New World History
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2019 · 30 June 2019
Well, in Genesis 10 you're going to find out whether you would like Seminary. Genealogies are very popular today. Now you can find a number of websites on the Internet where you can trace your genealogy. The most notable source of genealogical information of course is the Mormon Church, but people seem to be compelled to find their origin.
Well, one thing is sure, you descended from the family of Noah. So you can say, "My family survived the great flood.” Because back in the Genesis 9:18 - 19, it says the sons of Noah came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth, and it says further, "These three were the sons of Noah and from these the whole earth was populated.” Noah is in your family tree through one of these three sons.
Scripture tells us more about these three sons in Genesis 10 and 11, we have lines of descent from these three sons. In Genesis 10:2, the sons of Japheth, and it goes on, verse 6, the sons of Ham, and it goes on to list them, and then in verse 21 also to Shem, and it goes on to list them. This chapter is called the Table of Nations, or the Family of Nations. It traces the descent of man through the three sons of Noah.
And there is more of this genealogical tracking found in Genesis 11, which we will learn in the future. But it only considers the children of Shem, because they are the dominant people in the story of redemption in Scripture. So here is Noah and his three sons, the second starting point for human history. This is history in the new world and we can all claim Noah as a distant relative.
The next crucial man on the genealogical charts in redemptive history is Abraham. And Abraham is introduced in Genesis 12. We really get into the singular importance of Abraham, the Lord's purpose for Abraham, though his name appears at the end of Genesis 11 in the genealogies. Noah, obviously is a critically important person, but the next significant person is Abraham.
And so between Noah and Abraham, we have this genealogical record which includes sons of Japheth, sons of Ham, but most specifically, sons of Shem because Abraham comes from the line of Shem. And from Abraham comes the Jewish race, the Hebrews, the people of Israel. From Abraham came the Jews, to whom God gave covenants, promises, adoption, the law, the Scriptures, and the Messiah.
But to get to Abraham, we have to work our way through this genealogy of the sons of Noah. This is the only existing written record, authored by Moses and inspired by God. That's why Shem is the last one listed here. It's as if the Lord talks about Japheth, talks about Ham, gives something of their history, and that clears the path to get to Shem. Because from Shem came Abraham, and the line of redemption for us.
There are 70 persons, tribes, and families and nations are listed altogether, to make this a comprehensive early history, and to establish the flow of history to Abraham. This was what God pledged and this is what God commanded, and it was fulfilled. And this shows how they were scattered from that starting point in the Middle East, which is still the theatre of redemptive history and will be until the very end.
And we will learn a lot about Babel when we get to Genesis 11. The son of Ham was Cush, the son of Cush was Nimrod, who is Noah's grandson who leads a worldwide rebellion against the living God, who is the Creator and Judge. So this is a story of sadness, both in the specific illustration and as we learn about all these people, tribes and nations who are all idolaters.
They have abandoned the true and living God. What you see here is the hopelessness of humanity without God. The warning of the flood which drown the entire world didn't seem to have any effect on these people because they quickly forgot. They were more interested in themselves and what the world offers. They wanted to build a tower that would reach to heaven and we see many efforts like that now.
Noah lived for 350 years after the flood; so they had firsthand testimony that would have been given to his children and grandchildren about the tremendous flood. The father of Nimrod, Cush, the great grandson of Noah, would have heard stories about the flood. And what you see here is this wickedness of man, in spite of what they knew from their grandfather’s history.
So God establishes a witness nation. It had 600 years of decline, and God calls Abraham and says out of you I'm going to bring a great people, and to this people I am going to give My Law, My promises and My blessings, and they're going to be a witness nation to the world. That was God's purpose for Israel. A witness nation to a world of polytheists and animists that there is only one true God.
So here we are at the beginning of the second world history. And we're going to see these nations in relationship to Israel, who were hearing Genesis for the first time as they were about to enter the Promised Land. Let us examine this genealogical record. There are the sons of Japheth, followed by the sons of Ham, followed by the sons of Shem. Each of these sections has three categories.
First, the son is listed, Japheth, Ham and Shem; secondly, the descendants of the son are listed; and thirdly, a summary is given concerning these offspring. Remember in Genesis 9:25 Noah cursed Canaan. Canaan winds up being a servant to both Shem and Japheth. Shem is blessed and served by Canaan, who is the son of Ham. Japheth is enlarged, has a peaceful partnership with Shem, and is also served by Canaan.
Canaan certainly was not a worshipper of God, and thus he could be cursed. God doesn't curse those who belong to him. Read carefully Genesis 3:14-17, God actually cursed the serpent and God actually cursed the ground, but God did not curse Adam nor Eve. They came under the curse on Satan because it affected mankind. So did the curse on the ground affected mankind, but curses are only reserved for unbelievers.
And so God’s curse falls on Canaan. And the curse is that he would be a servant of servants; that he would wind up enslaved under the dominant rule of others. All nations in the world come from Japheth, Ham, or Shem. And here we find that in God's purposes, children of Ham through Canaan would be servants to the descendants of Japheth and Shem. And we'll see in a moment that that in fact did come to pass.
In Genesis 9:26, Shem is blessed and Canaan is his servant, and Japheth is blessed by enlargement and peace with Shem, and Canaan is his servant. Now ultimately that comes to fulfillment when the children of Shem, the Semites, the Jewish people, conquer the Canaanites and take over the Promised Land, but there's more to it. It doesn't fully explain how Canaan becomes the servant of Japheth. We'll see that next.
Now let's look at Genesis 9: 27 - May God enlarge Japheth. Japheth was promised to dwell in the tents of Shem, and that Canaan would be his servant. This happened. Canaan did become the servant of Japheth, Genesis 14 talks about king Tidal, King of Guine (gentiles). It means nations and peoples. So descendants of Japheth under this King imposed servitude on the Canaanite cities of Judah.
Let's start with Japheth's line, “2 his sons were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras; 3 and the sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah; 4 the sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Dodanim; 5 from these the lands were separated, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.” This assumes the Tower of Babel incident has happened.
Japheth is the father of the Indo-European nations. It was in the 19thcentury that it became clear that the languages of the East and the West were related. And one of the earliest languages that is at the base of both eastern and western languages is an extinct language called Sanskrit. The Webster's Dictionary states that the Indo-European languages “are the most important linguistic family of the globe.”
In verse 2, we meet Gomer. Information from historians indicate that Gomer's people settled north of the Black Sea in an area called Crymia, and even beyond it. Later they expanded into Europe, settling in France called Gall, in Spain called Galacia, and in Britain called Celts. All of those are created of the three consonants in the word Gomer.
Six other sons are mentioned; Magog is mentioned, but hard to identify. You find Magog also in Ezekiel 35. Magog is symbolic of the end time confederacy that comes to fight against the Messiah in the last days, but it's hard to know where Magog is. Josephus identifies Magog as the place where the people of Gogh lived, around the Caspian Sea. That's the region of southern Russia, the Ukraine.
Now in verse 3, we meet some of the sons of Gomer. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. They later moved to Germany so that Jews identified their people, German Jews, as Ashkenazi Jews. Togarmah we know about, direct ancestor of Armenians. Terms like Turkey, Turkistan, Targum, come from Togarmah, the ancestors. Now let's go to the Indo part.
The third son mentioned in verse 2, is Madai, which is the root of the ancient Meads who lived in Persia, and later lived in India and were part of an empire called the Meado-Persian Empire. The ancient people of the east were known by only one name: Yahban. This terms comes from Yeban. Our most inclusive term is Hellas, from which we have the word Hellenist, which is another word for the Greeks.
Those of us who come from Europe most likely come from Japheth. Even those who come from Russia, Iran and India. And it is believed that people migrating across Russia, came all the way to the Bearing Straits, down into Alaska, down into the North American continent, down into the South American continent - and they became the Native Americans.
They became the great colonizers of the world. So based on this, most of the world's population are Japhethites. And God said they will be enlarged. Students of history will tell us that they occupy most of the world, Europe, Eastern Europe and Western Europe. They went west and east all the way to India, all the way across Russia, all the way down the Americas. A big portion of the earth belongs to descendants of Japheth, who are enlarged.
And now let us look at the whole Hamite clan. “6 Ham had four sons; Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan. 7 Cush had five sons and two grandsons from Raamah named Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.” Seven names associated in verses 13 and 14 are families, not individuals. And then from Mizraim come all the ims that are indicated there.
Cush is the Bible's name for Ethiopia. There was also a Cush in Arabia, and Nimrod, son of Cush, built his world empire in the Mesopotamian Valley, directly east of Israel, known as the Fertile Crescent, the Tigris and Euphrates Valley. Mizraim is Egypt, verse 13, Phut is Libia in North Africa, and Canaan, the fourth son, was the ancestor of the various tribes that settled in the Promised Land.
Some evidence connects the heritage of Asian people to the descendants from the Hivite strains of Ham. The other possibility of the origin of the Asians is from the Sinite strain of Ham at end of verse 17. Do you know that American Chinese relations are called Sino-American relations? The study of China is called Sinology. But for sure they all came from Noah's family.
Let’s look at verses 8-12 which introduces us to this one child of Cush named Nimrod. 9 “He became a mighty hunter before the Lord.” In other words, if you wanted to say somebody was really powerful, you would say he was like Nimrod. “10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.” This is the first time in the Bible that the word kingdom is used. He was the world's first king.
When it says he was a mighty hunter, it doesn't mean he was a hunter of animals, he was a killer of men. He was a mighty warrior and he ruled ruthlessly right in the middle of the Euphrates Valley. Great in power, great in sin, great in idolatry, great in defiance of God. This was the first real city of man in the new world, built for man's glory. It was a preview of a later city called Babylon.
Now let us get to the main one. Verse 21, "Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth.” He's listed last because that clears the path for the genealogy and the account that leads to Abraham. And here is the first reference to the word Hebrew. It is from Shem that produces all the sons of Eber, and gave the name Hebrew to the chosen people.
Verse 22 and following lists the sons of Shem. This group stretched across the Middle East from north to south. Elam, the father of the Elamites, we read about him in Genesis 14. They had a king named Kedarlaomer, who invaded Canaan, so that the sons of Canaan served the sons of Shem. And among his allies was this King of Goem, the Havaheim, the coastline people from Japheth.
So in the Battle of Kedarlaomer, Canaan was subdued both by the sons of Japheth and the sons of Shem. Elamites lived east of Mesopotamia and mixed with the Meads they made up the Persian Empire. Notice that Asher, father of the Assyrians, were conquered by Nimrod, so they became racially mixed. And it was the Aramians who developed Aramaic. Daniel and Ezra of the Bible are in Aramaic.
So Ham settles in the south, from Africa to Asia. Japheth settles to the north, Europe and into the northeast Persia and India. And Shem stays in the Middle East. Verse 31 says, "These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations.” Twenty six families are listed from Shem, 30 from Ham and 14 from Japheth, totaling 70 families.
Next time we're going to see how God scattered the people from Babel in one of the most fascinating sections of Genesis. God is in control over everything and we will see how He dispersed all the people having their own language and culture, yet coming from the same origin. Praise the Lord. Let us pray.