s to the conquerors.

"And Canaan shall be a servant to them." The servitude of Canaan was
completed by Japheth, among whose sons (Gen. x. 2) Madai also appears;
so that even the Medo-Persian kingdom is one of Japheth's. Ph[oe]nicia
was completely overthrown by him. Haughty Tyrus fell to the ground.
Zech. ix. 3, 4, when announcing the Greek dominion (compare ver. 13),
says: "And Tyrus did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver
like dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord
will cast her out, and He will smite her power in the sea, and she
shall be devoured with fire."

The objection raised by _Tuch_ and _Hofmann_, that the Greeks and
Romans made Shem also their servant, is, after what has been remarked,
destitute of all weight, inasmuch as the servitude then had reference
only to the lower territory. Shem and Judah were not injured in that
which, in ver. 26, had been pointed at as their chief and peculiar
good. On the contrary, it shone out, on that occasion, in its highest
glory. Canaan, however, lost that upon which he set the highest value.
In the case of Canaan, the servitude was the consequence of the curse;
but in the case of Shem, the outward servitude was a consequence of [Pg
45] the blessing, the most emphatic verification of the words: "Blessed
be Jehovah, the God of Shem."

It must indeed fill us with adoring wonder when we see how clearly and
distinctly the outlines of the world's history, as well as of the
history of Salvation, are here traced. "This," says _Calvin_, "is
indeed a support to our faith of no common strength, that the calling
of the Gentiles was not only predestined in God's eternal decree, but
also publicly proclaimed by the mouth of the Patriarch; so that we are
not required to believe that by a sudden and fortuitous event merely,
the inheritance of eternal life was proclaimed to all men in common."

It is not a matter of _chance_ that this prophecy was given immediately
after the deluge, which stands out as so great an event in the
history of the fallen human race,--the first event, indeed, subsequent
to the fall, with which the _Protevangelium_ was connected. A new
period begins with the calling of Abraham, and in it we obtain
another link in the chain of the prophecies,--a link which fits as
exactly into that which is now under consideration, as did this into
the _Protevangelium_. The import of this prophecy is: "The kingdom of
God shall be established