My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
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| God of Shem |
| Genesis 9:26 He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. |
| I will be honest with you. When I first saw this verse, the three stooges popped in my head, and I had a picture in my mind of Shep. Let me tell you first off, that that this mental picture is not helpful, and it is absolutely not true. Well, let me take that back, for it may be true that God is the God of Shep if he had trusted in Christ during his life, and generally, that God is the God of all, (and therefore the God of Shep). but I am going down a rabbit trail. Let me get back on topic. Who is Shem? Shem is the first son of Noah, brother to Japheth and Ham, and the father of the line of the Shemites, or as we say it today, the Semites. Yes, he is the father to Abraham, who produced the people of Israel, along with the the Arab nations. Shem was the eldest of the brothers, and showed respect to his father, (along with his brother Japheth), when Noah fell drunk and lay naked in his tent. Shem, along with his brothers were associated with Noah in the building of the ark, a massive endeavor to complete. Nowhere does the Word speak of these sons receiving direction or any message from God directly, and this speaks of the honor these men showed to their prophet father Noah. When we consider Noah’s drunken incident, it occurs to me that Shem is revealing his true colors, his actual faith in God by honoring God’s prophet. He had been faithful prior to the flood in construction efforts and the shame associated with that He had been faithful during the flood, since he was carried through the flood in the ark! This final act of reverence to the prophet Noah, who has “exposed his nakedness” in some manner, describes the ongoing character of Shem as a righteous man, a protector of his father’s reputation. Shem is mentioned only a few times in the Old Testament, but from those few times we can deduce that he was a man who worked for his father, who accepted shame for his father, who endured hardness for his father and protected the name of his father. As Noah spoke these words over his son Shem, the actions of Shem in his past provided Noah a basis of character for this prophecy. Was it clear to Noah that Shem would carry the lineage of Jesus? Maybe. It surely is clear for us, for the chronicler listed a lineage of Shem to include Abraham. 1 Chronicles 1:24 -27 Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu Serug, Nahor, Terah Abram, that is, Abraham. Shem’s character showed who he trusted, and Noah declared that God was the God of Shem. May we hear the Father speak the same of us! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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