family history

Watch out - am about to cut and paste a whole chapter...

Genesis 10

¹ This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

  ² The sons of Japheth: 

   Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.

 ³ The sons of Gomer:
   Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

 ⁴ The sons of Javan:
   Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites. ⁵ (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)

  

 ⁶ The sons of Ham:
   Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.

 ⁷ The sons of Cush:
   Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka.

   The sons of Raamah:
   Sheba and Dedan.

 ⁸ Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became 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, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, 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—which is the great city.

 ¹³ Egypt was the father of
   the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹⁴ Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.

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

   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 Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.

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

  

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

 ²² The sons of Shem:
   Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

 ²³ The sons of Aram:
   Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.

 ²⁴ Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,
   and Shelah the father of Eber.

 ²⁵ 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.

 ³² 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.

***

It's genealogy time.

This genealogy shows the result of that command to multiply, to fill the earth.  The people are indeed going out and 'multiplying' through Noah's sons.  The genealogy also acts as a bridge between Noah and later stories and events, people, nations and cities.

Japheth is dealt with first - passed over quickly and quietly.  He is included, but his family line does not seem to be of great significance to the writer / editor.

Ham comes next - within this line we have mention of Nimrod - 'mighty warrior before the LORD' - does this imply that he was in God's favour, or was it simply a turn of phrase?

Tracking forward, again, with names we will come to know: 

Babylon.  Ninevah.  Egypt.

Not mere names but entire stories, full of association and implication.

Canaan.

All these places so mixed up in the future of Israel - herself not mentioned; she has not been born, not been named.  Her calling is yet to be made known.  This is a map of the world into which she was birthed.

And finally to Shem, ancestor of Eber, who had two sons.  One named Peleg, the other Joktan.  Here it is Joktan's line which is traced, but we have not heard the last of Peleg...his line leads to the story of one rather special 'wandering Aramean'.  A man whose name would echo down the millennia.  A man named as father of many, whose descendants could not be counted.

But first, we take a trip to Babylon.  Also known as Babel... 

For another look at Genesis 10, hop over to the Whole Dang Thing for the award for the Most Difficult Dinner Conversation...

Oh, and spell checking this post is interesting.


Image from Find My Ancestor Blog