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Shem seems by this to be the first in that action of love to his father: and that Japheth did help through his persuasion; for Shem is blessed in a special manner, and Canaan is made his servant. Hence note, That forwardness in things that are good, is a blessed sign that the Lord is our God: Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. Ver. 27.
To me, it seems probable, that Ham came from the hands of his Creator, in every respect equal to Shem and Japheth; and that his mental and moral powers were debased by sin, and they thus acquired a superiority over him. But, supposing that Ham was originally inferior to his more fortunate brothers, he had no right to complain.
The biblical story of Shem, Ham, and Japheth retains the interest of a primitive myth with its measure of allegorical truth, but has, of course, no historic basis. The older "Aryan" theory assumed the migration into Europe of one dominant Asiatic race of civilized conquerors, to whose blood and influence all modern culture was due.
In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
My own view is that, by accident or design, some explosive substance found its way into the coal." "Shem, Ham and Japheth! Explosive substance! Do you mean dynamite, or gunpowder, or that sort of thing?" "Something of the kind. That is only a supposition, but when I whispered it to Walker he agreed." "Walker! Is he the man who speaks so queerly?"
Japheth's answer was a good-natured laugh and a tacit refusal to take either. "You cayn't rile me thataway, boy," he said. "I've knowed you a heap too long. Git in the fu'ther rut and take your medicine like a man." Since there appeared to be no help for it, Tom set his horse in motion again, and Japheth gave him a mile of silence in which to cool down.
'Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you. Gen. ix, 3. "Revenge. 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Gen. ix, 6. "Drunkenness. 'And he drank of the wine, and was drunken. Gen. ix, 21. "Partiality. 'God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant. Gen. ix, 27.
"Who was the man?" "I don't know. I didn't recognize any of them they were too far off when I saw them. And afterward, Nan wouldn't tell me." "Did any of 'em see you and Nan?" "I thought not. Nan was sitting on the flat rock where you stood and looked into the cave, and when she began to whimper, I flung her over into the leaves and ran with her to the hole." "H'm," said Japheth.
Locality, climate and other external causes have also had much agency in shaping and moulding the characters, and determining the destinies of nations. Nothing is more true than the trite saying, "that knowledge is power." The Author of our existence, "the giver of every good and perfect gift," conferred on Shem and Japheth, or rather, on their posterity, superior mental endowments.
Regarding cold, darkness, and water, or darkness, mist, and tempest, Hippolytus observes: "These the Sethian says are the three principles of our system; or when he states that three were born in paradise Adam, Eve, the serpent; or when he speaks of three persons, namely, Cain, Abel, Seth, and again of three others, Shem, Ham, Japheth; or when he mentions three patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; or when he speaks of three days before the sun, etc."
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