Messianic Prophecy. Messiah in Pentateuch, Part 2. CA314 LESSON 08 of 24. Louis Goldberg, ThD

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1 Messianic Prophecy CA314 LESSON 08 of 24 Louis Goldberg, ThD Experience: Professor of Theology and Jewish Studies, Moody Bible Institute We had asked you in our last lesson to look at Genesis 9:25 27 and the historical background of the same chapter, verses We want to pick this up this time and to talk about the prophecy of Noah s sons. Very interesting passage; we must indicate God had a word for Noah s three sons, especially after an incident which happened. Noah had planted a vineyard after the flood, and in drinking some of the wine from the vineyard he became drunk and was uncovered inside his tent. The record tells us in Genesis 9:22: Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and ran out to tell his brothers. Then the two brothers came in and going in backward, they laid a cover upon their father so that they would not look upon their father s nakedness. Now comes the word that Noah gave concerning Ham, Shem, Japheth, and Canaan. First of all there is a curse placed upon Canaan. Let me say right at the outset that we do not agree with what some exegetes and preachers have done in the past that somehow this curse is placed upon the black people. Even though the word Ham can be indicated to be burned or dark, nevertheless the Scripture does indicate that Canaan, the son of Ham, is the one to be cursed. We note from Genesis 10:6 Ham had other sons: Cush, Put, and Mizraim. We note that Mizraim is Egypt; Put is the land to the west of Egypt, sometimes translated in the King James Version as Libya but I think more than Libya is involved; and somehow Cush can either mean into the areas below the Sahara or also some of the descendants of Cush that would move into the Middle East. At any rate, we re talking about Canaan and not Ham or not Canaan s brothers. We might ask, Why wasn t the curse placed upon Ham? I think we have to leave this with the sovereignty of God. I am sure that a lot is involved here of which the Scripture record gives us no indication. It could very well be that Canaan was the worst offender along with the father. Some have suggested that more is involved here than looking upon a naked father. Some have gone so far as to say that this was an expression of a phallic cult or some form of homosexuality. At any rate, it warranted a curse. As to the 1 of 7

2 reason why the curse was placed upon Canaan, a further aspect might be that sometimes in order to get at a father, something happens to the son so that the father might realize the errors of his ways. At any rate, there are different ways of looking upon the actual sin or wickedness that was perpetrated and then also the actual penalty placed upon Canaan. Now, how was this carried out? We note that in verse 25, Canaan shall be a servant to his brothers. In verse 26, Canaan shall be a servant of Shem, and then in verse 27, Canaan shall be a servant of Japheth. So far as Shem is concerned, especially as the line is narrowed down to deal with Abraham and then narrowed down further to deal with the sons of Jacob, we find that across the history of Israel there is a situation where the Canaanites eventually became the servants of the sons of Jacob. It didn t occur overnight. When Israel came into the land after the Egyptian experience, they were told that they should drive out the Canaanites and not have any pity on them but to execute what God had asked them to do. This raises all kinds of problems; problems concerning the murderous intentions, but nevertheless there was a reason and we re not going to go into all the reasons here except we must recognize the kind of life and the moral and the ethic of the Canaanites. But in Judges 2:2 the angel of the Lord speaks to Israel and says, You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? So we see that Israel was not totally obedient, but eventually, across the centuries, the word was carried out. For example, a covenant was made between the Gibeonites and Joshua. This was not in the will of God, and if you ll note Joshua 9, we find that Joshua didn t even consult the Lord about this covenant. But once the covenant was made, it was honored and the Gibeonites became servants in this sense to the sons of Israel. We find that when we come to the days of David at about 1000 BC, the city of the Jebusites was taken, which eventually became the city of Jerusalem. But in 1000 BC we find that this branch of the Canaanites was dealt with, and in 2 Samuel 5 you have the scheme that David used in order to capture the city. Across the history concerning Shem, the Canaanites became the servants of one branch of the Shemites. Then we find also across the history of the Canaanites that eventually they also became the servants of Japheth. Nebuchadnezzar, for example, came in the 500s and attempted to conquer Tyre of the Phoenicians. In their day they were able to escape Nebuchadnezzar and flee to an island off shore and then proceed to develop an even greater trade. 2 of 7

3 Eventually, Alexander the Great came in the 300s, threw out the sand, rocks, and what have you, and built a causeway to the island, and Alexander the Great was able to capture the Phoenicians, who were Canaanites also. Then, as we come forward in history, we read of the contest between Carthage and Rome and the fact that the Romans were victorious over the people of Carthage. But who were the people of Carthage? They were Canaanites also; Phoenician traders who had set up a trading colony, which eventually became a notable city. So we see then that across the centuries the people, Canaan, and the descendants of Canaan became subservient to Shem. It doesn t mean, for example, that the Canaanites were not able to be spiritually saved. I think, for example, with the Gibionites who had to minister at the altar they were made drawers of water and hewers of wood for the service at the altar but it isn t too far to imagine that the Gibionites would ask questions as to what was going on. And it is quite possible that some of these Canaanites would have an opportunity to know the Lord. At any rate, the prophecy of Noah concerning Canaan was fulfilled across the centuries. But there is also further interesting information. In Genesis 9:26, He also said, Blessed be the Lord [that is, Yahweh], the God of Shem. It s interesting here that the address is concerning Yahweh, and respect is paid to this particular name of God, but furthermore this particular name of God is the God of Shem. And we need to recognize that across the centuries, as Shem s line becomes particularized in the sons of Jacob, that Shem s descendants in Jacob recognize and receive Yahweh as their God. Prophecy clearly shows then that is was to be through Shem that the promised seed of the woman was to come that would eventually bruise the serpent s head, as we ve already indicated in the discussion of the protoevangelium. So Shem has a very particular place in the scheme of things. Of even further significance is Genesis 9:27: May God enlarge Japheth. The name for God here is Elohim. There was no personal particular name for God Yahweh associated with Japheth. The word Japheth means to enlarge or to become wide, and it s a reference to Japheth s descendants, that they would be numerous. And when we study Genesis 10:2 5, the descendants of Japheth spread over quite a large portion of the earth s surface. They spread westward into Europe so that, for example, the Romans and the Greeks are of Japheth. The sons of Japheth also spread eastward so that possibly India and China are also descendants of Japheth. But notice Japheth owes their expansion to God Elohim. But then God says in that same verse, verse 27, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem. It s interesting that Japheth, if they were 3 of 7

4 going to find out anything about spiritual things, if they were going to come into contact with Yahweh, they would have to go to Shem and in its particular aspect they would have to go to the descendants of Abraham through the sons of Jacob. How has this been demonstrated? Why, it has been demonstrated in a number of ways. We find in the history of Israel there were many who came from outside Israel and became Israelites. Notable examples are seen in Rahab, they are seen in Ruth, but later on we find that when the Jewish people scattered out across the Mediterranean world and you come to the first century, there were many in the synagogues that the Bible refers to as God-fearers. In fact, Paul s greatest success, if you please, was among these God-fearers, and they were Gentiles who were sick and tired of the kinds of religions that they had. They came into the synagogues, they sat and they listened, and they felt that this is what they wanted, and they responded to it. And then the supreme, the epitome of the spiritual aspect of the sons of Israel was Christ, and as it is spelled out across the centuries since the first century, we find that the sons of Japheth must turn to Jesus who, after the flesh, is an Israelite and therefore of Shem, in order to find the spiritual blessings. So I think that as we examine the ramifications of Noah s prophecy we find something here that is absolutely astounding. Now, let s turn to the next passage of Scripture, the Abrahamic covenant. The passages here will include Genesis 12, Genesis 15, and Genesis 17. There are other passages, I am aware, but I am going to stay within these passages. When we talk about the covenants, we ought to perhaps recognize a few details about them. I m not going to go into all the aspects and ramifications of covenants. Let s recognize that the word, the Hebrew word, is brit and possibly can have two entomological meanings: it can mean either to bind or to fetter, or it can mean to eat bread. There are all kinds of usages concerning the matter of brit and J. Barton Payne in his Theology of the Older Testament [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1980], beginning with page 79, gives quite a number of the usages of the covenant: that is, between whom covenants are made and covenants that are made between God and certain individuals, or God and a particular people, the people Israel. Let s note also that covenants have three major characteristics. They have terms. In order to conclude a covenant there must be terms that people are going to agree to, and insofar as covenants between God and Israel, there will be terms spelled out that will be a part of the arrangement between God and His people. In the ratification of the covenant there is the giving of an oath: 4 of 7

5 somebody gives his word, that they agree to the terms. And then as a last act in a sense, in the ratification of covenants there is the shedding of blood, and so for this reason it has become a part of the Hebrew text that when a covenant is made, you literally cut a covenant involving the shedding of blood. This is seen, for example, insofar as the Abrahamic covenant is concerned in Genesis 15, but we ll look at that in a moment. Now let s note the statement of this covenant. It is given for us in Genesis 17:2, where God simply says to Abraham, I will establish My covenant between Me and you. That is the bare statement. God takes the initiative and indicates this. Let s note the terms now. There are four terms that we want to look at: the prophecy and then also the fulfillment. So if you re laying out these prophecies as we have already indicated in the lesson on the hermeneutics of prophecy, you would show your prophecy at the left side of the paper and then you would write out or indicate the prophecies fulfilled at the right side. The first aspect of the Abrahamic covenant, the first term, is an innumerable progeny. In other words, there are to be many descendants, and so we re going to classify this prophecy. It is a national prophecy since we are dealing ultimately with Israel. We re dealing with a national prophecy, a fulfilled national prophecy if you please. In Genesis 17: 2 and 6 these are the prophecies. In verse 2: I will multiply you exceedingly. In verse 6: I will make you exceedingly fruitful. How was this fulfilled? Let s see it in Abraham s own lifetime. In Genesis 17:18 there is a reference concerning Ishmael; that is, Ishmael is one of the children of Abraham. Now I know that the covenant is made with Isaac, but right at this point we re talking about descendants descendants concerning Abraham, so here is one of them. Obviously, you also have Isaac, that Isaac is one of his descendants. So in verse 19 we re referring to Isaac and in verse 20 we are referring to Ishmael. Let s come forward to Genesis 25, and we note on that occasion that when Sarah dies, Abraham marries, and the concubine s name is Keturah. And on that occasion we find that Abraham is the father of six other children so that Abraham s own children amount now to eight in number. And insofar as Abraham was concerned, a man in his old age who was supposed to be beyond the age of procreation, he has eight children. Then we note, also, the grandchildren, and in Genesis 25:24 and following, that here are twins: Esau and Jacob. 5 of 7

6 Interestingly enough, let s see this prophecy as a very general one. We re not narrowing down the line now. We re talking about the descendants of Abraham, and we note that across the centuries two particular lines develop. There are the sons of Israel; that s one side. On the other side we find that between the sons of Ishmael, the descendants of these six other boys that Abraham had, the descendants of Esau, across the centuries all of these would have intermarried in one way or another, and we find that the Arab peoples today are the other side of that line. Two lines, or both sides of Abraham s descendants, but one group is the sons of Israel, or the sons of Jacob, and the other side is Arab peoples today who are there as a result of the intermarriage of all of these children that Abraham had aside from Isaac. So we have here then a very general prophecy concerning the descendants of Abraham. A second term refers to many nations and peoples, and here again we have to note a national prophecy fulfilled and, again, a general prophecy. Let s note the prophecies. In Genesis 17:4 5 and 6, here we read in verse 4, you will be the father of a multitude of nations. In verse 5, I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. In verse 6, I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. How was this carried out? How was this fulfilled? In Genesis 17:20 regarding Ishmael God says, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. [Furthermore,] he shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. Obviously, in the descendants of the six boys of Abraham from Keturah there were also nations and there were also kings. And then, in the nations struggling in the womb of Rebekah we find that two nations were in the womb, the two were struggling with each other, and we find Esau and Jacob: of Esau, also a nation, the Edomite nation; of Israel, the sons of Israel. Across the centuries, as a very general prophecy now, on both sides of his line, the sons of Israel as a nation with many illustrious kings; on the other side the Arab peoples today, the intermarriage of all of these descendants producing many peoples and having many illustrious kings as well. I think we have to see it in this light; we have to realize who are the descendants of Abraham. We have to consider all of the descendants of Abraham. It s very important that we see it in this light. 6 of 7

7 Now let s turn to a third term, and here we want to indicate that God has guaranteed a historical continuity. In a very general way God has guaranteed a continuity of all Abraham s descendants. But in a very particular way we shall begin to narrow down among Abraham s descendants, a particular line. In Genesis 17:7 we read the passage that becomes generalized and then eventually becomes particularized. I will establish My covenant between Me and you [as God speaks to Abraham] and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. In a very general way we find that God has His hand upon all the descendants of Abraham, and we want to note just how God does this for all Abraham s children. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 7 of 7