Read with Me
Genesis 10:1-5 (HCSB)
These are the family records of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They also had sons after the flood.
Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. And Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. The coastland peoples spread out into their lands. These are Japheth’s sons by their clans, in their nations. Each group had its own language.
Listen with Me
This chapter is often called the Table of Nations. It tells about how the various descendants of Noah’s three sons scattered over the face of the earth after the Tower of Babel incident. It must always be remembered that the ancient writers did not always record things in chronological order. Instead, they frequently wrote about a result, and then moved back to right about the cause of that result.
In verse one, Moses does not list Noah’s sons in order of their birth. Japheth was the oldest of the three, Ham was the youngest, and Shem was the middle son. Shem is listed first because the Israelites, for whom this account was written, were descendants of Shem (Genesis 11:10-26).
Each of the sons and grandsons of Japheth listed here became the founder of one of the people groups that ultimately inhabited an area along the north side of the Mediterranean and extending over to Assyria and just north of there. Some of these specific people groups are unknown to us today, although they were easily identifiable to the Israelites at the time of Moses.
It is interesting to note that the Grecian people have an origin story that involves the Titan named Japetus, who was responsible for creating the inhabitants of the northern Mediterranean region after all the people in the world were destroyed. Many scholars have noted the “coincidental” similarities in the names of Japetus and Japheth. But though Japetus is a mythological being remembered hazily through the mist of time, Japheth was a real son of Noah through whom those people groups truly did originate.
Pray with Me
Father, it makes sense that all the people groups in the world had to originate from one of Noah’s descendants after the flood. It also makes sense that over time some of those first-level ancestors would end up being mythologized, painted larger than life, even deified. But Your scriptural record grounds these real people in real history. They were not just ancestors of the people specified – they are our ancestors as well. Thank You, Lord, for this clear history. Amen.