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 .