Japeth, Noah, and the Table Of Nations

In previous posts, I showed how Canaan was cursed because of what his father Ham had done to Noah ( Ham, Noah, and the Canaanites ) .  In another post I showed the line of Shem through Abraham and how Noah and Shem were both alive when Abraham was an adult and how Abraham could have studied with both Noah and Shem and Isaac could have studied with Shem ( Shem, Noah, Abraham, and Job ).  Commentaries state this happened (IE: book of Jasher)

Noah's son Japeth was older than Shem and Ham was the youngest:

Genesis 9:24  And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done unto him.
Genesis 10:21  Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.

In middle eastern custom, those who are guests in the tent or home of someone is under their protection and the guests will be protected even at the cost of the lives of the household members.  This is shown by when Lot offered his daughters to the sodomites when the angels were in his home and under his protection

Genesis 19
5  And they called unto Lot, and said unto him: 'Where are the men that came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.'
6  And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him.
7  And he said: 'I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly.
8  Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing; forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof.'

 This protecting a guest is also shown when the daughter (and the guest's concubine) was offered to the men in Gibeah who wanted to rape the Levite guest (which nearly led to the extermination of the tribe of Benjamin) I posted about in an earlier post ( Benjamites of Gibeah, King Saul, and Judah )  which is found in Judges 19-21 .

After the incident with Ham, Noah cursed Canaan (Ham's son) and blessed Japeth and Shem:

Genesis 9
24  And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done unto him.
25  And he said: Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26  And he said: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be their servant.
27  God enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be their servant

This is VERY interesting. The oldest son was the one who inherits the blessing   ------  The older serving the younger and a younger son being the one chosen over the eldest by Yahweh is throughout the Old Testament:

• Jacob inherits the blessing instead Esau.
• Judah is the ruling line and not Reuben (who sinned against Jacob) or Simeon
• Joseph gave the blessing to his youngest grandson
• Gideon was the youngest.
• King David was the youngest son.
• etc.

This is important that Messiah Yeshua was the first born Son - the first born being the rightful heir who also received the blessing of Yahweh.  I'm sure there is more here although have not discovered it yet.  Good topic for discussion.

As shown in the table of nations, Genesis 10, Japeth's descendants were the gentile nations:

Genesis 10
2  The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
3  And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
4  And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5  By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. 

As shown in the post about Shem, Shem is the line of Abraham, David, and Messiah.  It is interesting that the elder Japeth's ancestors, the gentile nations which Noah said would be greatly enlarged,  will dwell under the protection of - in the tents of -   a younger son which is the line of Messiah!  I find that the blessing of Japeth and Shem to be highly prophetic regarding the Messiah and how the gentiles will be saved through the Jewish Messiah.  It also speaks against British Israelism and other forms of the demonic replacement theology that has become widely accepted.