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
