In this passage, Noah explicitly states that Japheth will have no dwelling place of his own.
Genesis:9.27
May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;....
Note: Japheth will not dwell in his own tents but will dwell in that of his brother !!.
If such is the case, how then does God enlarge him?
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. - Genesis 9:27
There is no indication that anything in this verse is mutually exclusive. That is to say: Japheth would do all of these things.
We can first establish that the descendants of Japheth were enlarged:
... to them belonged all Europe, and lesser Asia, Media, Iberia, Albania, part of Armenia, and all those vast countries to the north, ... not to say anything of the new world (America) ...
We see that Japheth's descendants did inhabit the "tents" of Shem on a number of occasions:
and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;
inhabit the countries belonging to the posterity of Shem: this was verified by the Medes, who were the descendants of Japheth, together with the Babylonians seizing upon the Assyrian empire and overthrowing that, for Ashur was of Shem; and in the Greeks and Romans, who sprung from Japheth, when they made conquests in Asia, in which were the tents of Shem's posterity; ... and particularly this was fulfilled when the Romans, who are of Japheth, seized Judea, which had long been the seat of the children of Shem, the Jews; and at this day the Turks* who are also Japheth's sons, literally dwell in the tents of Shem, or inhabit Judea: ...
There are also those who don't believe this to be a reference to Japheth, but rather a prophecy specifically for Shem. I think that this is a strange reading seeing that Shem gets his own verse previously, but not a completely absurd one.
"God shall cause his Shechinah or glorious Majesty to dwell in the tents of Shem"
- the Targum Onkelos
There is also the possibility of the "dwelling in the tents" to refer to receiving instruction and learning from:
"and his children shall be proselytes, and dwell in the school of Shem;"
- Jonathan Ben Uzziel
So we see that there are three possibilities here, all of them historically correct:
* John Gill wrote this in around 1750.
There is a play on Hebrew words here. "Enlarge" is yapht, which sounds likes Japheth.
I think that the verse is not referring to Japheth personally, but rather to his progeny. Japheth is understood to be the ancestor of the Hellenic peoples who would later dominate the western world.1
1. See, e.g., Oxford Jewish Study Bible (1st ed.), p.26n
I do not think Japheth was "confined" to the tents of Shem. It simply means they dwelt together cause Ham had the hot, Shem had North Africa. So Japheth hung around Shem, instead of freezing over the Caucuses, cause Ham's people were trifling and spiteful. Too cold to live in tents in Europe back then.
Japheth being enlarged while dwelling under the tents of Shem means that the peoples of Japheth's line would eventually fall under the religions of Shem.
Shem leads to Abraham. The Abrahamic religions became the faith of every Japhetic line that you can name. The 'tent' is the tabernacle.
Every Japhetite fell under the tabernacle, all while making global empires. Whether the greeks/romans in ancient times, or the british/french/dutch/russians/spanish/portuguese etc. later on. In fact, Abrahamic beliefs defined their entire existences once we reached the medieval age. Look at the Great Schism, the Reformation and every war that came in-between as example.
In the Islamic tradition the Turks are Japhetites as well. They fell under Islam and embraced an Abrahamic religion just like the Europeans did with Christianity (abandoning their pagan/polytheistic faiths). They expanded territory at an incredible rate, ultimately controlling the Holy Lands while being Abrahamic Japhetites.
Noah's prophecy is striking once you put all of the pieces together.
‘We are all Japhethites living in the tents of Shem.’ (Franz Delitzsch 1813- 1890,* based on Genesis 9:27). I wonder if the identity of Japhethites might be interchangeable with Gentiles? The argument for the tents of Shem being God's chosen human depository for divine revelation to all mankind seems to attract a love-hate relationship. It is true that tents can easily be shifted and historically perhaps it is this facility which makes God's Word so ubiquitous. In the New Testament this facility is figuratively defined as an aroma. The Apostle Paul told those Gentile believers in Corinth,"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient[a] for these things?" 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.
This could mean a lot of things! It obviously refers do his (Japheth) descendants. Later they would gain influence over vast lands and peoples by means of influence, politically nd economically. Looking at the world today, it is under Western control. One could not do anything that huge with international influence without the West endorsing it. I would suggest that the "live in Shem"s tent" could refer to the West, who beyond all doubt are Japhethites, being reliant on the EAU"s bounty of mineral resources, mainly oil. Another factor qould be that the West would finally adopt the semitic belief system.
I believe that this passage refers to the current Jewish people who are occupying the land of Israel. After 1948 the Ashkenazi Jews migrated from Europe after Hitter's tyranny. Moreover the territory belongs to Gods true "chosen people" who have be scattered to the four corners of the Earth. Due to there disobedience and not following Gods Commandants he gave Moses in the Old Testament. The lords true "chosen people" are the 12 tribes of Israel, which includes the slaves who were taken from the West coast of AFRICA. I refer to them as the dispersed of Judah. The Lord will eventually restore his "chosen people" back to the native home.
To enlarge was intended to mean "decieve or to bluff up" Japhetic people to think they are shemmettic and are not.
Japheth's descedents dwell in Shem's tents by being grafted as unnatural branches into the olive tree of Israel, the root of which is Jesus the Messiah, who sums up and fulfills the promises made unto the patriarchs and all the covenants of old creation. Thus can the Japhethites speak of "our fathers in the wilderness." As Paul writes to the Christians of Galatia (who may have been Celts) "and if you are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs of the promise."
You are all dead wrong! Some of you are on to some truth, but are completely lost! People in the middle east are mostly Ham and Japeth mix. There are no Shemites in the middle east today. Noah's three sons would all be of the same race. However two of them Ham and Japeth would mix with the other nation's. The reason the line runs through Shem is because Shem would of kept Noah's lineage. I could explain this to an exact point but in today's climate I would be called a Nazi! The children of Shem would become the Israelites. The Israelites were beautiful in their appearance. Remember 96% of the earth has dark hair and dark eyes. Even amongst whites majority do not have light hair or light eyes. Climate has nothing to do with this. If it did Native Americans, Eskimos, Siberians, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese would all have light hair light eyes. Last the Children of Shem would be milk and honey consumers. Lactose intolerance would be non existence in the children of Shem! I will leave it there, for I have already stated too much. But you are looking in all the wrong places for Shem. Remember the Shemites would be exiled from the land and would migrate to new lands. Shem and Japeth would live in the same lands together and reproduce together. Religion has nothing to do with who is Shem!
