FATHER AND SONS

Genesis 9:20-29 “Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backwards and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, ‘Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.’ He also said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.’ After the flood Noah lived 350 years.
Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.”

There is no Christian parent who is not ashamed of things he has done which his children have seen or known about. There is no father who is not amazed at the wonderful forgiveness his children have shown to him. Our children have seen us speak and act like devils and yet many of them have come to trust in our God – in spite of our inconsistencies and falls. How wonderful the grace of God. Drunken Noah had fallen on the floor naked. He hadn’t succeeded in undressing for bed; he had taken his clothes off but the effort was too much for him and he collapsed onto the floor and lay there in a stupor. This is Noah - the preacher of righteousness; the man who walked with God; the man who had organized and built the Ark; the man who had been blameless among the people of his time – his dignity was gone, his paternal authority gone and even his humanity gone. You think that you don’t need a warning on the sins of the flesh because you are too old for that sort of thing? Noah was 601 years of age. You consider your profound experiences of life, living through the war, seeing death coming near to you and your loved ones has made you a wise old man? Noah had lived through the Flood. Neither rich experience, nor past close communion with God, nor the wisdom of old age could make Noah immune from the assaults of evil. All Noah’s memories both tragic and sacred could not keep him. ‘Naught but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power’ whatever our age. If Noah fell like that then it ill behooves any of us to think we don’t need to hear a sermon on the weaknesses of the flesh. Take heed you who think you stand lest you fall. It’s not my father nor my mother but it’s me O Lord standing in the need of this message.

How wonderful is the impeccability of the Lord Jesus – his perfection. He is called the ‘everlasting Father’ of his people, and he has never done anything of which any one of the children whom God gave him can be remotely ashamed. We think of the dynamics of living in the Nazareth home, and the sinless Jesus daily honouring his sinful parents. The omniscient one obeyed the ignorant ones; the almighty one submitting to the weak ones, every day restraining himself, filled with loving compassion for his mother and father. We think of that father Joseph, learning very soon that his son Jesus was inevitably right, and the tension of living with that fact, exercising his authority over him and yet learning to see things as his boy taught him.

1. THE SIN OF NOAH HAD CONSEQUENCES FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.

In the second of the Ten Commandments God says, “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Genesis 20:6). Let me explain my understanding of those words. I do not believe that they mean that God individually punishes children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for the sins of us fathers. It cannot mean that from plain teaching elsewhere in the Bible that says we are held responsible for our own actions, not the actions of others. What it means is this, that families are drawn into the consequences of the sins of their parents. Congregations share in the consequences of the sins of their pastors. Nations suffer the consequences of the sins of their rulers. In Biblical times parents, children, grandchildren and great-children were frequently all alive and living together in communal habitations, so that the consequences of the sin of the head of the family affected all of them. We cannot unplug or disconnect our connection with the people we belong to when he choose to sin. There was a man called Aachan whose entire family was affected by their father’s sin.

i] The sin of Ham.

So Noah’s sin created serious family division. Let’s look for a moment at Ham. Ham was greatly blessed. Genesis 9 verse one says, “God blessed Noah and his sons.” Ham had entered the ark. He had heard the call of God through Noah, and he had turned away from the wickedness of the world. God had also established a covenant with Ham. God says, “And I, behold I, establish my covenant with you, and your seed after you.” Ham is described, interestingly, in verse 24 as Noah’s “youngest son.” I suppose we are all used to saying ‘Shem, Ham and Japheth’ as in verse 18. That is the way they are listed in the Bible, and we’ve assume that that was the order of their age, as in the New Testament where James is always mentioned before his brother John though John is a much more important character than James, but James was born first and so he is mentioned first. Ham was the youngest son and we read in verse 22 that he “saw his father’s nakedness, and told his two brethren outside.” Some people have suggested that there is a darker sin here than is explicitly stated. In fact an Old Testament expert called Allen Ross has written an essay examining what was the sin of Ham. He goes into the question in great detail but his conclusion is that there is no need for us to read anything more into Genesis than the words describing this situation.

What Ham did was bad enough. As Joel Beeke says, Ham began with a sin of omission. Ham saw his father in this drunken, exposed state and he didn’t avert his eyes. Ham felt no sense of shame for seeing his father naked. Instead, he leered and gossiped about it. We are told of fools in Proverbs chapter 14, verse 9, that they make mock of sin. Ham had caught his Dad in his degradation and gloated over it. He had discovered that there are times when a godly man behaves no better than his ungodly neighbour. Ham got behind the scenes and now he cannot contain himself. He actually called his brothers to come and see what he had found; he casts this choice specimen in their teeth. “Hey, Shem and Japheth, come over here. Come and see what I’ve discovered. Look at the preacher of righteousness now.” Oh Ham, what are you doing, mocking the father who has taken you into the ark, the father whose righteousness had provided a means for salvation, the father who had saved your life? If it hadn’t been for Noah, Ham would have perished. His behavior is contemptible; his behaviour is worse than his father’s. Noah made a mistake and sinned; we all make mistakes and we sin. But Ham gloated over his father’s mistake and sin. There is some kind of irrepressible delight in what he has seen. Ham made fun of it and publicized the event.

My own innocent children would occasionally come home from school and they’d tell us quite naively what their friends had told them about the behaviour of their parents. “Do you know where her mother found her father . . . and who he was with?” Their friends were agog at their parent’s shame and repeating it to others. Love doesn’t do that; it covers a multitude of sins. Cover with your prayers the shortcoming of your parents, your friends, your fellow church members and your preachers. Show them honour, as much as you are able, remembering your own sins. Most of us have never been drunk, and never will be drunk so we don’t mind sermons about the sin of drunkenness, but how many of us are guilty of the sin of Ham? We uncover someone’s fault; we draw the attention of others to the sins of fellow church members. We may not do this with our own family because we love them too much, but we’ll do it to those in our church. “Did you hear what so and so did?” There are times, I acknowledge, when we need to talk together about the sins of others; I am not being naïve or idealistic. Perhaps in our families, perhaps amongst the elders, or with one or two close friends, we don’t close our eyes to wrongdoing. It exists. I am talking here about gossip, and spreading sinful things around unnecessarily. We lower our voices, ‘Don’t tell anyone, but let me just share with you this problem of so-and-so . . . in confidence of course.” You know how popular gutter journalism is. What sells newspapers? Stories about the prostitutes of Ipswich, not the ‘women,’ the ‘mothers’ and ‘daughters’ of Ipswich. The five murdered young women were shrunk to ‘prostitutes.’ “Let’s tell you what they are really like.” There is an ugly side to us all that likes to hear about sinfulness especially in preachers of righteousness.

Perhaps your mum or dad have said to you children: “Boys and girls, if you point a finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you.” Perhaps you used to think that was a bit old-fashioned, but your parents had a point. Let’s not be too quick to condemn Ham without realizing that often we give publicity to the sorrows of other people.

ii] The character of Shem and Japheth.

Let’s look for a moment at Shem and Japheth. How radically different was their behavior. They were deadly serious; no smirking. They were disturbed at Ham’s reaction. Joel Beeke describes these next verses as ‘slow motion.’ He says that it passes quickly over Ham’s activity, but is almost a frame by frame description of what the brothers did to emphasize and praise it, as if to say, “This is how we should behave.” In verse 23 we are told that they took a garment, they laid it across their shoulders, they walked backward, their faces were turned from their father and they covered their father’s nakedness. They had never had any instruction in what to do in such circumstances; they had never been taught what to do. This was all uncharted territory for them, but they did exactly what they should have done. It was pleasing to God and so their modesty and grace is spelled out step by step for the church to read in perpetuity. These boys respected their father. They said, “This is our dear Dad.” They honoured him; they grieved over his fall. They knew that it wasn’t typical, that it wasn’t their father at his truest and at his best. In no way did this define him. They had absolutely no interest in seeing his shame. They didn’t want it to enter their eyes; they didn’t want it written in their minds. They did everything they could to avoid looking at him and to cover it over. Here is a truly noble example of loving, godly behavior. I called them ‘boys’ but we know that Shem was 98 the year of the Flood (Genesis 11:10) and so the other two would be in their nineties.

Shem and Japheth are an example for us. May God keep us all from sick, nosy, prying curiosity. May He make us more aware of our own weaknesses, and that there are things in every Christian’s heart and mind that, if they were publicized, could not bear examination. You and I would be ashamed if our imaginations were projected on the wall of the church. Let us erect a barrier to sin. Let us walk backwards towards the follies of our fellow man. Let us turn away our faces from them rather than turning our faces towards them. Shem and Japheth did more. Joel Beeke points out that they actually covered their father’s nakedness. It wasn’t that they didn’t look; it was more than that. They took positive action to clothe it, to take away his shame. Surely that is a calling to us too. It is not enough not to participate in the spreading of malicious gossip; we should try to strangle it at birth, and to do all we can to prevent the shameful tale, even if it’s true. We should say, “God helping me, it will not reach anyone else through me. It ends here.”  We should try to cover the activities of our fellow men and women with the best construction we can put upon them. That is what Shem and Japheth did. We all know, if you look at any situation, that there is an optimistic assessment of it, and there is a cynical assessment of it, and isn’t it sick that so many of us prefer the cynical assessment? That is a tragedy! We are so reluctant to give people the benefit of the doubt. If you can put a bad construction or a good construction on things, we tend to put the bad construction on it. Shem and Japheth here are God-like.

Don’t we read in Genesis 3:21, that the LORD God made coats of skins, and clothed Adam and Eve. God came to their shameful nakedness in sorrow, and he ended it. He covered it over. Shem and Japheth are doing here what God did. They are taking garments and are covering the nakedness. We are to do the same with that love that covers over a multitude of sins, then we are behaving in a God-like and Christ-like way. Shem and Japheth didn’t even want to see the nakedness. They turned away from it. That’s what we must do, too, when we are confronted with the shameful nakedness of immodesty. When the fellows in college or in the office gather around a pornographic magazine then leave the room. Don’t add those sites on the Internet to your ‘Favourites.’ Never say that you are ‘doing research’ or ‘checking it out.’ That stuff will be sent to you often enough; you won’t have to go searching. Delete them immediately. Delete! Delete! Delete! Don’t give them the time of day. Nakedness in marriage is a beautiful thing, by God’s grace; don’t sin against God by indulging in it sinfully outside of God’s beautiful boundary of marriage. Don’t pack your mind with mental pictures of naked men and women that will simply create a craving for more and more. Don’t be like Ham; be like Shem and Japheth. Turn away from temptation and turn to Jesus Christ the Everlasting Father who never fell and who can keep you from falling.

2. THE FALL OF NOAH HAD WORLD-WIDE REPERCUSSSIONS, BOTH GOOD AND BAD.

Noah’s sin not only promoted domestic division; it also led to international and historical repercussions. These three sons are the heads of three great branches of humanity. Listen to how they are introduced here in verse 19: “These were the three sons of Noah: and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.” This domestic incident is a key to the future peoples descended from these men. Shem was the father of the Semitic peoples. Semitic comes from the name Shem. Ham is the ancestor of the eastern and African peoples. Japheth is the ancestor of the Indo-Europeans. The development of these branches of humanity is described here in Genesis chapter nine. Interestingly here are the only words attributed to Noah in the Bible; it is the one occasion when we have his direct speech. He is angry, and he says, “Cursed be Canaan” (v.25). But there is more than anger here. Noah is making a solemn prophecy about the future here. Just like Isaac will do in chapter 29 of his descendants, and Jacob in chapter 49 of his descendants, so Noah here, as a prophet, outlines the destinies of these peoples. The sons were types of their descendants. Let us look at them briefly.

i] First of all in verse 25 he says, “Cursed be Canaan; the lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” Why didn’t Noah say, “Cursed be Ham!”? No one knows exactly why his son was cursed instead of Ham himself. It has been suggested that God was so angry with this man’s conduct that he wouldn’t even mention his name. Maybe Canaan was involved with his father, but we have no hint of that in our text. Certainly Canaan, one of the sons of Ham, was cursed.  I would believe that Noah knew from God (who had given him this spirit of prophecy to speak these words) that his grandson Canaan would stray even further into evil, and that the nations springing from Canaan – the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Amorites, the Midianites and so on - would be ungodly and unrighteous. How grieved would Noah be at this knowledge, but these are not the words of a grumpy old man. Noah was declaring what the future of the seed of Canaan would be, just this one son of Ham in his line. Only one of his sons, and Ham had four. The sons of Ham went on to take over the major part of the world. Nimrod became the father of Babylon; Mizraim became the father of Egypt, they were Caucasian races. There is no suggestion here that all the descendants of Ham are black people and cursed or that somewhere in this prophecy there is some justification for the barbaric practice of slavery. That is an absurd perversion of the text.

The name ‘Canaan’ sounds like the Hebrew word for humiliated, or enslaved. So we have a play on words here.It is a simple fact of history that the nation of Canaan was always subject to its brothers—to Egypt and Mesopotamia. It is a fact that they were a degraded, immoral, and brutal people. Sodom and Gomorrah were Canaanite cities. It is a fact that they disappeared from history and were obliterated altogether. The way they were judged illustrated the judgment coming on the serpent and his seed. In other words, this judgment on Canaan showed that they were the serpent’s seed. So here we have this specific prophecy about this nation of Canaan and how God’s destiny is fulfilled in them, all of which is now past history and has no bearing on any people on the face of the earth today.

ii] Secondly in verse 26 Noah says, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the God of Shem!” The word ‘Shem’ means a name. There is a name in this verse which is used only of this brother, and not of the other two, and it is the name of the Lord, Jehovah. From Shem’s line will come the one whose name is above every name. The name of Jehovah is applied only in connection with Shem. Jehovah is the God of Shem. So here is a prophecy by Noah that the Lord God is going to enter into covenant with Shem and his descendants; that God is going to have a special relationship with them. The Lord will be their God in a unique way. He is going to reveal himself to the descendants of Shem in a particular way. Here is a new step in the unfolding of the messianic prophecies. The first, you remember, was the promise of the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent’s head. Then we see that he comes through the godly line of Seth, and now that Descendant is narrowed down further to someone in the line of Shem the son of Noah. In time the prophecy will manifest itself in the call of Abraham. God will appear to Abraham; he rejects all the other nations of the world. God is going to make of Abraham’s line his own chosen people, his special race. Further on it will be narrowed down to the line of David and thence to Joseph and Mary of the line of Shem. There is Jesus’ genealogy in Luke chapter three and verse 35, Jesus Christ, “the son of Shem, the son of Noah.”

You remember that this book was written by Moses and for the people of Israel who were at that time barely delivered from slavery on their way out of Egypt. They hoped that somehow they would be able to overcome the mighty nations of Canaan and take Canaan as their promised land. So Noah says here, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem. May Canaan be the slave of Shem.” Imagine what that would have meant to the first readers and hearers of the book of Genesis. They were traveling to Canaan and God told them he would give them the land of Canaan where there were reputed to be giants. Here is a prophecy from centuries earlier that Canaan will serve them. Canaan is going to bow down before them. Ultimately, all Jewish history is implied here. The Lord Jesus Christ is here, the descendant of Shem. He is the Lord of Shem.

Shem’s family won’t be the predominant racial grouping in the world. They won’t run the empires. They won’t have the armies or the power. But God will be their Lord in a very special way. God will bring salvation to Shem. “Blessed be the LORD the God of Shem!” It is all unmerited sovereign grace. Shem was not the oldest son and yet the chief blessing comes in his line.

iii] Thirdly there is the other honourable brother; Japheth is not going to be left out. We come in verse 27 to Noah’s prophecy about Japheth. “May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.” ‘Canaan’ means enslaved, ‘Shem’ means name; ‘Japheth’ means to enlarge. So Noah prophesies here that God will enlarge the territory of Japheth; the descendants of Japheth are going to spread out over the world. They will be a numerous, mighty, and influential people. And again, the prophecy is fulfilled. It was fulfilled in the judgment of Canaan. It was fulfilled in Shem, in the Semitic peoples, and the prophecy is fulfilled in the Indo-European peoples, to whom we in the British Isles and Europe and America and Australia belong. God has indeed enlarged the territory of Japheth. For the last 2,500 years it is the Indo-Europeans who have been dominant in the world. Since the time of Greece, the descendants of Japheth have politically and culturally triumphed, and have colonized the new world which has spread its influence out over the earth. We see the precision of these amazing prophecies. Canaan is humiliated, degraded, and destroyed. God sends his salvation through Shem. And the nations of Japheth spread out colonizing, and influencing the whole world.

But that is not all; there is more in a mysterious phrase, “May Japheth live in the tents of Shem.” Japheth is going to come under Shem’s shelter. Japheth is going to share Shem’s inheritance. Japheth is going to join with Shem. He is going to join in the worship of Shem’s God. He is going to know the Lord Jehovah as his Lord. The Jewish people must have been puzzled about this verse right throughout the period of the Old Testament. What could it mean that Japheth would dwell in the tents of Shem? They couldn’t understand that. But we can understand it. We are going to see in Genesis 10:2 that one of the descendants of Japheth is Javan. Javan is the father of the Greek peoples; the Ionians took their name from Javan. And the very New Testament is written in the language of one of the tribes of Japheth, and one of the descendants of Japheth. The Old Testament itself is written in the language of one of the descendants of Shem. So, Japheth has come to live in the tents of Shem. That is to say, here is a prophecy that the Saviour, when he comes, will not just be for one nation, but he will be for the world. Here is a prophecy of the day of Pentecost where the apostles speak the gospel in the language of all the nations. Japheth is being invited to come into the tents of Shem. Here is the calling of the Gentiles. Here is a solid foundational prophecy for Christian missions. In this prophecy, lies the mandate to bring the gospel from Jerusalem to us in Wales. If you are a believer, your conversion and mine lies embedded in this prophecy. Most of us here are descendants of Japheth. We have come to live in the tents of Shem.

That is exactly what we are doing this moment. We are living in the tents of Shem. Many people in our modern world are not happy with this. They wish it were otherwise. They might wish our religion was based on the glories of Greece or Rome, with their culture, their philosophy, their splendour, and their great literature. But this is God’s saving purpose, that a tent has come from the other side of the world - think of it – and we are inhabiting it now. We have been reading today from a Jewish book, written in Hebrew, and it is our book. We have been following a Jewish religion; we worship a Jewish Saviour. We use Jewish religious terms, ‘Amen’, ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Sabbath’, ‘Shalom’, ‘Hosanna.’. We even follow a Jewish pattern of church government. For Israel was governed by elders; we are governed by elders. We sing the psalms from a Jewish book of praise with Jewish terms and Jewish categories. Our Saviour has a Jewish name, ‘Jesus.’ There are people that are ashamed of living in the tents of Shem. They are ashamed of these old-fashioned songs, talking of ‘Zion’, and ‘Jerusalem,’ and ‘Canaan,’ and all ‘this out-of-date language.’ But our songs have soaked into our consciousness for we have willingly come to dwell in the tents of Shem because here, long ago, Noah made this prophecy— “Japheth shall live in the tents of Shem.”

Men and women, isn’t this a wonderful passage? See how out of this family incident come all these destinies of the nations. We can see in history how remarkably these words have been fulfilled. How true is all of this, that God in his mercy has brought us into his chosen people, and has given us the name that is above every name in which to trust. He has given us the name of his people; Japheth has come to Shem.

I bring to you yet some more insights I’ve been glad to get from Dr. Joel Beeke as I close. Let us remember that these are generalizations. Noah is painting here with a broad brush. Not every Canaanite was doomed. A prostitute called Rahab was a member of the despised, degraded Canaanite people, doomed to destruction, and by God’s grace she believed God’s promise, and she was taken and was included among the people of God. The Canaanite woman mentioned in Matthew 15 came to the Lord and beseeched him that he would heal her daughter; "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs," he said. "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour (Matt. 15:25&26). The Lord in his mercy brought her into the fold. Judgment was pronounced against the Ninevites by Jonah, but when they repented they were spared. Jesus had taken the curse for sinners all the world over when he died on the cross, so that Gentiles not of the line of Shem might know the blessings of the children of God. On the other hand, the Pharisees were pure-blooded Semites for hundreds of generations, but they had no share in the kingdom, for they had no faith in the Saviour. Not every descendant of Shem was blessed. The important thing today is not our background, or our ancestry, or our traditions. It is simply this, whoever believes in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life. Have you come to dwell, personally, savingly, in the tents of Shem?

Let me close with these five, quick practical lessons:

(1) Remember to keep your heart. Don’t get caught off guard. Let us understand from this sad history of Noah’s drunkenness that we need the daily support of God to live consistently in this world. The psalmist says, “I will go in the strength of the LORD, my God.” We need to commit our way to God, rely on his power to live the Christian life day by day. Noah here reminds us of our need for continual grace. Remember that the only antidote to falling is to keep and nourish in your heart the fear of God, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep God and his Son always before you; be in his fear all the day long.

(2) Remember that Satan hates the godly. Noah walked with God and Satan made him a fine target. Satan tempted him, and overcame him. Satan is a master at using strategy which is not itself suspected. Perhaps Noah never thought that he would fall into the sin of drunkenness, but that was how Satan tripped him up.

(3) Remember that sin has terrible consequences. This fall of Noah had terrible consequences, first for himself. We don’t know how long Noah lived after this particular tragic incident, but we do know that he lived 350 years after the flood. One thing is clear, nothing else is recorded of him in Genesis. That shows us that when we fall into sin; there are implications and we need to be taught by the Holy Ghost to fear sin more than any enemy as the plague of plagues, and to pray, “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.” Then too, his sin, as we have seen, had terrible consequences for his son; Ham, and for his grandson, Canaan, and for the posterity of Canaan.

(4) Remember to repent and rise again. If you have ever been overtaken by this sin, rise again by God’s grace, and take steps to insure that you do not fall again. Matthew Henry says, “We never read that Noah was drunk again.” That may be taking a little bit of license with Scripture, but I do think Noah learned a terrible lesson. Yet, if a man falls into sin, whatever the nature of the fall, he is not to think that this is the end of him as a Christian believer, and that there can be no recovery. There can be recovery. The examples of Noah, David, Solomon, Peter assure us that there can be. The just man falleth six times, yea seven, and riseth again. There is in us the incorruptible grace of God, so that even if we suffer lapse the grace of God covers us, restores us, and brings repentance to us and renovation of life.

(5) Remember to appreciate the gospel. Let us never forget to thank the Lord every day for his gospel and his Son and his Word and Spirit. Let us thank him as Japhethites for bringing us into the tents of Shem. Think of it, we poor sinners are called out of this world into the tents of Shem! God has brought us under the curtains of the temple. He has given us to dwell among the people of God, to be where he is and where he grants his own gracious presence, his ordinances, his spiritual benefits. As believers, we who were no people, have been made the people of God, the real Israel. We were strangers and aliens but now are we fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. God has blessed us in the islands of the Gentiles and he has done a great mission work. The largest part of his church for the greater part of Christian history has been made up of Japhethites, and we expect more to come, even the fullness of the Gentiles. What a mercy to be in God’s church. Do you wonder at that? Poor sinners that we are, with nothing to commend ourselves, or to make us differ from anyone else, and we have a place in the redeemed and called church of God. We are numbered amongst a chosen people. God has brought us out of the wilderness and into the tents of Shem. Let us press on, diligently using all the means of grace that come our way as a result of being brought into the tents of Shem. How does the chapter end? “and then he died.” How will your life end? “and then he died.” What urgency there is that we die in the tents of Shem, and the only way that can be is if we live our lives in the tents of Shem.

7th January 2007              GEOFF THOMAS