Genesis Chapter 10 and 11 – John Karmelich

1. If I had to describe the next two chapters in one word, it would be the word “division”.

a) When I say division, I mean in the sense that the world becomes spiritually divided.

b) Notice what Jesus says on “division”. Jesus said, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
(Luke 12:51-53, NIV)

i) Jesus preached that not all people would get it. In fact, families would be divided as some members would be born again and others would not.

ii) In that “sense”, we are going to see that here in Genesis 10 and 11.

iii) Despite having Noah as a living witness, most people are going to turn away from God. We are going to have “divisions” among the descendants of Noah.

2. Chapters 10 and 11 are the bridge between Noah and Abraham.

a) Abraham is considered the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham was specifically called by God to be the father of the Jewish people.

i) Beginning in Chapter 12, we start a narrative detail of Abraham’s life.

ii) Genesis changes focus in Chapter 12 from a worldwide perspective to a one-family perspective on Abraham and his descendants.

b) Chapters 10-11 are a 250-300 year period that describes the world-events in between the flood of Noah and the call of Abraham.

3. It’s time for disclaimers about Chapter 10. J

a) Chapter 10 is often called the “Table of Nations”. It lists 70 specific people that lead 70 specific tribes of nations.

i) Many of these nations are then mentioned elsewhere in the bible.

ii) Note that the Jews, (i.e., the Israelites) are not listed among these 70.

iii) In a sense, Chapters 10 and 11 are “non-Jewish”.

a) The word “Gentiles” and the word “Nations” are the same Hebrew word.

iv) The focus is on all the Gentile (non-Jewish) Nations.

b) Chapter 10, and parts of Chapter 11, read like a reference list. It is mostly genealogies.

i) It is difficult to read this like a straight narrative. In that sense, it is boring to read.

ii) This chapter is best to see this section as a reference.

iii) Most of the commentaries and study-bibles on this section are full of notes explaining who each of these 70 people (and tribes) are and who they become.

iv) Many bible commentaries focus on the “who question”. If you haven’t noticed by now, these lessons are on the “why question”. J

v) As a Christian, I have now studied this section of the bible several times in my life. Each time I learn what all of these names means. Soon afterwards, I forget. J

vi) For those of you fascinated by the “who” question, there are lots of wonderful encyclopedia-like commentaries out there that focus on who each of these nations are, the archeological evidence for these nations, and where they are geographically.

a) For example, you can read one of these names, and discover how “this one” ended up being an Arab-nation, or “this one” a Slavic nation, or “this one” a European nation.

4. If I had to pick the important thing to learn from these 70 names, it is validates bible as truth.

a) Remember that God told Noah and his 3 sons to be “fruitful and multiply” and fill the whole earth with people. We now have this recorded genealogy of the 3 sons of Noah and how their children became the origins of all the non-Jewish nations of the world.

b) “The tenth chapter of Genesis ... stands absolutely alone in ancient literature, without a remote parallel, even among the Greeks, where we find the closest approach to a distribution of peoples in genealogical framework... The Table of Nations remains an astonishing accurate document.” (William F. Albright, cited in Boice, taken from David Guzik’s commentary on Genesis).

5. For many people, the best way to read Chapters 10-11 might be with a map at hand. Most study bibles come with a map of Chapter 10. As an appendix to this lesson, I also cut and past two maps and a chart. You may want to separate the last page of this lesson and keep as a reference.

a) Note that for some of the nations, there is some debate as the exact history and location. Archeologists study many secular records to validate the history of these names and people. Most have been validates by their locations. In a few cases, the exact location of where these tribes have ended up is uncertain. If you look at more than one bible map, you will see that some of the locations vary while some are “more certain”.

6. With that said, let’s get started. Chapter 10, Verse 1: This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah's sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

a) Let’s look at the last verse of Chapter 10: These are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

i) The first and last verses of Chapter 10 are both similar summary statements.

ii) In between the first and last verse of Chapter 10, are essentially, the details.

b) OK, time for the first “why” question. Why did the bible bother to list these people?

i) Let’s face it, God could have summarized Chapters 10 and 11 much more briefly and said, “The sons of Noah then had a bunch of kids, who spread out over all the earth.” Why bother to list everyone? Unless you are an archeologist, this is pretty dull reading. J How are these verses relevant to our life today?

ii) First of all, they are a reminder of the validity of the bible. God listed all of them and archeologists have validated them as to support the literalness of the bible.

iii) Second, God does care for all people. Many choose to willfully turn from God.

a) “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1^st Timothy 2:3, NIV)

b) Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:14, NKJV)

iv) Remember that prior to the flood, most of the world chose to reject God. Noah spent roughly a hundred years building an ark. I suspect he was mocked for his efforts and no one cared to join him.

v) Now in the post flood world, with Noah being a living witness, most of the people we are going to read about choose to reject God. The “sin gene” was still present in Noah and his three sons. Despite the recent history of the flood, despite Noah remaining alive as a living witness, it shows how people still choose to reject God.

vi) The “why” answer of Genesis 10 and 11 is to show how the continual pattern of the world’s rejection of God. The bible is a repetitive pattern of the majority of people refusing to come to God despite God’s “best efforts” to call people out of their own free will to come to him.

vii) This is why I call Chapter 10 and 11 “divisions”.

a) It is about the division of people throughout the world.

b) It is about how people are divided about God. Few choose the right path.

c) The rest is just details! J

7. Verses 2-5: The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim. ⁵ (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)

a) Let’s start with the good news. You don’t have to memorize all of these names to get into heaven. J Remember that this chapter reads like a reference dictionary.

b) If you want to see where these people end up geographically, look at the last page of this lesson, or consult your favorite study bible.

c) In these verses we start with one of the three sons of Noah, which is Japheth.

i) I suspect this is not a complete genealogy of Japheth’s kids. It focuses on the specific ones that actually start nations. Each of these people were tribal leaders.

a) For example, Verse 4 takes one of the direct sons of Japheth and lists his sons. This is not done for every one of Japheth’s children.

ii) You will find references to many of these names elsewhere in the bible.

iii) The good news is that I’m not going to cross-reference each of these people and nation in this lesson. J

iv) For those who do study further on the names and locations, it does help further bible study. For example, Ezekiel refers to Magog, as does Revelation. Once you learn that Magog means to the “north, or extreme north”, (most likely, it is Russia) the prophecies of Ezekiel have a better visual picture, and help you to understand where these people are in relationship to Israel.

8. Verse 6: The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. ⁷ The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah, Sheba and Dedan.

a) Verse 6 now changes the focus to another son of Noah: Ham.

b) Remember that Ham, and his direct son Canaan is the one Noah cursed after the drunken incident of Chapter 9.

c) There are more descendants named from Ham than from the other two sons.

i) Almost half of the 70 names in this chapter are from “the cursed” Ham’s line.

d) Again, If I wanted, I could give you pages of information on each one of these names and the nations, locations they founded. I’ll also predict that in six months you’ll forget which one was which. J I’m keeping my lessons focused on the “why” questions, not the “who” questions.

i) The “why” question and answer of this section is that God wants us to know that Noah’s sons did “fill the earth and multiply”, and further, seventy nations were “planted” on three continents (Europe, Asia and Africa).

e) Please remember that these names are referred to elsewhere in the bible. For example, Sheba and Dedan are mentioned in Ezekiel 38. Most likely, they represent (what is today called) Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. The “Queen of Sheba” visited Solomon (1^st Kings 10) and Jesus himself refers to the Queen of Sheba, who s called the “Queen of the South in Matthew 12:42, and Luke 11:31.

i) My point is to learn the background of some of these names is helpful in getting a geographic picture of studying the rest of the bible.

9. Verse 8: Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD." ¹⁰ The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah ¹² and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

a) We now interrupt this genealogy to give you an actual story. J

b) Verses 8-11 focus on the accounts of a guy named Nimrod.

c) It is important to understand that when the text says Nimrod was a “mighty hunter”, it refers to a “hunter of men”. It implies that Nimrod lead a great rebellion against those who want to follow God. Remember that Noah and his 3 kids were still alive and being a “living witness” to the flood story. Here was Nimrod leading a rebellion.

i) Remember back in Chapter 9 that Noah cursed Ham and his son Cush. Now Cush has this son Nimrod. Nimrod is credited with being the founder of the City of Babylon, the center of the Babylonian Empire as well as the founder of Nineveh the headquarters of the Assyrian Empire. These were the two empires that captured the Israelites and lead them away into captivity.

ii) Many centuries later, after Israel split into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom was eventually lead away by the Assyrians. The Southern Kingdom was eventually lead away by the Babylonians. Here we read of one guy named Nimrod, who was the founder of both locations.

d) Remember that Genesis is a book of “beginnings”. The focus of Nimrod is the first major, organized rebellion against God.

i) There are many places in the Old and New Testament were we get “hints” that somehow the leader of the Assyrians and the leader of the Babylonians are demonic and have Satanic origins.

a) In Isaiah Chapter 14, Isaiah is talking about the fall of the king of Babylon. By the time you get to Verse 12 of that chapter, Isaiah is talking about Satan himself, implying that Satan is the power behind the king.

e) For a Christian, when we read here of Nimrod, we can see “hints” and “word-pictures” that are similar to the coming Anti-Christ.

i) Nimrod, like the coming Anti-Christ, organizes a rebellion against God.

ii) Nimrod, like the coming Anti-Christ is a great world leader.

iii) Nimrod, like the coming Anti-Christ rules by force and is a man of war.
(Daniel Chapters 11-12 speaks of the war-like aspects of this coming Anti-Christ)

iv) Genesis, the book of “beginnings”, has here the first organized rebellion against God. In Revelations, the book of “endings”, we have the scenes of final organized rebellion(s) against God.

f) For you history buffs, it is important to understand that the origins of pagan-religion go back to the founding of Babylon. The multi-god concept that is part of the Roman and Greek culture had its roots in Babylon.

i) The first Roman Emperor to become a Christian was Constantine in the 4^th Century. Until then, Christianity was an outlawed religion. In order to get public acceptance of Christianity, some of the local pagan holidays were adopted by Christians. For example, the word “Easter” has nothing to do with Jesus. It is Babylonian in its roots. Because people were accustomed to having a spring holiday to honor “Easter” (fertility, painted eggs, etc.), Emperor Constantine used that time of year to have the Christian resurrection holiday.

ii) Personally, I don’t have a problem calling “Resurrection Sunday” Easter. I believe Christians can use whatever “excuse of a holiday” to teach people about Jesus. We as Christians use Easter Sunday as a day to remember the resurrection. If other people use it to focus on “spring” and bunnies” (symbols of fertility), than it is just another witnessing opportunity.

g) Ok, enough of Nimrod for now. I’m craving more genealogical records right now! J

10. Verse 13: Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites,
¹⁴ Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.

a) There, don’t you feel better now that you know this information? J

b) Remember that we’re still reading the descendants of the “cursed” Cush.

c) Among this list is the Philistines. The Israelites spent centuries battling this group over territories to the Promised Land. Most of King David’s battles were with this group.

d) For those who don’t know this, the word “Palestine” is a derivative of the word “Philistines”. The Romans didn’t want to acknowledge the Jews as the rightful owners of Israel, so they called the land “Palestine” after the Philistines.

i) This is why I personally avoid the word Palestine to describe Israel. God gave that land to the Jewish people as an unconditional promise. The land is for Israel.

ii) The modern “Palestinians” are not the Philistines. The modern Palestinians are a group of nomadic Arabs who settled in Israel over the past few centuries.

11. Verse 15: Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, ¹⁶ Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁷ Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸ Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

a) Let’s back up for a second:

i) Noah had 3 sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

ii) Ham had 4 sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan

iii) The last few verses focused on Cush and his sons.

iv) Verse 15 focuses on Canaan and his sons.

b) For you regular bible readers, you should recognize most of these names.

i) The next several books of the bible is all about Moses leading the people out of Egypt, wandering in the desert for 40 years, and towards the promised land.

ii) The next leader after Moses is Joshua. Joshua actually leads the Israelites into the Promised Land (Israel). That land was not barren. It was full of these people.

a) “This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. (Joshua 3:10, NIV)

b) The same names we read in Joshua 3:10 are mostly the same names as the sons of Canaan. This shows that Canaan’s descendants lived in Israel.

c) Remember back in Chapter 9 that Noah specifically cursed Canaan after the drunken incident. From this verse, we get the idea that Noah was given a prophecy. These tribal groups were eventually (over 400 years later) destroyed by the Israelites.

i) When I say destroyed, I mean it. How many Girgashites do you know? J It is amazing to consider the Jewish clan has survived all these millennia while every other group of that time era and that location has been destroyed. It is more proof that the hand-of-God was behind this whole section of history.

12. Verse 18b: Later the Canaanite clans scattered ¹⁹ and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

a) Here we have the first mention of Sodom and Gomorrah, which we’ll discuss in detail when we get to Chapters 13-14 in a few lessons.

b) We get clues all through Genesis of the wickedness of the descendants of Ham.

i) First we get the Nimrod story in this chapter.

ii) In the next chapter is the tower of Babel story, which Nimrod probably organized.

iii) In Genesis Chapters 13-14 we’ll get the Sodom and Gomorrah story and how God destroyed those cities for their wicked behavior.

iv) In Genesis Chapter 15, we’ll learn how God told Abraham his descendants would return to the Promised Land, but not for another 400 years. God said the reason is “The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” (Genesis 15:16b, NIV). The point is the Amorites, a descendant of Canaan, was bad, and was going to get worse over the next 400 years, and God would use the Israelites to punish them for their sins.

c) Which leads us back to Noah’s curse on Canaan.

i) Noah either knew or predicted that Ham’s son Canaan was cursed because he didn’t care for the things of God. Noah was predicting that his descendants would get “worse and worse” until eventually, God did some mercy killing.

ii) This pattern is what we see in the end times. The wickedness of the world gets worse and worse. It is only the influence of praying godly people that prevents wickedness from 100% controlling the world. There will be, there has to be a day, when, once again, God “pulls out” those who are saved and destroys those who are wicked. That is the pattern established in Genesis. That pattern will happen again. That is what the majority of the book of Revelation deals with.

13. Verse 20: These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

a) Verse 20 is the wrap up verse of the descendants of Ham.

b) It is not a pretty picture. The bible often describes the ugly aspects of sin and its long-term consequences. God often allows sin to manifest itself in its ugliest form to show us and remind us of the consequences of sin.

c) Most scholars estimate that Noah or Shem wrote this genealogy section and recorded the records for Moses to inscribe to us. I doubt when Shem wrote this he fully understood all the implications of his father-Noah’s curse, nor all the sins of his descendants. It is a reminder that none of us understand the full-picture of how God works. It is best for us that we see in hindsight how God is working, and use that as a reminder to trust God for the present and future situations we encounter.

14. Verse 21: Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.

a) Now we are listing the sons of Noah’s son Shem.

b) The most important thing to remember is that Shem is the guy through whom the Messiah comes.

i) This made me think about Noah’s “blessings and curses” upon his 3 sons.

ii) When you read that section in Chapter 9, Noah blessed the two “good” sons, Shem and Japheth, and cursed his “bad” son Ham. When you read that passage, the “special blessing” went to Japheth and not Shem. You would think Shem would get a few bonus points for being in the ancestral line of the Messiah. J

iii) So why did Noah give a better blessing to Japheth over Shem? In that passage, Noah essentially said that Japheth would have more kids and they would spread to the descendants of Shem and Shem was “just” blessed.

a) Maybe Noah blessed Japheth because as a “good son”, would be blessed by the Messiah. That is why it mentions that “Japheth live in the tents of Shem” (Genesis 9:27). It is the concept that Japheth’s kids would be blessed by the descendants of the Messiah.

b) Obviously the text in Genesis 9 does not state this. It is just speculation.

c) Notice in Verse 21 there is no mention of Shem and Japheth’s brother Ham.

i) I suspect this is another subtle hint of the blessings of the two good brothers and the one “cursed” brother.

15. Verse 22: The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. ²³ The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech. ²⁴ Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber.

a) There, don’t you feel better now that you know these names? J

b) In Chapter 11, part of this genealogy is repeated, but the emphasis in Chapter 11 is on the specific descendants of Shem that lead to Abraham, which is the Messianic line.

c) Nothing about these people are listed. It does not say they accomplished anything good or bad, it just lists their names.

d) These verses by themselves have little meaning. One has to read them in context of the remainder of Chapter 10 and 11. Let me add the next verse and I’ll explain further.

16. Verse 25, (the continuation of the genealogy of Noah’s son Shem): Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. ³⁰ The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
³¹ These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

a) The key to understanding why this whole section is included is the reference to “Peleg” in Verse 25. In that verse it says, “because in his (Peleg’s) time the earth was divided”.