain forever,
- 8:01and in the second place, that the family of Ham, though they
- 8:03were to be rulers for a time, would perish at last, and above
- 8:07all would lose the spiritual blessing one hundred and eighty eight. However, the
- 8:13explanation given above, Chapter four, section one hundred and eighty two, with
- 8:18reference to the descendants of Cain applies also here. I do not entertain the
- 8:24opinion that the offspring of Ham were doomed without exception. Some found salvation by
- 8:28being converted to faith. But such salvation was not due to a definite promise,
- 8:33but to uncovenantied grace, so to speak. Likewise, the Gibeonites and
- 8:39others were saved when the children of a jail occupied the land of Canaan,
- 8:43job Neaeman, the Syrian, the people of Nineveh, the widow of Zeriphath,
- 8:48and others from the Heathen were saved not by virtue of a promise,
- 8:52but by uncovenanted grace. B blessing pronounced upon Shem one hundred and eighty nine.
- 9:00But why does Noah not say Blessed be Shem instead of Blessed be Jehovah?
- 9:05The God of Shem. I answer that it is because of the magnitude
- 9:09of the blessing. The reference here is not to a temporal blessing, but
- 9:13to the future blessing through the promised Sade. He sees this blessing to be
- 9:18so great that he cannot express it. Hence he turns to thanksgiving. It
- 9:22seems that Zacharius was thinking of this very passage when he said, for a
- 9:26similar reason, quote blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, and
- 9:30quote look chapter one, verse sixty eight, one hundred and ninety Noah's blessing
- 9:35takes the form of thanksgiving unto God, God, he says, is blessed,
- 9:39who is the God of Shem. In other words, it is needless
- 9:43for me to extend my blessing over Shem, who has been blessed before with
- 9:46spiritual blessing. He already is a child of God, and from him the
- 9:50church will be continued as it was continued from Seth before the flood. Full
- 9:56of wonderful meaning is the fact that Noah joins God with sham M his son,
- 10:01and as it were, unites them one hundred and ninety one. Noah's
- 10:05heart must have been divinely illumined, since he makes such a distinction between his
- 10:09sons, rejecting Ham with his posterity and placing Shem in line with the Saints
- 10:15and the Church. Because the spiritual blessing given in Paradise concerning the seed would
- 10:20dressed upon him. Therefore, this holy man blesses God and gives thanks unto
- 10:24him see Blessing pronounced upon Japheth verse twenty seven. God enlarged Japheth, and
- 10:33let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant
- 10:37one hundred and ninety two. This prophecy is wonderful for the aptness of each
- 10:43single word. Noah did not bless Shem, but the God of Shem,
- 10:46by way of giving thanks to God for having embraced Shechem and having adorned him
- 10:52with a spiritual promise or the blessing of the woman's seed. But when he
- 10:56mentions Japheth, he does not employ the same manner of making as in the
- 11:00case of Shem. His words are chosen for the purpose of showing the mystery
- 11:05of which Paul speaks. Roman's chapter eleven, Vertilevin and christ John Chapter four,
- 11:09Verse twenty two that salvation is from the Jews, and yet the Gentiles
- 11:15also become partakers of this salvation. Shem alone is the true root and stem.
- 11:22Yet the Heathen are grafted upon this stem as a foreign branch and become
- 11:26partakers of the fatness and the sap which are in the Chosen Tree one hundred
- 11:31and ninety three. Noah, saying this through the Holy Spirit, products in
- 11:37dim illusions, but correctly that Christ's kingdom is to spread in the world from
- 11:41the root of Shem and not from that of Jafith one hundred and ninety four.
- 11:46The Jews prayed that Jahith stands for the neighboring nations around Jerusalem, which
- 11:52were admitted to the Temple and its worship. But Noah makes little ado about
- 11:56the Temple of Jerusalem or the Tabernacle of Mosi's. His words refer to greater
- 12:01matters. He treats of the three patriarchs who are to replenish the earth.
- 12:05While he affirms of Japheth that he does not belong to the root of the
- 12:09people of God, which possesses the promise of the Christ, he declares that
- 12:13he shall be incorporated through the call of the Gospel into the fellowship of that
- 12:18people which has God and the promises one hundred and ninety five. Here then
- 12:24we have a picture of the Church of the Gentiles and of the Jews.
- 12:28Am, being wicked, is not admitted to the spiritual blessing of the Seed,
- 12:31except as it happens by uncovenanted grace to Japfuth. However, though he
- 12:37has not the promise of the Seed like Shem, the hope is nevertheless given
- 12:41that he will at some future time be taken into the fellowship of the Church.
- 12:46Thus, we Gentiles, being sons of Japhuth, have no direct promise.
- 12:50Indeed, and yet we are included in the promise given to the Jews,
- 12:54since we are predestined to the fellowship of the Holy people of God.
- 12:58These mans are here recorded not for Shem and Japheth so much as for their
- 13:03posterity. One hundred and ninety six. We learn why the Jews are so
- 13:09haughty and boastful. They say that Shem their father alone, as the promise
- 13:13of eternal blessing which is given through Christ, So far, so good.
- 13:18But when they believe that the promise pretends not to faith, but rather to
- 13:22the carnal descent, they are in error. This subject has been splendidly treated
- 13:28by Paul Roman's chapter nine, verse six. There he establishes the fact that
- 13:31the children of Abraham are not his carnal descendants, but those who have his
- 13:35faith. Galatians chapter three, verse seven, one hundred and ninety seven.
- 13:41The same thought is suggested here by Moses, who says, in so many
- 13:46words, quote, blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, and quote
- 13:50this shows that there is no blessing except by the God of Shem. Hence,
- 13:54no Jew will share this blessing unless he have the God of Shem,
- 13:58that is, unless he believes. Nor will Jaffith share the blessing unless he
- 14:03dwells in the tents of Shem, that is, unless he associates himself with
- 14:07him in faith one hundred and ninety eight. This is a grand promise,
- 14:13valid unto the end of the world. But just as it is limited to
- 14:16those who have the God of Shem, that is, who believe, so
- 14:20the curse also is limited to those who abide in the wickedness of ham.
- 14:26Noah spoke these words not in the strength of human authority and feeling, but
- 14:30by the spirit of God. His words then refer not to a temporal but
- 14:33to a spiritual and eternal curse. Nor must we understand him to speak of
- 14:39a curse that is a curse only in the sight of the world, but
- 14:41rather of one in the sight of God one hundred and ninety nine. The
- 14:46same statement has been made here to four, Chapter four, section one hundred
- 14:50and eighty two regarding the curse of Kin. Judged by outward appearances, Kin
- 14:56obtained a greater earthly blessing than Seth. God desires that his church in this
- 15:01world shall apparently suffer the curse pronounced upon the wicked, and that on the
- 15:05other hand, the wicked shall seem to be blessed. Kane was the first
- 15:09man to build a city, calling it Enoch, while Seth dwelt in tents.
- 15:15Two hundred. Thus did Ham build the city and tower of Babel,
- 15:20and ruled far and wide, while Shem and Jaffith were poor living in lowly
- 15:24tents. The facts of history then teach that both the promises and the curses
- 15:28of God are not to be understood carnally or of the present life, but
- 15:33spiritually. Although oppressed in the world, the righteous are surely heirs and sons
- 15:37of God, while the wicked, though flourishing for a season, shall ultimately
- 15:43be cut down and whier a warning often uttered in the Psalms two hundred and
- 15:48one. There is a striking similarity in the conduct and the lot of Kane
- 15:52and Ham. Kane killed his brother, which shows plainly enough the lack of
- 15:56reverence for his father in his heart. Having input in the van by his
- 16:00father, he leaves the Church of the True God and the True Worship,
- 16:03builds the city of Enoch, giving himself up altogether to worldly things. Just
- 16:10so does Ham sin by dishonoring his father, when also he subsequently receives as
- 16:15sentence the curse, whereby he is excluded from the promised Seede and the Church.
- 16:19He parts with God and the Church without misgivings, since the curse rests
- 16:23not upon his person, but upon that of his son, and my grates
- 16:27to Babylon, where he establishes a kingdom two hundred and two. These are
- 16:33very illustrious examples and needed by the Church. Turk and Pope to day allow
- 16:40us to boast of the heavenly and everlasting promise, in that we have the
- 16:44Gospel doctrine and are the Church. They know, however, our judgment of
- 16:48them, that we consider and condemn both Pope and Turk as very Antichrist.
- 16:53How securely they ignore our judgment, confidently because of the wealth and power they
- 16:59possess, and also because of our weakness in character and numbers the very same
- 17:03spirit we plainly see in Ken and ham in the Condemned and Excommunicated two hundred
- 17:10and three. These truths enforce the lesson that we must not seek an abiding
- 17:15city or country in this bodily existence, but in its varying changes and fortunes,
- 17:21look to the hope of eternal life promised through Christ. This is the
- 17:25final haven, and we must strive for it with sale and or as eager
- 17:29and earnest sailors while the tempest strages two hundred and four. What if the
- 17:34Turk should obtain sway over the whole world, which he never will Michael,
- 17:40as Daniel says, will bring aid to the Holy people the Church Churchter ten,
- 17:45verse thirteen. What matter if the Pope should gain possession of the wealth
- 17:48of all the world, as he has tried to do for many centuries,
- 17:52with all the wealth at his command, will Turk and Pope thereby escape death
- 17:57or even secure permanence of t emperial power. Why then, should we be
- 18:02misled by the temporal blessings which they enjoy, or by our misfortunes and dangers,
- 18:07since we know that they are banished from the fellowship of the Sense,
- 18:11while we enjoy everlasting blessings through the Son of God two hundred and five.
- 18:18If Kin and Ham and Pope and Turk, who are as father and son
- 18:22to each other, can afford to despise the judgment of the true Church on
- 18:26the strength of fleeting and meager successes in this life, why can not we
- 18:30afford to turn to despise their power and censure on the strength of the everlasting
- 18:34blessings which we possess. Am was not moved by his father's curse, full
- 18:40of anger against him and despising him as a crazy old man. He goes
- 18:45away and arms himself with the power of the world. Is steeming this more
- 18:48highly than to be blessed with shem by his father two hundred and six.
- 18:53This story should give us strength for the similar experiences of to day. The
- 18:57priests and bishops heap contempt upon us, saying what can those poverty stricken heretics
- 19:03do priest and bishop are puffed up with their wealth and power. But let
- 19:08us bear this insolence of the wicked with undisturbed mind, as no ahore that
- 19:14of his son. Let us take consolation in the hope and faith of the
- 19:18eternal benediction, of which we know they are deprived. Two hundred and seven.
- 19:25I said above section one hundred and seventy two that the Holy Spirit was
- 19:29so greatly angered by the sin of Ham that he could not bear even to
- 19:33speak his name in the cursh And it is true, as the punishment shows
- 19:37that Ham sinned grievously. The other reason mentioned above as not at all unlikely.
- 19:42I will here repeat Ham had been called and received into the Ark by
- 19:47the Divine Word, and had been saved with the others. And Noah wanted
- 19:51to spare him whom God had spared in the flood. Therefore he transferred the
- 19:56curse which Ham merited to Canaan, his son, whom doubtless desired to keep
- 20:00with him two hundred and eight. The Jews offer a different explanation. Canaan,
- 20:07the son, having been the first to see his grandfather Noah lying naked,
- 20:11announced it to his father, who then saw for himself. Hence Canaan
- 20:15gave his father cause to commit the sin. Let the reader judge what value
- 20:19there is in this exposition two hundred and nine. But there is also a
- 20:25philological question which must be discussed in connection. Scholars call translators to account for
- 20:30the rendering quote God enlarge jaffith and quote when the Hebrew words do not permit
- 20:37it, though not only the Hebrews but also the Chaldaeans are mostly agreed that
- 20:41the word yeffith means to enlarge. Technical discussions of this kind, however,
- 20:48are sometimes very useful to clear up the precise meaning of a passage two hundred
- 20:52and ten. Some scholars derive the name jaffith from the verb yeffah, which
- 20:57signifies to be beautiful, as in Sam forty five, verset two, quote
- 21:03ye yefita ibbinet a dam thou art fairer than the children of men and quote.
- 21:10But this may easily be shown to be an error, for the true
- 21:12origin of the word is the verb fatah, which means to persuade, to
- 21:18deceive with fair words, as in Exodus, chapter twenty two, verse sixteen,
- 21:22quote Qui yefate h Bethodah. If a man entice a virgin, he
- 21:29shall surely pay a dowry for her, And quote and in Jeremiah chapter twenty,
- 21:33verse seven, quote bithani yahue what if pat o Jehovah, thou hast
- 21:40persuaded me? And I was persuaded? And quote Proverbs chapter one, verse
- 21:45ten, quote im ye fatuka if sinners entice thee and quote There is no
- 21:52need of more examples, for the word occurs frequently, and I have no
- 21:55doubt that it is derived from the Greek word paetho, for it has the
- 21:59same meaning two hundred and eleven. But let us return to the question why
- 22:04have all translators made it read God enlarge jaffath while it is not the word
- 22:10pathach, which means to enlarge or to open, but rather the word pathach.
- 22:15I have no doubt that the translators were influenced by the harsh expression,
- 22:19since this is a promise. It seemed too harsh to state that Noah had
- 22:23said God deceive jaffath. This would appear to be a word of cursing,
- 22:29not of blessing. Hence they chose a milder term, though it violated the
- 22:33rules of language. And since there is but a slight difference between pathach and
- 22:37pathah, they used one for the other. They meant to preserve the important
- 22:42fact that this is a promise two hundred and twelve. But there is no
- 22:47need for us to alter the text in this manner and to violate its grammatical
- 22:51construction. Since the word pathach offers a most suitable meaning, being a word
- 22:56of double meaning, as the word soadare in Latin, it may be accepted
- 23:00either in a bad or in a good sense. Hence it is not irreverent
- 23:04to apply this word to God. We find it clearly so used in Joseah,
- 23:08chapter two, verse fourteen, where the Lord says, quote therefore,
- 23:12behold, I will mifateha, allure her, or entice her by coaxing,
- 23:18and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her, and quote
- 23:23I will suckle her, speak sweetly unto her. And thus will I deceive
- 23:27her, as it were, so that she may agree with me, so
- 23:30that the Church will join herself to me, and so on. In this
- 23:34sense, the word may here rightly be taken to mean allure, persuade,
- 23:37coax by means of friendly words, and flatter God suckle, persuade, deceive
- 23:42Japheth by persuasion, so that Japheth himself, being allured, as his name
- 23:48signifies, may be invited in a friendly way and thus be beguiled two hundred
- 23:53and thirteen. But you say, what will be the meaning of this or
- 23:57why should there be need or Japheth to be beguiled or persuaded? And that
- 24:02by God himself? I answer, Noah makes the names to serve his purpose
- 24:07in this prophecy. He gives thanks to God that he establishes them to stand
- 24:11like a firm root from which Christ was to spring. For the verb sum
- 24:17signifies to place, to put in position, to establish two hundred and fourteen.
- 24:22For Jaffith, however, he prays that he may become a true Jaffith,
- 24:26since he was the oldest son, who ordinarily should have been given the
- 24:30right of the first born. He prays that God would persuade him in a
- 24:33friendly manner. First, not to envy his brother this honor, nor to
- 24:38be dissatisfied that this privilege was taken from him and given to his brother.
- 24:42Furthermore, because this matter touches the person of Japheth only God includes his entire
- 24:48offspring in the blessing, though the promise was given to shem alone. Yet
- 24:52God does not shut out from it the offspring of Jaffith, but speaks to
- 24:56them lovingly through the Gospel, that they may also become Hith, being persuaded
- 25:02by the word of the Gospel. This is a divine persuasion, coming from
- 25:07the Holy Spirit, not from the flesh, nor from the world, nor
- 25:11from Satan, but holy and quickening. This expression is used by Paul in
- 25:15Galatians chapter one, verse ten, where he says, quote, am I
- 25:18now persuading men? Or God? End? Quote? And Galatians chapter three,
- 25:23verse one, quote who did bewitch you that ye should not obey the
- 25:27truth? End? Quote? That ye do not agree to the truth,
- 25:32that you do not permit yourselves to be persuaded by that which is true?
- 25:36Two hundred and fifteen. Viewing the name Jaffeth in this case, it signifies
- 25:41a person of the kind which we call guileless, who believes readily, permitting
- 25:45himself to be easily persuaded of a matter, who does not dispute or cling
- 25:49to his own ideas, but submits his mind to the Lord and rests upon
- 25:53his word, remaining a learner, not desiring to be master over the words
- 25:59and works of God. Hence, it is a touching prayer which is here
- 26:03recorded, that God might persuade Japheth, that is, that he might speak
- 26:07fondly with him. Noah prays that though God does not speak to Japheth on
- 26:11the basis of a promise, as he does with Shem, yet he would
- 26:15speak with him on the basis of grace and divine goodness two hundred and sixteen.
- 26:22This prayer of Noah foresees the spread of the Gospel throughout the whole world.
- 26:26Shem is the stem from his posterity Christ was born. The Church is
- 26:32of the Jews, who had patriarchs, prophets, and kings. And yet
- 26:36God here shows Noah that also the wretched gentiles were to dwell in the tents
- 26:40of Shem, that is, they were to come into that heritage of the
- 26:44sense which the Son of God brought into this world forgiveness of sins, the
- 26:48Holy Spirit, and everlasting life. He prophesies clearly that also Japheth will hear
- 26:53the sweet message of the Gospel, as his name suggests, so that though
- 26:59we have not the same entitle as Shem, who was said to be the
- 27:02stem from which Christ was to spring. Yet he should have the persuader,
- 27:07namely the Gospel two hundred and seventeen. It was Paul through whom this prophecy
- 27:12was fulfilled. He almost unaided taught the Gospel doctrine to the posterity of Jaffeth.
- 27:18He says, quote from Jerusalem, and drowned about even unto Illyricum,
- 27:23I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ and quote Romans chapter fifteen, verse
- 27:29nineteen. Almost all of Asia, with the exception of the Oriental peoples,
- 27:33together with Europe, belongs to the posterity of Jaffeth. The Gentiles therefore did
- 27:38not, as the Jews did, receive the kingdom and the priesthood from God.
- 27:44They had neither the law nor the promise. Yet by the mercy of
- 27:48God they have heard that sweet voice of the Gospel the Persuader, which is
- 27:52indicated by the very name of Jaffeth two hundred and eighteen. The interpreters failed
- 27:59to recognize this as the true meaning, and God permitted them to make this
- 28:03mistake. Still they did not miss the true meaning altogether. For the verb
- 28:07erheb, which means to enlarge means also to give consolation, just as conversely
- 28:15in Latin, the word anguistea narrow place signifies also pains or pearls or disaster.
- 28:22Thus we read in Sam four versue quote, thou hast set me at
- 28:26large when I was in distress, and quote. The only real enlargement or
- 28:30consolation is the word of the Gospel two hundred and nineteen. Thus the several
- 28:37expositions are harmonized by proper interpretation, but the primary meaning of enlarge, which
- 28:42conveys the idea of persuasion, is the native and proper one. It sheds
- 28:48a bright light upon the fact that we gentiles, although the promise was not
- 28:52given to us, have nevertheless been called by the providence of God. To
- 28:56the Gospel, the promise pretends to chemel, but Jaffith, as Paul has
- 29:02it in Romans chapter eleven, verse seventeen, was grafted into the olive tree
- 29:06like a wild olive, and became a partaker of the original fatness or the
- 29:11sap of the olive. The older portions of the Bible agree with the new
- 29:15and what God promised in the days of Noah, he now carries out two
- 29:19hundred and twenty am signifies the hot and burning one. This name was given
- 29:26to him by his father. I believe because of the great things he hoped
- 29:30for his youngest son to Noah. The other two were cold men in comparison.
- 29:34He rejoiced greatly when Ken was born Jenesis chapter four, verse one.
- 29:38She believed that he would restore whatever had been wrought amiss. Yet he was
- 29:44the first to harm mankind in a new way, in that he killed his
- 29:47brother two hundred and twenty one. Thus, God, according to his unsearchable
- 29:52counsel, changes the expectations even of the saints. Am, whom his father
- 29:57at his birth had expected to be inflamed with greater zeal for the support of
- 30:02the church than his brothers, was hot and burning. Indeed when he grew
- 30:06older, But in a different sense, he burned against his parent and his
- 30:11God, as his deeds shows. Hence his name was one of evil prophecy
- 30:15unsuspected of Noah when he gave it two hundred and twenty two. This is
- 30:21Noah's prophecy concerning his sons, who have filled the earth with their offspring.
- 30:25The fact therefore that God has permitted the light of the Gospel to shine upon
- 30:29Germany is due to the prophecy anet Jaffith. We see today the fulfillment of
- 30:34that which Noah foretold. Though we are not of the seed of Abraham,
- 30:38yet we dwell in the tents of Shem and enjoy the fulfillment of the prophecies
- 30:44concerning Christ. Where She's twenty eight and twenty nine and Noah lived after the
- 30:49flood three hundred and fifty years, and all the days of Noah were nine
- 30:53hundred and fifty years, and he died two hundred and twenty three. Story
- 31:00shows that Noah died fifty years after the birth of Abraham. Abraham, therefore,
- 31:04enjoying the instruction of so able and renowned a teacher until his fiftieth year,
- 31:10had an opportunity to learn something of religion. And there is no doubt
- 31:14that Noah, being filled with the Holy Spirit, cared for this grandchild of
- 31:18his with special care and love, as the only heir of Shem's promises two
- 31:22hundred and twenty four. At that time, the offspring of Ham flourished,
- 31:27spreading idolatry throughout the regions of the East. Abraham was in touch with it,
- 31:32and not without danger to himself He was saved, however, by Noah,
- 31:37being almost alone in recognizing the greatness of a man who was the only
- 31:41survivor of the early world. The others, forgetful of the wrath which had
- 31:45draged in the flood, taunted the pious old man, particularly Ham's progeny.
- 31:51Puffed Up by wealth and power, they heaped insults upon Father Noah, and
- 31:56frenzied by success, they divided the curse of servitude pronounced upon them as a
- 32:00sign of his dotage amen end of section thirty three, end off. Commentary
- 32:07on Genesis, Volume two, Luther On Sin and the Flood by Martin Luther,
- 32:13translated by John Nicholas Linker, Conrad Bruno, Godis, and others.