The Asiatic, and especially the Israelitish countries, with North and South America—homes of God's people, ancient and modern, now inhabited by the children of Japheth—these I think, may be properly regarded as among "the tents of Shem."
As it Was, So it Shall Be.—Noah's period had a twofold significance. Pointing backward as well as forward, it symbolized both the Beginning and the End. The reminiscent pointing has already been indicated. The prophetic import is made plain by the words of the Savior, when weeping over Jerusalem and predicting the downfall of the Jewish commonwealth, an event also typical of the final destruction of the wicked: "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." [[17]]
In Noah's day "a veil of darkness" covered the earth. A like condition is to characterize the Last Day, thus foretokened.[[18]] The disaster that overwhelmed the Antediluvians, destroying the wicked with water, is to have as its sequel a more fearful calamity, in which the unrighteous will be consumed by fire from Heaven. And as unexpectedly as came the regenerating Flood wherein our planet was once immersed, will come the purifying Flame that shall cleanse it from all iniquity and prepare it for eternal glory.
Footnotes
[1]. Gen. 5:27.
[2]. Moses 8:2-9.
[3]. Gen. 1:2, 9.
[4]. Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p. 386.
[5]. Moses 8:17, 30; Gen. 6:3, 3.
[6]. Ib. 8:12; Gen. 10:21.