THE TABLE OF NATIONS AND THE EXPLANATION OF THE DIVISIONS (GENESIS 10:1 TO GENESIS 11:10 A) TABLET V. THE NATIONS DESCENDED FROM NOAH (Genesis 10). This tablet is described as ‘this is the history of Shem' (Genesis 11:10 a). It demonstrates the descent of the nations from the sons of Noah with spec... [ Continue Reading ]
(Genesis 10:1 a) ‘This is the history of the sons of Noah.' The writer intends us to know the original source of his material, passed down orally through many feasts and finally put into writing we know not when or by whom, but we can be sure that it was very early on, well before the time of Moses... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The sons of Japheth; Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tirus.' The term ‘sons of' had wide significance in the Ancient Near East. It could mean descended from, connected with by treaty, subjugation in warfare, and so on. Here it is a recognition that the nations associa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan, Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim.' Ashkenaz probably represents the ancestors of the Scythians. Togarmah may well relate to Tegarama witnessed to in 14th century BC as lying between Carchemish and Harran. Elis... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Of these were the isles/coastlands of the nations divided. (These were the sons of Japheth) in their lands, everyone after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.' The phrase in brackets would be expected, compare Genesis 10:20 and Genesis 10:31, but is not in the Hebrew text. It may w... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim, and Put and Canaan.' Cush is connected with Nubia or Northern Sudan but also with the Cassites in Mesopotamia. Mizraim is the usual name for Egypt, its plural form possibly reflecting the two kingdoms, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, which formed to make one, al... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the sons of Cush, Seba and Havilah, and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah, Sheba and Dedan.' Here Cush has clear connections with Arabia, for Seba is Saba in Southern Arabia, Dedan is Dedan in Northern Arabia. Havilah is mentioned in Genesis 25:18 and 1 Samuel 15:7 connecti... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Cush begat Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty warrior (hunter) before Yahweh (i.e. even in the Yahweh's eyes); wherefore it is said “Like Nimrod a mighty warrior before Yahweh”.' Here we begin to see some of the complications facing us in identifying some of thes... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the beginning (or ‘chief part' or ‘mainstay' - reshith - compare the use in Jeremiah 49:35 - ‘the chief' of their might) of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went forth into Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, and Re... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Mizraim begat Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim and Pathrusim and Casluhim, from where the Pelishtim (Philistines) and Caphtorim went out.' All these names are plural and represent peoples. The Ludim became famous bowmen and are connected with Egypt and Cush in Jeremiah 46:9 (compare... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Canaan begat Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusites and the Amorite and the Girgashite, and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite, and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite, and afterwards were the families of the Canaanite spread abroad, and the border of the Canaanite... [ Continue Reading ]
‘These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.' The descendants of Ham are seen mainly as the inhabitants of Canaan and Syria and nations to the South in Africa and Arabia. Yet, as we have seen, through Nimrod they have intermingled with peo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born. The sons of Shem: Elam and Ashur, and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram.' The special mention of Eber, the ‘father' of the Hebrews, at this point, is the only concession in the whole accoun... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the sons of Aram: Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash.' The land of Uz was Job's homeland, whose location is uncertain, but this may well have been a different Uz. It is probably safe to say that the identity of these ‘sons' is unknown.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Arpachshad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber and to Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan.' The movement from ‘begat' to ‘born two sons' is in reverse to the earlier ‘sons of' becoming ‘begat' (Genesis... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Joktan begat Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah and Obal and Abimael and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.' Hazarmaveth probably connects with the kingdom of Hadramaut in southern Arabia. Jerah means ‘the moon' in Hebrew... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And their dwelling was from Mesha as you go towards Sephar, the mountain of the East.' Mesha may connect with Massa in northern Arabia. Massa was the seventh of the twelve princes of Ishmael according to Genesis 25:14, demonstrating Arabian connections for the name, and may be identified with the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘These are the sons of Shem after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.' Compare Genesis 10:5; Genesis 10:20. The descriptions confirms that ‘sons' is to be taken in the broader context of describing tribes, lands and nations. The mention of language in each of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations, and of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.' This remarkable chapter has demonstrated the growth of the nations from the families of Noah and his sons, simplifying a most complicated situ... [ Continue Reading ]