the tents of Shem, and equally sure is it that the descendants of Japheth are now doing so.

3. The fulfillment of Noah's prophecy. The wonderful prediction uttered by the builder of the Ark gives in a few brief sentences the history of the new world, and shows the positions that were delegated by God to the three great divisions of the human family. In the closing verses of Genesis 9 we have a remarkable unfolding of the future destinies of the new humanity. The various parts which are to be played in human history by its leading characters are now made known. The subjection of one, the religious preëminence of the second, and the enlarging of the third head of the postdiluvian race, is here revealed.

"Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren" (verse 25). Above, we intimated that as no blessing at all was pronounced upon Ham as was the case with each of his brothers, it would seem that the curse was not intended to be limited to Canaan (there being a particular reason why Canaan should be thus singled out, namely, as an encouragement to the Israelites,) but included all of his children. By tracing the history of Ham's other sons it becomes evident that the scope of Noah's prophecy reached beyond Canaan. Nimrod sprang from Ham through Cush (Gen. 10: 6-8), and he founded the city and empire Babylon. Mizraim was another of Ham's children and he was the father of the Egyptians (Gen. 10: 6 and Ps. 78: 51). For a time Babylon and Egypt waxed great, but subsequently both of them were reduced to subjection, first by the Persians who descended from Shem, and later by the Greeks and Romans who were the children of Japheth. And from these early subjugations they have never recovered themselves. The whole of Africa was peopled by the descendants of Ham, and for many centuries the greater part of that continent lay under the dominion of the Romans, Saracens, and Turks. And, as is well known, the negroes who were for so long the slaves of Europeans and Americans, also claim Ham as their progenitor.

"Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant" (verse 26). Two things are promised here: Jehovah was to be the God of Shem and Canaan was to be his servant. Shem was "the father of all the children of Eber, "that is, the Hebrews (Gen. 10:21). Thus, in the Hebrews, the knowledge and worship of God was preserved

in the family of Shem. The fulfillment of this part of the prophecy is well known to our readers. God was in a peculiar sense the God of the Hebrews-" And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God" (Ex. 29:45). And again, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2).

"And Canaan shall be his (Shem's) servant.' This received its first fulfillment in the days of Joshua-"And Joshua made them (the Gibeonites) hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation" (Josh. 9:27). The following scriptures set forth its further accomplishment: "And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute" (Judges 1:28). "And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel, their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond service unto this day" (1 Kings 9:20, 21).

"God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem" (verse 27). Two things were also predicted of Japheth: first, he should be enlarged; second, he should dwell in the tents of Shem or, in other words, should receive blessing from Shem. The accomplishment of this prediction is witnessed to by history both sacred and secular. Those nations which have been most enlarged by God have descended from Japheth. The Greeks and the Romans who in their time dominated practically all of the then known world; and more recently the European Powers who have entered into the rich possessions of Asia (inhabited by the children of Shem); and, to-day, the Anglo-Saxon race, which occupies more territory than any other people, are all the descendants of Noah's firstborn! In Genesis 10, where a list of Japheth's sons is found, we read, "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands."

"And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem" intimates that Japheth was to be Shem's guest, that he should share the rest and shelter of Shem's tabernacles. How remarkably has this prophecy been fulfilled spiritually! "The revelation which we prize is that of the God of Israel; the Saviour in whom we trust is the seed of Abraham; the Old Testament was written principally for Israel; and the New Testament though written in a Japhetic tongue, and,

therefore for us, was penned by Jewish fingers" (Urqu hart). To this may be added the words of our Lord, "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4: 22); and that remarkable statement of the Apostle Paul's in Romans 11 where, writing of the Gentiles, he says, "And thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them (Israel), and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree (verse 17). Thus do we see Japheth "dwelling in the tents of Shem,"

Who but He who knows the end from the beginning could have outlined the whole course of the three great divisions of the postdiluvian race so tersely and so accurately!

16. NIMROD AND THE TOWER

OF BABEL

GENESIS 10, 11

In Genesis 10 and 11 we have the historical links which connect for us the time of Noah with the days of Abraham. Uninteresting as they may appear to the casual reader they furnish most valuable information to the prayerful student. Without these two chapters and the genealogies which they contain, we should be quite unable to trace the fulfillment of Noah's wonderful prophecy; we should be without any satisfactory solution to the ethnological problem presented by the variety and number of the different nations and tongues; and, we should be left in ignorance concerning the cause (from the human side) which led up to God abandoning His dealings with the nations and singling out Abram to be the father of His chosen people Israel.

Genesis 10 and 11 give us the history of the postdiluvian world; they show us the ways of men in this new worldin revolt against God and seeking to glorify and deify themselves; and they set before us the principles and judgments upon which this world is founded. For the understanding of the chapters it is necessary to pay careful attention to their structure and chronology. Chapter eleven historically antedates much of Genesis 10, furnishing us with a commentary upon it. Verses eight to twelve of chapter ten and verses one to nine of chapter eleven should be read as two parentheses. Reading them thus, we find, that outside of these parentheses, these chapters furnish us with the genealogical descent of Abram from Noah. Upon these genealogies and origins of the various nations we shall not now comment, preferring to dwell at some length on the parenthetical portions.

Like everything else in Genesis, the historical events recorded in these brief parentheses are remarkable in their typical significance and reach. In the clearer and fuller light of the New Testament we cannot fail to see that Nimrod foreshadowed the last great World-Ruler before our Lord descends to earth and ushers in His millennial reign It is deeply significant that the person and history of Nimrod are here introduced at the point immediately preceding

God calling Abram from among the Gentiles and bringing him into the Promised Land. So will it be again in the near future. Just before God gathers Abraham's descendants from out of the lands of the Gentiles (many, perhaps the majority of whom will be found dwelling at that very time in Assyria,-see Isaiah 11:11), there will arise one who will fill out the picture here typically outlined by Nimrod. We refer of course to the Antichrist. As the Antichrist is a subject of such interest and importancehis manifestation being now so near at hand-we digress for a moment to say one or two things about him.

To begin at the beginning. We need not remind our readers that Satan is the avowed and age-long enemy of God and that all through the course of human history he has been opposing his Maker and seeking to secure the scepter of earth's sovereignty. Further, we need not dwell upon the fact, so plainly revealed in Scripture, that Satan is an imitator, parodying and counterfeiting the ways and things of the Lord. But the climax of all Satan's schemes has not yet become history, though the inspired Word shows us clearly what form this climax will assume. God's purposes for this earth are to be realized and consummated in a man, "the man Christ Jesus" who will yet reign over it as King of kings and Lord of lords. Satan's designs will also head up in a man, "the man of Sin" who will for a short season reign over the earth as its acknowledged King. This man will be, preeminently, energized by Satan himself (2 Thess. 2:9). He will assume the right to enforce his autocratic dictates on all alike "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Rev. 13:16, 17). He it was who was before the Psalmist when he said, "He (Christ) shall wound the head over many countries" (Psa. 110:6). He was the one pictured by the prophet when he wrote "Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people," etc., see Habakkuk 2:1-8. This Man of Sin (2 Thess. 2:3) will be the super-man of whom the world is even now talking about, and for whom it is so