But surely there is more. And especially there is one remarkable fulfilment, which I cannot help thinking must have been intended in the prophecy. Now let us remember that the Lord and His coming is the centre, or turning-point, of the whole prophetic Word. Let us not forget how we found that the prophecy respecting Shem appeared distinctly to foretell His advent. Now when the predicted time came, and the promised Jehovah appeared, why did He not take His place on the throne of David, and why did He not reign in the tents of Shem? The Holy Land had all been given to Abraham, and belonged to the family of Shem; but when the Lord, the God of Shem, came, there was neither throne nor kingdom for Him, and He had not even where to lay His head. How could this be? And what had become of the royal throne? The answer is most remarkable. The Romans were on it, or, in prophetic words, Japheth was dwelling in the tents of Shem. The Romans were sons of Japheth, and by them the Lord, the God of Shem, was supplanted on His throne. But, though that was a clear, literal, and most remarkable fulfilment of the prophecy, I cannot help thinking that in these words the Spirit of God referred to something higher. When St. James was speaking of the call of the Gentiles at what has been termed the council of Jerusalem, as recorded, Acts xv. 15, he quoted the words, “I will build again the tabernacle of David.” The conversion of the Gentiles was compared, therefore, to their admission into the tabernacle of David. And so the safety of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is compared by David himself to the shelter of God’s tabernacle, as, _e.g._, in Psalm xxvii. 5, where we read, “In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.” Now, bearing in mind the great fact that Jehovah is the God of Shem, and that the predicted Redeemer came from Shem, may we not believe that the tent, or the tabernacle of Shem, was the prophetic figure of the safety provided in the promised Son of God? The word Shem means “name,” and there may be something in the passage not unlike those other words, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Now if the passage were so understood, it would lead to the conclusion that Japheth would shelter himself under the Jehovah of Shem, and so dwell, as it were, in his tent, or under his tabernacle. It would lead us to expect a salvation through the Jehovah of Shem, bestowed on Japheth in such a way that Japheth should become possessor of Shem’s inheritance.