overtaken by punishment) To this view we are led, _further_, by Lev. xviii. and the parallel passages, where the Canaanites appear as a nation of abominations which the land spues out; and, _finally_, by what ancient heathen writers report regarding the deep corruption of the Phœnicians and Carthaginians. The remainder of Ham's posterity are passed over in silence; it is only in the sequel that we expect information regarding them. But the foreboding arises, that their deliverance will be more difficult of accomplishment than that of Japheth, although the circumstance that Canaan is singled out from among them affords us decided hope for the rest. But not even the exclusion of Ham is to be considered as an unavoidable fate resting upon him. Heathenism alone knows such a curse. The subjective conditions of the curse imply the possibility of becoming free from it. To this, there is an express testimony in the circumstance, that the promise to the Patriarchs is not limited. David received the remnant of the Canaanitish Jebusites into the congregation of the Lord. (Compare remarks on Zech. ix. 7.) And, in the Gospels, the Canaanitish woman appears as a representative of her nation, and as a proof the possibility, granted to them, of breaking through the fetters of the curse. (Compare also the remarkable passage, Ezek. xvi. 46.) [Pg 36] "The curse is contrasted with the blessing pronounced on Shem and Japheth, and the second member of ver. 25 is, in vers. 26, 27, used as a repetition in reference to each of the two brethren, who were, in it, viewed together."--(_Tuch._)