If you’re the slightest bit into genealogy you might find Genesis 10 interesting. Not only is it a record of Noah’s descendants, it also gives us a glimpse of where different cultures originated. Each son and their “begets” are listed for posterity.
Japheth:
He was rather prolific and had kids with names like Gomer, Magog, and Javan. Javan’s offspring are credited with being 5…maritime peoples who spread out into their territories by their clan within their nations, each with its own language. (This doesn’t happen until chapter 11, but we’ll get to that next time.) According to my concordance the Japhethites established areas such as Greece, Southern Spain, Italy and areas from eastern Asia Minor north to the Black Sea. (See? Don’t you think that’s interesting?)
Ham:
Ham had four sons. Cush, Mizraim (aka Egypt), Put and Canaan.
Cush was the father of Nimrod. (I wonder if he had another son named Bonehead. I can almost hear the old men at the gate, “Look, Bubba. It’s them Cush kids, Nimrod and Bonehead. I hear tell they ain’t very smart.”) Nimrod’s spawn grow up to build great cities, including Nineveh of Jonah fame. (Again, we’ll get to that much later.)
Mizraim (Egypt) was the father of a bunch of “ites”, including the Casluhites whom the Philistines came from.
No mention of Put’s kids. Hm.
And then we get to the infamous Canaan, Ham’s cursed son. He also fathered several “ites”: Hittites; Jebusites; Amorites and other, lesser known “ites”. These clans all scatter towards all kinds of places that have been renamed, though I think we all will recognize the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah – those Canaan kids were that bad.
Shem
Shem (the father of Semites) sired Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. Arphaxad fathered the line of Jesus down through Eber, which is where the word “Hebrew” comes from. (Now come on. Don’t tell me that’s not just a little interesting.)
And from all these Japhethites, Hamites and Semites 32…the nations spread out over the earth after the flood. Makes me wonder which line I came from.
Well, I know I came from Shem’s line. No question.
Thank you for trippin’ thru Genesis, Jenster. I’m not quite as far along in my daily reading, but it’s sure an amazing book. I gain more appreciation and application from it each time I read it thru.
By: gretchen on January 10, 2010
at 9:59 pm
Makes you realize there is really only one race with different “tribes” since we all descended from Noah! You did a good job sis, pretty much the same as Gary preached! Actually, we all descended from Adam and Eve, but I think you know what I mean, since everyone but Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives were destroyed in the flood.
By: Michele on January 13, 2010
at 11:04 pm