◄ Genesis 9:26 ►
He also declared: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
Study Bible
He also said
This phrase indicates a continuation of Noah's prophetic declarations over his sons. The context is post-flood, where Noah, having emerged from the ark, is setting the stage for the future of his descendants. The Hebrew word for "said" is "אָמַר" (amar), which often implies a solemn or significant pronouncement. This is not merely a casual statement but a prophetic utterance with lasting implications.

Blessed be the LORD
The Hebrew word for "LORD" here is "יְהוָה" (YHWH), the personal name of God, emphasizing His covenantal relationship with humanity. The blessing is directed towards God, acknowledging His sovereignty and faithfulness. This phrase underscores the importance of recognizing God's hand in the unfolding of human history and His role as the ultimate source of blessing.

the God of Shem
Shem is singled out among Noah's sons as having a special relationship with God. The phrase "the God of Shem" suggests a unique covenantal bond, foreshadowing the line through which the Israelites, and ultimately Jesus Christ, would come. The Hebrew root for "Shem" means "name" or "renown," indicating that Shem's lineage would carry the renown of God's name.

May Canaan be the slave of Shem
This part of the verse is a continuation of the curse pronounced on Canaan, the son of Ham, in the preceding verses. The Hebrew word for "slave" is "עֶבֶד" (eved), which can mean servant or bondservant. Historically, this prophecy is seen as being fulfilled in the subjugation of the Canaanites by the Israelites, descendants of Shem. This phrase highlights the consequences of sin and the unfolding of divine justice, while also pointing to the overarching theme of God's sovereignty in the affairs of nations.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Noah
The patriarch who survived the Flood and made a covenant with God. He is the one pronouncing the blessing in this verse.

2. Shem
One of Noah's three sons, who is blessed in this passage. Shem is considered the ancestor of the Semitic peoples, including the Israelites.

3. Canaan
The son of Ham and grandson of Noah. Canaan is cursed to be a servant to Shem, which has implications for the future of the Canaanite people.

4. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenantal name of God, who is acknowledged as the God of Shem in this blessing.

5. The Event of the Blessing
This occurs after the Flood, when Noah is pronouncing blessings and curses upon his sons and their descendants.
Teaching Points
The Sovereignty of God in Blessing and Cursing
This passage highlights God's sovereign choice in blessing Shem and cursing Canaan. It reminds us that God's plans and purposes are beyond human understanding and control.

The Importance of Lineage and Covenant
Shem's blessing is significant because it sets the stage for the Abrahamic covenant and the eventual coming of the Messiah. Understanding our spiritual heritage in Christ is crucial for our identity and mission.

The Role of Obedience and Faithfulness
While Shem is blessed, the broader account of Scripture shows that blessings are often tied to obedience and faithfulness to God. We are called to live in a way that honors our covenant relationship with God.

The Consequences of Sin
The curse on Canaan serves as a reminder of the long-term consequences of sin. It challenges us to consider how our actions today can impact future generations.

God's Faithfulness to His Promises
The fulfillment of the blessings and curses pronounced by Noah demonstrates God's faithfulness to His word. We can trust that God will fulfill His promises to us as well.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the blessing of Shem in Genesis 9:26 relate to the broader account of God's covenant with Abraham and the Israelites?

2. In what ways does the acknowledgment of Yahweh as the God of Shem influence our understanding of God's relationship with His people?

3. How can we apply the principle of God's sovereignty in blessing and cursing to our own lives and circumstances today?

4. What lessons can we learn from the consequences of Canaan's curse about the impact of our actions on future generations?

5. How does the fulfillment of God's promises in the lives of Shem's descendants encourage us in our faith journey?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 12:1-3
The blessing of Shem is connected to the call of Abram (Abraham), a descendant of Shem, through whom all nations will be blessed.

Exodus 6:3
The revelation of God as Yahweh to Moses ties back to the acknowledgment of Yahweh as the God of Shem.

Deuteronomy 7:1-2
The Israelites' conquest of Canaan fulfills the prophetic curse on Canaan to be a servant to Shem's descendants.

Romans 9:4-5
Paul speaks of the Israelites, descendants of Shem, as the recipients of God's promises and covenants.

Galatians 3:14
The blessing of Abraham, a descendant of Shem, extends to the Gentiles through faith in Christ.
Sermons
The Threefold Distribution of the Human RaceR.A. Redford Genesis 9:18-29
Drink and DrunkennessGenesis 9:20-27
Drunkenness the Way to RuinGenesis 9:20-27
Filial ReverenceW. Adamson.Genesis 9:20-27
Noah DrunkHomilistGenesis 9:20-27
Noah's Husbandry and ExcessG. Hughes, B. D.Genesis 9:20-27
Noah's SinM. Dods, D. D.Genesis 9:20-27
On Covering the Sins of OthersM. Dods, D. D.Genesis 9:20-27
Piety in ChildrenG. Hughes, B. D.Genesis 9:20-27
Saints' SinsW. Adamson.Genesis 9:20-27
The Lessons of Noah's FallT. H. Leale.Genesis 9:20-27
The Original Home and Diffusion of the VineThings Not Generally Known.Genesis 9:20-27
The Sin of DrunkennessA. Fuller.Genesis 9:20-27
And He Shall Dwell, in the Tents of ShemProf. J. G. Murphy.Genesis 9:25-27
God Shall Enlarge JaphethProf. J. G. Murphy.Genesis 9:25-27
LessonsG. Hughes, B. D.Genesis 9:25-27
LessonsG. Hughes, B. D.Genesis 9:25-27
LessonsG. Hughes, B. D.Genesis 9:25-27
Predictions Respecting the Sons of NoahB. S. Hollis.Genesis 9:25-27
Scripture PredictionsProf. J. G. Murphy.Genesis 9:25-27
The Curse of Canaan, and its FulfilmentA. Fuller.Genesis 9:25-27
The Question of a Curse Upon Children to Remote PeriodsA. Fuller.Genesis 9:25-27
The Sons of NoahW. S. Smith, B. D.Genesis 9:25-27
People
Ham, Japheth, Noah, Shem
Places
Tigris-Euphrates Region
Topics
Blessed, Bondman, Canaan, Praise, Servant, Shem, Slave
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Genesis 9:26

     1335   blessing

Genesis 9:20-27

     4544   wine

Genesis 9:24-29

     5106   Noah

Library
Capital Punishment
Eversley. Quinquagesima Sunday, 1872. Genesis ix. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6. "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. . . . Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you . . . But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require: at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

Noah's Flood
(Quinquagesima Sunday.) GENESIS ix. 13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. We all know the history of Noah's flood. What have we learnt from that history? What were we intended to learn from it? What thoughts should we have about it? There are many thoughts which we may have. We may think how the flood came to pass; what means God used to make it rain forty days; what is meant by breaking up the fountains of the great deep. We may …
Charles Kingsley—The Gospel of the Pentateuch

Death.
PSALM CIV. 20, 21. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. Let me say a few words on this text. It is one which has been a comfort to me again and again. It is one which, if rightly understood, ought to give comfort to pitiful and tender-hearted persons. Have you never been touched by, never been even shocked by, the mystery of pain and death? I do not speak now of pain and death …
Charles Kingsley—Westminster Sermons

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

That the Ruler Should Be, through Humility, a Companion of Good Livers, But, through the Zeal of Righteousness, Rigid against the vices of Evildoers.
The ruler should be, through humility, a companion of good livers, and, through the zeal of righteousness, rigid against the vices of evil-doers; so that in nothing he prefer himself to the good, and yet, when the fault of the bad requires it, he be at once conscious of the power of his priority; to the end that, while among his subordinates who live well he waives his rank and accounts them as his equals, he may not fear to execute the laws of rectitude towards the perverse. For, as I remember to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Doctrine of Non-Resistance to Evil by Force Has Been Professed by a Minority of Men from the Very Foundation of Christianity. Of the Book "What
CHAPTER I. THE DOCTRINE OF NON-RESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE HAS BEEN PROFESSED BY A MINORITY OF MEN FROM THE VERY FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. Of the Book "What I Believe"--The Correspondence Evoked by it-- Letters from Quakers--Garrison's Declaration--Adin Ballou, his Works, his Catechism--Helchitsky's "Net of Faith"--The Attitude of the World to Works Elucidating Christ's Teaching--Dymond's Book "On War"--Musser's "Non-resistance Asserted"--Attitude of the Government in 1818 to Men who Refused to …
Leo Tolstoy—The Kingdom of God is within you

Original Righteousness.
"For in Him we live and move, and have our being: as certain also of your own poets have said. For we are also His offspring." --Acts xvii. 28. It is the peculiar characteristic of the Reformed Confession that more than any other it humbles the sinner and exalts the sinless man. To disparage man is unscriptural. Being a sinner, fallen and no longer a real man, he must be humbled, rebuked, and inwardly broken. But the divinely created man, realizing the divine purpose or restored by omnipotent grace …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Sixth Commandment
Thou shalt not kill.' Exod 20: 13. In this commandment is a sin forbidden, which is murder, Thou shalt not kill,' and a duty implied, which is, to preserve our own life, and the life of others. The sin forbidden is murder: Thou shalt not kill.' Here two things are to be understood, the not injuring another, nor ourselves. I. The not injuring another. [1] We must not injure another in his name. A good name is a precious balsam.' It is a great cruelty to murder a man in his name. We injure others in …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Being Made Archbishop of Armagh, He Suffers Many Troubles. Peace Being Made, from Being Archbishop of Armagh He Becomes Bishop of Down.
[Sidenote: 1129] 19. (12). Meanwhile[365] it happened that Archbishop Cellach[366] fell sick: he it was who ordained Malachy deacon, presbyter and bishop: and knowing that he was dying he made a sort of testament[367] to the effect that Malachy ought to succeed him,[368] because none seemed worthier to be bishop of the first see. This he gave in charge to those who were present, this he commanded to the absent, this to the two kings of Munster[369] and to the magnates of the land he specially enjoined …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Mosaic Cosmogony.
ON the revival of science in the 16th century, some of the earliest conclusions at which philosophers arrived were found to be at variance with popular and long-established belief. The Ptolemaic system of astronomy, which had then full possession of the minds of men, contemplated the whole visible universe from the earth as the immovable centre of things. Copernicus changed the point of view, and placing the beholder in the sun, at once reduced the earth to an inconspicuous globule, a merely subordinate …
Frederick Temple—Essays and Reviews: The Education of the World

Mount Zion.
"For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them: for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Promise to the Patriarchs.
A great epoch is, in Genesis, ushered in with the history of the time of the Patriarchs. Luther says: "This is the third period in which Holy Scripture begins the history of the Church with a new family." In a befitting manner, the representation is opened in Gen. xii. 1-3 by an account of the first revelation of God, given to Abraham at Haran, in which the way is opened up for all that follows, and in which the dispensations of God are brought before us in a rapid survey. Abraham is to forsake …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Discourse on Spiritual Food and True Discipleship. Peter's Confession.
(at the Synagogue in Capernaum.) ^D John VI. 22-71. ^d 22 On the morrow [the morrow after Jesus fed the five thousand] the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea [on the east side, opposite Capernaum] saw that there was no other boat there, save one, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples went away alone 23 (howbeit there came boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they ate the bread after that the Lord had given thanks): 24 when the multitude …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Genesis
The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation, i.-ii. 4a, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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