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GENESIS 10 - 11
NOAH'S GENEALOGY
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Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
And sons were born to them after the flood.
The sons of Japheth wereGomer, Magog,
Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz,
Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and
Dodanim. From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into
their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families,
into their nations. Genesis 10:1-5
10:1-5
Anthropologically and ethnologically speaking, this is probably the most
important document in man's possession today, because it records the earliest
lines of the human race. The biblical scholar, H. S. Miller, tells us that 70
nations are found in this account ... all of which came from Noah's three sons.
I believe these boys were triplets, Japheth being the first born (Gen. 10:21).
Fourteen nations
are found here in Japheth's genealogy.
They are as follows:
From Magog
... the Scythians, Slavs, Russians, Bulgarians, Bohemians, Poles, Slovaks and
Croatians.
From Madai
... the Indian, Iranic, Mede, Persian, Afgan and Kurdish peoples.
From Javan
... the Romance peoples, the Greeks, Romans, French, Spanish, Portuguese and
others.
From Tiras
... the Thracians, Teutons, Germans,
Angles, Saxons and Anglo-Saxons. In general, these were the light skinned and
European peoples whose territories ranged from the Caspian Sea to the Atlantic
Ocean.
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The sons of Ham were
Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah,
Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a
mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is
said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD." And the beginning of
his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad,
and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and
built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,
and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city). Mizraim begot
Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the
Philistines and Caphtorim). Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; the
Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; the Hivite, the Arkite, and the
Sinite; the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of
the Canaanites were dispersed. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon
as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah,
Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These were the sons of Ham, according to
their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their
nations.
Genesis 10:6-20
10:6-20
Thirty nations are found in the descendants of Ham here.
They were dark skinned peoples, the majority of which lived south of Palestine.
Ham has been handed a "bad rap" by many. But, it should be noted that
from him came two of the world's earliest
and greatest civilizations ... namely, the Egyptians and the Babylonians.
The greatest personality among Ham's descendants was Nimrod. We are told
he
was a mighty hunter before the Lord. His reputation was so great that he
became a legend among early mankind. They even had a saying about him ...
like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. He was the founder of the
cities of Babel and Nineveh which become the capital cities of Babylon and
Assyria.
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And children were born also to Shem,
the father of all the children of Eber,
the brother of Japheth the elder. The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad,
Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arphaxad begot
Salah, and Salah begot Eber.
To Eber were born two sons: the name of
one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name
was Joktan. Joktan begot Almodad,
Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir,
Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling place
was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. These were the
sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in
their lands, according to their nations.
These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in
their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the
flood. Genesis 10:21-32
10:21-32
Twenty-six nations are found among the descendants of Shem. They comprise the Semitic, Oriental and Mongoloid peoples. Eber is thought to be the grandfather of Abraham. It was probably from him that the name Hebrew (Eberooo) was derived.
Take special note of this man, Peleg, here.
His name comes from the Hebrew word
palag ... meaning split or
divide. His father,
Eber, gave him that name because,
as the Genesis text says here,
in his days the earth was divided.
This statement is also found in the
genealogy in First Chronicles 1:19, as well. In the early 1900's, geologists
became aware that all the continents of
Earth were originally together in just one large landmass. This has been the
clear biblical presentation all along, by the way, as found in the creation
account in Genesis 1. At a conference in 1926, they named this original
supercontinent ... Pangaea. Millions
of years ago ... according to them ... that original single landmass broke up
and its pieces drifted apart, forming the continents that we know today. There
is evidence here in Genesis, however, that the breaking up of
Pangaea actually occurred in relatively recent human history ... around
4500 years ago. I believe that is the event that is referred to here that
occurred during the days of
Peleg ... and after which he was named.
Doubtless, it was quite a shock to mankind the day when the earth began to
divide. Eber's world, suddenly and drastically, began to pull apart.Some creationists object to this interpretation, however, insisting
that it would have necessitated enormous earthquakes, tsunamis and other
immensely destructive effects. I would answer, however,
if the division of the earth took place under the superintending hand of
God ... the naturally destructive effects that would ordinarily accompany
such an enormous event could have been greatly mitigated if not eliminated
altogether. The simple way that it is presented to us here in the Word of God
... seems to indicate that that was the case ... and, I believe, that is what
happened. The humans of Eber's day must have looked on in utter amazement as the
widening gaps between landmasses became more and more distant and the receding
shorelines could no longer be seen.
Obviously, God had a great purpose for these monumental changes in Earth's
topography. You will remember that it was his desire that men should populate
the whole Earth. This event would certainly have been one major factor in
ensuring that objective. It may also be the best explanation for a multitude of
mysterious similarities between, say, the Aztec pyramids of South America and
the Egyptian pyramids of North Africa, as well as a plethora of other
similarities in peoples, architectures and mores that are found on all the
different continents today. In addition, the dividing up of
Pangea into today's separate
continents set the stage for the various nations and empires that God had
preordained for the earth.
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Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as
they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and
they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and
bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for
mortar. And they said, "Come, let us
build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens;
let us make a name for ourselves,
lest we be scattered abroad over the face
of the whole earth." Genesis 11:1-4
11:1-4
It is always predictable that sinful men can be counted on to do the exact
opposite of the will of God. God told Noah to
be
fruitful, and multiply, and
fill up the earth (9:1). To obey,
however, man would have to agree to divide up. However, these descendants of
Noah had no intention of doing that. Rather, they proceeded to do the exact
opposite. They plotted to stay together lest they become scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth (11:4).
May we "chase a rabbit" here for a moment? The essence of sin is utter
independence from God. It's
independence on steroids. It's, I did it
my way, as the song so proudly trumpets. The essence of spirituality,
however, is quite the opposite. It is characterized by utter, humble
dependence on God. These Tower of
Babel folks said, We're gonna do this
... and We're gonna do that.
We're gonna build ourselves a city ...
and ... We're gonna make a name for
ourselves. And, like most of mankind today, the mindset embodied in
Colossians 3:17,
never once crossed their minds.
And whatever you do in word or deed, do
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
him.
It is obvious from their words here, that the Tower of Babel people considered
themselves the captains of their own ship and the prime determining factor of
their own destinies. Perhaps I tend to go overboard, but I even hate to hear
people say, See you later! unless they
add, God willing! How about you, dear
saint? When I used to get off work at night, my fellow workers would usually say
something like, See you tomorrow. I
always replied, or at least thought, God
willing. In
James 4:13-16,
we read,
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,
spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know
what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that
appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If
the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." But now you boast in
your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Do you ever think about these things? Do you take steps to give the Lord his
due? Are you aware of his sovereignty over your life? In Luke 12, Jesus told a
story about a rich man whose barns had become too small to contain his crops.
So, he went to bed one night planning to begin, the very next day, to tear down
his old barns and build newer and bigger ones to hold all of his goods. Jesus
said,
But God said to him, 'Fool! This night
your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you
have provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich
toward God. Luke 12:20-21
Psalm 138:6,
says,
Though the LORD is on high, yet he regards the lowly; but
the proud he knows from afar.
The Proud
... such were the people who set out to build the Tower of Babel. But they were
in for a big surprise.
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But the LORD came down to see the city
and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, "Indeed
the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin
to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come,
let us
go down and there confuse their language, that they may not
understand one another's speech." So the
LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they
ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called
Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the
earth; and from there the LORD scattered
them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Genesis 11:5-9
11:5-9
When we read,
hands on God. I believe this was
yet another pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again,
theologians call these appearances
theophanies.
After his personal inspection, the Lord then decided to supernaturally intervene
at Babel, so that his will for the human race would continue to be carried out.
Simultaneously, he then created the wide variety of human languages that we find
on Earth today and implanted them into the individual minds of the men of Babel
as he saw fit. As a result, the inhabitants of Babel could no longer work
together and were forced to separate and scatter over the earth as they were
originally commanded. This is the true origin of human languages. Later, these
people were divided further by the pulling apart of their physical world, during
the days of Peleg, as we previously discussed.
By the way, the Lord's words here,
let us go down and confuse their language, is another allusion
to the Trinity. We first encountered this kind of expression back in 1:26, where
we read,
And God said, 'Let us make man in our image'.
Before we move on, I would like to mention that there is a very exciting and
fascinating archaeological site in southern Turkey that I believe may well be
the remains of the Tower of Babel. It is called
Gobekli Tepe. It is located several
hundred miles from where the ark may have come to rest in the mountains of
Ararat. The site is massive and the German archaeologists who have been working
there since 1994, have only uncovered about 5 percent of it. It consists of
large circular megalithic structures, made up of stone columns with caps that
are designed to support timbers. The site was never used for residency, but
according to the archaeologists, had some sort of religious or cultic
significance. And, for reasons unknown, its construction was actually abandoned
and then covered up by its builders. Carbon dating dates the site to 12,000 BC,
making it the oldest known unified construction by man on Earth (7000 years
before the pyramids of Egypt). It is so unusual that, on the History channel
(4/29/2011), there was speculation that
aliens may have been constructing it! However, in reality, Gobekli Tepe has
all of the earmarks of being the remains of the incomplete construction of the
Tower of Babel. In my opinion, I believe this is so for the following reasons:
1.
It is in the right area
... some 400 miles east of Mount Ararat, it is just where you would expect the
remains of the Tower of Babel to be. The biblical text says
as people moved eastward they
found a plain in Shinar. (NIV). This gives us the general location for
the Tower of Babel.
Shinar is an ancient name that has a long history. The name has
an etymology of many nuances and interpretations. Later in history, it became
the name for the land of the Babylonian empire. The Old Babylon Period is dated
from 2000 to 1595 BC; the Middle Babylonian Period from 1595 to 1000 BC; and the
Neo-Babylonian Period from 1000 to 539 BC. Gobekli Tepe is located at the
northern end of the ancient land of Shinar.
2.
It is post-Flood
... the earliest known site of a coordinated, large scale, construction by
humans.
3.
Its multitude of stone carved animals, birds and insects adorning its pedestals,
point to Noah's immediate descendants.
4.
It was built atop a hill
... 1000 feet above the valley floor below, it was obviously intended to be
impressive and visible for miles around.
5.
It was deliberately covered over before it was abandoned.
This is one of its greatest mysteries. Why would its builders cease construction
and then go to all the effort of covering their work up? May I suggest that they
did so out of fear? They covered it up because, after God's powerful rebuke and
intervention, they were terrified to proceed, and probably ... thinking they
might provoke God's anger even further ... they fearfully buried it! That
certainly is a more plausible explanation than the History channel's
alien construction hypothesis, is it
not? Pictures of the
Gobekli Tepe
site can be found at:
http://bit.ly/Gobekli_Tepe.
Carbon dates,
by the way, are not set in stone. There are many variables and assumptions that
can throw a carbon date off. Therefore, dates obtained by carbon dating should
be carefully examined, both as to the methodology and the assumptions that were
used in arriving at them. A good article on this subject can be found at:
http://bit.ly/Carbon_dating.
From our study of Genesis 5, we learned that the Flood ended around 2619 BC.
This gave mankind up to 600 years or so to repopulate the earth before the time
when the Tower of Babel began to be built. Determining the population of those
early men is difficult because there are so many variables that existed, not the
least of which was the fact that they lived far longer than we do. Calculating
their number at the end of 600 years ... beginning with only 8 people and a
growth rate of 0.02 ... their number would have increased to 1,133,947. If we
calculated their number after 300 years with a growth rate of .035, their number
would have been 234,560. If you would like to work with the figures for
yourself, go to:
http://bit.ly/PopulationProjection.
Below are modern and ancient maps of the ancient land of Shinar and the present
location of Gobekli Tepe. It is at the northern end of the ancient territory of
Shinar.
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This is the genealogy of Shem:
Shem was one hundred years old, and begot
Arphaxad two years after the flood. After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five
hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. Arphaxad lived thirty-five years,
and begot Salah. After he begot
Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and
daughters. Salah lived thirty years, and begot
Eber. After he begot Eber, Salah
lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. Eber lived
thirty-four years, and begot Peleg. After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty
years, and begot sons and daughters. Peleg lived thirty years, and begot
Reu. After he begot Reu, Peleg lived
two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters. Reu lived thirty-two
years, and begot Serug. After he
begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and
daughters. Serug lived thirty years, and begot
Nahor. After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and
begot sons and daughters. Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot
Terah. After he begot Terah, Nahor
lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters. Now Terah
lived seventy years, and begot Abram,
Nahor, and Haran. Genesis 11:10-26
11:10-26
Here, the writer records the line of Shem, through whom Messiah would come.
Notice that, like the genealogy found in chapter 5, this is also an
interlocking genealogy. Interlocking genealogies insure the exact
record and age of each person involved. In all, eleven generations are recorded
here, and we will find that longevity, after the Flood, has now been cut in
half. During the 365 years that this genealogy covers, if each man had 8
children, and each of his children had 8 children, and so on ... by the time of
Abraham, the population of the earth would have been around 100 million.
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This is the genealogy of Terah:
Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Haran begot Lot. And Haran died
before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. Then Abram
and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was
Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife,
Milcah, the daughter of Haran the
father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
But Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took his son Abram and his
grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's
wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of
Canaan; and they came to Haran
and dwelt there. So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and
Terah died in Haran. Genesis 11:27-32
11:27-32
We come now to a very important turning point here in the book of Genesis. Up to
this point, we have studied four events: The Creation, The Fall, The Flood and
The Tower of Babel. Now, Genesis will take up four persons: Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob and Joseph.
Here, at the end of this genealogy, we come to this man,
Abram. His name means father.
Later, God will change his name to
Abraham, which means
father of a multitude.
Terah was Abraham's dad and he had three boys. Again, I believe these boys were
triplets. One of them,
Haran, died before Abram's family left their home of origin in
Ur of the Chaldees. In those days, they were just a family of idol worshipers.
Yet, God called to Abram and Abram responded ... believing God ... and thereby,
for all time, became the father of all who trust and believe in the true and
living God. As you have it later in the book,
And Abraham believed God and it
was counted to him for righteousness (15:6). Furthermore, it was from
Abraham that God raised up a people for his name's sake ... namely, the Jewish
people, who would come into being through Abraham's grandson,
Israel (Jacob). Abraham fathered the Arabic peoples, as well through his
son
Ishmael.
In addition, it was to Abraham, and his covenant descendants, through Isaac,
that the land of Palestine was given to the Jewish people by God as an
everlasting possession (13:15). And last, but not least, it was to Abraham that
the promise of Messiah was given ... promising that, through Abraham's
Seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed (26:4). So, at this
point, God's Word will now take up this remarkable saint, Abraham. Abraham is
very, very special in the history of God's dealings with mankind.
Scripture
taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
