Genesis 10 - The Table of Nations

Previously in Genesis 9, we saw more details on the covenant the Lord made with Noah. He expanded man’s diet to include meat, and He instituted human government. The basis of this government was the sanctity of human life. As a sign He would never again destroy the earth with a flood, the Lord set a rainbow in the cloud to remind Him of His covenant with man and everything living. In chapter 10, we see the dividing of the various nations and ethnic groups from the sons of Noah. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and it was from the descendants of these three sons and their wives that the Bible says the whole earth was overspread.

Japheth means enlarged or fare, and he is considered the father of the Indo-European peoples. His sons migrated into the region stretching from India to the shores of western Europe. Gomer was the father of the ancient Sumerians who settled in the Fertile Crescent in the years following the Flood. They spread out to the north and west, and fathered the Scythian and Germanic peoples who settled in Europe. Magog, Meshech, and Tubal migrated into the far north of Europe, and became the Russian and related peoples. Madai was the father of the Medes, who settled in Iran and Iraq, as well as in India. Javan was the father of the ancient Greeks and of those who would inhabit the British Isles. So, the Greeks, Romans, Spanish, Celts, Scythians and Medes were all Japheth’s descendants.

Ham means passionate, burnt, or dark, His descendants migrated into Canaan, Africa, Asia, Australia, the South Pacific, and the Americas. The descendants of Cush founded Babylon and Ethiopia. Mizraim settled in Egypt, Put in Libya, and Canaan in the area we know as Israel and the surrounding regions.

As I previously mentioned, Mizraim fathered the Egyptian people, but also among his sons was the father of the Philistines who would go on to be arch-enemies of Israel. Canaan’s son, Sidon, was related to the Hittites and Lebanese. The Sinite is believed to be where the Chinese and oriental peoples came from. In V 18 it states that the families of the Canaanites were dispersed, lending credibility to this belief. In fact, in every continent, history has shown that wherever the descendants of Japheth have settled, the descendants of Ham were there first. They are often thought to be black-skinned, but archeologists tell us they had brown, red, and white characteristics. They appear to be the most varied of Noah’s lineage.

Among Ham’s descendants, there is someone worth mentioning. Cush had a son named Nimrod, and the Scriptures state he began to be a mighty one in the earth. The name Nimrod means “We shall rebel,” and so he did. The language here in Genesis regarding Nimrod being mighty in the earth is similar language to that used to describe the giants prior to the Flood, and some believe him to be the first of these giants to re-appear after the Flood. He was well-known for his hunting skills, and became a protector of the people as he hunted wild animals. He was the first political and religious leader, and he sought to unite the people of the world as one. He founded the kingdom of Babel, and later Assyria. However, when the Scriptures state he was a mighty hunter before the Lord, it is translated in the Septuagint as a mighty hunter “against” the Lord. In other words, Nimrod was a hunter of men’s souls. He became the founder and leader of the first man-made religion that would later become known as the Babylonian religious system or “Mystery Babylon” referred to in the book of Revelation. This appears to have started in the building of the tower of Babel which we will see in chapter 11 of Genesis.

Shem means named or renown. His descendants largely settled in the Middle East, and include the Hebrews, Persians, and Assyrians. Modern-day Arabs and Jews are descendants of Shem. Elam was the father of the Persian people, Asshur the father of the Assyrians, Lud the father of the Lydians, and Aram the father of the Syrians. Arphaxad was the father of the Hebrews. Notice, the Bible does not divide man by race or skin color, but as the descendants of the three sons of Noah. As the descendants of these three sons spread out into smaller groups, skin color and other physical features began to emerge and become more prominent.

We see the record of these descendants until a certain point, but then the author under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit begins to hone in on the tribe of Shem. It would be through the tribe of Shem that we will see the nation of Israel, and eventually Jesus Himself. In fact, one of the main reasons for keeping record of the genealogies is to trace the lineage of Jesus, the Lord and Savior of mankind who would come through the seed of the woman. This is highlighted for us in Luke 3.

One of Shem’s great grandsons was Eber, and this is where we get the name Hebrew. Eber had two sons; one whose name was Peleg, and the other Joktan. The Scriptures state that in Peleg’s days the earth was divided, and is probably referring to the tower of Babel since Peleg lived during this time. Joktan also fathered various Arab peoples. One of his sons was Jobab, and some believe he may be the Job of the Bible. One of the sons of Aram was Uz, and we know Job was from the land of Uz.

If the entire human race descended from these three sons of Noah, then it would follow that there should be accounts of a world-wide flood around the globe. This is, in fact, what we find. On every continent we find legends of a flood with details of birds being sent out, some even specifying a raven and a dove. Some of them tell of a favored family, and in the majority of them the flood was global. For example, the Chinese have a tradition that Fu-hi or Fohi (Chinese Noah), their first king, made his appearance on the mountains of Chin. He was surrounded by a rainbow after the world had been covered by water, and sacrificed animals to God. Although the accounts vary, their similarities lend credibility that this was a real historical event.

Altogether, the descendants of Noah mentioned in Genesis 10 are 70, and it is through these descendants that the world was repopulated. It is what is commonly called the Table of Nations. All of mankind can be traced back to these three sons of Noah. The soundchristian.com puts it as follows: “Note that there is nothing like the Table of Nations (as presented here) in any other national tradition. Here we are given the origin of nations. We can also factually claim that wherever it's statements can be sufficiently tested, Genesis 10 of the Bible has been found completely accurate; resulting partly from linguistic studies, partly from archaeology, and more recently still from the findings of physical anthropologists, who are to this day recovering important clues to lines of migration in ancient historic times.” Archaeologist William Albright said, "It [the Bible] remains an astonishingly accurate document – and shows such remarkably 'modern' understanding of the ethnic and linguistic situation in the modern world, in spite of all its complexity, that scholars never fail to be impressed with it's knowledge of the subject."

For those of us who live in the United States and who are Christian and patriotic, we can sometimes fall into this mindset that we are the favored people of God. No doubt, God has shown us immense favor in this nation, but we are all distant cousins when you get down to it. We are all part of the family we call the human race, which should create a sense of compassion for one another, and a desire to share the Gospel with the lost.

When you really get right down to it, there are only two types of people in this world, the spiritually dead, and the spiritually alive. There’s no middle ground. In which camp are you, reader? If you are not a Christian, you are spiritually dead. If you’re dead, you’re dead. A dead man cannot revive himself. It is not possible for you to make yourself spiritually alive, or fix your sinful condition. The only thing you can do is be made into a new man. Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he was born again, he would not see the kingdom of God. The way into this new birth is through faith in the Son of God. Jesus went on to say, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (Jn 3:16) Pass from the old life into the new, from being dead to being made alive in Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, we should seek to lead as many as we can from the camp of the lost and spiritually dead into the camp of the living. In the following chapter, we will get a close-up view of this guy named Nimrod, and then the Holy Spirit will narrow His focus down to one of the descendants of Eber, a man named Abram.

 

Additional Links

 

Table of Nations and Origin of Races

 

Who Was Nimrod in the Bible?

 

Genesis 9 - A Sign of an Everlasting Covenant

 

Last time in Genesis 8, we saw Noah and his family along with all the land animals come through the other side of the Flood. After Noah got off the ark, he offered a burnt offering to the Lord as a means of making a fresh commitment or dedication to Him. As a result, the Lord said in His heart that He would never again curse the ground with a flood or destroy everything living. We saw the likely introduction of seasons, and how these would continue as long as the earth remains. In chapter 9, we will take a bit deeper look at the covenant the Lord made with Noah, his family, and every living thing.

Similar to what He did with Adam and Eve, the Lord blessed Noah and his sons, and charged them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. In a recent study, researchers have concluded that the world population needs to be reduced from eight billion to four billion by 2200 in order to reach a more sustainable level; however, this is in direct opposition to what the Lord has commanded. The global fertility rate is 2.2%, so we are barely at sustainable levels as we speak. I don’t know about you, but I’m curious how they plan on getting rid of four billion people in the next 175 years (or maybe I don’t want to know).

God placed a fear and a dread of man upon all the animals, and gave man dominion over them. Even in animals who could easily overpower mankind, He has placed in them a basic fear of him. The Lord did not make man for the environment; He made the environment for man. 

Next, He reiterates man’s diet with some major expansions. He told them that every moving thing that lives shall be meat for them just as the vegetables. Before the Fall and the introduction of sin and death entered into the world, God’s intent was for our food source to be from plants (Genesis 1:29-30). However, after the Flood, God ordained all living things for food. Prior to the Fall, God’s original design was for animals to eat plants as well, so it is possible that it was after the Flood that some animals became carnivores and omnivores.

The reasons for this change I think are quite practical:

First, just as our human bodies deteriorate because of the curse of sin, so too the plant life is also under this same curse. Paul says in Romans 8 that the whole creation is under this curse. Because of this, it would become more difficult to get the nutrients we need from simply eating plants. This was further exaggerated after the Flood in which the aging process sped up significantly due to the environmental changes.

Second, due to the differences in climate that now existed, it would no longer be possible to grow all the different fruits and vegetables in any given climate, and without modern transportation it wouldn’t be possible to ship food from around the world like we can do today. Most agriculture takes place within the latitudes of 30-50 degrees latitude on either hemisphere, meaning if you didn’t live within those latitudes, you would have to have it brought in or find other food sources.

The language the Lord uses here is also interesting: He states that every living thing “Shall be meat for you.” The word “shall” is often used to express a command, expectation, or something mandatory. So, it would appear this is more of a directive to eat meat rather than just a simple giving of permission. For the reasons I just listed, it would make sense why the Lord would give them such a directive. Sorry to all you vegetarians out there, but the Lord intended for post-Flood mankind to eat meat. The Jewish people were forbidden to eat certain types of meat under the Law, but this directive to eat meat of all kinds predates the Law. By the time we get to the New Testament, these dietary restrictions are lifted in the Church age. The Lord tells us in 1 Timothy 4:4-5, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” There are a lot of diets out there, and some of them will tell you that meat is bad for you. However, as we can see in both the Old and New Testaments, it is the Lord’s intention for us to eat meat. There is not any animal that is off limits, for every creature of God is good if received with thanksgiving. It is made clean by the Word of God and prayer. So, let’s bring on the bacon!

They were only told they could not eat the blood of the animal, which is the life of the flesh. So, if you are like me who has been hunting and raised animals for food, draining the carcass of as much blood as possible is a crucial part of the butchering process. Blood is an optimal environment for micro-organisms, and when it is left in muscle tissue, it becomes a breeding ground for spoilage bacteria and foodborne pathogens. It also leads to discoloration and shortened shelf-life. The animal needs to be butchered in such a way that the blood is drained out. Interestingly, when the Church was trying to determine what to do with the Gentile converts, the Gentiles were, among other things, told to abstain from blood and animals that were strangled (Acts 15:22-29). So, you see, this is a principle that is carried throughout the entire Bible, and, again, pre-dates the Law.

Perhaps another and even greater reason for eating meat was to teach mankind they must live by the death of another. The Lord wanted to instill in them a respect for life (in particular human life), and no doubt to value the God man Jesus Christ who would eventually come and shed His blood for all of mankind.

Next, we see the Lord institute human government, and the foundation of this government is the sanctity of human life. Life was protected with the instituting of capital punishment as a deterrent for murder. So important was human life that God declared if an animal killed a man, it was to be put to death, and if a man killed another man he was to be put to death as well. The Lord loves us so much that He created us in His image, and when a person commits murder, they are needlessly killing the Lord’s most prized possession. Really it is an attack of the worst kind on the nature and character of God Himself. Incidentally, abortion and even suicide would also fall into this category. As society has moved away from capital punishment, we can definitely see the results. We no longer value human life, as we have killed over 300 million babies since Roe V Wade (surgical and chemical combined), and as this bar has dropped, we have become much more tolerant of other sins as well. The Old Testament Law would later prescribe capital punishment for murder along with several other sins, but this was long before the Law was introduced. It was given to Noah and his family from whom the rest of the human race would descend, and thus it is the foundation of all human government even to the present. Paul reiterates this in his letter to the Romans: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” (Romans 13:1-4) Then we see the Lord tell them again to be fruitful and multiply, and to bring forth abundantly in the earth. It is another way in which we see that the Lord values life. He wants us to have children. Solomon wrote in Psalms 127:3-5) Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”

The Lord then established His Covenant with Noah, all his descendants, and all the living creatures and their offspring. He stated He would never again use a flood to destroy the earth and every living thing. As a side-note, if this were just a local flood, then the Lord would have broken his covenant countless times since the days of Noah. The Lord placed a rainbow in the cloud for a sign of this covenant. If there had been rainclouds prior to the Flood, a rainbow would have been nothing new. After the Flood however, if we saw the beginning of the water cycle, it would make sense that a rainbow would be a new thing, and be a sign that the Lord would never again destroy the earth in this manner. The Lord said that when the rainbow is in the cloud, He will remember His covenant with all living flesh, to not destroy it with a flood. As we saw before this does not mean that the Lord forgets His covenant from time to time, but that He acts on our behalf to spare us from this type of wrath again. Man is always deserving of the Lord’s wrath, but it is an act of His mercy that keeps us from it. The only reason we are all alive and given an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ is because of the Lord’s mercy. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m glad we have a merciful God. This covenant the Lord said is an everlasting covenant, meaning it is for as long as the earth remains. From the ground, the horizon obscures the view of the full ark of the rainbow, but if you are in an airplane, it is possible to see the entire thing which forms a complete circle. It is endless or everlasting.

It is too bad the devil has tried to rip this off by having it be a symbol of the homosexual lifestyle, when really it is an amazing testament of the mercy and grace of God. Those individuals, if they do not repent, will one day have to give an account to the Lord for the misuse of this sign and their mockery of the grace of God. So next time you see the rainbow in the clouds, remember it is a sign of the covenant between the Lord and us that He will never again destroy the earth with a flood.

Sometime after this, Noah became a husbandman and drank the wine he had made. As a result, he became drunk and laid naked in his tent. Now it is possible that the fermentation process was more rapid after the Flood and Noah was caught somewhat by surprise, or it could be that Noah knew full well what he was getting into and just blew it. Whatever the case, it’s safe to say this was a substantial moral failure on Noah’s part. Ham, one of his sons, saw this, and went out to tell his two other brothers what had happened. The original language indicates that Ham was gazing on his father’s nakedness, and delighted to see his dad in this state. There are always people who rejoice in the failures of others. He went out to tell his brothers as a means of disrespecting his father. Shem and Japheth, on the other hand, took a garment and walked in backwards to cover their father so they would not see his nakedness. So, Ham wanted to expose his father’s sin, while Shem and Japheth sought to cover it.

After Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what had happened, and cursed Canaan, the youngest son of Ham. This means that it is likely Canaan was somehow involved in this as well. He made him a servant of servants to his brothers.  He said that Canaan would be the servants of Shem.  Canaan’s descendants would go on to inhabit the land of Canaan, and as we know, the children of Israel (the descendants of Shem) would eventually come in and wipe them out. He also blessed Japheth, that he would be enlarged and dwell in the tents of Shem. In following this throughout history, the descendants of Japheth largely settled in Europe and Central Asia. They have been enlarged, and they dwell in the tents of Shem through receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

After the Flood, it states that Noah lived another 350 years, so that he lived an entire 950 years. Noah would be the last man recorded to live this long, and as we will see, the life-span of man would decrease almost exponentially within the first 100 years or so after the Flood. Whatever the cause, it is a fulfillment of the Lord’s words prior to the Flood that man’s years would be 120, and after the Flood we will see man’s life-span gradually drop to this age.

In application, the Lord made an everlasting covenant with Noah that is still in effect today. Each time we see a rainbow in the clouds, we too are reminded of His promise not to destroy the earth again with a flood. Having said this, God has made another covenant with us, a new and better covenant (Hebrews 8:6-7), which is also an everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20), sealed with the blood of Jesus. This covenant too, has a sign, and this sign is the communion table. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (1 Co 11:23-36) When we take Communion, we are reminded of the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection, and that by faith in Him, He will, “Save His people from their sins.”

What do we do with others’ failures? Do we seek to expose and humiliate them as Ham did, or are we like Shem and Japheth who seek to cover and restore them? In Proverbs it states, “He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.” (Pro 17:9) Paul also wrote to the Galatians, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1) It is our human nature to want to expose others’ faults while trying to hide our own, but the Lord wants us to do the opposite. This does not mean we overlook people’s failures, but our job is to restore them through repentance, remembering where the Lord has brought us from. We have all had moral failures in our lives to one degree or another, so we really cannot look on others’ failures with disdain or self-righteousness. We can only point them back to the Lord who is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

One of the things I like about the Bible is that it does not overlook or attempt to hide the moral failures of godly men. It is actually one of the proofs that the Bible is true. Man-made religions often try to hide the mistakes of its leaders, but the Lord does not. It is through man’s failures that the Lord’s grace and redemption are seen. Interestingly, when we get to the New Testament, Noah’s failures are not mentioned. In Hebrews 11, in the “Hall of Faith” if you will, the godly men and women are remembered for their faith and the good they did for the Lord. This is because Christianity is not what you do, but what you believe. Right believing is everything, and will ultimately determine how you act. You see when we believe on Jesus, He produces the good fruit in our lives, and when we fail, our sin is not counted to us because it is under the blood. Yes, there are consequences, but the Lord does not keep record of them once we have returned to Him through repentance.

In summary, we have seen in chapter 9 how the Lord made an everlasting covenant with Noah and his descendants. We have also seen a failure of Noah, and how ultimately it is not counted to him because he was a man of faith. In the next chapter we will see how the nations were divided in the earth from the sons of Noah.