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JAPHETH, CAM AND SHEM

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 mostly contains genealogies of the first families, from which descends the entire population of the world.

This is the order: the sons of Japheth, then those of Cam and finally those of Shem; as in other parts of the Bible, we see that the two "rejected" lines are first mentioned, with some comments, not to be mentioned anymore; the "chosen" line, mentioned last, is followed in the Bible until the birth of Jesus Christ: today we find that it is the only one (the Jews) that did not blend with the others!

The descendants of Japheth

An ethnologist named H.S. Miller made a thorough study of the origins of the nations based on this chapter, other biblical portions and archaeological discoveries, and prepared an ethnological map from which he draws the following conclusions:

• Of Magog : Scythians, Slavs, Russians, Bulgarians, Bohemians, Poles, Slovaks, and Croatians.

• Of Madai: Indians and Iranian races: Medes, Persians, Afghans, Kurds.

• Of Javan : Greeks, Romans and the Latin nationalities as Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish.

• O Tiras : Thracians, Teutons, Germans, Saxons, Anglos, and from them the Scandinavians, Danes, Dutch, English, Austrians, Czechs, Hungarians.

The descendants of Ham

According to the same map, we conclude that their descendants were:

• Of Canaan, who carried the curse of Noah: the Phoenicians, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

• Of Cush : Africans, Ethiopians, Libyans.
  We have details of one of his sons, Nimrod. He began to be mighty in the land, and he was a mighty hunter before the Lord, not meaning, according to scholars, that he hunted animals, but that he sought power over men. He started in the land of Shinar, where Babel was, and there became king (he probably promoted the construction of the tower), and ambitiously sought to become emperor of the world (according to secular history). His name means “rebel”, and he was the founder of Babel, a hunter of the souls of men, a figure or type of the last prince of the world to come, the antichrist. After the ruin of the project of the tower of Babel, he moved away to Assyria, where he initiated several cities, including Nineveh.

The descendants of Shem

Two curious things appear in verse 21:

1. Shem, the eldest son of Noah, is described as the father of all the children of Eber, his grandson (v.25): the Israelites, descendants of Eber, therefore called Hebrews in antiquity (Genesis 14:13, Philippians 3:5), were also children of Shem, or Semites – and still have that name! No other people is called Semitic, not even the Arabs, who are also the descendants of Abraham, but illegitimate, not being children of his wife but of his Egyptian slave.

2. Brother of Japheth the elder: this is the literal translation of the Hebrew, though some translators have not resisted the temptation to translate the elder brother of Japheth, which seems more logical. According to the original, Japheth was the eldest son of Noah - and appears first in this chapter.

No other nations apart from these appear as descendants of Shem, possibly because they lost their identity by merging with others.

Peleg got his name, which probably means "division", because he was born in the days when the land was divided. There are three hypotheses:

1. When he was born, his father Eber divided his territory between his two sons.
2. Noah probably had tried to divide the land among his descendants, before the episode of Babel, at the time Peleg was born.
3. More probably, Peleg was born when the confusion of tongues took place at Babel.

 

R David Jones

1 Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5 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.
6 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD."
10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,
12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).
13 Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
14 Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim).
15 Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth;
16 the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite;
17 the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite;
18 the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed.
19 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.
20 These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.
21 And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder.
22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24 Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber.
25 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.
26 Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.
30 And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east.
31 These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.
32 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 chapter 10.