Read with Me
Genesis 10:6-20 (HCSB)
6 Ham’s sons: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.
Cush fathered Nimrod, who was the first powerful man on earth. He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the LORD. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the LORD.” His kingdom started with Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah.
Mizraim fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (the Philistines came from them), and Caphtorim.
Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn, then Heth, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the Canaanite clans scattered. The Canaanite border went from Sidon going toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and going toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.
These are Ham’s sons, by their clans, according to their languages, in their own lands and their nations.
Listen with Me
The sons of Ham first went into four different regions of the world after their dispersal from Babylon. Cush is traditionally identified with the region south of Egypt in what is now Ethiopia. But Cush’s most notable son, Nimrod, founded many cities in what is now the Middle East. Misrayim was the founder of Egypt (which the Hebrews continued to refer to as Misrayim throughout Scripture). His descendants formed the peoples of the northern parts of Africa, as well as some of those inhabiting the islands in the Mediterranean. These included the Casluhites who lived in Crete. These sea-faring people came to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, they were called Philistines.
The descendants of Put also settled in northern Africa in the area that is today Libya. Moses didn’t say much about them because they did not figure prominently in the Biblical narrative.
The descendants of Canaan moved west and settled in the fertile land that later went by his name, although some also spread north into the area of Syria and Lebanon. It was Canaan and his descendants that were cursed by Noah (Genesis 9:20-25), and who were later conquered by the Israelites. But even before the conquest, the descendants of Canaan had shown themselves to be of terrible character. They quickly fell into idolatry and immorality. Moses makes special mention of the fact that it was the Canaanites who had inhabited the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admira, and Zeboiim, all of which were destroyed by God with fire and sulfur raining from the sky.
Pray with Me
Father, from just three men came descendant who peopled a very far-flung region, whose descendants then went on to people the entire planet. It seems that as they moved far from each other, these people groups also moved far from You, retaining only vague stories of a global flood and a time of scattering, and the technology to build towers and pyramids in the many places in which they settled. It is miraculous to me that hundreds of years later, You chose Abraham, a pagan who worshiped other gods (Joshua 24:2), and you called him out of that paganism and into relationship with You. And so doing, you made him the spiritual father of all who call on Your name, who follow You, and who thus receive Your many blessings. Thank You for calling me, too, Lord. Amen.