Genesis 9:26 - Exposition

And he said —not "Blessed of Jehovah, my God, be Shem" (Jamieson), as might have been anticipated (this, equally with the omission of Ham's name, lifts the entire patriarchal utterance out of the region of mere personal feeling), but— Blessed — בָּרוּךְ when applied to God signifies an ascription of praise (cf. Psalms 144:15 ; Ephesians 1:3 ); when applied to man, an invocation of good (cf. Genesis 14:19 , Genesis 14:20 ; Psalms 128:1 ; Hebrews 7:6 )— be the Lord God —literally, Jehovah, Elohim of Shem (cf. Genesis 24:27 ); Jehovah being the proper personal name of God, of whom it is predicated that he is the Elohim of Shem; equivalent to a statement not simply that Shem should enjoy " a rare and transcendent," "Divine or heavenly," blessing (Calvin), or "a most abundant blessing, reaching its highest point in the promised Seed" (Luther); but that Jehovah, the one living and true God, should be his God, and that the knowledge and practice of the true religion should continue among his descendants, with, perhaps, a hint that the promised Seed should spring from his loins ( OE eolampadius, Willet, Murphy, Keil, &c.;)— of Shem . In the name Shem (name, renown) there may lie an allusion to the spiritual exaltation and advancement of the Semitic nations ( vide Genesis 5:32 ). And Canaan shall be his servant. לָמוֹ = לָהֶס (Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic), i.e. the two brothers (Delitzsch), their descendants (Knobel, Keil), Shem and Jehovah (Bush); or more probably— לוֹ , as a collective singular, i.e. Shem, including his descendants ( LXX ; αυ ̓ του ͂ ; Kalisch, Lange, Murphy).