Some scholars call this chapter the table of nations because you can see how the nations come about through Noah’s sons’ descendants. In my last issue, I talked about Noah’s drunkenness and Ham’s sin. We will see how that affects Genesis 10.
As we talk about Genesis 10, there’s a pattern of seeing how Noah’s sons and their descendants become the national entities of the Bible. This is how each son is connected to the world.
The pattern will be to start with one of the three sons and show their descendants. Then, the text will show how those descendants become the nations and regions of the world. We are diving in to one of the most interesting chapters in Genesis.
Japheth Generations and the Table of Nations
Genesis 10:1-5: These are the generations of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. Japheth’s sons were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. Gomer’s sons were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. Javan’s sons were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the coastland peoples spread out in their land, each with his own language by their clans in their nations.
The table of nations begins with a phrase we have seen in Genesis before. “These are the generations…” is an English phrase that has one word in Hebrew, generations. It can be a sort of table of contents marker.
Sometimes the phrase just refers to the opening of a genealogy. But other times, it starts a new section of Genesis. In Genesis, this phrase is probably the marker of a new section. It is probably part of this separate record or book Moses used in Genesis.
Don’t be alarmed that Moses used other documents as he wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Some people are concerned that talking about other materials brought into the text borders on issues of inspiration.
Inspiration is how the Holy Spirit used all the resources at Moses’ disposal to write what he did. The table of nations was probably a genealogical and geographical record Moses had with him. He inserted it here to show the connections between Noah, his sons, and their descendants.
This would be a very interesting document for the Israelites to read as they were about to enter the Promised Land. They would want to understand the history of the peoples in Canaan.. They could see how Noah’s descendants affect the world in their day.
Genealogical records and their geographies can also explain why certain nations act a certain way. For instance, we just talked about Ham’s sin in our last issue on Genesis 9. Remember that it said twice that Ham was the father of Canaan.
The Israelites will now see Ham’s descendants in the land of Canaan. When God tells them to utterly destroy the people, animals, and their possessions, they will now understand that the Canaanites commit the same sins as their father.
The things they do in the land of Canaan are evil before the Lord. They would understand that God wanted them to cleanse the land of the same sins that were happening before the Flood. The time of God’s judgment upon the Canaanites had come, and it was in the form of Israel taking over the land God had promised to Abraham long ago.
We begin with Japheth’s genealogical line. It starts by naming Japheth’s sons and then in the following verses the text shows the lines of each of those sons. The Israelites would have read this and understood the nations in the coastlands, the people’s and clans of that area.
They were honorable like Japheth. At least, they were honorable to the point that Japheth was to his father. We see the people of the coastlands mentioned in prophecy. By the time Israel was in the land, these nations like all the nations around Israel, including Israel, had in some way angered the Lord with their conduct.
Ham’s Generations and the Table of Nations
Genesis 10:6-14: Ham’s sons were Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. Cush’s sons were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. Raamah’s sons were Sheba and Dedan. Now Cush fathered Nimrod. He began to be a mighty man on earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” And his kingdom’s beginning was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. From that land, he himself entered Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is, the great city). And Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (the Philistines came from him), and Caphtorim.
We continue to look at the table of nations through Ham’s descendants. I have not given the meaning of each name because there are many names. However, in Ham’s genealogical line, there are pauses in the genealogy to further describe some of the descendants. I will give more time to names like Nimrod.
When a genealogical record stops to give further information about a certain descendent, the text wants us to perk up and understand why it is giving more commentary before it continues with the rest of the genealogical record.
Ham’s lineage is important because it will be a people in place we see most in the Old Testament. Canaan and the nations that come from Ham’s descendants will be surrounding Israel all its biblical history.
I want to briefly touch on an issue I mentioned in my last issue. People in the time of the 1800s connected Ham with Cush, who settles in what will become Babylon and Assyria. His name does mean “a black countenance, full of darkness.”
Egypt seems to be a person in this genealogy as well. However, Genesis 9 has already explained that Ham is the father of Cush and Egypt. We know Egypt is to the southwest of Israel (Canaan at this time).
This is important because Ham’s genealogical line does not say that he was dark skinned were black. His descendants would have moved into regions where their skin would be affected by the sun. Ham’s sin is in no way linked to the color of his skin.
Racism that led up to the Civil War and was happening in their times from slavery even to now has no basis in Genesis 9-10. Passages like Galatians 3:26-29 show that amo so that doesn’t mean ng Christians, racism and division have no place. We have all been made new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
This genealogical record is not recorded for the sake of connecting people’s sin with their ethnicity. Sin happens in all human beings no matter where they come from or their background. That is clear from other Bible passages like Romans 3:23.
The table of nations shows us the connections between Ham and his descendants, and how they became the nations in Canaan. Once again, you see how it gives you Ham’s sons and then the descendants of each of his sons.
The genealogy takes a moment to zoom in on Cush and his descendants. Those descendants are the ones who inhabit the land north of Canaan, which will be the land Israel takes over. Cush is the father of a man named Nimrod (“a rebel, rebellious”).
The genealogy zooms in further on Nimrod. He is one of the most important people in this genealogical record. We learn more about in our next issue on Genesis 11. The genealogical record tells us key information about Nimrod.
First, his name refers to his actions. He is “a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The Lord gives Nimrod the gift of being a skilled hunter. You might recall our discussion of the mighty men (giants) of Genesis 6. It’s possible we can understand Nimrod to be a giant, or at least have the characteristics of the giants.
The text does not tell us he is a giant. But it does have the same language and wording of Genesis 6 that talks about the giants as mighty men of old, champions. Like a rebel, Nimrod will do much more than become a great hunter and a mighty man. We will learn more about that in Genesis 11.
The table of nations is clear that both Babel and Nineveh are places he built in his kingdom that included these areas. Babylon and Assyria will come from Nimrod who came from Cush who came from Ham.
The genealogy picks up by listing Egypt’s descendants. Interestingly, the Philistines are from that land and area. They are known in history as a seafaring people. They did not originate near Canaan. Most archaeologists and historians link them to Greece.
They probably migrated on the seas through to Crete, and then into the northern area of Tyre and Sidon. It’s also possible that Genesis is using “Philistines” is a term for any seafaring people that migrated to areas north and around Canaan.
Canaan’s Generations and the Table of Nations
Genesis 10:15–20: 15 Canaan was the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. And afterward, the clans of the Canaanites spread out. And the Canaanites’ border went from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are Ham’s sons by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
The genealogical record of the table of nations now gives us the genealogy of Canaan leading to familiar nations in the land of Canaan. Many of these nations and clans should be familiar to you. These are the clans and nations Israel fought with and had as neighbors.
You will notice the notable Sodom and Gomorrah and their surrounding cities. We know about them from the rest of Genesis. The other nations in Canaan will be the undoing of Israel because they were not able in the times of Joshua and the judges to root out these nations and destroy them.
We see a common including remark reminding us that these are the sons of Ham. Like the other descendants who became nations, they have their own clans, languages, and nations. When we get to Genesis 11, we will notice something strange.
The table of nations tells us all these different lands had their own languages. But in Genesis 11, the text tells us everyone had the same language. Some scholars believe Genesis 10 should have happened in the middle of Genesis 11, or the end of it.
Because this is a different document showing the genealogies and nations that arose from Noah and his three sons, placing it here believes in the fact that these nations will have their own languages after the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. But this does not affect Scripture. It is how Moses arranged the text of Genesis.
Shem’s Generations and the Table of Nations
Genesis 10:21-32: And Shem, he was also the father of all the children of Eber, Japheth’s older brother. Shem’s sons were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. Aram’s sons were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. And Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. To Eber two sons were born. One’s name was Peleg because in his days, the earth was separated. And his brother’s name was Joktan. Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan’s sons. The territory in which they lived was from Mesha toward Sephar to the hill country of the east. These are Shem’s sons by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. These are the clans of Noah’s sons according to their descendants, in their nations, and from these the nations spread out on the earth after the flood.
The table of nations continues to explain to us how the nations came to me. They all descended from Noah’s three sons. The final part of Genesis 10 highlights Shem’s genealogical line. Shem is very important, and that’s why his genealogical line has been arranged last.
Eber is the person from whom Abraham’s genealogical line develops. The genealogical record reminds us that Shem is the oldest brother. This note is here in the record because it should have started with Shem as the eldest. But Moses places it here for the effect of making it the focus at the end of Genesis 11.
The genealogical record in the table of nations makes note of Peleg (“ division”). This genealogical note probably refers to the division that happened at the Tower of Babel. Peleg was around at the time God divided the people by languages.
After the introduction and note about Peleg, the genealogical record and table of nations moves on to his brother, Joktan. The text names all his sons. Then it moves to the concluding remarks about Joktan and where his descendants and people lived.
Genesis 10:31 concludes the genealogical record of Shem with the same explanation of the table of nations in their clans, languages, lands, and nations. Then Genesis 10:32 closes out the whole table of nations and genealogy of Noah with concluding remarks that these are the clans and people that descended from Noah’s three sons.
The Saga Continues…
In the table of nations, this final verse is like a hinge for Genesis 11. It tells us that from Noah’s three sons spread out all the nations of the earth. It foreshadows what happens at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 by whetting our appetite to see how the nations spread out on the earth. The answer is in the next section.
We will see in the next issue how the nations were separated and divided into people groups that spread out on the earth. During the next issue, we will discuss the Tower of Babel and how it changed the surface of the earth, and how humans interact and with one another.
