24 | Genesis 10:2
The Japhethites 10:2-5pp— 1Ch 1:5-7
2
The sons a of Ja pheth: Go mer, Ma gog, Mad ai, Ja van, Tu bal, Me shek and Ti ras.
3
The sons of Go mer: Ash ke naz, Ri phath and To gar mah.
4
The sons of Ja van: Eli shah, Tar shish, the Kit tites and the Roda nites. b 5( From these the mar i time peo ples spread out into their ter ri to ries by their clans with in their na tions, each with its own lan guage.)
The Hamites 10:6-20pp— 1Ch 1:8-16
6
The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Ca naan.
7
The sons of Cush: Seba, Hav i lah, Sab tah, Ra a mah and Sab te ka.
The sons of Ra a mah: She ba and De dan.
8
Cush was the fa ther c of Nim rod, who be came a mighty war rior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunt er be fore the Lord; that is why it is said,“ Like Nim rod, a mighty hunt er be fore the Lord.”
10
The first cen ters of his king dom were Bab ylon, Uruk, Ak kad and Kal neh, in d Shi nar. e 11 From that land he went to As syr ia, where he built Nin e veh, Re ho both Ir, f Ca lah 12 and Re sen, which is be tween Nin e veh and Ca lah— which is the great city.
13
Egypt was the fa ther of the Lu dites, An a mites, Le ha bites, Naph tu a
2 Sons may mean descendants or successors or nations; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31. b
4 Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch( see also Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Dodanites c
8 Father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26. d
10 Or Uruk and
Akkad— all of them in e
10 That is, Babylonia f
11 Or Nineveh with its city squares names for major people groups, tribes and regions( see 10:31 – 32). The correspondence between the ancestral names and Biblical geography suggests the Table of Nations provides a record of ancient eponymous ancestry( the naming of nations or regions after particular people). The list does not cover all the nations of the earth. Rather, it covers the groups most relevant for Biblical history. The listing is also symbolic, as the number of descendants listed for Shem, Ham and Japheth totals 70. See the people diagram“ Table of Nations” on p. 26.
10:1 account The Hebrew word used here, toledoth, is used throughout Genesis to refer to genealogical related information. See note on 5:1. 10:2 The sons of Japheth While the descendants of Ham and Shem( 10: 6 – 31) would have lived near each other in the ancient Near East, the descendants of Japheth are not all found in regions next to each other. These verses probably reflect an Israelite perspective that all the names therein come from across the Mediterranean Sea. Gomer This name refers to the Cimmerians who seem to be the same people group as the Scythians( compare Eze 38:6). Magog This term is used in Eze 38:2 and 39:6 to refer to the land of Gog. The region was probably between Armenia and Cappadocia near the Black Sea. See note on Eze 38:1— 39:24. Madai The Hebrew word used here, madai, refers in the OT to the land of the Medes( Isa 13:17; 2Ki 17:6). The Medes lived in the northern part of the Iranian plateau, northeast of the Zagros Mountains and southwest of the Caspian Sea. Tubal, Meshek These two names often occur together in the OT( e. g., Eze 27:13; 32:26; 38:2; 39:1) and refer to central and eastern Anatolia( Asia Minor, now Turkey and Armenia). Tiras This term appears in the work of Jewish historian Josephus in reference to the Thracians( Josephus, Antiquities 1.125). The term could also refer to the Pelasgians mentioned among the Sea Peoples in the records of Pharaoh Merenptah. 10:3 Ashkenaz The reference to Ashkenaz in association with Ararat and Minni in Jer 51:27 makes it likely that this refers to the Scythians. Assyrian cuneiform texts also refer to a group called the Ashkuza, who are probably the same people. Riphath Called Diphath in the Hebrew text of 1Ch 1:6. The location under either name remains unidentified. Togarmah This term seems to refer to Tegarama, north of Harran near Carchemesh. 10:4 Javan This is the generic word for the Hellenic( Greek) peoples used in the OT; it includes the Ionians in western Asia Minor( modern Turkey). Elishah This term is mentioned in Eze 27:7 as a source of purple dye. It is possibly to be identified with all or part of Cyprus, which was called“ Alashia” in Egyptian, Akkadian and Ugaritic inscriptions. Tarshish This could refer to several locations, all of which are westward across the Mediterranean. See Jnh 1:3 and note. Kittites Refers to people from Cyprus. Rodanites This likely refers to people from Rhodes. 10:5 maritime peoples This suggests that all the peoples from the Mediterranean coastal regions( including Greece and Asia Minor) are descended from Japheth. 10:6 The sons of Ham The line of Ham has four branches: Cush, Mizraim( Egypt), Put and Canaan. All four are probably place names. Cush This term refers to the African kingdom of Nubia. See note on Ge 2:13. Egypt The Hebrew word used here, mitsrayim, is used throughout the OT for Egypt. Put The Hebrew term used here occurs six times in the OT and probably refers to Libya( e. g., Jer 46:9; Eze 30:5; 38:4 – 6). Canaan Noah cursed Canaan because of Ham’ s sin( see Ge 9:20 – 27; note on 9:25). Here Canaan is listed last of Ham’ s sons, indicating either his low standing as a result of Noah’ s curse or his position as Ham’ s fourth and youngest son. Like the other names in this section, Canaan also refers to the land and its people. A detailed list is given in 10:15 – 19. 10:7 Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka The names of the five sons of Cush all refer to areas in or on the outskirts of the region known broadly in later antiquity as Arabia. Sheba The location that this term refers to is debatable, but the most plausible location is in the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Dedan This term likely refers to‘ Ula in northern Arabia— an important trading center since ancient times near the border of Edom.