Genesis 10:31

_THESE ARE THE SONS OF SHEM, AFTER THEIR FAMILIES, AFTER THEIR TONGUES, IN THEIR LANDS, AFTER THEIR NATIONS._ These are the sons of Shem. Thus, according to the preceding exposition, the Semitic nations (not to speak of the Hebrews in Palestine) were located along the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris, upon the highlands of Assyria, the plains of Babylonia, in Syria and Arabia, as far as the shores of the Persian Gulf. The people spoke what are known as the Semitic languages; and although the Cushite wanderers from Africa spread over the whole of Southern Asia, and especially in the north of Arabia, where the Joktanidae were originally settled, they mingled with the Shemites, and adopted a common language....

15-32 The posterity of Canaan were numerous, rich, and pleasantly seated; yet Canaan was under a Divine curse, and not a curse causeless. Those that are under the curse of God, may, perhaps, thrive and prosper in this world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the blessing or the curse, by what is before us, but by what is within us. The curse of God always works really, and always terribly. Perhaps it is a secret curse, a curse to the soul, and does not work so that others can see it; or a slow curse, and does not work soon; but sinners are reserved by it for a day of wrath Canaan here has a better land than either Shem or Japheth, and yet they have a better lot, for they inherit the blessing. Abram and his seed, God's covenant people, descended from Eber, and from him were called Hebrews. How much better it is to be like Eber, the father of a family of saints and honest men, than the f...

- XXXIII. Shem 21. אבר _'eber_, “‘Eber, yonder side; verb: pass, cross.” 22. עילם _'eylām_, “‘Elam.” עוּל _‛__ûl_, “suckle.” עלם _‛__ālam_, “hide; be mature.” ארפכשׁד _'arpakshad_, “Arpakshad.” כשׂד ארף _'arp_ _keśed_, “boundary of Kesed, or (von-Bohlen) Arjapakshata, beside Aria.” ארם _'ǎrām_, “Aram, high; verb: be high.” 23. עוּץ _‛_

PART II. THE POST-DILUVIAN AGE OF THE WORLD. CH. 10:1-11:26. FROM THE DELUGE TO THE CALL OF ABRAM. § 5. THE GENERATIONS or THE SONS OF NOAH (CH. 10:1-11:9). I. THE _historical credibility _of the present section has been challenged. 1. On account of a fancied resemblance to the ethnographic mythologies of Greece, the genealogical table of the nations has been relegated to the category of fictitious invention. It has been assigned by many critics to a post-Mosaic decried, to the days of Joshua (Delitzsch), to the age of Hebrew intercourse with the Phenician Canaanites (Knobel), to the era of the exile ...

THESE ARE THE SONS OF SHEM,.... His sons, and grandsons, and great grandsons, in all twenty six, no doubt but there were many more, but these are only mentioned; for none of the sons of Elam, Ashur, and Lud, are named, and but one of Arphaxad's, and one of Salah's, and two of Eber's, and none of Peleg's; when it is not to be questioned but they had many, as is certain of Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, and Peleg, Genesis 11:13 AFTER THEIR FAMILIES, AFTER THEIR TONGUES, IN THEIR LANDS, AFTER THEIR NATIONS: from hence sprung various families at first, and these of different languages upon the confusion of Babel, which thenceforward formed different nations, dwelt in different lands; which have been pointed at as near as we can at this distance, and with the little helps and advantages we have: it seems from hence that Shem's posterity were of different languages as well as those of

V. THE GENERATIONS OF THE SONS OF NOAH CHAPTER 10 Shem, Ham, and Japheth and Their Seed _ 1. The sons of Japheth (Genesis 10:2)_ 2. The sons of Ham (Genesis 10:6) 3. The sons of Shem (Genesis 10:21) Here we have the beginning of the nations. God knows them and keeps track of the nations of the earth. The order of the sons of Noah is here changed. Japheth comes first. Ham's place is unchanged. Shem comes last. This order is given in view of Noah's prophecy. Among the descendants of Ham we find Nimrod, a mighty hunter. His name means “Let us rebel.” Here also we find Babel mentioned for the first time. Babylon has for its founder “a mighty one in the earth-a mighty hunter.” Mentioned

GENESIS 10. THE TABLE OF NATIONS. From P and J. To P we may assign Genesis 10:1; Genesis 10:20; Genesis 10:31 f. The rest belongs to J, for the most part to its secondary stratum, with some elements from R. The genealogy, as was customary among the Semites, expresses national rather than individual relationships. The true character of the lists may be seen quite clearly from many of the names, which are names of countries (_e.g._ Cush, Mizraim, Ophir), or cities (_e.g._ Tarshish, Zidon), or peoples (_e.g._ Ludim). It is an attempt to explain the origin of the various nations, before the author proceeds to the special ancestry of Israel. It is of great importance for the Hebrew view of other peoples, alike

FAMILIES, &C. Note the thrice-repeated fourfold division in verses: Genesis 10:5; Genesis 10:20. See App-10....

The Sons of Shem (J and P) 21. _And unto Shem_, &c. The brief account in verse is from J. _the father of all the children of Eber_ This is the point in the description of Shem which would seem most honourable to Israelite readers. The names "Eber" and "Hebrew" are almost identical in the Hebrew language. "Eber" was accepted as the ancestor of the Hebrew-speaking peoples. In the widest sense of the word, "Hebrews" are a group of Semitic peoples who issued from the Arabian Peninsula. They are included among the descendants of Joktan and Peleg, as well as of Terah. For the ordinary derivation of the word "Hebrew," as = "the man from the further side" of the river, see Genesis 10:24 and Genesis 14:13. The term "Hebrew" is racial, "Israelite" national; though ultimately used as synony

AFTER THEIR FAMILIES, &C.— In Genesis 10:5 also it is said, that they were divided, after their tongues, families, and nations; whence it seems to follow, that they were first ranged according to their nations, and then every nation was ranged after its _families;_ so that every nation dwelt, and had its lot, by itself; and in every nation the families also dwelt, and had their lots, by themselves: for the true import of this, and the like texts, seems to be, that the land or peculiar lot of each family lay within the general lot of each nation. "Whence may be inferred," as the learned J. Mede observes, "that this great division of the earth was performed orderly, and was not a confused or irregular dispersion, wherein every one went where he listed, and settled himself where he liked best." After this chapter, let us remark, that such genealogies are of singular advantage to confirm