Genesis 10:1-4

Here we shall vary a little from our usual method. Instead of writing in full each of the 32 verses, we shall give a chart setting forth visually the descent of all nations from Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

JAPHETH

GOMER Descendants of Gomer have been assigned to

the Caspian and Black Sea areas (Pulpit Commentary),

and to Germany (Teachers' Bible Commentary).

Ashkenaz Wales, Brittany (Old Testament Commentary);

Germany (Flavius Josephus).

Riphath North Europe (Old Testament Commentary);

Phrygia (Flavius Josephus).

Togarmah Armenians (Old Testament Commentary).

MAGOG Caucasians (Flavius Josephus),

Medes, Kurds, Armenians (Old Testament Commentary).

MADAI The Ionians (Old Testament Commentary),

or the Medes (Flavius Josephus).

JAVAN Thessalay (Flavius Josephus),

Sicily (Old Testament Commentary),

or Greece (Teachers' Bible Commentary).

Elishah

Tarshish Spain, Tuscany, Tarsus in Cilicia (Old Testament Commentary)

and (Flavius Josephus). Spain is most certainly correct.

Kittim Cyprus (Henry M. Morris)

Dodanim Rhodes (J. R. Dummelow's Commentary)

TUBAL The Tibereni (J. R. Dummelow's Commentary)

MESCHECH The Moschi southeast of the Black Sea (J. R. Dummelow's Commentary)

Moscow (Teachers' Bible Commentary)

TIRAS The Thracians (Flavius Josephus)

HAM

CUSH These were the Ethiopians or Africans.

Seba The kingdom of Meroe (Old Testament Commentary)

Havilah These and the next four populated the coasts of Sabtah

Arabia and Africa along the Red Sea (J. R. Dummelow's Commentary)

Raamah

Sheba

Dedan

Sabteca

Nimrod Babylon, Assyria, Nineveh

MIZRAIM The Egyptians (Henry M. Morris)

Ludim The Moors

Anamin The Egyptian Delta

Lehabin

Naphtuhim

Pathrusim

Casluhim Philistines

Caphtorim Crete (J. R. Dummelow's Commentary)

Philistines were also here (Amos 9:7).

PUT

CANAAN These peoples populated the land of Canaan, Palestine.

Sidon Identified with the city of that name

Heth

Jebusites The original inhabitants of Judea

Amorites

Girgashite

Hivite They settled near Mount Hermon.

Arkite

Sinite Lebanon or Mount Sinai

Arvadite

Zemarite

Hamathite

SHEM

ELAM

ASSHUR The Assyrians

ARPACHSHAD The Chaldeans (Flavius Josephus)

Shelah

Eber Father of the Hebrews.

Peleg "The Earth was divided" (Genesis 10:25).

Joktan

Almodad

Sheleph

Hazermaveth

Jerah

Hadorum

Uzal

Diklah

Obal

Abimael

Sheba

Ophir 60 miles north of Bombay (Unger's Bible Commentary)

Havilah

Jobab

LUD These were the Lydians of Asia Minor

ARAM Aramaeans of Syria (Damascus) and Mesopotamia

Uz

Hul

Gether

Mash

It is clear enough that these lists are incomplete and selective. The sacred writer did not design them to be exhaustive in this report but merely to show that all the peoples of the earth descended from a SINGLE ancestor. It is also noted that sometimes the names of people, clans, or nations are substituted for the names of individuals, which meant it was impossible to ascertain in some cases.

Generally speaking, the sons of Japheth went north, those of Ham went south and southeast, and the Shemites went eastward. Josephus affirmed that the Shemites went all the way to the coast of India, an opinion apparently having some confirmation in the Semitic appearance of the North and South American Indians. His comment:

"Shem, the third son of Noah, had five sons, who inhabited the land that began at the Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean."[1]

It is admitted even by critical opponents of the Bible that this tenth chapter of Genesis is a "remarkably accurate historical document."[2] The descendants of Japheth settled primarily in Asia Minor and Europe, those of Ham populated Africa, Arabia, and Egypt, with the sons of Canaan occupying primarily the land that bore their name in perpetuity. The sons of Shem occupied the Tigris-Euphrates valley, spreading eastward and beyond into Asia. Of course, only the beginning of nations appears here. All of the peoples descended from Noah spread rapidly over the earth, and there were many overlapping districts in which the various families were commingled. The basis for postulating a two-source origin of this chapter is, as Aalders said, "facetious."[3] Here stands the unique record of the derivation of all the peoples of the earth from the patriarch Noah, thus establishing in the most convincing manner the unity of mankind. Among the questions which have concerned Bible students of this chapter are:

"The generations of Noah ..." The Hebrew word for "generations" here is [~toledowth], the great word that denotes the ten divisions of Genesis; and, "It never tells how persons or things came into being."[4] The word invariably deals with developments that came after such things or persons were already in existence.