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Genesis 10:1 - 10:32
Genesis Chapter 9 concluded with Noah and those aboard the ark leaving it and God giving
His Covenant with His 'bow', a Promise that He would never again destroy the
earth by literal waters of a flood.
Then Noah began to till the soil, and his son Ham
committed an incestuous act against him, producing Ham's son Canaan. And it's important to
realize that Canaan was Adamic, since Noah was 'perfect' (Hebrew tamiym)
in his generations all the way from the man Adam (eth' Ha'adham) (Gen.6:9). The
descendants of 'the man Adam' were to be the bloodline Seed of Christ Jesus, a family
reserved by our Heavenly Father to allow His Plan of Salvation to come forth, with His
Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ being born of woman (Gen.3:15; Matt.1:23).
It is the false ideas of progressive scientific evolution
which has clouded this Truth of the man Adam being formed separate from the sixth day
races of mankind for God's Purpose of the Seed of the Woman. God created all races the way
He wanted, and He gave each race a Mission for this flesh earth age time of His Plan. That
the wicked one tried to taint the family lineage of Christ Jesus, with fallen angels
taking daughters specifically of 'the man Adam' (Gen.6:2 in the Hebrew), producing a giant
race, the results of those acts had to be destroyed. For this, God brought the flood of
Noah's time, balancing the 'playing field' back according to His original Plan. The events
of Ham's incestuous forcing to produce Canaan was another attempt to disrupt the Seed of
the Woman, and would signal the coming of another irruption of mixing with the fallen
angels later ("also after that" of Gen.6:4). That Seedline of the Woman
would come in danger by Satan's tactics many more times hence, even to the time when our
Lord Christ was born of Mary by The Holy Spirit, with Herod seeking to murder the Baby
Jesus (Matt.2).
It's amazing that so many scholars have missed the reason
why God pointed out early in Gen.9 that Canaan was the son of Ham, showing the result of
Ham's sin of uncovering "his father's nakedness" per Leviticus 18 &
20, that sin being incest with his mother. Instead, some believe the lie that the black
race descended from this sin of Ham. Might that show some scholars have rather agreed with
the false forensic 'theory' of evolution? I think so. If someone sets an orange in front
of you, but you're determined to see it as an apple; you'll eventually find some way to
see it as an apple. (Don't take me literally on that, I'm just trying to show how man oft
times can deceive himself, even as many allowed Nimrod to lead them astray with Babel.)
So Canaan was not of the Kenite (sons of Cain), nor of the
'Nephilim' (fallen ones), but of the Adamic bloodline through the family of Noah.
But there would be a 'mixing' among many of the sons of Canaan later on.
We now continue with the offspring of Noah's family
spreading forth upon the earth, and the family of Gentile nations also, as we ask a Word
of Wisdom from our Father in Christ Jesus' Name, Amen.
Gen
10:1 Now these are THE GENERATIONS OF THE SONS OF NOAH, Shem, Ham,
and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
The
birth order of Noah's sons are reversed here. This arrangement is according to their
blessings, not their birth order, as Shem was the youngest (Gen.10:21). Japheth was the
eldest (Gen.9:24, as meaning Ham was 'younger' than Japheth). This order is
according to the structure of the blessings within this Chapter, with Shem being the
Family which the Seed of Christ's birth would continue in.
Gen
10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and
Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
I'm
not going to cover these peoples to any great depth, and here's why. For one
example, in Bullinger's Companion Bible, he has a margin note at these verses,
that Gomer is the Gimirra of the Assyrian Tablets, and the Kimmerians
(Cimmerians) which the ancient historian Herodotus spoke of.1
Later translations of the Assyrian Tablets and inscriptions upon the Behistun stone
reveal the Cimmerians, i.e. Gimirra of the Tablets, to be a much later
migration of peoples from Assyria, to western, central, and southern Europe. Those
migrations of the Cimmerians (Celts) occurred at a much later date, i.e. circa
500 B.C. These events of Noah's sons along with Gentiles overspreading the earth, common
sense says was much earlier (See The Ten Tribes Move Westward). In
other words, these peoples just after Noah's time are not necessarily the same peoples and
nations which exist in these lands today. That's very important to keep in mind with this
study.
Gomer
is linked with Magog in Ezek.38 as the "house of Togarmah of the north
quarters". That may symbolize the area of Armenia.
Madai were probably the progenitors of the Medes, which
existed north of Persia and west of Assyria.
Javan represents the early Greeks, and inhabitants of
the coasts around the Mediterranean. God mentions Javan's offspring in Isaiah 66:19 as
existing "to the isles afar off". His sons of Tarshish is
probably Tarsus, where Paul the apostle was from, and Kittim is linked with
Cyprus. Dodanim is possibly the Isle of Rhodes.
Tubal and Meshech are also associated with
Gomer and Magog in the northern quarters of Armenia and Sarmatia (Moscovia) (see
Ezek.38). Tiras are known as the Thracians of northern and central Asia Minor.
Gen
10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided
in their lands; every one after his tongue, after
their families, in their nations.
Note this word "Gentiles" here. It is the Hebrew word
"gowy" which means 'a foreign nation; hence, a Gentile'
(Strong's no. 1471). The Hebrew word 'gowy' or 'Goyim', means non-Hebrew
peoples, non-Semitic (Shemitic, i.e., of 'Shem'), i.e. foreigners. We haven't gotten
to Shem's lineage yet with the man Eber, which is where the word Hebrew comes from.
All peoples were still of one speech or language at this
time also (Gen.11:1). So this word 'tongue' means the different dialects of the
same language.
This is where evolutionists might supply the idea that all
peoples descended from one man, i.e. 'the man Adam'. And that the bone feature differences
between races somehow... evolved. I'm going to say this clearly, making no mistake as to
my intention. Either one believes in God's creation, or they believe in man's ideas of the
evolution of species. If it's God's creation, then Noah, and his offspring, were all of
the eth'Ha'adham (the man Adam placed in the Garden of Eden). That also must mean
that all sons of Noah, i.e. Shem, Japheth, and Ham, were also Adamic and not Gentiles!
These 'Gentiles' of verse 5 are the 'races'
created and placed outside of Eden (Gen.1:26, the Hebrew word 'adam' without the
article, translated 'man' in the KJV from the Hebrew). Otherwise, one might
believe the lie that Ham's sin produced the black race, or that the black, or oriental
races 'evolved' into their different features of today. These verses are basically about
Noah's descendents being scattered among those of the various Gentile races upon the
earth.
If you'll remember back to Gen.6:19, God told Noah to
bring "two of every sort" of all flesh into the ark. Naturally then, if
you believe God 'created' man as written, including the creation of the various races,
then the races also made it through Noah's flood were: 1) of the Gentiles, "two
of every sort" of flesh were also included within the ark, or... 2) Noah's flood
was local only to a certain geographical area, and not completely over the whole earth (eretz,
meaning 'soil, land, country, earth, etc.'; or 'adamah' meaning 'soil, ground',
as translated 'earth' in Gen.7:4; Strong's nos. 776; 127).
It's up for you to decide. I'm not going to debate this,
as our Father wanted us to understand that He setup the Seed of the Woman, being the
Seedline Family of Christ Jesus' birth, that it was attacked by Satan's angels, and God
brought a flood to wipe out those hybrids spawned by the fallen angels of Gen.6. And He
thus preserved Noah and his family through that flood to insure His Son's future Mission
in the flesh as Emmanuel ("God with us"; Matthew 1:23). That's
the important matter.
Gen
10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and
Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
Ham
is associated with Egypt, as per Ps.78:51 and Ps. 105:23. And Cush is associated
with Ethiopia, as Seba (Sheba) is also (Isa.43:3). Mizraim is a
term linked with both banks of the Nile, i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt. Phut is
linked with Libya (Nahum 3:9; Ezek.27:10). The sons of Cush are associated with the
various Arabian lands of Yemen, Sabbatha, Sabbia, and Daden or Aden.
As I stated before, these peoples of Gen.10 are not
necessarily the same inhabitants in those lands today. Many of the Arab peoples who
descended from Abraham's son Ishmael had not even been born yet at this point in our Bible
history. So that word Gentiles back in verse 5 should be soaking in as to the
meaning of the various races migrating to these lands after the flood of Noah's time.
Canaan, if you'll remember, was the offspring
result of Ham's incest with his mother (see Lev.18 & 20 for the particular sin).
Gen
10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said,
"Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD."
Nimrod
means "rebellion or the valiant" (Strong's no. 5248; BDB def.). The
word 'began' is 'chalal' meaning 'properly, to bore, i.e. (by
implication) to wound, to dissolve; figuratively to profane (a person, place or
thing), to break (one's word)' (Strong's no. 2490).
Remember back in Gen.4:26 when
men began "to call upon the name of the LORD"? This Nimrod is going to
turn out to be quite like the lifestyle before the flood and in the style of Esau's
thinking, who was 'profane' and sold his God given birthright as wares (Gen.25;
Heb.12:16). Esau was also a great hunter, while his brother Jacob was a husbandman,
tending flocks. Two 'manner' of peoples are being compared here, those who have reverence
for The LORD, and those who profane Him. (This does not mean all those who 'hunt' game
fit this analogy. See Gen.25> about Esau and Jacob to discover why God said He
'hated' Esau.)
Gen
10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and
Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Shinar
is the country between two rivers, i.e. the land of ancient Babylonia. This Nimrod
became powerful to the peoples of that land of ancient Babel.
This word 'Babel' means
'confusion' (Strong's no. 894). And in this sense, this
'confusion' means Satan taking the pure Truth of God's Righteousness, and twisting It,
perverting It. The wicked one will try and steal anything and everything our Heavenly
Father created, and pass it off as his own. Remember, Satan wants to be 'God' (Ezek.28;
31; Isa.14; 2 Thess.2). So 'any' doctrine which does not align with God's True Word is
this 'confusion', or 'Babel'.
So just as before the flood of Noah's time, when men began
to profane The Name of The LORD, and they began setting up 'things' to worship instead of
our Father Jehovah, here again, after the flood, the same thing starts up again. It didn't
take long for man to stray again did it? And... this profaning is still with us even to
today. When Lucifer first rebelled against our Heavenly Father, pulling a third of God's
children with him in rebellion, that's when this profaning first began (Rev.12).
Moreover, we are living in a time when this Babel
of old is being setup again over all the earth, spiritually encompassing all nations
within it. This is what most of the systems of controls among the various U.N. groups are
about. Their goal is "one world government", which is not my term; that phrase
was coined by certain world leaders long ago. And just as God's People have gone through
the testing of Noah's flood time, and the Tower of Babel event coming up in the next
Chapter 11 of Genesis, and then both 'houses' of Israel went through a Babylon or Assyrian
captivity, likewise we are going to go through this final Babel system being
setup over all the earth today. God's remnant who followed Him during those past events
faired pretty well, and we have no reason to believe otherwise for us during this future
final captivity, for God is with us during this time also (Heb.13:5; 1 Sam.12:22;
Ps.37:25-28; Isa.41; 2 Pet.3; 1 Pet.5:6-7; 2 Cor.4; Rom.12; Luke 10:19). Stay in our
Father's Word to know how to be an 'overcomer' through Christ Jesus.
Gen 10:11 Out of
that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, (and the city Rehoboth), and Calah,
12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great
city.
This reference to 'Asshur' connects with Nimrod going into the land of Assyria (Asshur),
such as "he went forth into Asshur". Some scholars state that 'Asshur' was
founded long before Nimrod's time, and I tend to agree.
Nineveh, meaning 'the abode of Ninus',
was the capital city of Assyria, built on the eastern bank of the Tigris river (Strong's
no.5210, BDB definition). The Greek historian Herodotus says that Ninus built
Nineveh, as he was the grandson of Belus who built Babylon.3
This would agree that Nimrod was not the founder of Nineveh from the previous verses.
This 'Rehoboth' means 'streets' (Strong's no.
7344). It has most often meant as the city streets of Nineveh. Calah also is a city in
ancient Assyria along with Resen. All these may be seen as suburb cities making up
Nineveh.
This area of Nineveh, Jonah would be commanded by God to
go preach to (Jonah 1:2). Nineveh would also be the land where the 'ten tribes' of the
northern kingdom 'house of Israel' would be taken captive to (2 Kings 17).
Gen
10:13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and
Caphtorim.
These would later be associated with the lands of Egypt, Phut, Lybia, and Ethiopia,
Pathros, Copts (see also Jer.46:19; Ezek.30:5; Nahum 3:9; Dan.11:43; Isa.11:11; Jer.44;
Amos.9:7).
Gen
10:15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and
afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou
comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and
Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their
tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
Now we get down to the offspring of Ham's son Canaan. Sidon means 'hunting',
and refers to the 'Zidon' of Scripture in Gen.49:13; Isa.23 (Strong's no. 6721; BDB def.).
Zidon associates with the city of Tyre, an ancient city of commerce. This word Sidonians
is a generic name for the ancient Phoenicians.
Heth means 'terror' (Strong's no. 2845;
BDB def.). From Heth would come the Hittites.
Jebusite is the Canaanite people whom the city of
Jebus was named after. That city of Jebus would later become the city of Jerusalem after
God told the Israelites to claim it. It was accomplished under King David (Exod.23;
Numbers 13). In Numbers 13:23-33, the Israelites who went out to scout the land of Canaan
which God gave them had some very disturbing reports:
Num
13:28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities
are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak
there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and
the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the
sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
So
why were these Israelites so fearful of these 'children of Anak'? Who were these
'Anak'?
Num
13:32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had
searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to
search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we
saw in it are men of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants,
the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight
as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
The
'children of Anak' were the Anakim, a race of giants! (Deut.2:10-11).
Thought I would mention this Anakim before we get
too far away from Genesis 6. If you understood why God brought the flood of Noah's time,
that is, to wipe out the hybrid result of the fallen angels mating with the daughters of
the man Adam, then you should be asking how these giants here of the Anakim remained.
Genesis 6:4 God's Word stated, "There were giants in the earth in those days; and
also after that...". These Anakim were part of the 'also after
that' bunch, meaning after the times of Noah's flood. So there was either another
mating session going on with the daughters of flesh men, or Noah's flood was a local
flood, and didn't completely wipe all the giant race out (I lean towards a second mating
event of flesh woman with fallen angels).
God commanded Israel to wipe out those ancient peoples of
the land of Canaan, literally, "...thou shalt save alive nothing that
breatheth" (Deut.20:16). That commandment by God to the Israelites has
been a little hard for many to take, but consider the following. The existence of the
giant race upon earth, which produced the legends of ancient mythology, made the 'playing
field' unbalanced. Those Rephaim, or 'giants' kept powers and abilities of the heavenly
realms while flesh. If allowed to remain, all flesh men would soon begin to totally
worship the 'giants' as 'gods' (Many did, literally, as evidenced in the writings of
ancient Greek, Egyptian, Hindu mythology). The Israelites succeeded in wiping out the
'giant' race, but that's as far as they went (see Judges 2:20-23).
Because Israel disobeyed God, our Father left the false
worshippers of the Canaanites to prove Israel with, even to this day! So how well has
Israel done so far, staying away from false worship which those Canaanite nations were
loaded with, and remaining a separate people to God,...hmm? This applies to BOTH 'houses'
of Israel, not solely the Jews, but ALL twelve tribes of Israel.
Gen
10:21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of
Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and
Aram.
23 And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
24 And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
Now
we come to Noah's youngest son Shem. This branch would continue into the future Seed of
the Woman, being the bloodline lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This name 'Eber' means 'a region across; on
the opposite side (especially of the Jordan, usually meaning the east)' (Strong's
nos. 5677; 5676). Eber is the root word for 'Hebrew' (Strong's no. 5680). So this
is where the label of 'Hebrew' first began, that is to say, with Shem's son Eber.
Gen
10:25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg;
for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
This name 'Peleg' means 'earthquake; division' (Strong's no. 6389; &
BDB def.). Many believe this is when the continents and plates shifted, and that this is
the meaning of the verse. The earth's land mass division happened between Gen.1:1 and 1:2,
not here after Noah's flood. This verse actually has more meaning as to the divisions of
the various families upon the earth just after the flood, as verse 32 will point out.
Gen
10:26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazar-maveth, and Jerah,
27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons
of Joktan.
30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount
of the east.
31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after
their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their
generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth
after the flood.
Concerning these names, most all of these names previous scholars have linked with where
Yemen is today. But don't hold literally to all these relationships to those families and
the land, because they are not necessarily the same peoples who are there today. Abraham
hadn't been born at this point, so Yemen, an Arab nation could not have been peopled with
Arabs there at this point. It would only be speculation as to what race of peoples were in
these lands at this point of Genesis 10. Keep that in mind.
The
next Chapter of Genesis 11 will cover the 'tower of Babel' event which really
made our Heavenly Father angry, so He confused the 'tongue', and scattered these
various peoples over all the earth. It will continue with the Family history of Noah's son
Shem, and the beginning of Abraham's history.
Peace to you in Christ
Jesus,
Dave Ramey.
Footnotes:
1 The
Companion Bible, (Kregel Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI., 1990), margin note on
Gen.10:2, p. 15.
2 Ibid.,
margin note on Gen.10:11, p. 16.
3
Nineveh. Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database, PC Study Bible, Biblesoft,
1998.
All references to
"Strong's nos." are from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, PC Study Bible,
Biblesoft, 1993-1996.
All references to
"BDB" are from Brown, Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Woodside
Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada, 1993, PC Study Bible, Biblesoft, 1993-1996.
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