May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”
27. God shall enlarge Japheth . In the Hebrew words יפת ( japhte ) and יפת ( japheth ,) there is an elegant allusion. For the root of the word is פתה ( pathah ,) which, among the Hebrews, signifies to entice with smooth words, or to allure in one direction or another. Here, however, nearly all commentators take it as signifying to enlarge. “Dilatet Deus Japheth.” — Vulg .
Here, I. Noah comes to himself: He awoke from his wine. Sleep cured him, and, we may suppose, so cured him that he never relapsed into that sin afterwards. Those that sleep as Noah did should awake as he did, and not as that drunkard (Pro 23:35) who says when he awakes, I will seek it yet again. II.
Commenting on Genesis 9:24-27
God shall enlarge Japheth,.... Or give him a large part of the earth, and large dominions in it, as his posterity have had; for, as Bochart (r) observes, to them belonged all Europe, and lesser Asia, Media, Iberia, Albania, part of Armenia, and all those vast countries to the north, which formerly the Scythians, and now the Tartars inhabit; not to say anything of the...