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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday August 5, 2018
THE
DESCENDANTS OF JAPHETH, HAM, AND SHEM
Genesis
10
In Genesis 10 we find chronicled,
the history of the families of Shem, Japheth, and Ham, the three sons of Noah
who became the origin of all the people that now reside on the earth today.
This chapter is known to bible scholars as the “Table of Nations” and it traces
the relationships between all the peoples known to ancient Israel. It explains
their links to the sons of Noah, and the people of those nations are classified
by language, land, treaty, and ethnicity.
Seventy descendants of Noah are listed here
in this chapter, including 14 from Japheth, 30 from Ham, and 26 from Shem. In
this table, the writer, Moses, uses two basic themes to lay out its framework, “bene”,
which means “the sons of”, and “yalad”, which means, “he begot”, or, “was the
father of”. The “yalad” verses of this passage probably suggests, or traces
what may be important developments of personages, or, “people of note”, that
exist within this Table of Nations, for example, Nimrod, the mighty hunter and great
builder of cities.
It is worth noting that this Table is a
“horizontal” table, rather than a vertical one like in chapter 5, and later in
chapter 11. In other words the list goes across the direct descendants who lived
simultaneously, or who all lived during the same time period as natural
brothers and sisters do. It starts with the sons of Japheth, Noah’s middle son.
His sons and their offspring are the only ones listed, and so on with his
brothers, and their sons:
THE
DESCENDANTS OF JAPHETH
·
Gomer –
Gomer, Japheth’s older son, is the father of the Cimmerians that are related to
the infamous and feared Scythians, a barbaric race of people who lived in
Scythia, an ancient region of southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia. It is
the site today known as the Soviet Union, or Russia. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah
. All of their descendants settled in this area to the north, far away
from where Israel is located.
·
Magog –
the second son of Japheth, is father of the aforementioned Scythians who
settled in the north. They settled in the land of Gog between Armenia and
Cappadocia, southwest of the Black Sea, (the area of Russia and Persia, present
day Iran). However, they were expansionists barbaric, expert warriors, who,
always sought to widen their territory at the expense of others, much like 20th
century Soviet Union did, before their breakup in the early 1980’s.
·
Madai –
is the ancestor of all of the Medes east of Assyria and southwest of the
Caspian Sea.
·
Javan
– was the ancestor of those of the Hellenic race, the Ionians of western Asia
Minor. The sons of Javan were Elishah,
Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim. They were all seafarers in various lands,
each having its own language. They settled the entire area around the north
Mediterranean Sea, the site of Paul’s hometown of Tarsus along the north shores
of the Mediterranean Sea. They became great fishermen and shipbuilders, and
were known for their vast wealth and prosperity.
·
Tubal
– settled the area around Greece (became a military state)
·
Meshech
– settled the area around Greece ( like Tubal, became a military state)
·
Tiras - the direct descendants of Tiras are not
mentioned in the bible, and they are thereby, not believed to be connected to
the family of scribes who lived in Jabez that are mentioned in 1 Chronicles
2:55. His descendants may have become the seafarers around the Aegean Sea
coasts. None of these northern tribes figure prominently in Israel’s history,
however, they do occur frequently in prophetic writings, particularly in the
book of Ezekiel.
THE
DESCENDANTS OF HAM
The, descendants of Ham settled in northern
Africa, and also consists of the eastern and southern peoples of Mesopotamia.
·
Cush –
The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca.
They settled in south Arabia and the area that is now southern Egypt, Sudan,
and northern Ethiopia. Over time they intermarried with Semitic tribes who
lived in the same area, thus, even today there exists a repetition of names
among the nation of that region. Seba settled
in northern Egypt, Havilah, which
means “sand land”, refers to northern and eastern Arabia on the Persian Gulf
(Ethiopian coast), Sabtah settled on
the western shore of the Persian Gulf, Raamah
and Sabtecah settled in southern
Arabia.
Strangely inserted into this passage, verse
7b to be exact, we find mention the offspring of one of Cush’s sons, Raamah,
who had two sons of his own, Sheba
and Dedan. A quick study of their genealogy
tells us that Sheba settled in southwest Arabia, and Dedan settled in nortern
Arabia.
·
Mizraim
– often referred to in the bible, literally, as “Egypt”, the name speaks
for itself. He was the ancestor of the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lahabites,
the Naphtuhites, the Pathrusites, the Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from
where the Philistines migrated. His tribes spread from northern Africa to Crete.
·
Put –
This nation of people is mentioned in bible in connection with Egypt and
Ethiopia. It was known for its great warriors, and probably refers to certain
Libyan tribes west of Egypt.
·
Canaan
– was the fourth son of Ham, the one who received and carried the “generational
curse” that was prophesied by his grandfather, Noah, as judgment for what his
father Ham did when he tried to make a mockery of Noah’s nakedness. He is the
ancestor of the most notable enemies of Israel that are chronicled in the Bible.
His descendants were dispersed into several distinctive tribes including the
Sidonians, the Jebusites, the Amorites, and the Zemarites. He was also the
ancestor of the Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites,
and Hamathites. They were known collectively as the Canaanites, the pagan
inhabitants of the land GOD promised to the Israelites. The land of Canaan
stretched from the Jordan River on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the
west, and from north to south it covered all of the territory between the Sinai
Peninsula and Phoenicia. It covered the area from Sidon to Gerar, near Gaza,
and to the, now-infamous, former homosexual strongholds of Sodom, Gomorrah,
Admah and Zeboiim, near Lasha.
NIMROD
Nimrod was one of the sons of Cush and a
grandson of Ham. He was a skillful hunter, warrior, and expert builder of
cities. He became a powerful king and was the first man described in the bible
as a “mighty hero”. He built many principal cities in his Mesopotamian kingdom,
namely Babel, Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar (Genesis
10:10).
From the land of Babylon he went to
Assyria, where he built the great city of Nineveh, and other cities. His name, “Nimrod”,
finds its root in the Babylonian god of war and hunting, “Ninurta”, who was
called “the Arrow, the mighty hero”.
THE
SONS OF SHEM
The sons of Shem, the oldest son of Noah,
are recorded last. Shem was the father of the Hebrews from which came the
nation of Israel, the people GOD chose to represent HIM on earth in the most
personal way, and to receive HIS word, and make HIM known to the unsaved world.
He was also the father of all the people of the ancient Near East, in general.
These are the descendants of Shem, identified according to their tribes,
languages, territories, and nations;
·
Elam
(Persia) – settled in the highlands east of Babylonia, an area bounded by
Assyria and Media on the north, the Persian Gulf on the south, and Persia to
the east and southeast.
·
Asshur
(Assyria) – settled in the area of Assyria where Nimrod, the Hamite, founded
several cities, including Nineveh.
·
Arphaxad
(Chaldea) – settled in the area northeast of Nineveh. He was the father of Shelah, who was the father of Eber, who was the father of Peleg (which means “division”) and Joktan. Joktan begot thirteen sons Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. It was during their lifetime that
the, now infamous, “Tower of Babel” was being built, moving GOD to anger,
causing HIM to disperse the people of the world into different language groups,
forever.
·
Lud
(Lydia) – settled in the area that is now western Turkey.
·
Aram
(Syria) – settled in the grassy plains of Mesopotamia. He is the ancestor of
the Aramean people.
These are the families that came from
Noah’s sons, listed by nations, according to their line of descent. The earth
was populated with the people of these nations after the Flood.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER-
Official Website
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