Part 50 (1/2)

c. Att.i.tude of Church members to their pride 205-206.

* Why Ham's name was not mentioned when he was cursed 207-208.

6. The word dilatet the Latins use in explaining j.a.pheth's blessing 209-210.

a. It is not in harmony with the Hebrew 209-210.

b. Why all Latin interpreters use it 211.

c. It does not fully express the sense of the Holy Spirit 212.

d. What explanation should be given here 213-215.

7. All descendents of j.a.pheth partake of this blessing through the Gospel 216-217.

8. Translations of Latin interpreters of this blessing are to be harmonized with the original text 218-219.

* Ham's name 220-221.

a. Its meaning and reason his parents gave it to him 220.

b. The hope of his parents in this name disappointed 221.

9. It is ascribed to this promise that Germany in these last days received the light of the Gospel 222.

* Abraham had Noah as his teacher 223.

* The temporal prosperity of Ham's family, and their wickedness 224.

V. HAM CURSED; SHEM AND j.a.pHETH BLESSED.

A. The Curse p.r.o.nounced Upon Ham.

174. But there is another reason for this repeatedly uttered curse.

G.o.d cannot forget such great irreverence toward parents, nor does he suffer it to go unpunished. He requires that parents and rulers be regarded with reverence. He requires that elders be honored, commanding that one shall rise up before a h.o.a.ry head (Lev 19, 32).

And, speaking of ministers of the Word, he says, ”He that despiseth you, despiseth me” (Mt 10, 40; Lk 10, 16).

175. Hence disobedience of parents is a sure indication that curse and disaster are close at hand. Likewise is contempt of ministers and of rulers punished. When the people of the primitive world began to deride the patriarchs and to hold their authority in contempt, the flood followed. When, among the people of Judah, the child began to behave himself proudly against the old man, as Isaiah has it (ch 3, 5), Jerusalem was laid waste and Judah went down. Such corruption of morals is a certain sign of impending evil. We justly fear for Germany a like fate when we look upon the prevailing disrespect for authority.

176. Let us, however, bear witness of a practice to which both Holy Writ and our experience testify. Because G.o.d delays the threatened punishment he is mocked and considered a liar. In this practice we should see the seal, as it were, to every prophecy. Ham hears that he is accursed; but inasmuch as the curse does not go into immediate effect, he securely despises and derides the same.

177. Thus did the first world hold Noah's prophecy in ridicule when he spoke of the flood. Had they believed that such a punishment was close at hand, would they have gone on in a feeling of security? Would they not rather have repented and begun a better life? If Ham had believed that to be true which he heard from his father, he would have sought refuge in mercy and, confessing his crime, craved forgiveness. But he did neither; rather did he haughtily leave his father, to go to Babylon. There, with his posterity, he gave himself up to the building of a city and of a tower, and made himself lord of all Greater Asia.

178. What is the reason for this feeling of security? It lies in the fact that divine prophecies must be believed; they cannot be perceived by our senses, or by experience. This is true both of divine promises and of divine threats. Therefore the opposite always seems to the flesh to be true.

179. Ham is cursed by his father; but he lays hold upon the greater portion of the earth and establishes vast kingdoms. On the other hand, Shem and j.a.pheth are blessed, but in comparison with Ham, they and their posterity are beggarly.

Where then are we to seek the truth of this prophecy? I answer: This prophecy and all others, whether they be promises or threats, cannot be understood by reason, but by faith alone. G.o.d delays both punishments and rewards; hence there is need of endurance. For ”He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved,” as Christ says (Mt 24, 13).

180. The life of all pious people is wholly of faith and hope. The evidence of our senses, history, and the way of the world, would teach us the opposite. Ham is cursed, yet he alone obtains dominion. Shem and j.a.pheth are blessed, yet they alone bear reproach and affliction.

Since both the promises and the threats of G.o.d reach out into the future, the issue must be awaited in faith. Habakkuk says (ch 2, 3), ”It will surely come, it will not delay.”