Genesis Chapter Ten, Part 2

10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah
The Hebrew word for “generations” is “toledoth,” and in the Greek is rendered “genesis;” hence the name of the first book of Moses. This word appears in our study of Genesis chapters 1-11 in 2:4, 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, and 11:10, 27. Some postulate that due to the numerous appearances of the word “toledoth” that Genesis was recorded by several authors who were present when the events recorded occurred. Yet Jesus may have inferred to Moses being the sole, inspired author of Genesis when He said, “Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man,” John 7:22. Circumcision, of course, was introduced during the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 17:10. Ultimately, this passage is revealing that through Noah (and his sons after him) all human life was perpetuated.

10:2 The sons of Japheth
It is believed that Japheth is named “Iapetos” in ancient Greek mythology; Iyapeti also, being an ancestral name of the Aryans. The historian Herodotus attributes Gomer with ancient Cimmeria, now Crimea. Magog may have an association with the USSR. Madai was the ancestor of the Medes, while Javan is identified with the people of Ionia, which is sometimes translated as “Greece” in the Old Testament. Tubal is infamous for his association with Magog and Meshech in Ezekiel 38-39. It is possible his name survived in modern Tobolsk, or ancient Tibareni. Meshech’s name is possibly associated with modern Muskovi and Moscow. Tiras, the final son listed, was the ancestor of the Thracians, and possibly the Etruscans as well. Mind you, much of this is not known with complete certainty.

10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
Japheth’s sons represent the isles of the sea, scattered by their tongues and families into various nations after the confusion of tongues at Babel. The mysterious region known as Tarshish in the Old Testament is frequently associated with Gentile isles, Isaiah 23:6; Psalm 72:10. So when the Jewish ships sailed for Tarshish, it appears to have been a decently distant voyage. If these isles of the sea were still accessible by land bridges for some decades or centuries after the Flood (numerous discoveries have shown land bridges presently under water connecting Alaska to Russia via the Bering Strait, etc) people could travel easily enough to reach even such distant “isles” as the Americas. This is a difficult concept to accept simply because modern schools have conditioned us to believe the theories of organic Evolution and geologic ages are scientific and proven; when in fact quite the opposite is the case.

10:6 And the sons of Ham…Mizraim
Four times the psalmist calls Egypt “the land of Ham,” Psalm 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:22. Without question Egypt was settled by Hamites. Mizraim is said to be the man in particular that was the first king of this ancient world power. From secular history, according to the first dynasty of Egyptian rulers, Narmer was Egypt’s first Pharaoh, circa 3100 BC. (cited from Ancient Egypt, by Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin). Yet precious little is known with certainty about ancient Egyptian chronology, and monarchs of ancient times sometimes carried numerous names, as the Old Testament records. Mizraim was certainly one of Ham’s most successful children in a worldly sense; but Egypt demonstrated their forefather’s wickedness by enslaving the Hebrews and killing their children; for which God repaid them to their faces when He led His people out of Egypt. Consequently, I have heard an interesting bit of information that Egypt’s most antiquated monuments are dated to about the same age as the world’s oldest living forest: about 5,000 years old. Coincidental timing, unless Egypt was being raised onto its foundations while the forests of the world were re-growing after the devastation of the Flood.

10:8 Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
Nimrod’s name basically means “Let us rebel.” Essentially Ham’s son Cush named his own child “rebellion.” According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Nimrod told the people of his day that he was going to avenge himself on God for having destroyed their ancestors during the Flood! It is important to note that Nimrod alone occupies 5 verses of this chronology; Moses pauses long enough to spotlight this unique and war-like man. He was the first conqueror after the Flood, a city builder, religious leader, and a political head. He was a type of antichrist. Jewish commentary on the Old Testament seems fairly unanimous in giving Nimrod a place of infamy as a wicked hunter of men; an apostate of the first order. For further information regarding Nimrod, I suggest “The Two Babylons,” by Alexander Hyslop.
To be Continued.