May 17, 2026| Lorain Fellowship
NKJV Genesis 9:20-29    
Ham Exposing the Failure, and Shem and Japheth Covering the Failure
vv. 22-24
20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 
21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 
Ham’s Son Receiving the Curse, and Shem and Japheth Receiving the Blessing
vv. 25-29
25 Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.”
26 And he said: “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.”
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
Life Study of Genesis Message 33
Shem and Japheth Received the Blessing by Covering the Failure
In the prophecy spoken through Noah, it was stated clearly that Japheth would be enlarged by God (9:27). This one word needs centuries to fulfill it. History tells us that the Europeans have been enlarged. Consider the history of the last five centuries. What an enlargement, an expansion, has occurred with the Europeans since the time of Columbus. This expansion is continuing. This expansion is mainly due to three factors among the Europeans: governmental power, science, and art, including the skills and the trades. Due to these three things, the Europeans have been constantly expanding. The Americans are the expansion of the Europeans. Eventually the European culture spread throughout the world through America. This was a fulfillment of the blessing spoken prophetically to Japheth. The one word of prophecy, ‘‘enlarged,’’ spoken to Japheth has needed centuries to be fulfilled. Many nations follow the European way of government because the Europeans were strong in this matter, learning it from the Romans. Furthermore, the sciences, skills, and arts came out of the Europeans. All of this is the fulfillment of God’s prophecy that Japheth would be enlarged.
Now let us come to Shem. ‘‘And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem.’’ The expansion is of Japheth, but God is of Shem. Jehovah, the very God, is of Shem. All of the Jews have to boast, saying, ‘‘God is ours.’’ Even the Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman that salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22). Whatever is related to God has come out of the Jews. Who wrote the Old Testament? The Jews. Who wrote the New Testament? Except for one Gentile, Luke, the physician, the New Testament was written by Jews. Even Luke wrote with the knowledge he received from the Jewish believers. All the things concerning God, concerning God’s gospel, concerning Christ, and concerning salvation have come out of the Jews. Jehovah Elohim was prophesied to be Shem’s. Shem does not have government or science; Shem has God. The prophecy declares that the enlarged Japheth must dwell in the tents of Shem (9:27). The Europeans, including the Americans, are strong, but they need the tents of the Hebrews. If you do not believe what the Jews preach, you have no tent, no rest.
The descendants of Shem did not build Babylon; they built tents like Abraham did and they built the tabernacle for God. The Lord Jesus, one of Shem’s descendants, was likened to a tabernacle (a tent, John 1:14). Eventually, the New Jerusalem also will be God’s eternal tent (tabernacle, Rev. 21:2-3), which bears the names of the twelve Jewish tribes and the names of the twelve Jewish apostles. The descendants of Japheth, the Europeans, including the Americans, truly have dwelt in Shem’s tents of salvation. This prophecy has been and is still being fulfilled.
Japheth has been enlarged and needs to dwell in the tents of Shem. Ham has been cursed because he was involved in God’s government. He lost the blessing. Under the curse, he became a slave of slaves. Has this been proved by history or not? It has. But turn to Acts 13:1. ‘‘Now there were in Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.’’ In this verse we see that different peoples had become one church. Here we see certain prophets and teachers listed among the prominent, functioning members of the church. Barnabas and Saul were Jews. Simeon was called Niger (which means black). From this designation, he might have been a Negro. Lucius of Cyrene was from Africa. Cyrene was a city in northern Africa, where Libya is today. Manaen was brought up with Herod. Herod, though a descendant of an Idumaean (an Edomite) was governmentally related to the Romans (Europeans). So, though Manaen’s origin is unknown, he, as a foster brother of Herod, must have been Europeanized. Thus, we see that the five great functioning members of the church in Antioch were composed of two Jews, descendants of Shem, one from Africa and one who might have been a black person, both of whom might have been descendants of Ham, and one who was at least culturally related to the descendants of Japheth. They all became one church. Regardless of whose descendant you are, do not feel disappointed. Since we have been regenerated, we are all the church people. We were born of different origins, but now we are all in the same church. We all were born in the fulfillment of God’s prophecy concerning mankind spoken through Noah. But our natural status has been changed by the salvation of God in Christ.
Notes and Cross-references
Gen 9:211 uncovered
This was Noah’s failure, coming after the success in his work, which he experienced under God’s blessing (v. 1). Noah became drunk with the wine from his vineyards, and he was careless, becoming naked without realizing it. In spiritual experience, because of our fallen nature we must be covered whenever we come into God’s presence (3:7, 21; Exo. 20:25-26; 28:40-43). Spiritually, our covering is Christ (Luke 15:22; Gal. 3:27; Psa. 45:13). To be naked spiritually is to lose Christ as our covering in the presence of God (cf. Rom. 13:14).
Gen 9:251 Cursed
As the father of his family and the leader of mankind, Noah was God’s deputy authority on earth. Although Noah had failed, Ham’s descendants were cursed because Ham exposed the failure of God’s deputy authority (v. 22) and thus touched God’s government in a wrong way. Shem and Japheth were blessed because they respected God’s government, covering the failure of the deputy authority and not looking at it (v. 23). The failure of a leader in God’s government is always a test to us. To expose a leader’s failure causes us to be negatively involved with God’s government and thus to lose God’s blessing — see Deut. 27:16 (cf. Eph. 6:2-3); Num. 12:1-10 and notes; 2 Sam. 15:10; 18:14-15. If we remain in a right position under God’s government, a leader’s failure will become our blessing.
Gen 9:261 Shem
Shem, Noah’s first son, was the forefather of the Hebrews, the Jews (Abraham was a descendant of Shem — 11:10-26). In Noah’s prophetic word concerning his three sons in vv. 25-27, Shem was blessed to have God as his God.
Gen 9:271 tents
A tent is a place where people may dwell, rest, and have peace and enjoyment. Japheth’s dwelling in the tents of Shem indicates that if Japheth and his descendants would be blessed and enjoy God as their rest, peace, enjoyment, and salvation, they must believe in the God of the Jews (cf. John 4:22). When the Lord Jesus came as a seed of Abraham and a descendant of Shem, He became the tent, the tabernacle (John 1:14), which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate tent of Shem, the tabernacle of God with men for eternity, in which numerous Old Testament and New Testament saints from all the nations will dwell to participate in the eternal blessing of the eternal life (Rev. 21:3 and note).
Rev 21:31b tabernacle  -   Exo. 25:9; 40:2; Rev. 7:15; 13:6
As God’s habitation, the New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle of God with men for eternity. The tabernacle made by Moses was a type of this tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9; Lev. 26:11). That type was first fulfilled in Christ as God’s tabernacle among men (John 1:14) and will eventually be fulfilled in the fullest way in the New Jerusalem, which will be the enlargement of Christ as God’s dwelling place. This tabernacle will also be the eternal dwelling place of God’s redeemed people. God will overshadow us with Christ. (See note 153 in ch. 7.) Hence, the New Jerusalem will be a mutual habitation for both God and us.