Then God eliminated two-thirds of the nations by indicating that the Messiah must come through Noah’s son Shem, not Ham or Japheth. In the very beginning of the history of the nations, God, through His prophet Noah, identified Himself with Shem in a special way: Blessed be the LORD God of Shem … God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem (Gen. 9:26–27). In the Hebrew of Genesis 9:27, there is no word corresponding to “he” as found in the King James Version; therefore, the