Text -- Genesis 10:9-32 (NET)

10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. (That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”) 10:10 The primary regions of his kingdom were Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. 10:11 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, 10:12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city Calah. 10:13 Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 10:14 Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorites. 10:15 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, Heth, 10:16 the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 10:17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 10:18 Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. Eventually the families of the Canaanites were scattered 10:19 and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon all the way to Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 10:20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations. 10:21 And sons were also born to Shem (the older brother of Japheth), the father of all the sons of Eber. 10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. 10:23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 10:24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber. 10:25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. 10:26 Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 10:27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 10:28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 10:29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. 10:30 Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to Sephar in the eastern hills. 10:31 These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations. 10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread over the earth after the flood.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Gen 10:9

This he began with, and for this became famous to a proverb. Some think he did good with his hunting, served his country by ridding it of wild beasts, and so insinuated himself into the affections of his neighbours, and got to be their prince. And perhaps, under pretence of hunting, he gathered men under his command, to make himself master of the country. Thus he became a mighty hunter, a violent invader of his neighbour's rights and properties. And that, before the Lord - Carrying all before him, and endeavouring to make all his own by force and violence. He thought himself a mighty prince; but before the Lord, that is, in God's account, he was but a mighty hunter. Note, Great conquerers are but great hunters. Alexander and Caesar would not make such a figure in scripture history as they do in common history.

Wesley: Gen 10:9

goat pushing, Dan 8:5. Nimrod was a mighty hunter against the Lord, so the seventy; that is, he set up idolatry, as Jeroboam did, for the confirming of his usurped dominion; that he might set up a new government, he set up a new religion upon the ruin of the primitive constitution of both.

Wesley: Gen 10:10

Some way or other, he got into power: and so laid the foundations of a monarchy which was afterwards a head of gold. It doth not appear that he had any right to rule by birth; but either his fitness for government recommended him, or by power and policy he gradually advanced into the throne. See the antiquity of civil government, and particularly that form of it which lodges the sovereignty in a single person.

Wesley: Gen 10:15

The account of the posterity of Canaan, and the land they possessed is more particular than of any other in this chapter, because these were the nations that were to be subdued before Israel, and their land was to become Immanuel's land. And by this account, it appears that the posterity of Canaan was both numerous and rich, and very pleasantly seated, and yet Canaan was under a curse. Canaan here has a better land than either Shem or Japheth and yet they have a better lot, for they inherit the blessing.

Wesley: Gen 10:21

Two things especially are observable in this account of the posterity of Shem. The description of Shem, Gen 10:21, we have not only his name, Shem, which signifies a name; but two titles to distinguish him by.

He was the father of all the children of Eber. Eber was his great grandson, but why should he be called the father of all his children, rather than of all Arphaxad's or Salah's? Probably because Abraham and his seed, not only descended from Heber, but from him were called Hebrews. Eber himself, we may suppose, was a man eminent for religion in a time of general apostasy; and the holy tongue being commonly called from him the Hebrew, it is probable he retained it in his family in the confusion of Babel, as a special token of God's favour to him. He was the brother of Japheth the elder; by which it appears, that though Shem be commonly put first, yet he was not Noah's first-born, but Japheth was elder. But why should this also be put as part of Shem's description, that he was the brother of Japheth, since that had been said before? Probably this is intended to signify the union of the Gentiles with the Jews in the church. He had mentioned it as Shem's honour, that he was the father of the Hebrews; but lest Japheth's seed should therefore be looked upon as shut out from the church, he here minds us, that he was the brother of Japheth, not in birth only, but in blessing, for Japheth was to dwell in the tents of Shem.

The reason of the name of Peleg, Gen 10:25, because, in his days, (that is, about the time of his birth) was the earth divided among the children of men that were to inhabit it; either when Noah divided it, by an orderly distribution of it, as Joshua divided the land of Canaan by lot, or when, upon their refusal to comply with that division, God, in justice, divided them by the confusion of tongues.

JFB: Gen 10:10

This kingdom, of course, though then considered great, would be comparatively limited in extent, and the towns but small forts.

JFB: Gen 10:11

Or, as the Margin has it, "He [Nimrod] at the head of his army went forth into Assyria," that is, he pushed his conquests into that country.

JFB: Gen 10:11

Opposite the town of Mosul, on the Tigris, and the other towns near it. This raid into Assyria was an invasion of the territories of Shem, and hence the name "Nimrod," signifying "rebel," is supposed to have been conferred on him from his daring revolt against the divine distribution.

JFB: Gen 10:21

The historian introduces him with marked distinction as "the father of Eber," the ancestor of the Hebrews.

JFB: Gen 10:23

In the general division of the earth, the countries of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, fell to his descendants.

JFB: Gen 10:24

The settlement of his posterity was in the extensive valley of Shinar, on the Tigris, towards the southern extremity of Mesopotamia, including the country of Eden and the region on the east side of the river.

JFB: Gen 10:25

After the flood (Gen 11:10-16) the descendants of Noah settled at pleasure and enjoyed the produce of the undivided soil. But according to divine instruction, made probably through Eber, who seems to have been distinguished for piety or a prophetic character, the earth was divided and his son's name, "Peleg," was given in memory of that event (see Deu 32:8; Act 17:26).

JFB: Gen 10:32

This division was made in the most orderly manner; and the inspired historian evidently intimates that the sons of Noah were ranged according to their nations, and every nation ranked by its families, so that every nation had its assigned territory, and in every nation the tribes, and in every tribe the families, were located by themselves.

Clarke: Gen 10:10

The beginning of his kingdom was Babel - בבל babel signifies confusion; and it seems to have been a very proper name for the commencement of a kingdom that appears to have been founded in apostasy from God, and to have been supported by tyranny, rapine, and oppression

Clarke: Gen 10:10

In the land of Shinar - The same as mentioned Gen 11:2. It appears that, as Babylon was built on the river Euphrates, and the tower of Babel was in the land of Shinar, consequently Shinar itself must have been in the southern part of Mesopotamia.

Clarke: Gen 10:11

Out of that land went forth Asshur - The marginal reading is to be preferred here. He - Nimrod, went out into Assyria and built Nineveh; and hence Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, Mic 5:6. Thus did this mighty hunter extend his dominions in every possible way. The city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, is supposed to have had its name from Ninus, the son of Nimrod; but probably Ninus and Nimrod are the same person. This city, which made so conspicuous a figure in the history of the world, is now called Mossul; it is an inconsiderable place, built out of the ruins of the ancient Nineveh

Clarke: Gen 10:11

Rehoboth, and Calah, etc. - Nothing certain is known concerning the situation of these places; conjecture is endless, and it has been amply indulged by learned men in seeking for Rehoboth in the Birtha of Ptolemy, Calah in Calachine, Resen in Larissa, etc., etc.

Clarke: Gen 10:13

Mizraim begat Ludim - Supposed to mean the inhabitants of the Mareotis, a canton in Egypt, for the name Ludim is evidently the name of a people

Clarke: Gen 10:13

Anamim - According to Bochart, the people who inhabited the district about the temple of Jupiter Ammon

Clarke: Gen 10:13

Lehabim - The Libyans, or a people who dwelt on the west of the Thebaid, and were called Libyo-Egyptians

Clarke: Gen 10:13

Naphtuhim - Even the conjectures can scarcely fix a place for these people. Bochart seems inclined to place them in Marmarica, or among the Troglodytae.

Clarke: Gen 10:14

Pathrusim - The inhabitants of the Delta, in Egypt, according to the Chaldee paraphrase; but, according to Bochart, the people who inhabited the Thebaid, called Pathros in Scripture

Clarke: Gen 10:14

Casluhim - The inhabitants of Colchis; for almost all authors allow that Colchis was peopled from Egypt

Clarke: Gen 10:14

Philistim - The people called Philistines, the constant plagues and frequent oppressors of the Israelites, whose history may be seen at large in the books of Samuel, Kings, etc

Clarke: Gen 10:14

Caphtorim - Inhabitants of Cyprus according to Calmet.

Clarke: Gen 10:15

Sidon - Who probably built the city of this name, and was the father of the Sidonians

Clarke: Gen 10:15

Heth - From whom came the Hittites, so remarkable among the Canaanitish nations.

Clarke: Gen 10:16

The Jebusite-Amorite, etc. - Are well known as being the ancient inhabitants of Canaan, expelled by the children of Israel.

Clarke: Gen 10:20

These are the sons of Ham after their families - No doubt all these were well known in the days of Moses, and for a long time after; but at this distance, when it is considered that the political state of the world has been undergoing almost incessant revolutions through all the intermediate portions of time, the impossibility of fixing their residences or marking their descendants must be evident, as both the names of the people and the places of their residences have been changed beyond the possibility of being recognized.

Clarke: Gen 10:21

Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber - It is generally supposed that the Hebrews derived their name from Eber or Heber, son of Shem; but it appears much more likely that they had it from the circumstance of Abraham passing over (for so the word עבר abar signifies) the river Euphrates to come into the land of Canaan. See the history of Abraham, Gen 14:13 (note).

Clarke: Gen 10:22

Elam - From whom came the Elamites, near to the Medes, and whose chief city was Elymais

Clarke: Gen 10:22

Asshur - Who gave his name to a vast province (afterwards a mighty empire) called Assyria

Clarke: Gen 10:22

Arphaxad - From whom Arrapachitis in Assyria was named, according to some; or Artaxata in Armenia, on the frontiers of Media, according to others

Clarke: Gen 10:22

Lud - The founder of the Lydians. In Asia Minor; or of the Ludim, who dwelt at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris, according to Arias Montanus

Clarke: Gen 10:22

Aram - The father of the Arameans, afterwards called Syrians.

Clarke: Gen 10:23

Uz - Who peopled Caelosyria, and is supposed to have been the founder of Damascus

Clarke: Gen 10:23

Hul - Who peopled a part of Armenia

Clarke: Gen 10:23

Gether - Supposed by Calmet to have been the founder of the Itureans, who dwelt beyond the Jordan, having Arabia Desert on the east, and the Jordan on the west

Clarke: Gen 10:23

Mash - Who inhabited mount Masius in Mesopotamia, and from whom the river Mazeca, which has its source in that mountain, takes its name.

Clarke: Gen 10:24

Salah - The founder of the people of Susiana

Clarke: Gen 10:24

Eber - See Gen 10:21. The Septuagint add Cainan here, with one hundred and thirty to the chronology.

Clarke: Gen 10:25

Peleg - From פלג palag , to divide, because in his days, which is supposed to be about one hundred years after the flood, the earth was divided among the sons of Noah. Though some are of opinion that a physical division, and not a political one, is what is intended here, viz., a separation of continents and islands from the main land; the earthy parts having been united into one great continent previously to the days of Peleg. This opinion appears to me the most likely, for what is said, Gen 10:5, is spoken by way of anticipation.

Clarke: Gen 10:26-30

Joktan - He had thirteen sons who had their dwelling from Mesha unto Sephar, a mount of the east, which places Calmet supposes to be mount Masius, on the west in Mesopotamia, and the mountains of the Saphirs on the east in Armenia, or of the Tapyrs farther on in Media. In confirmation that all men have been derived from one family, let it be observed that there are many customs and usages, both sacred and civil, which have prevailed in all parts of the world; and that these could owe their origin to nothing but a general institution, which could never have existed, had not mankind been originally of the same blood, and instructed in the same common notions before they were dispersed. Among these usages may be reckoned

1.    The numbering by tens

2.    Their computing time by a cycle of seven days

3.    Their setting apart the seventh day for religious purposes

4.    Their use of sacrifices, propitiatory and eucharistical

5.    The consecration of temples and altars

6.    The institution of sanctuaries or places of refuge, and their privileges

7.    Their giving a tenth part of the produce of their fields, etc., for the use of the altar

8.    The custom of worshipping the Deity bare-footed

9.    Abstinence of the men from all sensual gratifications previously to their offering sacrifice

10.    The order of priesthood and its support

11.    The notion of legal pollutions, defilements, etc

12.    The universal tradition of a general deluge

13.    The universal opinion that the rainbow was a Divine sign, or portent, etc., etc

    See Dodd

The wisdom and goodness of God are particularly manifested in repeopling the earth by means of three persons, all of the same family, and who had witnessed that awful display of Divine justice in the destruction of the world by the flood, while themselves were preserved in the ark. By this very means the true religion was propagated over the earth; for the sons of Noah would certainly teach their children, not only the precepts delivered to their father by God himself, but also how in his justice he had brought the flood on the world of the ungodly, and by his merciful providence preserved them from the general ruin. It is on this ground alone that we can account for the uniformity and universality of the above traditions, and for the grand outlines of religious truth which are found in every quarter of the world. God has so done his marvellous works that they may be had in everlasting remembrance.

Calvin: Gen 10:10

10.And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. Moses here designates the seat of Nimrod’s empire. He also declares that four cities were subject to him; it is however uncertain whether he was the founder of them, or had thence expelled their rightful lords. And although mention is elsewhere made of Calneh, ³¹⁴ yet Babylon was the most celebrated of all. I do not however think that it was of such wide extent, or of such magnificent structure, as the profane historians relate. But since the region was among the first and most fruitful, it is possible that the convenience of the situation would afterwards invite others to enlarge the city. Wherefore Aristotle, in his Politics, taking it out of the rank of cities, compares it to a province. Hence it has arisen, that many declare it to have been the work of Semiramis, by whom others say that it was not built but only adorned and joined together by bridges. The land of Shinar is added as a note of discrimination, because there was also another Babylon in Egypt, which is now called Cairo. ³¹⁵ But it is asked, how was Nimrod the tyrant of Babylon, when Moses in the following chapter, Gen 11:1 subjoins, that a tower was begun there, which obtained this name from the confusion of tongues? Some suppose that a hysteron proteron ³¹⁶ is here employed, and that what Moses is afterwards about to relate concerning the building of the tower was prior in the order of time. Moreover, they add, that because the building of the tower was disastrously obstructed, their design was changed to that of building a city. But I rather think there is a prolepsis; and that Moses called the city by the same name, which afterwards was imposed by a more recent event. The reason of the conjecture is that probably, at this time, the inhabitants of that place, who had engaged in so vast a work, were numerous. It might also happen, that Nimrod, solicitous about his own fame and power, inflamed their insane desire by this pretext, that some famous monument should be erected in which their everlasting memory might remain. Still, since it is the custom of the Hebrews to prosecute more diffusely, afterwards, what they had touched upon briefly, I do not entirely reject the former opinion. ³¹⁷

Calvin: Gen 10:11

11.Out of that land went forth Asshur. It is credible that Asshur was one of the posterity of Shem. And the opinion has been commonly received, that he is here mentioned, because, when he was dwelling, in the neighborhood of Nimrod, he was violently expelled thence. In this manner, Moses would mark the barbarous ferocity of Nimrod. And truly these are the accustomed fruits of a greatness which does not keep within bounds; whence has arisen the old proverb, ‘Great kingdoms are great robberies.’ It is indeed necessary that some should preside over others; but where ambition, and the desire of rising higher than is right, are rampant, they not only draw with them the greatest and most numerous injuries, but also verge closely upon the dissolution of human society. Yet I rather adopt the opinion of those who say that Asshur is not, in this place, the name of a man, but of a country which derived its appellation from him; and thus the sense will be, that Nimrod, not content with his large and opulent kingdom, gave the reins to his cupidity, and pushed the boundaries of his empire even into Assyria, where he also built new cities. ³¹⁸ The passage in Isaiah (Isa 23:13) is alone opposed to this opinion, where he says, ‘Behold the land of the Chaldeans, the people was not, Asshur founded it when they inhabited the deserts, and he reduced it to ruin.’ ³¹⁹ For the prophet seems to say, that cities were built by the Assyrians in Chaldea, whereas previously, its inhabitants were wandering and scattered as in a desert. But it may be, that the prophet speaks of other changes of these kingdoms, which occurred afterwards. For, at the time in which the Assyrians maintained the sovereignty, seeing that they flourished in unbounded wealth, it is credible that Chaldea, which they had subjected to themselves was so adorned and increased by a long peace, that it might seem to have been founded by them. And we know, that when the Chaldeans, in their turn, seized on the empire, Babylon was exalted on the ruins of Nineveh.

Calvin: Gen 10:21

21.Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber. Moses, being about to speak of the sons of Shem, makes a brief introduction, which he had not done in reference to the others. Nor was it without reason; for since this was the race chosen by God, he wished to sever it from other nations by some special mark. This also is the reason why he expressly styles him the ‘father of the sons of Eber,’ and the elder brother of Japheth. ³²⁰ For the benediction of Shem does not descend to all his grandchildren indiscriminately, but remains in one family. And although the grandchildren themselves of Eber declined from the true worship of God, so that the Lord might justly have disinherited them; yet the benediction was not extinguished, but only buried for a season, until Abraham was called, in honor of whom this singular dignity is ascribed to the race and name of Eber. For the same cause, mention is made of Japheth, in order that the promise may be confirmed, ‘God shall speak gently unto Japheth, that he may dwell in the tents of Shem.’ Shem is not here called the brother of Ham, inasmuch as the latter was cut off from the fraternal order, and was debarred his own right. Fraternity remained only between them and Japheth; because, although they were separated, God had engaged that he would cause them to return from this dissension into union. As it respects the name Eber, they who deny it to be a proper name, but deduce it from the word which signifies to pass over, are more than sufficiently refuted by this passage alone.

Defender: Gen 10:9

This phrase connotes a man mighty in wickedness. It is possible that his hero's reputation was gained in hunting and slaying the giant animals that proliferated after the Flood and were considered dangerous to the small human population of the first century. He built a great kingdom, with the capital at Babel in the plain Shinar (no doubt equivalent to Sumer) in the Tigris-Euphrates valley."

Defender: Gen 10:10

Erech is also "Uruk," 100 miles southeast of Babylon, the legendary home of Gilgamesh. Accad gave its name to the Akkadian empire, perhaps the same as the Sumerian empire. Calneh is unidentified."

Defender: Gen 10:11

Asshur, a son of Shem, had evidently founded a settlement, but Nimrod went forth into Asshur (better rendering of "out of that land went forth Asshur"), extending his empire and establishing also what would later become the Assyrian empire.

Defender: Gen 10:11

Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrians, was named after "Ninus," evidently another name for Nimrod. Although both Babylonia and Assyria were later conquered by Semites, the Hamite Nimrod was their founder and first king. Nineveh was 200 miles north of Babylon, on the Tigris River.

Defender: Gen 10:11

Rehoboth and Resen have not yet been identified."

Defender: Gen 10:12

About twenty miles south of Nineveh, Calah has been excavated. It is still called "Nimirud." These three satellite cities, with Nineveh, made up a metropolitan complex and is thus called a "great city.""

Defender: Gen 10:14

The sons of Mizraim are mostly unidentified in secular records; perhaps most of them migrated south and west from their father's home in Egypt, deeper into Africa. However, the Pathrusim dwelt in Pathros, or upper Egypt. The Caphtorim are identified in the Bible with the Philistim, or Philistines, and by secular writers with Crete. These people evidently migrated from Egypt to Crete and then later, in successive waves, to Philistia on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean."

Defender: Gen 10:15

The city of Sidon, chief city of the Phoenicians, still exists today.

Defender: Gen 10:15

Heth is the ancestor of the Hittites, prominent in both the Bible and secular history, ruling a great empire in Asia Minor for over 800 years. When the Hittite empire finally crumbled, many of its people migrated east. The Hittites are identified in Egyptian inscriptions as the "Kheta." In the cuneiform inscriptions in Babylonia, this name is identified as "Khittae," which may have been modified eventually to "Cathay," a synonym for China. Archaeologists have noted similarities between the Monguls and Hittites."

Defender: Gen 10:17

The other nine sons of Canaan were the Canaanite tribes that inhabited the land when the Israelites entered it. The Amorites are identified in the tablets as the Amurru. The Sinites may be connected in ethnology with the wilderness of Sin and Mount Sinai in the south, and with the Assyrian god "Sin," and even with Sinim (Isa 49:12) which the people of secular history called "Sinae," or Chinese."

Defender: Gen 10:18

This statement becomes especially significant if, as intimated above, the descendants of Canaan include the Mongol peoples, who eventually spread not only throughout most of Asia but also across the Bering Strait into North and South America, becoming the American Indians."

Defender: Gen 10:20

The division of the original population into "nations" was both "after their tongues" and "after their families," suggesting that each family living at Babel was given a distinctive tongue at the dispersion."

Defender: Gen 10:21

The term "Hebrew" comes from Eber, but the descendants of Eber also include the "Habiru." Discoveries at Ebla, in northern Syria, seems to indicate the founder and king of Ebla to be "Ebrim."

Defender: Gen 10:21

Japheth was evidently the oldest son of Noah, Ham the youngest (Gen 9:24)."

Defender: Gen 10:22

Elam is the ancestor of the Elamites, who later merged with the Medes (descendants of Madai) to form the Medo-Persian empire.

Defender: Gen 10:22

Asshur gives his name to the Assyrians, although his settlement on the Tigris was later taken over by Nimrod (Gen 10:11).

Defender: Gen 10:22

According to Josephus, Lud was the ancestor of the Lydians.

Defender: Gen 10:22

Aram is the father of the Aramaeans, or Syrians. The Aramaic language was almost a world language in the ancient world, and even some parts of the Old Testament were first written in Aramaic."

Defender: Gen 10:23

Uz gave his name to Job's homeland (Job 1:1) but little is known of the other three sons of Aram. Evidently the children of Aram had more contact with Shem than his other grandsons (except through Arphaxad) since none of the others are listed."

Defender: Gen 10:25

Peleg means "division," and he was apparently given the name by Eber because of the great event that took place just before his birth. He may also have given his name to the Pelasgians.

Defender: Gen 10:25

The "division" that took place was, most likely, the traumatic upheaval at Babel. A division in Gen 10:5, Gen 10:32 is mentioned, where the division is "after his tongue." Nimrod was in the same generation as Eber, and this is the only place in the Table of Nations where the meaning of a son's name is given, indicating the importance of the event it commemorated. However, it is true that two different words are used (Pelag in Gen 10:25, parad in Gen 10:5, Gen 10:32). Although the two words are essentially synonymous, this might indicate a different type of division. Many Bible teachers have suggested, therefore, that Gen 10:25 might refer to a splitting of the single post-Flood continent into the present continents of the world. They associate the modern scientific model of sea-floor spreading and continental drifting with Gen 10:25. It should be remembered, however, that the continental drift hypothesis has by no means been proved, and the verse seems to refer more directly to the division into families, countries and languages. Furthermore, even if the continents have separated from a single primeval continent, such a split more likely would have occurred in connection with the continental uplifts terminating the global deluge (Psa 104:6-9)."

Defender: Gen 10:29

Thirteen sons of Joktan are listed, most of whom are believed to have settled in Arabia. The fact that none of Peleg's sons are listed may indicate that Shem was living near Joktan's family."

Defender: Gen 10:31

This concludes the "nations" listed in Genesis 10 - fourteen from Japheth, thirty from Ham, and twenty-six from Shem. Thus a total of seventy such primeval nations was included by Shem in his Table of Nations. All are descendants of Adam, through Noah. There is no hint anywhere in Scripture of any "hominids" or other "pre-Adamites" in man's ancestry. The so-called "ape-men" can all be shown to be either remains of extinct apes or of true men, probably all living after the Flood."

Defender: Gen 10:32

The word "generations" (Hebrew toledoth) indicates that actual genealogical records were available to Shem as he compiled the Table of Nations.

Defender: Gen 10:32

The seventy nations from Noah's three sons are the progenitors of all other nations (Gen 9:19). These three streams of nations should not be interpreted as three races, however. The concept of race is not found in the Bible and is purely an evolutionist concept with no basis in either Scripture or true science. In evolutionary terminology, a race is a sub-species in the process of evolving into a new species, but the Bible speaks only of kinds. Where mankind is concerned, there are nations, tribes, tongues, peoples, and families, but these are not races."

TSK: Gen 10:9

a mighty : Gen 6:4, Gen 25:27, Gen 27:30, Gen 27:30; Jer 16:16; Eze 13:18; Mic 7:2

before the Lord : Gen 6:11, Gen 13:13

Even : 2Ch 28:22; Psa 52:7

TSK: Gen 10:10

am 1745, bc 2259

And the : Jer 50:21; Mic 5:6

Babel : Gr. Babylon, Gen 11:9; Isa 39:1; Mic 4:10

Calneh : Isa 10:9; Amo 6:2

Shinar : Gen 11:2, Gen 14:1; Isa 11:11; Dan 1:2; Zec 5:11

TSK: Gen 10:11

am 1700, bc 2304

went forth Asshur : or, he went out into Assyria, Mic 5:6

Asshur : Num 24:22, Num 24:24; Ezr 4:2; Psa 83:8; Eze 27:23, Eze 32:22; Hos 14:3

Nineveh : 2Ki 19:36; Isa 37:37; Jon 1:2, Jon 3:1-10; Nah 1:1, Nah 2:8, Nah 3:7; Zep 2:13, the city of, or, the streets of the city

TSK: Gen 10:13

Ludim : 1Ch 1:11, 1Ch 1:12; Jer 46:9; Eze 30:5

TSK: Gen 10:14

Pathrusim : Isa 11:11; Jer 44:1

Philistim : 1Ch 1:12; Jer 47:4

Caphtorim : Deu 2:23; Jer 47:4; Amo 9:7

TSK: Gen 10:15

Canaan : 1Ch 1:13

Sidon : Heb. Tzidon , Gen 49:13; Jos 11:8; Isa 23:4, Zidon

Heth : Gen 15:18-21, 28:3-20; Exo 3:8, Exo 34:11; Num 34:2-15; Josh. 12:8-24; 2Sa 11:3

TSK: Gen 10:16

Jebusite : Jdg 1:21; 2Sa 24:18; Zec 9:7

TSK: Gen 10:17

Hivite : Gen 34:2

TSK: Gen 10:18

Arvadite : Eze 27:8

Zemarite : Jos 18:22; 2Ch 13:4

Hamathite : Num 34:8; 2Sa 8:9; 2Ki 17:24, 2Ki 17:30; Isa 10:9; Eze 47:16, Eze 47:17; Zec 9:2

TSK: Gen 10:19

And the : Gen 13:12-17, Gen 15:18-21; Num 34:2-15; Deu 32:8; Jos 12:7, Jos 12:8, 14:1-21:45

as thou comest : Gen 13:10

Gerar : Gen 20:1, Gen 26:1

Gaza : Heb. Azzah , Jdg 16:1; Jer 25:20

Sodom : Gen 13:10-13, Gen 14:2, Gen 18:20, Gen 19:24, Gen 19:25; Hos 11:8

TSK: Gen 10:20

Gen 10:6, Gen 11:1-9

TSK: Gen 10:21

Shem : Shem signifies name or renown; and his, indeed, was great both in a temporal and spiritual sense, inasmuch as he was destined to be the lineal ancestor of the promised Seed of the woman, to which Noah might allude in his pious ejaculation, Gen 9:26.

the father : Gen. 11:10-26

Eber : Num 24:24

the brother : Gen 10:2

TSK: Gen 10:22

children : Gen 9:26; 1Ch 1:17-27

Elam : Gen 14:1-9; 2Ki 15:19; Job 1:17; Isa 11:11, Isa 21:2, Isa 22:6; Jer 25:25; Jer 49:34-39; Act 2:9

Arphaxad : Heb. Arpachshad

Lud : Isa 66:19

Aram : Num 23:7

TSK: Gen 10:23

Uz : Job 1:1; Jer 25:20

TSK: Gen 10:24

Salah : Heb. Shelah , Gen 11:12-15

TSK: Gen 10:25

am 1757, bc 2247

Eber : Gen 10:21; 1Ch 1:19

the name : Gen 11:16-19; Luk 3:35, Luk 3:36

Peleg : i.e. division

in : Gen 10:32; Deu 32:8; Act 17:26

TSK: Gen 10:26

1Ch 1:20-28

TSK: Gen 10:27

1Ch 1:20-28

TSK: Gen 10:28

am cir, 1797, bc cir, 2207, Gen 25:3; 1Ki 10:1; 1Ch 1:20-28

TSK: Gen 10:29

Ophir : 1Ki 9:28, 1Ki 22:48; 1Ch 8:18, 1Ch 9:10, 1Ch 9:13; Job 22:24, Job 28:16; Psa 45:9; Isa 13:12

Havilah : Gen 2:11, Gen 25:18; 1Sa 15:7

TSK: Gen 10:30

mount of the east : Num 23:7

TSK: Gen 10:31

Gen 10:5, Gen 10:20; Act 17:26

TSK: Gen 10:32

are the : Gen 10:1, Gen 10:20, Gen 10:31, Gen 5:29-31

and by : Any man who can barely read his Bible, and has but heard of such people as the Assyrians, Elamites, Lydians, Medes, Ionians, and Thracians, will readily acknowledge that Asshur, Elam, Lud, Madai, Javan, and Tiras, grandsons of Noah, were their respective founders.

nations : Gen 10:25, Gen 9:1, Gen 9:7, Gen 9:19; Act 17:26

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Gen 10:6-20

- XXXII. Ham

6. מצרים mı̂tsrayı̂m , "Mitsraim." מצר mētser , "straitness, limit, pressure." מצור mātsôr , "distress, siege, mound, bulwark; Egypt." מצרים mı̂tsrayı̂m , "perhaps double Egypt, lower and upper." פוּט pûṭ , "Put, troubled."

7. סבא s^e bā' , "Seba, drinking (man, Ethiopian)." סבתה sabtâh , "Sabtah." רעמה ra‛mâh , "Ra‘ mah, shaking, trembling." סבתכא sabt^e kā' , "Sabtekha." שׁבא shēbā' , "Sheba, captive?" דדן d^e dān , "Dedan, going slowly?"

8. נמרד nı̂mrod , "Nimrod, strong, rebel."

10. בבל bābel , "Babel; related: pour, mingle, confound." ארך 'erek , "Erek, length." אכד 'akad , "Akkad, fortress." כלנה kalneh , "Kalneh." שׁנער shı̂n‛ār , "Shin‘ ar."

11. נינוה nı̂yn^e vēh , "Nineveh, dwelling?" עיר רחבח r^e chobot 'ı̂yr , "Rechoboth ‘ ir, streets of a city." כלח kelach , "Kelach, completion, end, age."

12. רסן resen , "Resen, bridle, bit."

13. לוּדים lûdı̂ym , "Ludim, born?" ענמים ‛ǎnāmı̂ym , "‘ Anamim, possession, sheep. להבים lı̂hābı̂ym , "Lehabim, fiery, flaming?" נפתהים naptuchı̂ym , "Naphtuchim, opening."

14. פתרסים patrusı̂ym , "Pathrusim." כסלחים kasluchı̂ym , "Kasluchim." פלשׁתים p^e lı̂shtı̂ym , "Pelishtim", Αλλόφυλοι Allophuloi , "related: break, scatter; Aethiopic "migrate." כפתרים kaptorı̂ym , "Kaphtorim; related: crown, capital."

15. צידון tsı̂ydon , "Tsidon, hunting." צת chēt , "Cheth, breaking, affrighting."

16. יבוּסי y^e bûsı̂y , "Jebusi; related: tread." אמרי 'emorı̂y , "Emori; related: Say, be high." גגשׁי gı̂rgāshı̂y , "Girgashi; related: clay, clod."

17. צוּי chı̂vı̂y , "Chivvi; related: live." ערקי ‛arqı̂y , "‘ Arqi; related: gnaw, sting." סיני sı̂ynı̂y , "Sini; related: mud, clay."

18. ארודי 'arvādı̂y , "Arvadi; related: roam, ramble." צמרי ; ts^e mārı̂y , "Tsemari; noun: wool; verb: cover." חמתי chāmātı̂y , "Chamathi; noun: fastness; verb: guard."

19. גרר gerār , "Gerar; related: draw, saw, abide." עזה 'azâh , ‘ Azzah, strong." סדם s^e dom , "Sodom; related: shut, stop." עמרה 'amorâh , "‘ Amorah; noun: sheaf; verb: bind." אדמה 'admâh , "Admah; adjective: red; noun: soil." צבים tseboyı̂m , "Tseboim, gazelles; verb: go forth, shine." לשׁע lesha‛ , "Lesha; verb: pierce, cleave."

Gen 10:6

And the sons of Ham. - Ham the youngest of the three brothers Gen 9:24, is placed here because he agrees with Japheth in becoming estranged from the true God, and because the last place as the more important is reserved for Shem. As the name of Japheth is preserved in the Ιαπετος Iapetos of the Greeks, so Chain is supposed to appear in Chemi of the Coptic, χημία cheemia of Plutarch, Chine of the Rosetta Stone, an old name of Egypt. This country is also called the land of Ham in Scripture Psa 78:51; Psa 105:23, Psa 105:27; Psa 106:22. But this term was of more comprehensive import, as we find some ancient inhabitants of a region in the south of Judah, said to have come from Ham 1Ch 4:40. Thirty primitive nations sprang from Ham. Of these, only four were immediate descendants.

(15) Kush has left traces of his name perhaps in the Caucasus, the Caspian, and the Cossaei of Khusistan. There is an allusion in Amos (Amo 9:7) to his migration to the land south of Egypt which bears his name. This name is preserved in Gheez, the name of the ancient language of the people, and some say even in Habesh. It is possible, that some of the Kushites went toward India. To Ethiopia, however, the name generally refers in Scripture. The Ethiopians were called by Homer (Odyssey I. 23), ἔσχατοι ἀνδρῶν eschatoi andrōn , "remotest of men."

(16) Mizraim is the ordinary name for Egypt in the Hebrew scriptures. The singular form, Mazor, is found in later books 2Ki 19:24; Isa 19:6; Isa 37:25.

(17) Put has with one consent been placed beyond Egypt, in the north of the continent of Africa. He is mentioned along with Lubim as the helper of Nineveh (Nab. Isa 3:9), and with Kush, as forming part of the army of Neko Jer 46:9. His descendants penetrated far westward. A river bearing the name of Phutes has been mentioned in Mauretania, and an inland country is designated by the name of Futa. The name may be preserved also in Buto, the capital of lower Egypt, on the Sebennytic mouth of the Nile.

(18) Kenaan settled in the country called after his name. There are some grounds for believing that this land was previously inhabited by Shemites, as the land was Shemitic. If so, the Kenaanites came in as intruders, and followed the language of their predecessors. But of this hereafter.

Gen 10:7

Kush had five sons and two grandsons, who were reckoned among the founders of nations.

(19) Seba is associated with Kush Isa 43:3; Isa 45:14. Josephus (Ant. I. 6, 2; II. 10, 2) places him in Meroe, a country almost insulated by the Nile and its branches, the Astapus (Blue Nile) and Astaboras (Atbarah).

(20) Havilah occurs as the name of a country in the antediluvian times. The present Havilah may refer to a tribe in Africa, called Avalitae, lying south of Bab-el-mandeb, which corresponds very well with the situation of Kush and Seba. This nation, however, may also have a representative in the Χαυλοταῖοι Chaulotaioi of Strabo (xvi. 728), situated on the Persian Gulf, where some other Kushites were to be found. The fragments of this nation may have separated by migration, and left its name in both localities.

(21) Sabtah, Josephus finds in the Astaborans of Ethiopia, others in Sabota, a town in southwest Arabia.

(22) Ramah is traced in Rhegma on the southeast of Arabia.

(23) Sabteka is the third name, beginning with the same syllable. Such names are frequent from the Persian Gulf to the coast of Africa. Some find this place on the coast of Abyssinia, others in Samydake on the east side of the Persian Gulf. From Ramah are two tribes descended.

(24) Sheba, and (25) Dedan, lying in the south of Arabia or on the Persian Gulf. Daden, an island in the gulf, now Barhein, may represent the latter.

Gen 10:8-12

In this episode Gen 10:8-12, the author turns aside from the table of nations to notice the origin of the first great empires that were established on the earth. "And Kush begat Nimrod."The author had before enumerated the sons of Kush, who were heads of nations. Here he singles out one of his sons or descendants, who became the first potentate of whom we have any record. He notices his qualities for rising to this position among men. "He began to be a mighty one in the land. He was mighty in hunting, before the Lord."Hunting is a comprehensive term, indicating the taking of any species of animal, whether of the air, the sea, or the land. Nimrod’ s distinction in this respect was so great as to become proverbial. The expression, "before the Lord,"intimates, not merely that the Lord was cognizant of his proceedings, for he knoweth all things, but that Nimrod himself made no secret his designs, pursued them with a bold front and a high hand, and at the same time was aware of the name and will of Yahweh. This defiant air gives a new character to his hunting, which seems to have extended even to man, as the term is sometimes so applied (1Sa 24:12 (1Sa 24:11), Jer 16:16). His name, which literally means "we shall rebel,"is in keeping with the practice of an arbitrary and violent control over men’ s persons and property.

Gen 10:10

The beginning or first seat and the extent of his kingdom among men are then described. It consists of four towns - Babel and Erek and Akkad and Kalneh, in the land of Shinar. The number four is characteristic of Nimrod’ s kingdom. It is the mark of the four quarters of the earth, of universality in point of extent, and therefore of ambition. The site of Babel (Babylon) has been discovered in certain ruins near Hillah, chiefly on the opposite or eastern bank of the Euphrates, where there is a square mound called Babil by the natives. Erek has been traced also on the east bank of the Euphrates, about one hundred miles southeast of Babil, or half way between the city and the confluence of the rivers. It is the Orchoe of the Greeks, and the ruins now bear the name of Urka, or Warka. This name appears as Huruk on the cuneiform inscriptions of the place. Akkad, in the Septuagint. Archad, Col. Taylor finds in Akkerkoof, north of Babel, and about nine miles west of the Tigris, where it approaches the Euphrates. Here there is a hill or mound of ruins called Tel Nimrud. Rawlinson finds the name Akkad frequent in the inscriptions, and mentions Kingi Akkad as part of the kingdom of Urukh, but without identifying the site. Kalneh, Kalno, Isa 10:9; Kanneh, Eze 27:23, is regarded by Jerome, and the Targum of Jonathan, as the same with Ktesiphon on the Tigris, in the district of Chalonitis. Its ruins are near Takti Kesra. Rawlinson identifies it with Niffer, but without assigning satisfactory grounds. The sites of these towns fix that of Shinar, which is evidently the lower part of Mesopotamia, or, more precisely, the country west of the Tigris, and south of Is, or Hit, on the Euphrates, and Samara on the Tigris. It is otherwise called Babylonia and Chaldaea.

Gen 10:11, Gen 10:12

Out of that land came he forth to Asshur. - This may be otherwise rendered, "out of that land came forth Asshur."The probabilities in favor of the former translations are the following: First. The discourse relates to Nimrod. Second. The words admit of it. Third. The word Asshur has occurred hitherto only as the name of a country. Fourth. Asshur, the person, was considerably older than Nimrod, and had probably given name to Asshur before Nimrod’ s projects began. Fifth. Asshur would have been as great a man as Nimrod, if he had founded Nineveh and its contiguous towns; which does not appear from the text. Sixth. "The beginning of his kingdom"implies the addition to it contained in these verses. Seventh. And the phrases "in the land of Shinar, out of that land,"and the need of some definite locality for the second four cities, are in favor of the former rendering.

Asshur was a country intersected by the Tigris. It included the part of Mesopotamia north of Shinar, and the region between the Tigris and Mount Zagros. Its extension westward is undefined by any natural boundary, and seems to have varied at different times. Nineveh was a well-known city of antiquity, situated opposite Mosul on the Tigris. The country in which it was placed is called by Strabo Aturia, a variation seemingly of Asshur. It’ s remains are now marked by the names Nebbi-yunus and Koyunjik. Rehoboth-ir, the city broadway or market, has not been identified. Kelah is said to be now marked by the ruin called Nimrud. This lies on the left bank of the Tigris, near its confluence with the greater Zab, Its name seems to be preserved in the Calachene of Strabo. It was about twenty miles south of Nineveh. It is possible, however, so far as we can conjecture from conflicting authorities, that Kelah may be Kileh Sherghat, about fifty miles south of Mosul, on the right bank of the Tigris. Resen is placed by the text, between Nineveh and Kelah, and is therefore probably represented by Selamiyeh, a village about half way between Koyunjik and Nimrud. If Kelah, however, be Kileh Sherghat, Resen will coincide with Nimrud. "That is the great city."

This refers most readily to Resen, and will suit very well if it be Nimrud, which was evidently extensive. It may, however, refer to Nineveh. This completion of Nimrod’ s kingdom, we see, contains also four cities. The Babylonian and Assyrian monarchies were akin in origin, and allied in their history and in their fall. They were too near each other to be independent, and their mutual jealousies at length brought about the ruin of the northern capital. A Kushite, and therefore a Hamite, founded this first world-monarchy or tyranny. Another Hamite power arose simultaneously in Egypt. A branch of the Kushites seem to have gone eastward, and spread over India. But another branch spread through the South of Arabia, and, crossing into Africa, came into contact, sometimes into alliance, and sometimes into collision with the Egyptian monarchy. The eastern empire is noticed particularly, because it intruded into Shemitic ground, and aimed continually at extending its sway over the nations descended from Shem.

Gen 10:13-14

Mizraim has seven sons, from whom are derived eight nations.

(26) the Ludim are probably mentioned in Isa 66:19, in connection with Tarshish and Put; in Jer 46:9, in connection with Kush and Put; and in Eze 27:10; Eze 30:5, in connection with Put. In all these instances the name is in the singular, but in our text in the plural, expressly denoting the nation of which Lud was the progenitor. The Ludim were distinguished for the use of the bow. They were, doubtless, an African tribe, related to the Egyptians, and well known to the prophets, though their country cannot now be pointed out. Josephus intimates that they were destroyed, as well as other tribes descended from Mizraim, in the Ethiopic war of the time of Moses; but they still existed in the times of Ezekiel. Movers finds them in the Lewatah, a tribe of Berbers. Others place them in Mauretania. Pliny mentions a river Laud in Tingitana.

(27) the Anamim are not elsewhere mentioned.

(28) the Lehabim are generally identified with the Lubim 2Ch 12:3; 2Ch 16:8; Dan 2:43; Nah 3:9, who are introduced in connection with the Kushim. They are probably the Libyans, who lay to the west of Egypt, and, extending from the Mediterranean indefinitely to the south, came into contact with the Kushites of Abyssinia.

(29) the Naphtuhim Bochart places in Nephthys, near Pelusium on the Lake Sirbonis. Others find a trace of them in Napata, a town of Meroe. This agrees with the indications of Josephus and the Targum of Jonathan.

(30) the Pathrusim have their place in Pathros, a name of upper Egypt or the Thebais. It is arranged by Isaiah Isa 2:11 between Egypt and Kush.

(31) the Kasluhim are supposed by some to be represented by the Colchians, whom Herodotus (ii. 104) traces to Egypt. It is possible the Colchians may have been a colony from them. But their original seat must have been somewhere on the coast of the Red Sea.

(32) Philistim, who came from (31). The Philistines dwelt on the coast of the Mediterranean, from the border of Egypt to Joppa. They had five principal cities, - Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. They gave the name פלשׁת p^e leshet , Pelesheth, to the whole of Kenaan, from which is derived the Greek name Παλαιστὶνη Palaistinee "Palaestina."They are stated by the text to be a colony or offshoot of the Kasluhim.

(33) Kaphtorim. From Jer 47:4, it appears that Kaphtor was a coastland. From Amo 9:7, we learn that the Philistines came from this land. Hence, we conclude that the Kaphtorim dwelt on the coast of the Red Sea, adjacent to the Kasluchim, and left their name, perhaps, in Koptos and Αἴγυπτος Aiguptos . Cappadocia, Crete, and Cyprus only slightly resemble the name, and have no other recommendation. The Kasluhim may have been their southern neighbors, and thus the Philistines may have occupied a part of Kaphtor, before their settlement on the coast of the Great Sea, within the borders of Kenaan, where they would, of course, be another tribe ( ἀλλόφυλοι allophuloi ). This account of these descendants of Mizraim agrees best with the hint of Josephus, that many of them bordered on the Ethiopians; and perished, or perhaps were forced to migrate, in the Ethiopic or other wars (i. 6, 3). Thus, it appears that the descendants of Mizraim were settled in Africa, with the exception of the Philistines, who migrated into the country to which they gave their name.

Gen 10:15-19

From Kenaan are descended eleven nations:

(34) Zidon is styled his first-born. The name is retained in the well-known town on the coast of Phoenicia, which is accordingly of the highest antiquity among the cities of that region. The Sidonians were reckoned co-extensive with the Phoenicians, and are mentioned by Homer (Iliad 23:743; Odyssey 4:618).

(35) Heth. This tribe dwelt about Hebron and in the mountains around, and perhaps still further north in the districts extending toward the Euphrates Gen 23:3; Num 13:29; Jos 1:4. Esau took wives from the Hittites Gen 26:34-35, and some part of the nation existed even after the captivity Ezr 9:1.

(36) the Jebusite has his chief seat in and around Jerusalem, which was called Jebus, from his chief; and the citadel of which was wrested from him only in the time of David 2Sa 5:7.

(37) the Amorite was one of the most important and extensive tribes of Kenaan. Five kings of this nation dwelt in the mountains afterward occupied by Judah Gen 14:7, Gen 14:13; Num 13:29; Jos 10:5, and two on the east of the Jordon, in Heshbon and Bashan, north of Moab Num 21:13; Deu 4:47. The eastern Amorites were conquered under Moses, the western under Joshua. A remnant of them were made bondsmen by Solomon 1Ki 9:20. They survived the captivity Ezr 9:1.

(38) the Girgashite seems to have lain on the west of the Jordan, and the name may be preserved in the reading Γεργεσηνῶν Gergesēnōn , of Mat 8:28. The town of the Gergesenes is supposed to have been at the southeast of the lake of Gennesaret Gen 15:21; Deu 7:1; Jos 24:11.

(39) the Hivite was found at Shalem, Gibeon, and also at the foot of Hermon and Antilibanus Gen 34:2; Jos 9:7; Jos 11:3; Jdg 3:3. The former were also classed under the Amorites Gen 48:22; 2Sa 21:2. With the exception of four cities of the Gibeonites, they were conquered by Joshua Jos 9:17; Jos 11:3, Jos 11:19.

(40) the Arkite probably dwelt near a town called Arke or Caesarea Libani, lying some miles north of Tripolis, at the foot of Lebanon. Its ruins are still extant at Tel Arka.

(41) the Sinite is supposed to have dwelt in Sinna, a town mentioned by Strabo, called Sine by Jerome, and Syn in the fifteenth century (Strab. xvi. 2, 18; Hieron. Quaest. in Gen., Breitenbach, Travels, p. 47), not far from Arke.

(42) the Arvadite dwelt in Arvad, Aradus, now Ruad, a Phoenician town on an island of the same name.

(43) the Zemarite has been traced in the town Σίμυρα Simura , the ruins of which were found by Shaw at the western foot of Lebanon, under the name of Sumra.

(44) the Hamathite was the inhabitant of Hamath, called Hamath Rabbah (the great), by the Greeks Epiphaneia, and at present Hamah. It is situated on the Orontes, and held an important place in the history of Israel. The land of Hamath was of great extent, including the town of Riblab 2Ki 25:21 and reaching even to Antioch. The entrance of Hamath חמת בוא bô' chamāt , the northern part of the valley between Lebanon and Antilibanus, formed the utmost boundary of Palestine to the north Num 13:21; Jos 13:5; 1Ki 8:65. Its king was in alliance with David 2Sa 8:10.

And afterward were the families of the Kenaanites spread abroad. - After the confusion of tongues were these nations formed; and after the formation of these Kenaanic tribes occurred the dispersion spoken of in the text. We do not know what was the original seat of the Kenaanites; or whether the dispersion here mentioned was violent or not. Its primary result, however, seems to have been their settlement in the country of which the boundaries are next described. It is not improbable that this land was allotted to a portion of the Shemites, and occupied by them when the Kenaanites entered and established themselves among them Gen 40:15. The Kenaanites probably had the same grasping tendency which displayed itself in Nimrod, their kinsman; and therefore seized upon the country with a high hand, and called it after their name. Their expulsion, on the conquest of the land by the Israelites, and their commercial activity, led to a still further dispersion; as colonies were sent out by them to the distant shores of the Mediterranean, to Asia Minor, Greece, Africa, Spain, and even the British Isles. But it can scarcely be supposed that reference is here made to these subsequent events in their history.

Gen 10:19

The border of Kenaan, as here described, extends along the coast from Zidon in the direction of (as thou goest unto) Gerar, which lay between Kadesh and Shur Gen 20:1, and has its name preserved in the Wady el-Jerur, which is nearly in a line connecting Ain el-Weibeh and Suez. It turns at Azzah (Gaza), and passes to the cities of the plain, of which the later history is so memorable. Its terminating point is Lesha, which is generally supposed to be Callirrhoe, to the northeast of the Dead Sea, so called from the hot springs which form a stream flowing into the lake. It is possible, however, that Lesha is only another variation of Laish and Leshem, a city belonging to the Sidonians, and situated near the sources of the Jordan. Thus, we have the western, southern, and eastern border briefly given in this verse. It is manifest, however, that they did not confine themselves to these limits, but "afterward spread abroad"into the adjacent regions. The Hittite went to the northeast; the Amorite crossed the Jordan, and occupied a great part of Peraea; the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite stretched far north of the boundary.

Gen 10:20

The list of the Hamites is summed up Gen 10:20 in the usual form. It appears that Ham occupied Africa and a certain portion of Asia along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, in the south of Arabia, about the lower valley of the Frat and Diljah, and perhaps along the south of Asia. In extent of territory, Japheth ultimately far exceeded, as he occupied most of Asia and almost all of Europe and the New World. Ham is next to him, as he inherited Africa and a portion of Asia. Some of his descendants have also been forcibly transplanted to the New Hemisphere. But in point of political contact with Shem, Japheth, in early times, sinks comparatively into the shade, and Ham assumes the prominent place. Babylon, Kush, Egypt, and Kenaan are the powers which come into contact with Shem, in that central line of human history which is traced in the Bible. Hence, it is that in the table of nations special attention is directed to Kush, Nimrod, Mizraim, and to the tribes and borders of Kenaan.

Barnes: Gen 10:21-32

- XXXIII. Shem

21. אבר 'eber , "‘ Eber, yonder side; verb: pass, cross."

22. עילם 'eylām , "‘ Elam." עוּל ‛ûl , "suckle." עלם ‛ālam , "hide; be mature." ארפכשׁד 'arpakshad , "Arpakshad." כשׂד ארף 'arp keśed , "boundary of Kesed, or (von-Bohlen) Arjapakshata, beside Aria." ארם 'ǎrām , "Aram, high; verb: be high."

23. עוּץ ‛ûts , "‘ Uts; verb: counsel; be firm, solid." חוּל chûl , "Chul; verb: rub, twist, writhe, be strong, await." גתר geter , "Gether, bridge?" משׁ meshek , "Mash; related: feel, touch."

24. שׁלח shelach , "Shelach, missile, shoot."

25. פלג peleg , "Peleg; noun: brook, canal; verb: divide." יקטן yāqṭān , "Joctan, small."

26. אלמודד 'almôdād , "Almodad." למד lāmad , "learn." מדד mādad , "measure." שׁלף shelep , "Sheleph; verb: draw out or off." חערמות chatsarmāvet , "Chatsarmaveth, court of death." ירח yerach , "Jerach, moon, month."

27. הדורם hadôrām , Hadoram, "majesty, beauty;"verb: "swell, honor." אוּזל 'ûzāl , Uzal; verb: "go out or away." דקלה dı̂qlâh Diclah, "palm."

28. עובל ‛ôbāl , ‘ Obal, "bare, bald." אבימאל 'ǎbı̂ymā'ēl , Abimael, "father of Mael"(circumcision).

29. אופיר 'ôpı̂r , Ophir; verb: "break, veil." יובב yôbāb , Jobab; verb: "cry, call."

30. משׁא mēshā' , Mesha, שׁאה shā'âh = שׁוא shô' , "roar, crash." ספר s^e pār Sephar, "counting. writing."

From Japheth, who penetrated into the remotest regions, the writer proceeds to Ham, who came into close contact with Shem. From Ham, he passes to Shem, in whom the line of history is to be continued.

Gen 10:21

Shem is here distinguished by two characteristics - the former referring to a subsequent, the latter to an antecedent event. He is "the father of all the sons of Heber."It is evident from this that the sons of Heber cast luster on the family of Shem, and therefore on the whole human race. It is unnecessary to anticipate the narrative, except so far as to note that the sons of Heber include most of the Arabians, a portion of those who mingled with the race and inhabited the land of Aram, and, most probably, the original element of the population in the land of Kenaan. This characteristic of Shem shows that the table in which it is found was composed after the Hebrews had become conspicuous among the descendants of Shem.

Shem is next distinguished as the "older brother of Japheth"; that is, older than Ham. This interpretation of the words is most agreeable to the Hebrew idiom, and is the only one which affords an important sense. That Shem was the second son appears from the facts that Ham was the youngest Gen 9:24, that Shem was born in the five hundred and third year of Noah Gen 11:10, and, therefore, Japheth must have been the one born when Noah was in his five hundredth year Gen 5:32. The reason for inserting this statement is to prevent the order in which the brothers are introduced in the pedigree from being taken as that of their age, instead of that of the historical relationship subsisting among the nations descended from them.

Gen 10:22

Twenty-six of the primitive nations are descended from Shem, of which five are immediate.

(45) Elam was settled in a part of the modern Persia, to which he gave name. This name seems to be preserved in Elymais, a province of that country bordering on the Dijlah, and now included in Khusistan. It was early governed by its own kings Gen 14:1, and continued to occupy a distinct place among the nations in the time of the later prophets Isa 22:6; Jer 49:34; Eze 32:24. Its capital was Shushan or Susa Dan 8:2, now Shuster.

(46) Asshur seems to have originally occupied a district of Mesopotamia, which was bounded on the east by the Tigris Gen 2:14. The inviting plains and slopes on the east of the Tigris would soon occasion a migration of part of the nation across that river. It is possible there may have been an ancient Asshur occupying the same region even before the flood Gen 2:14.

(47) Arpakshad is traced in Ἀῤῥαπαχῖτις Arrapachitis , Arrhapachitis, a region in the north of Assyria. V. Bohlen and Benfey identify it with Ariapakshata, denoting a country beside Aria. Gesenius renders it border or stronghold of the Kasdim; but the components of the word are uncertain. The nations descended from Arpakshad are noted at the close on account of their late origin, as well as their import for the subsequent narrative.

(48) Lud is usually identified with the Lydians, Λυδοὶ Ludoi , who by migration at length reached and gave their name to a part of the west coast of Asia Minor.

(49) Aram gave name to the upper parts of Mesopotamia and the parts of Syria north of Palestine. Hence, we read of Aram Naharaim (of the two rivers), Aram Dammesek (of Damascus), Aram Maakah on the southwest border of Damascus, about the sources of the Jordan, Aram Beth Rechob in the same neighborhood, and Aram Zoba to the north of Damascus. The name is perhaps varied in the Ἄριμοι Arimoi of Homer (Iliad 2:783) and Strabo (xiii. 4, 6). From Aram are descended four later nations.

Gen 10:23

(50) Uz ( Ἀνσῖτις Ausitis , Septuagint.) the chief of a people having their seat in the north of Arabia Deserta, between Palestine and the Euphrates. From this Uz it is possible that the sons of Nahor and of Seir Gen 22:21; Gen 36:28 obtained their name. Job dwelt in this land.

(51) Hul is supposed to have his settlement about the sources of the Jordan in Huleh. Others trace this nation in the Hylatae (Pliny 5:19) near Emesa.

(52) Gether is of uncertain position, probably in Arabia.

(53) Mash may have left a trace of his name in Mons Masius, Karajah Dagh, south of Diarbekir, and perhaps also in the Mysians and Moesians, who may have wandered westward from under this mountain.

Gen 10:24

Arpakshad begat (54) Shelah. We know nothing of the nation of which he was the founder. He begat

(55) Heber. He is the progenitor of the Hebrews, the race to which Abraham belonged. He is marked out very prominently for reasons partly unknown to us at this distance of time, but partly no doubt because he was the ancestor of the chosen race who immediately preceded the confusion of tongues, and to whom belonged that generic Hebrew tongue, which afterward branched into several dialects, of which the Hebrew, now strictly so called, was one. It is probable that most of the diversified modes of speech retained the substance of the primeval speech of mankind. And it is not improbable, for various reasons, that this Hebrew tongue, taken in its largest sense, deviated less from the original standard than any other. The Shemites, and especially the Hebrews, departed less from the knowledge of the true God than the other families of man, and, therefore, may be presumed to have suffered less from the concussion given to the living speech of the race.

The knowledge previously accumulated of the true God, and of his will and way, would have been lost, if the terms and other modes of expressing divine things had been entirely obliterated. It is consonant with reason, then, to suppose that some one language was so little shaken from its primary structure as to preserve this knowledge. We know as a fact, that, while other nations retained some faint traces of the primeval history, the Hebrews have handed down certain and tangible information concerning former things in a consecutive order from the very first. This is a proof positive that they had the distinct outline and material substance of the primeval tongue in which these things were originally expressed. In keeping with this line of reasoning, while distinct from it, is the fact that the names of persons and things are given and explained in the Hebrew tongue, and most of them in that branch of it in which the Old Testament is composed. We do not enter further into the special nature of the Hebrew family of languages, or the relationship in which they are found to stand with the other forms of human speech than to intimate that such investigations tend to confirm the conclusions here enunciated.

Gen 10:25

This nation was very extensive, and accordingly branched out into several, of which the immediate ones are Peleg and Joctan.

(56) Peleg is remarkable on account of the origin assigned to his name. "In his days was the land divided."Here two questions occur. What is the meaning of the earth being divided, and what is the time denoted by "his days?"The verb "divide"( פלג pālag ) occurs only three times elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures 1Ch 1:19; Job 38:25; Psa 55:10. The connection in which this rare word is used in the Psalm, "divide their tongues,"seems to determine its reference in the present passage to the confusion of tongues and consequent dispersion of mankind recorded in the following chapter. This affords a probable answer to our first question. The land was in his days divided among the representative heads of the various nations. But to what point of time are we directed by the phrase "in his days?"Was the land divided at his birth, or some subsequent period of his life? The latter is possible, as Jacob and Gideon received new names, and Joshua an altered name, in later life.

The phrase "in his days"seems to look the same way. And the short interval from the deluge to his birth appears scarcely to suffice for such an increase of the human family as to allow of a separation into nations. Yet, on the other hand, it is hard to find any event in later life which connected this individual more than any other with the dispersion of man. It is customary to give the name at birth. The phrase "in his days"may, without any straining, refer to this period. And if we suppose, at a time when there were only a few families on the earth, an average increase of ten children in each in four generations, we shall have a thousand, or twelve hundred full-grown persons, and, therefore, may have five hundred families at the birth of Peleg. We cannot suppose more than fifty-five nations distinguished from one another at the dispersion, as Heber is the fifty-fifth name, and all the others are descended from him.

And if three families were sufficient to propagate the race after the flood, nine or ten were enough to constitute a primeval tribe or nation. We see some reason, therefore, to take the birth of Peleg as the occasion on which he received his name, and no stringent reason for fixing upon any later date. At all events the question seems to be of no chronological importance, as in any case only four generations preceded Peleg, and these might have been of comparatively longer or shorter duration without materially affecting the number of mankind at the time of his birth. Peleg is also remarkable as the head of that nation out of which, at an after period, the special people of God sprang. Of the Palgites, as a whole, we hear little or nothing further in history.

(57) Joctan, if little or insignificant as an individual or a nation, is the progenitor of a large group of tribes, finding their place among the wandering races included afterward under the name Arabic. Cachtan, as the Arabs designate him in their traditions, may have given name to Cachtan, a town and province mentioned by Niebuhr.

Gen 10:26-29

The thirteen tribes of the Joctanites or primitive Arabs are enumerated here in Gen 10:26-29.

(58) Almodad is usually referred to Yemen. The first syllable may be the Arabic article. Mudad is the name of one celebrated in Arab story as the stepfather of Ishmael and chief of the Jurhum tribe of Joctanites. The Ἀλλουμαιῶται Alloumaiōtai of Ptolemy belonged to the interior of Arabia Felix.

(59) Sheleph is traced in the Σαλαπηνοὶ Salapeenoi of Ptolemy (vi. 7), belonging to the interior.

(60) Hazarmaveth gives name to a district on the Indian Ocean, abounding in spices, now called Hadramaut. This tribe is the Chatramitae of Greek writers.

(61) Jerah occupied a district where are the coast and mountain of the moon, near Hadramaut.

(62) Hadoram is preserved in the tribe called Ἀδραμῖται Adamitai Atramitae, placed by Pliny (vi. 28) between the Homerites and the Sachalites on the south coast of Arabia.

(63) Uzal perhaps gave the ancient name of Azal to Sana, the capital of Yemen, a place still celebrated for the manufacture of beautiful stuffs.

(64) Diclah settled possibly in the palm-bearing region of the Minaei in Hejaz.

(65) Obal is otherwise unknown.

(66) Abimael is equally obscure. Bochart supposes there is a trace of the name in Μάλι Mali , a place in Arabia Aromatifera.

(67) Sheba is the progenitor of the Sabaei in Arabia Felix, celebrated for spices, gold, and precious stones, and noted for the prosperity arising from traffic in these commodities. A queen of Sheba visited Solomon. The dominant family among the Sabaeans was that of Himjar, from whom the Himjarites (Homeritae) of a later period descended.

(68) Ophir gave name to a country celebrated for gold, precious stones, and almug wood, which seems to have lain on the south side of Arabia, where these products may be found. What kind of tree the almug is has not been clearly ascertained. Some suppose it to be the sandal wood which grows in Persia and India; others, a species of pine. If this wood was not native, it may have been imported from more distant countries to Ophir, which was evidently a great emporium. Others, however, have supposed Ophir to be in India, or Eastern Africa. The chief argument for a more distant locality arises from the supposed three years’ voyage to it from Ezion-geber, and the products obtained in the country so reached. But the three years’ voyage 1Ki 10:22; 2Ch 9:21 seems to be in reality to Tarshish, a very different region.

(69) Havilah here is the founder of a Joctanite tribe of Arabs, and therefore his territory must be sought somewhere in the extensive country which was occupied by these wandering tribes. A trace of the name is probably preserved in Khawlan, a district lying in the northwest of Yemen, between Sana and Mecca, though the tribe may have originally settled or extended further north.

(70) Jobab has been compared with the Ἰωβαρῖται Iōbaritai of Ptolemy (vi. 7). Bochart finds the name in the Arabic: yobab , a desert.

Gen 10:29

The situation of Mesha is uncertain. But it is obviously the western boundary of the settlement, and may have been in the neighborhood of Mecca and Medina. Sephar is perhaps the Arabic Zaphari, called by the natives Isfor, a town on the south coast near Mirbat. It seems, however, to be, in the present passage, the "mount of the east"itself, a thuriferous range of hills, adjacent, it may be, to the seaport so-called. Gesenius and others fix upon Mesene, an island at the head of the Persian Gulf, as the Mesha of the text. But this island may have had no existence at the time of the Joctanite settlement. These boundaries include the greater part of the west and south coast of the peninsula, and are therefore sufficient to embrace the provinces of Hejaz (in part), Yemen, and Hadramaut, and afford space for the settlements of the thirteen sons of Joctan. The limits thus marked out determine that all these settlers, Ophir among the rest, were at first to be found in Arabia, how far soever they may have wandered from it afterward.

Gen 10:31-32

Gen 10:31 contains the usual closing formula for the pedigree of the Shemite tribes; and Gen 10:32 contains the corresponding form for the whole table of nations.

From a review of these lands it is evident that Shem occupied a much smaller extent of territory than either of his brothers. The mountains beyond the Tigris, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Levant, the Archipelago, and the Black Sea, bound the countries that were in part peopled by Shem. Arabia, Syria, and Assyria contained the great bulk of the Shemites, intermingled with some of the Hamites. The Kushites, Kenaanites, and Philistines trench upon their ground. The rest of the Hamites peopled Africa, and such countries as were supplied from it. The Japhethites spread over all the rest of the world.

In this table there are 70 names, exclusive of Nimrod, of heads of families, tribes, or nations descended from the 3 sons of Noah - 14 from Japheth, 30 from Ham, and 26 from Shem. Among the heads of tribes descended from Japheth are 7 grandsons. Among those from Ham are 23 grandsons and 3 great-grandsons. Among those of Shem are 5 grandsons, one great-grandson, 2 of the fourth generation, and 13 of the fifth. Whence, it appears that the subdivisions are traced further in Ham and much further in Shem than in Japheth, and that they are pursued only in those lines which are of importance for the coming events in the history of Shem.

It is to be observed, also, that, though the different races are distinguished by the diversity of tongues, yet the different languages are much less numerous than the tribes. The eleven tribes of Kenaanites, and the thirteen tribes of Joctanites, making allowance for some tribal peculiarities, most probably spoke at first only two dialects of one family of languages, which we have designated the Hebrew, itself a branch of, if not identical with, what is commonly called the Shemitic. Hence, some Hamites spoke the language of Shem. A similar community of language may have occurred in some other instances of diversity of descent.

Poole: Gen 10:9

He was a mighty hunter first of beasts, and by that occasion of men. For when men were few, and lived dispersedly, and wild beasts abounded, and most of all in those parts, by hunting and destroying of those beasts he got much reputation and favour with men, who thereby were secured in their dwellings. In confidence hereof, and having this occasion to gather great companies of the youngest and strongest men together to himself, by their help he established a tyranny and absolute power over men, insnaring, hunting after, and destroying like beasts all those men who opposed his dominion. Tyrants and persecutors are oft in Scripture called fowlers and hunters, as Psa 91:3 Jer 16:16 Lam 3:52 4:18 .

Before the Lord an aggravation of his crime, that it was done in of God’ s presence, impudently and in contempt both God, who had so lately manifested his detestation of this sin, by the destruction of the world, amongst other sins, for this very sin of violence, Gen 6:13 , and of his great-grandfather Noah, then living and preaching, who probably did admonish him of the wickedness and danger of this practice. Thus he showed that he neither feared God nor reverenced man, if they withstood him in his unsurpation of dominion. It became a proverb, when any man was haughty, and cruel, and tyrannical, and that joined with impudence and obstinacy, That he was another Nimrod.

Poole: Gen 10:10

The beginning of his kingdom i.e. either his chief and royal city, or the place where his dominion began, and from whence it was extended to other parts.

Babel which being not built till the confusion of languages, Gen 11:4 , showeth that this, though here mentioned upon occasion of the genealogy, was not executed till afterward; it being very usual in Scripture to neglect the order of time in historical relations.

Calneh called Calno, Isa 10:9 ; and Canneh, Eze 27:23 ; and as it is here, Cabneh, Amo 6:2 ; where it is mentioned amongst the eminent cities.

The land of Shinar i.e. in Mesopotamia. This clause belongs to all the cities here named; and is added for distinction sake, because there is a Babylon in the land of Egypt, and there might be other cities of the same name with the rest in other countries.

Poole: Gen 10:11

Asshur a man so called: either,

1. Asshur the son of Shem, who forsook the land, either being forced by or weary of Nimrod’ s tyranny and impiety, and erected another kingdom. But it is not probable either that Moses would here relate an exploit of a man whose birth is not mentioned till Gen 10:22 , or that one single son of Shem would be here disorderly placed among the sons of Ham. Or,

2. Another Asshur of Ham’ s race. But it seems most likely that Asshur is the name of a place or country, even of Assyria, which in the Hebrew is called Asshur; and that the words should be thus rendered, he, i.e. Nimrod, went forth out of his own land to Asshur, to war against it, and add it to his empire; for to go forth is commonly ascribed to those that go to war or to battle, as Jud 2:15 11:3 2Sa 11:1 Psa 60:10 ; and the particle to is here understood as it is 2Sa 6:10 10:2 , compared with 1Ch 13:13 19:2 .

Nineveh a famous and vast city near the river Tigris, but so ruined by time, that the learned are not agreed about the place where it was situate.

Of Rehoboth see Gen 36:37 1Ch 1:48 .

Poole: Gen 10:12

Either,

1. Nineveh which is called a

great city Jon 3:3 4:11; and indeed was so, being sixty miles in compass. Thus it is a trajection, and the relative is referred to the remoter noun, as sometimes is done, though this seems to be a little forced. Or,

2. Resen so the meaning is, though this city be much inferior to Nineveh, yet this also, if compared with most others, is a great city.

Poole: Gen 10:13

Of

Ludim and the following names here and Gen 10:14 , observe two things:

1. They are not the names of persons, but of people or nations; and the word father is here understood; Ludim, for the father of the people called Ludim, and so the rest.

2. That they are the several nations dwelling in Africa, springing from the Egyptians, which, as they multiplied, went further and further westward and southward from Egypt.

Poole: Gen 10:14

Pathrusim the inhabitants of Pathros; of which see Isa 11:11 Jer 44:1,15 Eze 29:14 .

Out of whom came Philistim: the meaning is, they came out of his loins, or were his offspring, which might be true; though afterwards we find them seated amongst the offspring of Canaan, having driven out the former inhabitants, as was usual in those ancient times.

Object.

The Philistines are elsewhere said to come from Caphtorim: see Jer 47:4 .

Answ Therefore some make a trajection here, which is not unusual; and read the words thus, and Casluhim, and Caphtorim, out of whom me Philistim. But this seems forced, nor is it necessary; for the place may be thus read without any parenthesis, and Casluhim, out of whom came the Philistim and Caphtorim, which two latter were brethren, both the sons of Casluhim; and so might at first dwell together, whence their names are promiscuously used one for another; and the Caphtorims are said to dwell in Azzah, or Gaza, the known seat of the Philistines, Deu 2:23 . Afterwards they might be divided, first in their dwellings, then in their affections, and war one against another; and the Caphtorims seem to have subdued and enslaved the Philistines, and carried them into their country, whom therefore God is said to bring and deliver from Caphtor, Amo 9:9 ; and the Caphtorims either then or afterward might be destroyed and extirpated by the hand of God or men, whence the Philistines, in after-times, are called The remnant of the country of Caphtor, Jer 47:4 .

Poole: Gen 10:15

Sidon his first-born the father of the people, and builder of the city of Sidon, Jos 11:8 19:28 .

Of Heth came the Hittites, Jos 1:4 9:1 , &c.

Poole: Gen 10:16

Of these and the other people following, see Jos 18:22,28 2Ch 13:4 Isa 49:12 Eze 27:8,11 Am 6:2,14 , &c.

Poole: Gen 10:18

Dispersed in the several quarters of the land, who, before they grew so numerous, dwelt together in the same place.

Poole: Gen 10:19

From Sidon i.e. the city and country of Sidon, on the north-west.

Unto Gaza on the south-west.

Zeboim on the south and south-east.

Lasha on the north-east.

Poole: Gen 10:21

Of all the children of Eber i.e. of the Hebrews, the only church and people of God when Moses wrote, who are called

Eber Num 24:24 , as here, the children of Eber. And he is here called the father of them peculiarly, though he had other children, because he was their father not only by natural generation, but also in respect of the promise of God, which was conveyed to them through Shem’ s hands, and of that faith and holiness wherein he was their predecessor and eminent pattern; even as Ham, though he had other sons, is specially called the father of Canaan, Gen 9:22 , because his father’ s curse rested upon him, Gen 10:25 .

Object. Eber had many other children here recorded, and therefore in that sense Shem was not the father of all the children of Eber.

Answ Though Eber had other children, yet none are called in Scripture the children of Eber, or, which is all one, the Hebrews, but Abraham’ s posterity; even as though Abraham had divers other children, yet the Israelites are in many places peculiarly called the children of Abraham. And the ungodly Jews, when they degenerate from God and godliness, God takes away their name, and denieth them to be Jews, Rom 2:28 , and calls them Sodomites, Isa 1:10 . And therefore no wonder if Joktan and his posterity, having, as it is probable, forsaken their father’ s God, and turned idolaters, be here disowned as bastards, and blotted out of the honourable catalogue of the children of Eber: see Rom 9:8 .

Japheth alone is here mentioned as his brother, and not Ham, because he was deservedly shut out from Shem’ s blessing pronounced by Noah, and was accursed of God, whereas Japheth was partaker with Shem, both in the piety exercised towards their father, and the blessing thereupon pronounced; the word brother being often applied to persons alike in condition, disposition, or manners: see Gen 49:5 .

The elder Though the words in Hebrew may seem ambiguous, yet other texts make it probable that Japheth was the elder. For Noah began to beget children in his five hundredth year, Gen 5:32 . And Shem was but a hundred years old two years after the flood, Gen 11:10 . Therefore he was not the eldest. And Ham is concluded not to be the eldest, from Gen 9:24 ; of which See Poole "Gen 9:24" ; if so, Japheth must be the eldest. And Shem is generally named first, not because he was the first-born, but because he had the privileges of the first-born, and was chief in dignity and authority in the church of God.

Poole: Gen 10:22

Of Elam came the Elamites or Persians: see Gen 14:9 Isa 21:2 Jer 49:34 Dan 8:2 Act 2:9 .

Asshur was father of the Assyrians: see Gen 10:11 .

Of Arphaxad the Chaldeans, as many conceive; or, as others, the inhabitants of that part of Assyria, from him called Arphaxitis, which Ptolemy corruptly calls Arrapachitis.

Lud was father of the Lydians, a well-known people in Asia the Less.

Of Aram the Syrians, known by the name of Aramites, both in sacred and other authors: compare with this Gen 22:21 .

Poole: Gen 10:25

In his days either,

1. In the time of his birth, whence he was so called. Or,

2. Afterwards in the time of life. So his father gave him this name by the Spirit of prophecy, foreseeing this great event, and the time of it; this being no unusual thing in Scripture, as we shall hereafter see, to give prophetical names to children. And thus there is a longer and more convenient space left for the peopling of the world, and ripening of things for the general dispersion and habitation of the earth.

The earth was divided first in language, and then in habitations.

Poole: Gen 10:26

From

Almodad and the rest of Joktan’ s sons here mentioned, come either,

1. The various nations of India, as most think; or rather,

2. The several people that live in the innermost parts of Arabia, who profess themselves the posterity of Joktan, and have a city near Mecca called Jectan. And the Homerites, one sort of them, are deduced from him by divers writers.

Poole: Gen 10:28

A different person from him Gen 10:7 , and the father of another people, having only the same name with him.

Poole: Gen 10:29

Ophir either that in India, of which see 1Ki 9:28 10:11 22:48 ; or the other in Arabia, of which see Job 22:24 28:16 . See also Psa 45:9 Isa 13:12 .

Havilah a distinct person from him Gen 10:7 .

Poole: Gen 10:30

These places were either,

1. In India, where there are places called by Ptolemy and Pliny, Maesae, and Saparum, and Sabara. Or rather,

2. In Arabia, where there was a noted port called Musa; and near it, and eastward from it, a people called Sapharitae, and a royal city called Saphar; from whence this famous and long mountain doth here receive its name. If it be said Arabia is not east but south from Judea, it may be answered,

1. That Arabia, as it is not east in respect of Egypt, where the Jews long dwelt, and part of it is so to Judea also; so it is not seldom in Scripture reckoned as a part of the east country, as appears from Gen 25:6,18 Jud 6:3 1Ki 4:30 Job 1:3 Isa 11:14 Jer 49:28 . And Tacitus describing Judea, saith: It is bounded on the east by Arabia.

2. That this mountain is said to be easterly, not simply, but in respect of the city Mesha, on the east whereof Ptolemy placeth this mountain, though he call it by another name, Climax; add to this, that Moses speaks of these places as known to the Jews, and therefore not so far distant from them as India, a place wholly unknown to them, and wherewith, as yet, they had no communication. If it be further objected, that if these people had been so near and well known to the Jews, we should have had more mention of them in Scripture; I answer, there is mention of some of them; and for others, it is no wonder if by the following wars among nations, and mixtures and confusions of people, some of them were extirpated, and others lost their names, though not their beings, as oft happened.

Haydock: Gen 10:9

A stout hunter . Not of beasts, but of men; whom by violence and tyranny he brought under his dominion. And such he was, not only in the opinion of men, but before the Lord; that is, in his sight who cannot be deceived. (Challoner) ---

The Septuagint call him a giant; that is, a violent man. According to Josephus, he stirred up men to rebel against the Lord, maintaining that all their happiness must come from themselves, &c., Antiquities i. 4. Thus he broached the first heresy after the deluge. (Worthington) ---

He seems to have been the same as Bel, father of Ninus, and the author of idolatry. (Menochius)

Haydock: Gen 10:11

That land, of Sennaar, near the city of Babylon. Assur, or Ninus, who founded the Assyrian empire. (Menochius) ---

But many understand this of Nemrod, who, in his progress from Babylonia to conquer the world, and oppress the rest of his brethren, came forth into Assyria, as if it were written Assurah; the He signifying motion towards, being often omitted in names of places. See 2 Kings vi. 10. (Bochart.) There he built Ninive, on the Tigris. But the exact situation of this vast city is not even known. (Calmet) ---

And the streets, &c., which were amazingly extensive, Jonas iii. 3. It may also signify the city Rohoboth. (Pagnin.) ---

Chale perhaps of Halah, 4 Kings xvii. 6, on the banks, or near the source of the river Chaboras.

Haydock: Gen 10:12

Resen, perhaps Larissa, here written without the La; as 1 Paralipomenon v. 26. Hala has the preposition, and is written Lahela. (Bochart.) ---

This, &c. It is doubtful which of these three cities is meant: but as we know that Ninive was remarkable for size and magnificence, we may suppose this is designated. (Calmet) (Menochius)

Haydock: Gen 10:19

To Lesa, or Laisa, to the north, on the Jordan, as Sodom was on the southern extremity of that river. Sidon and Gaza were on the Mediterranean sea, north and south; so that these four cities are like four points, determining the extent of the promised land, which, as it was important for the Israelites to know, Moses descends to these particulars in speaking of the Chanaanites.

Haydock: Gen 10:21

Of Heber . That is, of the nations beyond the Euphrates. Hebrews, &c. (Calmet) ---

The elder brother, fratre Japheth majore, may be rendered as well "Japheth being his elder brother," which, as we have already observed, was probably the case. By mentioning him alone, we may gather that Sem was elder than Cham, who is called the less or younger son. (Haydock) ---

The Hebrew may be translated either way. But the Chaldean, Liranus, and many excellent interpreters, make Jepheth the eldest. (Calmet)

Haydock: Gen 10:24

Begot Sale; either his son, or his grandson, by Cainan. See Luke iii. 36, where we shall examine this question; also chap. xi. 12. The copies of the Septuagint still extant, all assert that Cainan was the son of Arphaxad, in all the places where they are mentioned, both in Genesis and Chronicles; and though some endeavour to prove that this is an interpolation, inserted by a later hand, it is certain it was found in the Septuagint in the days of St. Luke, who confirms it by his authority, as all the copies both Greek and Latin, except a very faulty one which belonged to Beza, and is now at Cambridge, testify. Beza was so bold as to expunge the name. But before we allow of this freedom, we must be informed how St. Luke could adopt such an error, being, as he was, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost! See Salien, &c. (Haydock) ---

Mariana asserts, that the Hebrew copies have been vitiated.

Haydock: Gen 10:29

Sons of Jectan; though not perhaps all born before the dispersion of nations, which may be said of some others, whom Moses here mentions, that he may not have to interrupt his narration. (Calmet)

Gill: Gen 10:9

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord,.... Which might be literally true; for, from the time of the flood to his days, wild beasts might increase very much, and greatly annoy men who dwelt very likely for the most part in tents scattered up and down in divers places: so that he did a good office in hunting and destroying them. An Arabic writer ^o, of some authority in the eastern parts, says, that by hunting he got food sufficient for the builders of Babel, while they were employed therein; and Aben Ezra interprets it in his favour, that he built altars, and the creatures he took in hunting he offered them on them a burnt offering to God. But neither of these is probable; however, it may be observed, that in this way by hunting he arrived to the power and dominion over men he afterwards had; for not only he ingratiated himself into their favour by hunting down and destroying the wild beasts which molested them, but by these means he might gather together a large number of young men, strong and robust, to join him in hunting; whereby they were inured to hardships, and trained up to military exercises, and were taught the way of destroying men as well as beasts; and by whose help and assistance he might arrive to the government he had over men; and hunting, according to Aristotle ^p, is a part of the military art, which is to be used both on beasts, and on such men who are made to be ruled, but are not willing; and it appears, from Xenophon ^q, that the kings of Persia were fitted for war and government by hunting, and which is still reckoned in many countries a part of royal education. And it may be remarked, that, as Nimrod and Bacchus are the same, as before observed, one of the titles of Bacchus is ζαγρευς, "an hunter". Cedrenus ^r says, that the Assyrians deified Nebrod, or Nimrod, and placed him among the constellations of heaven, and called him Orion; the same first discovered the art of hunting, therefore they joined to Orion the star called the dog star. However, besides his being in a literal sense an hunter, he was in a figurative sense one, a tyrannical ruler and governor of men. The Targum of Jonathan is;"he was a powerful rebel before the Lord;''and that of Jerusalem,"he was powerful in hunting in sin before the Lord,''and another Jewish writer ^s says, he was called a mighty hunter, because he was all his days taking provinces by force, and spoiling others of their substance; and that he was "before the Lord", truly so, and he seeing and taking notice of it, openly and publicly, and without fear of him, and in a bold and impudent manner, in despite of him, see Gen 6:11. The Septuagint render it, "against the Lord"; he intended, as Jarchi's note is, to provoke him to his face:

wherefore it is said; in a proverbial way, when any man is grown mighty and powerful, or is notoriously wicked, or is become a tyrant and an oppressor of the people, that he is

even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. This was a proverb used in the times of Moses, as it is common now with us to call a hunter Nimrod.

Gill: Gen 10:10

And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,.... The city of Babel, or Babylon, which was built by his direction; for though Babylon is by some writers said to be built by Semiramis, the wife of Ninus, and others by Ninus himself, yet the truest account is, that it was built by Belus, the same with Nimrod. Curtius ^t says, Semiramis built it; or, as most believe, adds he, Belus, whose royal palace is shown: and Berosus ^u, the Chaldean, blames the Greek writers for ascribing it to Semiramis; and Abydenus ^w, out of Megasthenes, affirms, that Belus surrounded Babylon with a wall: however, this was the head of the kingdom of Nimrod, as Onkelos renders it, or his chief city, or where he first began to reign. Here he set up his kingdom, which he enlarged and extended afterwards to other places; and from hence it appears, that what is related in this context, concerning Nimrod, is by way of anticipation; for it was not a fact that he was a mighty man, or a powerful prince possessed of a kingdom, until after the building of Babel, and the confusion of languages there; when those that continued on the spot either chose him for their ruler, or he, by power or policy, got the dominion over them. Artapanus ^x, an Heathen writer, relates, that the giants which inhabited Babylon being taken away by the gods for their impiety, one of them, Belus, escaped death and dwelt in Babylon, and took up his abode in the tower which he had raised up, and which, from him the founder of it, was called Belus; so that this, as Moses says, was the beginning of his kingdom, together with

Erech, and Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar, where the city and tower of Babel were built: for of these four cities, which were all in the same country, did the kingdom of Nimrod consist; they all, either by force or by consent, were brought into subjection to him, and were under one form of government, and is the first kingdom known to be set up in the world. Erech, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, is Hades, or Edessa, a city in Mesopotamia; but it is rather thought to be the name with the Aracca of Ptolemy ^y, and the Arecha of Marcellinus ^z, placed by them both in Susiana; though one would think it should be that city in Chaldea which took its present Arabic name of Erak from Erech: the Arabic writers say ^a, when Irac or Erac is absolutely put, it denotes Babylonia, or Chaldea, in the land of Shinar; and they say that Shinar is in Al-Erac. The next city, Accad, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, is Netzibin, or Nisibis, a city in Mesopotamia; in the Septuagint version it is called Archad; and Ctesias ^b relates, that at the Persian Sittace was a river called Argad, which Bochart ^c thinks carries in it a manifest trace of this name; and observes, from Strabo ^d, that that part of Babylon nearest to Susa was called Sitacena. And the other city, Calneh, according to the above Targums, is Ctesiphon, and is generally thought to be the place intended, and was a town upon the Tigris, near to Seleucia in Babylon; it was first called Chalone, and its name was changed to Ctesiphon by Pacorus, king of the Persians. It is in Isa 10:9 called Calno, and by the Septuagint version there the Chalane, which adds,"where the tower was built;''and from whence the country called the Chalonitis by Pliny ^e had its name, the chief city of which was Ctesiphon; and who says ^f Chalonitis is joined with Ctesiphon. Thus far goes the account of Nimrod; and, though no mention is made of his death, yet some writers are not silent about it. Abulpharagius ^g, an Arabic writer, says he died in the tower of Babel, it being blown down by stormy winds; the Jewish writers say ^h he was killed by Esau for the sake of his coat, which was Adam's, and came to Noah, and from him to Ham, and so to Nimrod. When he began his reign, and how long he reigned, is not certain; we have only some fabulous accounts: according to Berosus ⁱ, he began to reign one hundred and thirty one years after the flood, and reigned fifty six years, and then disappeared, being translated by the gods: and, indeed, the authors of the Universal History place the beginning of his reign in the year of the flood one hundred and thirty one, and thirty years after the dispersion at Babylon ^k; and who relate, that the eastern writers speak of his reign as very long: a Persian writer gives his name a Persian derivation, as if it was Nemurd, that is, "immortal", on account of his long reign of above one hundred and fifty years: and some of the Mahometan historians say he reigned in Al-Sowad, that is, the "black country", four hundred years ^l.

Gill: Gen 10:11

Out of that land went forth Ashur,.... It is a question whether Ashur is the name of a man or of a country; some take it in the latter sense, and render the words, "and out of that land he went forth into Assyria"; so Onkelos; and in this way go Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Bochart, Cocceius, and others, and the margin of our Bible, and interpret it of Nimrod; and the Targum of Jonathan is express for him, which is this:"out of that land went forth Nimrod, and reigned in Assyria, because he would not be in the council of the generation of the division, and he left four cities; and the Lord gave him therefore a place (or Assyria), and he built four other cities, Nineveh, &c.''so Theophilus of Antioch says ^m, that Nebroth (Nimrod) built the same; but then the generality of interpreters which take this way give another and better reason for Nimrod's going out of Shinar or Babylon into Assyria than the Targumist gives; which is, that not content with his own dominions, and willing to enlarge them, he went out and made war upon Assyria, and seized upon it, and built cities in it, and added them to his former ones; in favour of this sense it is urged, that Moses is speaking of what Nimrod the son of Cush did, of the line of Ham, and not of the sons of Shem, among whom Ashur was; and that it is not probable he should introduce a passage relating to a branch of Shem, when he is professedly writing about that of Ham; nor is it agreeable to the history to speak of what Ashur did, before any mention of his birth, which is in Gen 10:22 nor was it peculiar to him to go out of the land of Shinar, since almost all were dispersed from thence; add to which, that Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, Mic 5:6 to which it may be replied, that parentheses of this sort are frequent in Scripture, see 2Sa 4:4 besides, it seems appropriate enough, when treating of Nimrod's dominion and power, in order to show his intolerable tyranny, to remark, that it was such, that Ashur, a son of Shem, could not bear it, and therefore went out from a country he had a right unto; and as for the text in Mic 5:6 the land of Nimrod and the land of Assyria are manifestly distinguished from one another: add to this, that, if Nimrod so early made a conquest of Assyria, it would rather have been called by his own name than his uncle's; and it is allowed by all that the country of Assyria had its name from Ashur, the son of Shem; and who so likely to have founded Nineveh, and other cities, as himself? Besides these, interpreters are obliged to force the text, and insert the particle "into", which is not in it; and the order and construction of the words are more natural and agreeable to the original, as in our version and others, which make Ashur the name of a man, than this, which makes it a country: but then it is not agreed on who this Ashur was; some will have him to be of the posterity of Ham, and a son of Nimrod, as Epiphanius ⁿ and Chrysostom ^o; but this is not probable, nor can any proof be given of it; Josephus ^p is express for it, that Ashur, the son of Shem, built Nineveh, and gave the name of Assyrians to those that were subject to him. The reason of his going out from Shinar, as given by Jarchi, is, when he saw his sons hearkening to Nimrod, and rebelling against the Lord, by building a tower, he went out from them; or it may be, he was drove out by Nimrod by force, or he could not bear his tyrannical government, or live where such a wicked man ruled: and as Nimrod built cities and set up an empire, Ashur did the same in his own defence and that of his posterity:

and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah. The first of these cities, Nineveh, the Greeks commonly call Ninus, is placed by Strabo ^q in Atyria, the Chaldee name of Assyria, who generally suppose it had its name from Ninus, whom Diodorus Siculus ^r makes the first king of the Assyrians, and to whom he ascribes the building of this city; and who, one would think, should be Ashur, and that Ninus was another name of him, or however by which he went among the Greeks; and so this city was called after him; or rather it had its name from the beauty of it, the word signifying a beautiful habitation, as Cocceius ^s and Hillerus ^t give the etymology of it; or perhaps, when it was first built by him, it had another name, but afterwards was called Nineveh, from Ninus, who lived many years after him, who might repair, adorn, and beautify it. It was destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians, as foretold by Nahum, and it is difficult now to say where it stood; the place where it is supposed to have been is now called Mosul; of which place Rauwolff ^u says, who was there in 1574, that"there are some very good buildings and streets in it, and it is pretty large, but very ill provided with walls and ditches;--besides this, I also saw, (says he,) just without the town, a little hill, that was almost quite dug through, and inhabited by poor people, where I saw them several times creep in and out as pismires in ant hills: in this place, or thereabouts, stood formerly the potent town of Nineveh, built by Ashur, which was the metropolis of Assyria;--at this time there is nothing of antiquities to be seen in it, save only the fort that lieth upon the hill, and some few villages, which the inhabitants say did also belong to it in former days. This town lieth on the confines of Armenia, in a large plain:''See Gill on Jon 1:2, Jon 3:1, Jon 3:2, Jon 3:3, Nah 1:8 The next city, Rehoboth, signifies "streets", and so it is rendered in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; and, because in the Chaldee language streets are called "Beritha", Bochart ^w thinks that this Rehoboth is the city which Ptolemy ^x calls Birtha, on the west of Tigris, at the mouth of the river Lycus, though he places it by Euphrates; wherefore it should rather be Oroba, he places at the river Tigris ^y, near to Nineveh also. The last city, Calah, or Calach, was a principal city in the country, by Ptolemy ^z called Calacine, and by Strabo ^a Calachene, and mentioned by both along with Adiabene, a country in Assyria.

Gill: Gen 10:12

And Resen, between Nineveh and Calah,.... This was another city built by Ashur, situated between those two cities mentioned: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it Talsar, or Thalassar, see Isa 37:12 The conjecture of Bochart ^b is more probable, that it is the Larissa of Xenophon, situated on the Tigris; though Junius thinks it is either Bassora, or Belcina, which Ptolemy ^c places on the Tigris, near Nineveh:

the same is a great city: which Jarchi interprets of Nineveh, called a great city, and was indeed one, being sixty miles in circumference, Jon 1:2 but the construction of the words carries it to Resen, which might be the greatest city when first built; and, if understood of Larissa, was a great city, the walls of it being one hundred feet high, and the breadth twenty five, and the compass of it eight miles. Benjamin of Tudela says ^d, that in his time Resen was called Gehidagan, and was a great city, in which were 5000 Israelites; but according to Schmidt, this refers to all the cities in a coalition, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen, which all made that great city Nineveh; or were a Tetrapolis, as Tripoli was anciently three cities, built by the joint interest of the Aradians, Sidonians, and Tyrians, as Diodorus Siculus ^e relates.

Gill: Gen 10:13

And Mizraim begat Ludim,.... Mizraim was the second son of Ham, of whom See Gill on Gen 10:6. Ludim he is said to beget, the word being plural, is not the name of a man, but of his posterity; and the sense is, that Mizraim begat the father of the Ludim, whose name very probably was Lud, which name is preserved in Isa 66:19. These Ludim are the same with the Lydians, Jer 46:9 and whose country is called Lydia, Eze 30:5 but to be distinguished from Lydia in Asia Minor, and the Lydians there who sprung from Lud, a son of Shem, Gen 10:22 for, as these sprung from Mizraim, the founder of Egypt, they must be somewhere thereabout; and Bochart ^f has proved, by various arguments, that they are the Ethiopians in Africa, now called Abyssines, whose country lies to the south of Egypt, a people formerly famous for archery, as Lud and the Lydians are said to be, Isa 66:19 and whoever reads the accounts Diodorus Siculus ^g gives of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, will easily discern a likeness between them, and that the one sprung from the other; both deifying their kings; showing a like carefulness about their funerals; both using hieroglyphics; having the like order of priests, who used shaving; and circumcision was common to them both, as Herodotus observes ^h:

and Ananzim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim: the name of the father of the Anamim very probably was Anam, though we have no account of him elsewhere: according to Hillerus ⁱ, the Anamim were called so from the pastoral life they led; and, by a transposition of letters, were the same with the Maeonians, who inhabited that tract of land in Asia which was washed by the river Maeonia, or Maeander, and bordered on Lydia; but, as these were the descendants of Mizraim, they must be sought for somewhere about Egypt: much better therefore does Mr. Broughton ^k take them to be the Nubians and Numidians, which were near both Egypt and Ethiopia; though Bochart ^l seems to be most correct, in making them to be the Ammonians, who, Herodotus says, were a colony of the Egyptians and Ethiopians; these lived about Ammon and Nasamonitis, and in that part of Lybia in which the temple of Jupiter Ammon stood, and are the Nomades, that lived a pastoral life; and Bochart ^m thinks they are called Anamim, from Anam, which, in the Arabic language, signifies a "sheep", because they fed sheep, and lived upon them, and clothed themselves with their skins. The word Lehabim, the name of another people from Mizraim, signifies "flames"; and were so called, as Jarchi observes, because their faces were like flames, see Isa 13:8 burnt with the heat of the sun, living near the torrid zone; and therefore could not be the Lycians, as Hillerus ⁿ thinks, the inhabitants of a country in Asia, between Caria and Pamphylia, formerly called Lycia, now Aidimelli, which he observes abounds with places that have their names from fire and flames, as Mount Chimaera, the cities Hephaestium, Myra, Lemyra, Habessus, Telmessus, Balbura, and Sirbis; but these were too far from Egypt, near which it is more probable the Lehabim were, and seem to be the same with the Lubim, which came with Shishak out of Egypt to invade Judea, 2Ch 12:3 and who were called Lybians, Jer 46:9 and their country Lybia, Eze 30:5 of which Leo Africanus ^a says, that it is a desert, dry and sandy, having neither fountains nor springs; which was near Egypt as well as Ethiopia, with which it is joined in the above place, see Act 2:10. The word Naphtuhim, the name of another people that sprung from Mizraim, according to Hillerus ^o, signifies "open"; and he thinks they are the Pamphylians, who used to admit promiscuously all into their ports and towns, which were open to all strangers, and even robbers, for the sake of commerce; but, as these were a people in lesser Asia, they cannot be the people here meant. Bochart ^p observes, from Plutarch, that the Egyptians used to call the extreme parts of a country, and abrupt places and mountains adjoining to the sea, Nepthys, the same with Nephthuah; and therefore he is of opinion, that these Naphtuhim dwelt on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, near Egypt, in Marmorica; not far from whence was the temple of Aptuchus, mentioned by Ptolemy ^q, and placed by him in Cyrene, which carries in it some trace of the name of Naphtuhim; and he suspects that Neptune had his name from hence; he being a Lybian god, as Herodotus ^r says; for none ever used his name before the Lybians, who always honoured him as a god: and it may be observed, from Strabo ^s, that many of the temples of Neptune were on the sea shore. Some place these people about Memphis, the name of which was Noph, Isa 19:13 but perhaps it may be much better to place them in the country of Nepate, between Syene and Meroc, where Candace, queen of Ethiopia, had her royal palace in the times of Strabo ^t.

Gill: Gen 10:14

And Pathrusim,.... These are other descendants of Mizraim, the name of whose father very probably was Pathros, from whom the country of Pathros was called, and which is not only spoken of in Scripture along with Egypt, but as a part of it, Isa 11:11 and these Pathrusim were doubtless the inhabitants of it; which, as Bochart ^u has shown, is no other than Thebais, or the upper Egypt. Hillerus ^w takes the word to be compounded of פאת and רוסים, and renders it the corner of the Rosians, and makes it to be the same with the bay of Issus, where was a colony of Egypt, called Cilicians; but the former is more probable.

And Casluhim; these also were the posterity of Mizraim, by another son of his, from whence they had their name: according to Hillerus ^x, they are the Solymi, a people near the Lycians and Pisidians, that came out of Egypt, and settled in those parts; but it is much more likely that they were, as Junius ^y observes, the inhabitants of Casiotis, a country mentioned by Ptolemy ^z in lower Egypt, at the entrance of it, where stood Mount Casius: but Bochart ^a is of opinion that they are the Colchi, the inhabitants of the country now called Mingrelia, and which, though at a distance from Egypt, the ancient inhabitants came from thence, as appears from several ancient authors of good credit, as the above learned writer shows.

Out of whom came Philistim, or the Philistines, a people often spoken of in Scripture: these sprung from the Casluhim, or were a branch of that people; according to Ben Melech they sprung both from them and from the Pathrusim; for Jarchi says they changed wives with one another, and so the Philistines sprung from them both; or these were a colony that departed from them, and settled elsewhere, as the Philistines did in the land of Canaan, from whence that part of it which they inhabited was called Palestine: and, if the Casluhim dwelt in Casiotis, at the entrance of Egypt, as before observed, they lay near the land of Canaan, and could easily pass into it. Some think this clause refers not to what goes before, but to what follows after:

and Caphtorim, and read the whole verse thus: "and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, and Caphtorim, out of whom came Philistim"; that is, they came out of the Caphtorim. What has led to such a transposition of the words in the text is Amo 9:7 "and the Philistines from Caphtor": but though they are said to he brought from a place called Caphtor, yet did not spring from the Caphtorim: to me it rather seems, that the two latter were brothers, and both sprung from the Casluhim; since the words may be rendered without a parenthesis: "and Caluhim, out of whom came Philistim and Caphtorim"; though perhaps it may be best of all to consider the two last as the same, and the words may be read, "out of whom came Philistim, even", or that is, "the Caphtorim"; for the Philistines, in the times of Jeremiah, are said to be the remnant of the country of Caphtor, Jer 47:4 and as in Amos the Philistines are said to come out of Caphtor, in Deu 2:23 they are called Caphtorim, that came out of Caphtor, who destroyed the Avim, which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, or Gaza, afterwards a principal city of the Philistines: for then, and not before their settlement in the land of Canaan, were they so called; for the word Philistim signifies strangers, people of another country; and the Septuagint version always so renders the word: their true original name seems to be Caphtorim. Bochart ^b indeed will have the Caphtorim to be the Cappadocians, that dwelt near Colchis, about Trapezunt, where he finds a place called Side, which in Greek signifies a pomegranate, as Caphtor does in Hebrew; and so Hillerus ^c takes it for a name of the Cappadocians, who inhabited כפת הור "Cappath Hor", or the side of Mount Hor, or כף התור, the side of Mount Taurus; and in this they both follow the Jewish Targumists, who everywhere render Caphtorim by Cappadocians, as the three Targums do here, and Caphtor by Cappadocia, and as Jonathan on Deu 2:23 but then thereby they understood a people and place in Egypt, even Damietta, the same they suppose with Pelusium; for other Jewish writers say ^d, Caphutkia, or Cappadocia, is Caphtor, and in the Arabic language Damietta: so Benjamin of Tudela says ^e, in two days I came to Damietta, this is Caphtor; and it seems pretty plain that Caphtor must be some place in Egypt, as Coptus, or some other, and that the Caphtorim, or Philistines, were originally Egyptians, since they descended from Mizraim.

Gill: Gen 10:15

And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn,.... Canaan is the fourth son of Ham; the posterity of Phut, his third son, are omitted: the firstborn of Canaan was Sidon, from whom the city of Sidon had its name, being either built by himself, who called it after his own name, or by some of his posterity, who called it so in memory of their ancestor: it was a very ancient city, more ancient than Tyre, for that was built by the Sidonians; Homer makes mention of it, but not of Tyre: it is now called Said, as it was in the times of Benjamin of Tudela ^f. Justin ^g says it had its name from the plenty of fish on its coasts; but, since Canaan had a son of this name, it was no doubt so called from him.

And Heth; the father of the Hittites, who dwelt about Hebron, on the south of the land of Canaan; for when Sarah died, the sons of Heth were in possession of it, Gen 23:2 of this race were the Anakim, or giants, drove out from hence by Caleb, Num 13:22 and these Hittites became terrible to men in later times, as appears from 2Ki 7:6 hence חתה signifies to terrify, affright, and throw into a consternation.

Gill: Gen 10:16

And the Jebusite,.... Who had their name from Jebus, a third son of Canaan, and from whom Jerusalem was called Jebus, Jdg 19:10 and where his posterity continued to dwell when the land of Canaan was possessed by the Israelites; for they were so strong and powerful, that the men of Judah could not drive them out from thence, and here they remained until the times of David, who dispossessed them of it, Jos 15:63. There is an island near Spain, formerly called Ebusus, now Ibissa, where was one of the colonies of the Phoenicians, in which, Bochart ^g observes, the name of the Jebusites is thought to remain.

And the Emorite; so called from Emor, the fourth son of Canaan, commonly called the Amorite, a people so strong and mighty, that they are compared to cedars for height, and to oaks for strength, Amo 2:9 they dwelt both on this and the other side Jordan: Sihon, one of their kings, made war on the king of Moab, and took all his country from him unto Arnon, Num 21:26 and in the times of Joshua there were several kings of the Amorites, which dwelt on the side of Jordan westward, Jos 5:1 hence it may be Amor, in the Arabic tongue signifying to command, and Emir, a commander.

And the Girgasite; the same with the Gergesene in Mat 8:28 who, in the times of Christ, lived about Gerasa, or Gadara: a Jewish writer ^h says, that when they left their country to Israel, being forced to it by Joshua, they went into a country which to this day is called Gurgestan.

Gill: Gen 10:17

And the Hivite,.... These dwelt in Hermon, a part of Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon unto the entering in of Hamath, Jos 11:3 to the east of the land of Canaan; hence they were sometimes called Kadmonites, or Easterlings, Gen 15:19 and are thought to have their name from dwelling in holes and caves like serpents; hence Cadmus the Phoenician, and his wife Hermonia, who seem to have their names from hence, are reported to be turned into serpents, they being Hivites, which this word signifies, as Bochart ⁱ observes.

And the Arkite; the same with the Aruceans, or Arcaeans, Josephus ^k speaks of in Phoenicia about Sidon, and from whom the city Arce had its name, which he places in Lebanon; and is mentioned by Menander ^l as revolting to the king of Assyria, with Sidon and old Tyre; and which is reckoned by Ptolemy ^m a city of Phoenicia, and placed by him near old Byblus; and hence Bothart ⁿ thinks Venus had the name of Venus Architis, said by Macrobius ^o to be worshipped by the Assyrians and Phoenicians.

And the Sinite: either the inhabitants of the wilderness of Sin, who dwelt in the northern part of the desert of Arabia, or the Pelusiotae, as Bochart ^p thinks, the inhabitants of Pelusium, which was called Sin, Eze 30:15 the former being its Greek name, the latter its Chaldee or Syriac name, and both signify "clay", it being a clayey place; but Canaan or Phoenicia seems not to have reached so far; Jerom speaks of a city not far from Arca called Sin, where rather these people may be thought to dwell.

Gill: Gen 10:18

And the Arvadite,.... The inhabitants of Arvad, or Aradus, an island in the Phoenician sea; it is mentioned with Sidon, Eze 27:8 so Josephus says ^q, the Arudaeans possessed the island Aradus: it is about a league distant from the shore; Strabo ^r says it is twenty furlongs from land, and about seven in circumference, and is said to be built by the Sidonians; it is now, as Mr. Maundrel ^s says, by the Turks called Ru-ad, or, as Dr. Shaw says ^t, Rou-wadde; See Gill on Eze 27:8.

And the Zemarite; who perhaps built and inhabited Simyra, a place mentioned by Pliny ^u, not far from Lebanon, and along with Marathos, and Antarados, which lay on the continent, right against the island Aradus, or Arvad, and near the country of the Aradians. Strabo ^w makes mention of a place called Taxymira, which Casaubon observes should be Ximyra, or Simyra; and Mela ^x speaks of the castle of Simyra as in Phoenicia. There was a city called Zemaraim in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:22 which Bishop Patrick suggests, and Ainsworth before him, that Zemarus, the son of Canaan, might be the founder of; and there is also a mountain of the same name in Mount Ephraim, 2Ch 13:4.

And the Hamathite: who dwelt in Amathine, as Josephus ^y, and was in his time called by the inhabitants Amathe; but the Macedonians called it, from one of their race, Epiphania, which seems to have been the country called Amathite,He removed from Jerusalem, and met them in the land of Amathis: for he gave them no respite to enter his country. (1 Maccabees 12:25)there was another Hamath, called Antiochia, but cannot be meant, since Hamath was the northern border of the land of Israel, then called the entrance of Hamath, which border was pretty near to Epiphania, but not so far as Antioch; this is the Amathus of Syria, twice mentioned by Herodotus, as Hillerus ^z observes: but both Reland ^a and Vitringa ^b are of opinion, that the Hamath so often mentioned in Scripture, which doubtless had its name from the Hamathite, is neither Antiochia nor Epiphania, but the city Emesa, or Emissa, which lay below Epiphania, upon the Orontes, nearer Damascus and the land of Canaan; and Hamath is mentioned with Damascus and Arpad, or Arvad, Isa 10:9 and, according to Eze 47:16. Hamath must lie between Damascus and the Mediterranean sea.

And afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad; not only these eleven, but two more which are not mentioned, the Canaanites properly so called, and the Perizzites; these families at first dwelt in one place, or within narrow limits; but, as they increased, they spread themselves further every way, and in process of time possessed all the country from Idumea and Palestine to the mouth of the Orontes, and which they held about seven hundred years, when five of these families, with the two other above mentioned, were cast out of the land for their sins, and to make way for the people of Israel.

Gill: Gen 10:19

And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon,.... This is to be understood, not of the Canaanites, properly so called, but of them in general; and is a description of the bounds of the land of Canaan, as possessed by the people of Israel: the northern or north west border of it was Sidon, see Gen 10:15 and is to be understood of the country which reached from that city towards the east almost as far as Jordan:

as thou comest from Gerar unto Gaza; two cities of the Philistines, well known in Scripture, the former for being the place where Abraham and Isaac sometimes sojourned, and the latter for Samson's exploits in it; these were the southern or south west border of the land of Canaan:

as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboim; four cities destroyed by fire from heaven, as is after related in this book; these lay to the south or south east part of the land:

even unto Lashah; which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, is Callirrhoe, a place famous for hot waters, which run into the Dead sea, and who in this is followed by Jerom; but since it was not in the southern part of Judea, as Lashah was, Bochart proposes ^a Lusa, as being more likely to be the place, a city of the Arabs, which Ptolemy ^b puts in the midway between the Mediterranean and the Red sea; but this is objected to by Reland ^c, since the southern borders of the land of Canaan were from the extremity of the Dead sea unto the Mediterranean sea, from which Lusa was at a great distance: the Samaritan version of this verse is very different from the Hebrew, and is this,"and the border of the Canaanites was from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, and unto the hinder sea:''i.e. the western or Mediterranean.

Gill: Gen 10:20

These are the sons of Ham,.... His sons and grandsons, which some reckon to be thirty, others thirty one, if the Philistines are taken in:

after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations: families of the same language joined together and dwelt in the same country; see Gill on Gen 10:5 all Africa and a considerable part of Asia were possessed by the four sons of Ham and their posterity; Mizraim had Egypt, and Phut all the rest of Africa; and Cush and Canaan had a large portion in Asia.

Gill: Gen 10:21

Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber,.... And for the sake of those Shem is particularly said to be the father of, is this genealogy given, and indeed the whole book of Genesis wrote: Eber was the great-grandson of Shem, and is here spoken of by anticipation, and Shem is called not the father of either of his immediate sons, but of the posterity of this man; because the Hebrews sprung from him in his line, among whom the church of God and the true religion were preserved, and from whom the Messiah was to come, as he did: the word Eber, Jarchi interprets, "beyond the river, Euphrates" or "Tigris", or both, as describing the seat of the posterity of Shem; but as this too much straitens them, since they inhabited on both sides, Dr. Hyde ^d has shown that the word used may refer to both, to those beyond these rivers, and to those on this side; see Num 24:24.

the brother of Japheth the elder; he was the brother of Ham too, but he is not mentioned because of the behaviour towards his father, and because of the curse that was upon him and his; but Shem's relation to Japheth is expressed to show that they were alike in their disposition; and it may be to signify, that in times to come their posterity would unite in spiritual things, which has been fulfilled already in part, and will be more fully by the coalition of the Jews, the posterity of Shem, and of the Gentiles, the posterity of Japheth, in the Christian church state: and from hence we learn that Japheth was the eldest of Noah's sons, though some render the words, "the elder brother of Japheth" ^e; and so make Shem to be the eldest; but as this is contrary to the accents, so to the history: for Noah was five hundred years old when he began to beget sons, Gen 5:32 he was six hundred when he went into the ark, Gen 7:11 two years after the flood Shem begat Arphaxad, when he was one hundred years old, and Noah six hundred and two, Gen 11:10 so that Shem must be born when Noah was five hundred and two years old; and since he begot children, there must be one two years older than Shem, which can be no other than Japheth, since Ham is called his younger son, Gen 9:24.

even to him were children born, who are reckoned as follow.

Gill: Gen 10:22

The children of Shem,.... Whose names are

Elam and Ashur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram; and who, as Josephus ^f says, inhabited Asia, from Euphrates to the Indian ocean: his first born, Elam, was the father of the Elymaeans, from whom sprung the Persians, as the same writer observes, and his posterity are called Elamites, Act 2:10 their country Elam, and is sometimes mentioned with Media, when the Persians and Medes are intended, Isa 21:2 see also Isa 22:6, &c. in Daniel's time, Shushan, in the province of Elam, was the seat of the kings of Persia: the country of Elymais, so called from this man, is said by Pliny ^g to be divided from Susiane by the river Eulaeus, and to join with Persia; and the famous city of Elymais, the metropolis of the country, is placed by Josephus ^h in Persia. Ashur, the second son of Shem, gives name to Assyria, a country frequently mentioned in Scripture; and which, according to Ptolemy ⁱ, was bounded on the north by part of Armenia the great, and the mountain Niphates, on the west by Mesopotamia and the river Tigris, on the south by Susiane, and on the east by part of Media. Strabo says ^k they call Babylonia, and great part of the country about it, Assyria, in which was Ninus or Nineveh, the chief city of the Assyrian empire; and which was built by Ashur, as Josephus ^l affirms, and says he gave the name of Assyrians to his subjects: Arphaxad, the third son of Shem, from him that part of Assyria, which lay northward next to Armenia, was called Arphaxitis, as it is probable that was its original name, though corruptly called by Ptolemy ^m Arrapachitis: Josephus says ⁿ, he gave name to the Arphaxadaeans, whom he ruled over, now called Chaldeans; and indeed the name of the Chaldeans may as well be derived from the latter part of Arphaxad's name, כשד, "Chashad", as from Chesed, the son of Nahor, and brother of Abraham, as it more commonly is; since the Chaldeans were called Chasdim before Chesed was born, and were a nation when Abraham came out of Ur, before Chesed could be old or considerable enough to build towns and found a nation; see Gen 11:31 though Bochart treats this as a mere dream, yet he is obliged to have recourse to the usual refuge, that Ur was called Ur of the Chaldees, by anticipation. The fourth son of Shem was Lud, from whom sprung the Lydians, a people of Asia minor, and whose country is called Lydia, including Mysia and Caria, which all lay by the river Maeander; and Lud, in the Phoenician language, signifies bending and crooked, as that river was, being full of windings and turnings: some think that the posterity of Lud are carried too far off from those of his brethren, but know not where else to fix them. From Aram, the last son of Shem, sprung the Aramaeans, called by the Greeks Syrians, as Josephus ^o observes; and by Homer ^p and Hesiod ^q αριμοι, and so says Strabo ^r; some by the Arimi understand the Syrians, now called Arami; and elsewhere ^s he observes, that they who are by us called Syrians, are by the Syrians themselves called Aramaeans, and this is the name they give to themselves to this day: the country inhabited by them included Mesopotamia and Syria, and particularly all those places that have the name of Aram added to them, as Padan Aram, and Aram Naharaim (which is Mesopotamia), Aram of Damascus, Aram Zobah, Aram Maacha, and Aram Beth Rehob, Gen 28:2 and the title of Psa 60:1, the Septuagint version here adds, "and Cainan", but without any authority.

Gill: Gen 10:23

And the children of Aram,.... The four following persons are called the sons of Shem, 1Ch 1:17 being his grandsons, which is not unusual in Scripture:

Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash: the first of these sons of Aram, Uz, is generally thought to be the founder of Damascus; so Josephus ^t says. Usus founded Trachonitis and Damascus, which lies between Palestine and Coelesyria: there was a place called Uz in Idumea, Lam 4:21 and another in Arabia, where Job dwelt, Job 1:1 but neither of them seems to be the seat of this man and his posterity, who, in all probability, settled in Syria: his second son Hul, whom Josephus ^u calls Ulus, according to him, founded Armenia; which notion may be strengthened by observing that Cholobotene is reckoned a part of Armenia by Stephanus ^w; which is no other than Cholbeth, that is, the house or seat of Chol, the same with Hul; and there are several places in Armenia, as appears from Ptolemy ^x, which begin with Chol or Col, as Cholus, Cholua, Choluata, Cholima, Colsa, Colana, Colchis: but perhaps it may be better to place him in Syria, in the deserts of Palmyrene, as Junius and Grotius; since among the cities of Palmyrene, there is one called Cholle, according to Ptolemy ^y. Gether, the third son, is made by Josephus ^z to be the father of the Bactrians; but these were too far off to come from this man, and were not in the lot of Shem: Bochart ^a finds the river Getri, which the Greeks call Centrites, between Armenia and the Carduchi, whereabout, he conjectures, might be the seat of this man; but perhaps it may be more probable, with Grotius and Junius, to place him in Coelesyria, where are the city Gindarus of Ptolemy ^b, and a people called Gindareni, by Pliny ^c; though Bishop Patrick thinks it probable that Gadara, the chief city of Peraea, placed by Ptolemy ^d in the Decapolis of Coelesyria, had its name from this man: Mr. Broughton derives Atergate and Derceto, names of a Syrian goddess, from him, which was worshipped at Hierapolis in Coelesyria, as Pliny says ^e. The last of the sons of Aram, Mash, is called Meshech, in 1Ch 1:17 and here the Septuagint version calls him Masoch; his posterity are supposed to settle in Armenia, about the mountain Masius, thought to be the same with Ararat, and which the Armenians call Masis; perhaps the people named Moscheni, mentioned by Pliny ^f, as dwelling near Armenia and Adiabene, might spring from this man.

Gill: Gen 10:24

And Arphaxad begat Salah,.... Or Shelach which signifies "a sending forth"; that is, of waters: it is part of the name of Methuselah, given him by his father, as prophetic of the flood, see Gen 5:21 and Arphaxad, who was born two years after the flood, gives this name to his first born, as commemorative of it: according to some, from him are the Susians ^g; and in Susiana is found a city called Sele, by Ptolemy ^h; but this seems not to be a sufficient proof:

and Salah begat Eber; from whom, Josephus ⁱ says, the Jews were called Hebrews from the beginning; and which, perhaps, is as good a derivation of their name as can be given, and seems to be confirmed by Num 24:24 though some derive it from Abraham's passing over the rivers in his way from Chaldea into Syria; but be it so, why might not this name be given to Eber, as prophetic of that passage, or of the passage of his posterity over the Euphrates into Canaan, as well as Eber gave to his son Peleg his name, as a prediction of the division of the earth in his time? the Septuagint version of this text inserts a Cainan between Arphaxad and Salah, but is not to be found in any Hebrew copy, nor in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Arabic versions, nor in Josephus, see Luk 3:36.

Gill: Gen 10:25

And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg,.... Bochart ^k thinks, that either Peleg, or one of his posterity, in memory of him, gave the name of Phalga to a town situated on the Euphrates; though the reason of the name, as given by Arrianus, as he himself observes, was because it divided between the two Seleucias, as the reason of Peleg's name was:

for in his days was the earth divided; among the three sons of Noah, and their respective posterities; their language was divided, and that obliged them to divide and separate in bodies which understood one another; hence that age, in which was this event, was usually called by the Jews the age of division; whether this was done about the time of his birth, and so this name was given him to perpetuate the memory of it, or in some after part of his life, and so was given by a spirit of prophecy, is a question: Josephus, Jarchi, and the Jewish writers, generally go the latter way; if it was at the time of his birth, which is the sense of many, then this affair happened in the one hundred and first year after the flood, for in that year Peleg was born, as appears from Gen 11:11.

and his brother's name was Joktan, whom the Arabs call Cahtan, and claim him as their parent, at least, of their principal tribes; and say he was the first that reigned in Yaman, and put a diadem on his head ^l; and there is a city in the territory of Mecca, about seven furlongs or a mile to the south of it, and one station from the Red sea, called Baisath Jektan, the seat of Jektan ^m, which manifestly retains his name; and there are a people called Catanitae, placed by Ptolemy ⁿ in Arabia Felix.

Gill: Gen 10:26

And Joktan begat Almodad,.... And twelve more mentioned later: the Arabic writers ^o say be had thirty one sons by one woman, but all, excepting two, left Arabia, and settled in India; the Targum of Jonathan adds,"who measured the earth with ropes,''as if he was the first inventor and practiser of geometry: from him are thought to spring the Allumaeotae, a people whom Ptolemy ^p places in Arabia Felix, called so by the Greeks, instead of Almodaei: Mr. Broughton ^q sets Eldimaei over against this man's name, as if they were a people that sprung from him; whereas this word is wrongly put in Ptolemy ^r for Elymaeans, as it is in the Greek text, a people joining to the Persians:

and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah: to the first of these, Sheleph, the Targum of Jonathan adds,"who drew out the water of the rivers;''his people are supposed by Bochart ^s, to be the Alapeni of Ptolemy ^t, which should be read Salapeni, who were, he says, more remote from the rest, almost as far as the neck of Arabia, and not far from the spring of the river Betius. The next son, Hazarmaveth, or Hasermoth, as in the Vulgate Latin, is thought to give name to a people in Arabia, called by Pliny ^u Chatramotitae, and by Ptolemy Cathramonitae, whose country, Strabo says ^w, produces myrrh; according to Ptolemy ^x they reached from the mountain Climax to the Sabaeans, among whom were a people, called, by Pliny ^y, Atramitae, who inhabited a place of the same name, and which Theophrastus calls Adramyta, which comes nearer the name of this man, and signifies the court or country of death: and in those parts might be places so called, partly from the unwholesomeness of the air, being thick and foggy, and partly from the frankincense which grew there, which was fatal to those that gathered it, and therefore only the king's slaves, and such as were condemned to die, were employed in it, as Bochart ^z has observed from Arrianus; as also because of the multitude of serpents, with which those odoriferous countries abounded, as the same writer relates from Agatharcides and Pliny. The next son of Joktan is Jerah, which signifies the moon, as Hilal does in Arabic; and Alilat with the Arabians, according to Herodotus ^a, is "Urania", or the moon; hence Bochart ^b thinks, that the Jeracheans, the posterity of Jerah, are the Alilaeans of Diodorus Siculus ^c, and others, a people of the Arabs; and the Arabic geographer, as he observes, makes mention of a people near Mecca called Bene Hilal, or the children of Jerah; and he is of opinion that the island Hieracon, which the Greeks call the island of the Hawks placed by Ptolemy ^d, in Arabia Felix, adjoining to the country which lies upon the Arabian Gulf, is no other than the island of the Jeracheans, the posterity of this man: the Arabs ^e speak of a son of Joktan or Cahtan, they call Jareb, who succeeded his father, which perhaps may be a corruption of Jerah; and another, called by them Jorham.

Gill: Gen 10:27

And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah. The posterity of Hadoram, from the likeness of the name and sound, might seem to be the Adramitae of Ptolemy ^f, but Bochart ^g thinks they are the Drimati of Pliny ^h, who dwelt in the extreme corner of Arabia, to the east, near the Macae, who were at the straits of the Persian Gulf; and he observes, that the extreme promontory of that country was called Corodamum, by transposition of the letters "D" and "R": Uzal gave name to a city which is still so called; for R. Zacuth ⁱ says, the Jews which dwelt in Yaman, the kingdom of Sheba, call Samea, which is the capital of the kingdom of Yaman, Uzal; and who also relates, that there is a place called Hazarmaveth unto this day, of which see Gen 10:26 the kingdom in which Uzal is said by him to be was the south part of Arabia Felix, as Yaman signifies, from whence came the queen of the south, Mat 12:42 and Uzal or Auzal, as the Arabs pronounce it, is the same the Greeks call Ausar, changing "L" into "R"; hence mention is made by Pliny ^k of myrrh of Ausar, in the kingdom of the Gebanites, a people of the Arabs, where was a port by him called Ocila ^l, by Ptolemy, Ocelis ^m, and by Artemidorus in Strabo, Acila ⁿ, and perhaps was the port of the city Uzal, to the name of which it bears some resemblance: Diklah signifies a palm tree, in the Chaldee or Syriac language, with which kind of trees Arabia abounded, especially the country of the Minaei, as Pliny ^o relates; wherefore Bochart ^p thinks the posterity of Diklah had their seat among them, rather than at Phaenicon or Diklah, so called from the abundance of palm trees that grew there, which was at the entrance into Arabia Felix at the Red sea, of which Diodorus Siculus ^q makes mention; and so Artemidorus in Strabo ^r speaks of a place called Posidium, opposite to the Troglodytes, and where the Arabian Gulf ends, where palm trees grew in a wonderful manner, on the fruit of which people lived, where was a Phaenicon, or continued grove of palm trees; and here is placed by Ptolemy ^s a village called Phaenicon, the same with Diklah.

Gill: Gen 10:28

And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba. The first of these, Obal, or Aubal, as the Arabs pronounce, Bochart ^t is obliged to make his posterity pass over the straits of the Arabian Gulf out of Arabia Felix into Arabia Troglodytice; where he finds a bay, called by Pliny ^u the Abalite bay, which carries in it some trace of this man's name, and by Ptolemy ^v the Avalite bay; and where was not only an emporium of this name, but a people called Avalites and also Adulites, which Bishop Patrick believes should be read "Abulites", more agreeably to the name of this man, but Pliny ^w speaks of a town of the Adulites also: Abimael is supposed by Bochart ^x to be the father of Mali, or the Malitae, as his name may be thought to signify, Theophrastus ^y making mention of a place called Mali along with Saba, Adramyta, and Citibaena, in spicy Arabia, which is the only foundation there is for this conjecture: Sheba gave name to the Sabaeans, a numerous people in Arabia; their country was famous for frankincense; the nations of them, according to Pliny ^z, reached both seas, that is, extended from the Arabian to the Persian Gulf; one part of them, as he says ^a, was called Atramitae, and the capital of their kingdom Sabota, on a high mountain, eight mansions from which was their frankincense country, called Saba; elsewhere he says ^b, their capital was called Sobotale, including sixty temples within its walls; but the royal seat was Mariabe; and so Eratosthenes in Strabo ^c says, the metropolis of the Sabaeans was Mariaba, or, as others call it, Merab, and which, it seems, is the same with Saba; for Diodorus Siculus ^d and Philostorgius ^e say, the metropolis of the Sabaeans is Saba; and which the former represents as built on a mountain, as the Sabota of Pliny is said to be,

Gill: Gen 10:29

And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab,.... If several of the sons of Joktan went into India, as the Arabs say, one would be tempted to think that Ophir in India, whither Solomon sent his ships once in three years, had its name from the first of these; See Gill on Gen 10:26 but as this would be carrying him too far from the rest of his brethren, who appear to have settled in Arabia, some place must be found for him there; and yet there is none in which there is any likeness of the name, unless Coper can be thought to be, a village in the country of the Cinaedocolpites, on the Arabian Gulf, as in Ptolemy ^f, or Ogyris, an island in the same sea, Pliny ^g makes mention of the same with the Organa of Ptolemy ^h, placed by him on the Sachalite bay; wherefore Bochart ⁱ looks out elsewhere for a seat for this Ophir, or "Oupheir", as in the Septuagint version, and finding in a fragment of Eupolemus, preserved by Eusebius ^k, mention made of the island of Ourphe, which he thinks should be Ouphre, or Uphre, situated in the Red sea, seems willing to have it to be the seat of this man and his posterity, and that it had its name from him; or that their seat was among the Cassanites or Gassandae, the same perhaps with the tribe of Ghassan, Aupher and Chasan signifying much the same, even great abundance and treasure: Havilah, next mentioned, is different from Havilah, the son of Cush, Gen 10:7 and so his country; but it is difficult where to fix him; one would rather think that the Avalite bay, emporium, and people, should take their name from him than from Obal, Gen 10:28 but Bochart ^l chooses to place him and his posterity in Chaulan, a country in Arabia Felix, in the extreme part of Cassanitis, near the Sabaeans: and Jobab, the last of Joktan's sons, was the father of the Jobabites, called by Ptolemy ^m Jobarites, corruptly for Jobabites, as Salmasius and Bochart think; and who are placed by the above geographer near the Sachalites in Arabia Felix, whose country was full of deserts, as Jobab in Arabic signifies, so Bochart ⁿ observes, as the countries above the Sachalite bay were, by which these Jobabites are placed:

all these were the sons of Joktan; the thirteen before mentioned, all which had their dwelling in Arabia or near it, and which is further described in the following verse.

Gill: Gen 10:30

And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Zephar, a mount of the east. Mesha, which is thought to be the Muza of Ptolemy and Pliny, was a famous port in the Red sea, frequented by the merchants of Egypt and Ethiopia, from which the Sappharites lay directly eastward; to whose country they used to go for myrrh and frankincense, and the like, of which Saphar was the metropolis, and which was at the foot of Climax, a range of mountains, which perhaps might be formerly called Saphar, from the city at the bottom of it, the same with Zephar here: by inspecting Ptolemy's tables ^o, the way from one to the other is easily discerned, where you first meet with Muza, a port in the Red sea, then Ocelis, then the mart Arabia, then Cane, and so on to Sapphar or Sapphara; and so Pliny says ^p, there is a third port which is called Muza, which the navigation to India does not put into, only the merchants of frankincense and Arabian odours: the towns in the inland are the royal seat Saphar; and another called Sabe; now the sons of Joktan had their habitations all from this part in the west unto Zephar or Saphar eastward, and those were reckoned the genuine Arabs: Hillerus ^q gives a different account of the situation of the children of Joktan, as he thinks, agreeably to these words of Moses; understanding by Kedem, rendered the east, the mountains of Kedem, or the Kedemites, which sprung from Kedem or Kedomah, the youngest son of Ishmael, Gen 25:15 and Zephar, the seat of the Sepharites, as between Mesha and Kedem; for, says he, Mesha is not Muza, a mart of the Red sea, but Moscha, a famous port of the Indian sea, of which Arrian and Ptolemy make mention; and from hence the dwelling of the Joktanites was extended, in the way you go through the Sepharites to the mountainous places of Kedem or Cadmus: perhaps nearer the truth may be the Arabic paraphrase of Saadiah ^r, which is"from Mecca till you come to the city of the eastern mountain, or (as in a manuscript) to the eastern city,''meaning perhaps Medina, situate to the east; so that the sense is, according to this paraphrase, that the sons of Joktan had their dwelling from Mecca to Medina; and so R. Zacuth ^s says, Mesha in the Arabic tongue is called Mecca; and it is a point agreed upon by the Arabs that Mesha was one of the most ancient names of Mecca; they believe that all the mountainous part of the region producing frankincense went in the earliest times by the name of Sephar; from whence Golius concludes this tract to be the Mount Zephar of Moses, a strong presumption of the truth of which is that Dhafar, the same with the modern Arabs as the ancient Saphar, is the name of a town in Shihr, the only province in Arabia bearing frankincense on the coast of the Indian ocean ^t.

Gill: Gen 10:31

These are the sons of Shem,.... His sons, and grandsons, and great grandsons, in all twenty six, no doubt but there were many more, but these are only mentioned; for none of the sons of Elam, Ashur, and Lud, are named, and but one of Arphaxad's, and one of Salah's, and two of Eber's, and none of Peleg's; when it is not to be questioned but they had many, as is certain of Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, and Peleg, Gen 11:13.

after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations: from hence sprung various families at first, and these of different languages upon the confusion of Babel, which thenceforward formed different nations, dwelt in different lands; which have been pointed at as near as we can at this distance, and with the little helps and advantages we have: it seems from hence that Shem's posterity were of different languages as well as those of Ham and Japheth.

Gill: Gen 10:32

These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations,.... This is the account of their families, from whom the several nations of the earth sprung:

and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood; not immediately, not till they were so increased as to form distinct nations; not till Peleg's time, when the division was made; not until the building of the city and tower of Babel, for unto that time these families were together, and then and not before were they dispersed abroad upon the face of the earth; and by degrees peopled all the known parts of the world, Asia, Africa, and Europe, and no doubt America, though the way of their passage thither is unknown to us; and to this partition of the earth by the three sons of Noah, Pindar ^u seems to have respect, when he says,"according to the ancients, Jupiter and the immortal ones parted the earth;''and he speaks of one man having three sons, who dwelt separate, the earth being divided into three parts.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Gen 10:9

¹ tn The Hebrew word for “hunt” is צַיִד (tsayid), which is used on occasion for hunting men (1 Sam 24:12; Jer 16:16; Lam 3:15).

² tn Another option is to take the divine name here, לִפְנֵי יִהוָה (lifne yÿhvah, “before the Lord [YHWH]”), as a means of expressing the superlative degree. In this case one may translate “Nimrod was the greatest hunter in the world.”

NET Notes: Gen 10:10

¹ tn Heb “beginning.” E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 67, suggests “mainstays,” citing Jer 49:35 as another text where the Hebrew noun is so used.

² tn Or “Babylon.”

³ sn Erech (ancient Uruk, modern Warka), one of the most ancient civilizations, was located southeast of Babylon.

⁴ sn Akkad, or ancient Agade, was associated with Sargon and located north of Babylon.

⁵ tn No such place is known in Shinar (i.e., Babylonia). Therefore some have translated the Hebrew term כַלְנֵה (khalneh) as “all of them,” referring to the three previous names (cf. NRSV).

⁶ sn Shinar is another name for Babylonia.

NET Notes: Gen 10:11

¹ tn The subject of the verb translated “went” is probably still Nimrod. However, it has also been interpreted that “Ashur went,” referring to a derivative power.

² tn Heb “Asshur.”

³ sn Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city situated on the Tigris River.

⁴ sn The name Rehoboth-Ir means “and broad streets of a city,” perhaps referring to a suburb of Nineveh.

⁵ sn Calah (modern Nimrud) was located twenty miles north of Nineveh.

NET Notes: Gen 10:12

¹ tn Heb “and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; it [i.e., Calah] is the great city.”

NET Notes: Gen 10:13

¹ sn Mizraim is the Hebrew name for Egypt (cf. NRSV).

² tn Heb “fathered.”

³ sn The Ludites were African tribes west of the Nile Delta.

⁴ sn The Anamites lived in North Africa, west of Egypt, near Cyrene.

⁵ sn The Lehabites are identified with the Libyans.

⁶ sn The Naphtuhites lived in Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta region).

NET Notes: Gen 10:14

¹ sn The Pathrusites are known in Egyptian as P-to-reshi; they resided in Upper Egypt.

² sn The Casluhites lived in Crete and eventually settled east of the Egyptian Delta, between Egypt and Canaan.

³ tn Several commentators prefer to reverse the order of the words to put this clause after the next word, since the Philistines came from Crete (where the Caphtorites lived). But the table may suggest migration rather than lineage, and the Philistines, like the Israelites, came through the Nile Delta region of Egypt. For further discussion of the origin and migration of the Philistines, see D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 232.

⁴ sn The Caphtorites resided in Crete, but in Egyptian literature Caphtor refers to “the region beyond” the Mediterranean.

NET Notes: Gen 10:15

¹ tn Heb “fathered.”

² sn Sidon was the foremost city in Phoenicia; here Sidon may be the name of its founder.

³ tn Some see a reference to “Hittites” here (cf. NIV), but this seems unlikely. See the note on the phrase “sons of Heth” in Gen 23:3.

NET Notes: Gen 10:16

¹ sn The Jebusites were the Canaanite inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem.

² sn Here Amorites refers to smaller groups of Canaanite inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Palestine, rather than the large waves of Amurru, or western Semites, who migrated to the region.

³ sn The Girgashites are an otherwise unknown Canaanite tribe, though the name is possibly mentioned in Ugaritic texts (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 1:226).

NET Notes: Gen 10:17

¹ sn The Hivites were Canaanite tribes of a Hurrian origin.

² sn The Arkites lived in Arka, a city in Lebanon, north of Sidon.

³ sn The Sinites lived in Sin, another town in Lebanon.

NET Notes: Gen 10:18

¹ sn The Arvadites lived in the city Arvad, located on an island near the mainland close to the river El Kebir.

² sn The Zemarites lived in the town Sumur, north of Arka.

³ sn The Hamathites lived in Hamath on the Orontes River.

NET Notes: Gen 10:19

¹ tn Heb “were.”

² map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

³ tn Heb “as you go.”

⁴ tn Heb “as you go.”

NET Notes: Gen 10:21

¹ tn Heb “And to Shem was born.”

² tn Or “whose older brother was Japheth.” Some translations render Japheth as the older brother, understanding the adjective הַגָּדוֹל (haggadol, “older”) as modifying Japheth. However, in Hebrew when a masculine singular definite attributive adjective follows the sequence masculine singular construct noun + proper name, the adjective invariably modifies the noun in construct, not the proper name. Such is the case here. See Deut 11:7; Judg 1:13; 2:7; 3:9; 9:5; 2 Kgs 15:35; 2 Chr 27:3; Neh 3:30; Jer 13:9; 36:10; Ezek 10:19; 11:1.

NET Notes: Gen 10:22

¹ sn The Hebrew name Elam (עֵילָם, ’elam) means “highland.” The Elamites were a non-Semitic people who lived east of Babylon.

² sn Asshur is the name for the Assyrians. Asshur was the region in which Nimrod expanded his power (see v. 11, where the name is also mentioned). When names appear in both sections of a genealogical list, it probably means that there were both Hamites and Shemites living in that region in antiquity, especially if the name is a place name.

³ sn The descendants of Arphaxad may have lived northeast of Nineveh.

⁴ sn Lud may have been the ancestor of the Ludbu, who lived near the Tigris River.

⁵ sn Aram became the collective name of the northern tribes living in the steppes of Mesopotamia and speaking Aramaic dialects.

NET Notes: Gen 10:23

¹ tc The MT reads “Mash”; the LXX and 1 Chr 1:17 read “Meshech.”

sn Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Little is known about these descendants of Aram.

NET Notes: Gen 10:24

¹ tn Heb “fathered.”

² tc The MT reads “Arphaxad fathered Shelah”; the LXX reads “Arphaxad fathered Cainan, and Cainan fathered Sala [= Shelah].” The LXX reading also appears to lie behind Luke 3:35-36.

³ sn Genesis 11 traces the line of Shem through Eber (עֵבֶר, ’ever ) to Abraham the “Hebrew” (עִבְרִי, ’ivri).

NET Notes: Gen 10:25

¹ tn The expression “the earth was divided” may refer to dividing the land with canals, but more likely it anticipates the division of languages at Babel (Gen 11). The verb פָּלָג (palag, “separate, divide”) is used in Ps 55:9 for a division of languages.

NET Notes: Gen 10:26

¹ tn Heb “fathered.”

² sn The name Almodad combines the Arabic article al with modad (“friend”). Almodad was the ancestor of a South Arabian people.

³ sn The name Sheleph may be related to Shilph, a district of Yemen; Shalph is a Yemenite tribe.

⁴ sn The name Hazarmaveth should be equated with Hadramawt, located in Southern Arabia.

⁵ sn The name Jerah means “moon.”

NET Notes: Gen 10:27

¹ sn Uzal was the name of the old capital of Yemen.

² sn The name Diklah means “date-palm.”

NET Notes: Gen 10:28

¹ sn Obal was a name used for several localities in Yemen.

² sn The name Abimael is a genuine Sabean form which means “my father, truly, he is God.”

³ sn The descendants of Sheba lived in South Arabia, where the Joktanites were more powerful than the Hamites.

NET Notes: Gen 10:29

¹ sn Ophir became the name of a territory in South Arabia. Many of the references to Ophir are connected with gold (e.g., 1 Kgs 9:28, 10:11, 22:48; 1 Chr 29:4; 2 Chr 8:18, 9:10; Job 22:24, 28:16; Ps 45:9; Isa 13:12).

² sn Havilah is listed with Ham in v. 7.

NET Notes: Gen 10:30

¹ tn Heb “as you go.”

NET Notes: Gen 10:32

¹ tn Or “separated.”

Geneva Bible: Gen 10:9

He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even ^{( f )} as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

^{( f )} His tyranny came into a proverb as hated both by God and man: for he did not cease to commit cruelty even in God's presence.

Geneva Bible: Gen 10:10

And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of ^{( g )} Shinar.

^{( g )} For there was another city in Egypt, called Babel.

Geneva Bible: Gen 10:13

And Mizraim begat ^{( h )} Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

^{( h )} Of Lud came the Lydians.

Geneva Bible: Gen 10:21

Unto ^{( i )} Shem also, the father of all the children of ^{( k )} Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were [children] born.

^{( i )} In his stock the Church was preserved: therefore Moses stops speaking of Japheth and Ham, and speaks of Shem extensively.

^{( k )} Of whom came the Hebrews or Jews.

Geneva Bible: Gen 10:25

And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one [was] Peleg; for in his days was the earth ^{( l )} divided; and his brother's name [was] Joktan.

^{( l )} This division came by the diversity of language, as appears in (Gen 11:9).

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Gen 10:1-32

1 The generations of Noah.

2 Japheth.

6 Ham.

8 Nimrod the first monarch, and the descendants of Canaan.

21 The sons of Shem.

MHCC: Gen 10:8-14

Nimrod was a great man in his day; he began to be mighty in the earth, Those before him were content to be upon the same level with their neighbours, and though every man bare rule in his own house, yet no man pretended any further. Nimrod was resolved to lord it over his neighbours. The spirit of the giants before the flood, who became mighty men, and men of renown, Gen 6:4, revived in him. Nimrod was a great hunter. Hunting then was the method of preventing the hurtful increase of wild beasts. This required great courage and address, and thus gave an opportunity for Nimrod to command others, and gradually attached a number of men to one leader. From such a beginning, it is likely, that Nimrod began to rule, and to force others to submit. He invaded his neighbours' rights and properties, and persecuted innocent men; endeavouring to make all his own by force and violence. He carried on his oppressions and violence in defiance of God himself. Nimrod was a great ruler. Some way or other, by arts or arms, he got into power, and so founded a monarchy, which was the terror of the mighty, and bid fair to rule all the world. Nimrod was a great builder. Observe in Nimrod the nature of ambition. It is boundless; much would have more, and still cries, Give, give. It is restless; Nimrod, when he had four cities under his command, could not be content till he had four more. It is expensive; Nimrod will rather be at the charge of rearing cities, than not have the honour of ruling them. It is daring, and will stick at nothing. Nimrod's name signifies rebellion; tyrants to men are rebels to God. The days are coming, when conquerors will no longer be spoken of with praise, as in man's partial histories, but be branded with infamy, as in the impartial records of the Bible.

MHCC: Gen 10:15-32

The posterity of Canaan were numerous, rich, and pleasantly seated; yet Canaan was under a Divine curse, and not a curse causeless. Those that are under the curse of God, may, perhaps, thrive and prosper in this world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the blessing or the curse, by what is before us, but by what is within us. The curse of God always works really, and always terribly. Perhaps it is a secret curse, a curse to the soul, and does not work so that others can see it; or a slow curse, and does not work soon; but sinners are reserved by it for a day of wrath Canaan here has a better land than either Shem or Japheth, and yet they have a better lot, for they inherit the blessing. Abram and his seed, God's covenant people, descended from Eber, and from him were called Hebrews. How much better it is to be like Eber, the father of a family of saints and honest men, than the father of a family of hunters after power, worldly wealth, or vanities. Goodness is true greatness.

Matthew Henry: Gen 10:6-14

That which is observable and improvable in these verses is the account here given of Nimrod, Gen 10:8-10. He is here represented as a great man in his day: He began to be a mighty one in the earth, that is, whereas those that went before him were content to stand upon the same level with their neighbours, and though every man bore rule in his own house yet no man pretended any further, Nimrod's aspiring mind could not rest here; he was resolved to tower above his neighbours, not only to be eminent among them, but to lord it over them. The same spirit that actuated the giants before the flood (who became mighty men, and men of renown, Gen 6:4), now revived in him, so soon was that tremendous judgment which the pride and tyranny of those mighty men brought upon the world forgotten. Note, There are some in whom ambition and affectation of dominion seem to be bred in the bone; such there have been and will be, notwithstanding the wrath of God often revealed from heaven against them. Nothing on this side hell will humble and break the proud spirits of some men, in this like Lucifer, Isa 14:14, Isa 14:15. Now,

I. Nimrod was a great hunter; with this he began, and for this became famous to a proverb. Every great hunter is, in remembrance of him, called a Nimrod. 1. Some think he did good with his hunting, served his country by ridding it of the wild beasts which infested it, and so insinuated himself into the affections of his neighbours, and got to be their prince. Those that exercise authority either are, or at least would be called, benefactors, Luk 22:25. 2. Others think that under pretence of hunting he gathered men under his command, in pursuit of another game he had to play, which was to make himself master of the country and to bring them into subjection. He was a mighty hunter, that is, he was a violent invader of his neighbours' rights and properties, and a persecutor of innocent men, carrying all before him, and endeavouring to make all his own by force and violence. He thought himself a mighty prince, but before the Lord (that is, in God's account) he was but a mighty hunter. Note, Great conquerors are but great hunters. Alexander and Caesar would not make such a figure in scripture-history as they do in common history; the former is represented in prophecy but as a he-goat pushing, Dan 8:5. Nimrod was a mighty hunter against the Lord, so the Septuagint; that is, (1.) He set up idolatry, as Jeroboam did, for the confirming of his usurped dominion. That he might set up a new government, he set up a new religion upon the ruin of the primitive constitution of both. Babel was the mother of harlots. Or, (2.) He carried on his oppression and violence in defiance of God himself, daring Heaven with his impieties, as if he and his huntsmen could out-brave the Almighty, and were a match for the Lord of hosts and all his armies. As if it were a small thing to weary men, he thinks to weary my God also, Isa 7:13.

II. Nimrod was a great ruler: The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Gen 10:10. Some way or other, by arts or arms, he got into power, either being chosen to it or forcing his way to it; and so laid the foundations of a monarchy, which was afterwards a head of gold, and the terror of the mighty, and bade fair to be universal. It does not appear that he had any right to rule by birth; but either his fitness for government recommended him, as some think, to an election, or by power and policy he advanced gradually, and perhaps insensibly, into the throne. See the antiquity of civil government, and particularly that form of it which lodges the sovereignty in a single person. If Nimrod and his neighbours began, other nations soon learned to incorporate under one head for their common safety and welfare, which, however it began, proved so great a blessing to the world that things were reckoned to go ill indeed when there was no king in Israel.

III. Nimrod was a great builder. Probably he was architect in the building of Babel, and there he began his kingdom; but, when his project to rule all the sons of Noah was baffled by the confusion of tongues, out of that land he went forth into Assyria (so the margin reads it, Gen 10:11) and built Nineveh, etc., that, having built these cities, he might command them and rule over them. Observe, in Nimrod, the nature of ambition. 1. It is boundless. Much would have more, and still cries, Give, give. 2. It is restless. Nimrod, when he had four cities under his command, could not be content till he had four more. 3. It is expensive. Nimrod will rather be at the charge of rearing cities than not have the honour of ruling them. The spirit of building is the common effect of a spirit of pride. 4. It is daring, and will stick at nothing. Nimrod's name signifies rebellion, which (if indeed he did abuse his power to the oppression of his neighbours) teaches us that tyrants to men are rebels to God, and their rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

Matthew Henry: Gen 10:15-20

Observe here, 1. The account of the posterity of Canaan, of the families and nations that descended from him, and of the land they possessed, is more particular than of any other in this chapter, because these were the nations that were to be subdued before Israel, and their land was in process of time to become the holy land, Immanuel's land; and this God had an eye to when, in the mean time, he cast the lot of that accursed devoted race in that spot of ground which he had selected for his own people; this Moses takes notice of, Deu 32:8, When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. 2. By this account it appears that the posterity of Canaan were numerous, and rich, and very pleasantly situated; and yet Canaan was under a curse, a divine curse, and not a curse causeless. Note, Those that are under the curse of God may yet perhaps thrive and prosper greatly in this world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the blessing or the curse, by what is before us, but by what is within us, Ecc 9:1. The curse of God always works really and always terribly: but perhaps it is a secret curse, a curse to the soul, and does not work visibly, or a slow curse, and does not work immediately; but sinners are by it reserved for, and bound over to, a day of wrath. Canaan here has a better land than either Shem or Japheth, and yet they have a better lot, for they inherit the blessing.

Matthew Henry: Gen 10:21-32

Two things especially are observable in this account of the posterity of Shem: -

I. The description of Shem, Gen 10:21. We have not only his name, Shem, which signifies a name, but two titles to distinguish him by: -

1. He was the father of all the children of Eber. Eber was his great grandson; but why should he be called the father of all his children, rather than of all Arphaxad's, or Salah's, etc.? Probably because Abraham and his seed, God's covenant-people, not only descended from Heber, but from him were called Hebrews; Gen 14:13, Abram the Hebrew. Paul looked upon it as his privilege that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, Phi 3:5. Eber himself, we may suppose, was a man eminent for religion in a time of general apostasy, and a great example of piety to his family; and, the holy tongue being commonly called from him the Hebrew, it is probable that he retained it in his family, in the confusion of Babel, as a special token of God's favour to him; and from him the professors of religion were called the children of Eber. Now, when the inspired penman would give Shem an honourable title, he calls him the father of the Hebrews. Though when Moses wrote this, they were a poor despised people, bond-slaves in Egypt, yet, being God's people, it was an honour to a man to be akin to them. As Ham, though he had many sons, is disowned by being called the father of Canaan, on whose seed the curse was entailed (Gen 9:22), so Shem, though he had many sons, is dignified with the title of the father of Eber, on whose seed the blessing was entailed. Note, a family of saints is more truly honourable than a family of nobles, Shem's holy seed than Ham's royal seed, Jacob's twelve patriarchs than Ishmael's twelve princes, Gen 17:20. Goodness is true greatness.

2. He was the brother of Japheth the elder, by which it appears that, though Shem is commonly put first, he was not Noah's first-born, but Japheth was older. But why should this also be put as part of Shem's title and description, that he was the brother of Japheth, since it had been, in effect, said often before? And was he not as much brother to Ham? Probably this was intended to signify the union of the Gentiles with the Jews in the church. The sacred historian had mentioned it as Shem's honour that he was the father of the Hebrews; but, lest Japheth's seed should therefore be looked upon as for ever shut out from the church, he here reminds us that he was the brother of Japheth, not in birth only, but in blessing; for Japheth was to dwell in the tents of Shem. Note, (1.) Those are brethren in the best manner that are so by grace, and that meet in the covenant of God and in the communion of saints. (2.) God, in dispensing his grace, does not go by seniority, but the younger sometimes gets the start of the elder in coming into the church; so the last shall be first and the first last.

II. The reason of the name of Peleg (Gen 10:25): Because in his days (that is, about the time of his birth, when his name was given him), was the earth divided among the children of men that were to inhabit it; either when Noah divided it by an orderly distribution of it, as Joshua divided the land of Canaan by lot, or when, upon their refusal to comply with that division, God, in justice, divided them by the confusion of tongues: whichsoever of these was the occasion, pious Heber saw cause to perpetuate the remembrance of it in the name of his son; and justly may our sons be called by the same name, for in our days, in another sense, is the earth, the church, most wretchedly divided.

Keil-Delitzsch: Gen 10:6-20

Descendants of Ham. - Cush: the Ethiopians of the ancients, who not only dwelt in Africa, but were scattered over the whole of Southern Asia, and originally, in all probability, settled in Arabia, where the tribes that still remained, mingled with Shemites, and adopted a Shemitic language. Mizraim is Egypt : the dual form was probably transferred from the land to the people, referring, however, not to the double strip , i.e., the two strips of land into which the country is divided by the Nile, but to the two Egypts, Upper and Lower, two portions of the country which differ considerably in their climate and general condition. The name is obscure, and not traceable to any Semitic derivation; for the term מצור in Isa 19:6, etc., is not to be regarded as an etymological interpretation, but as a significant play upon the word. The old Egyptian name is Kemi (Copt. Chêmi, Kême), which, Plutarch says, is derived from the dark ash-grey colour of the soil covered by the slime of the Nile, but which it is much more correct to trace to Ham , and to regard as indicative of the Hamitic descent of its first inhabitants. Put denotes the Libyans in the wider sense of the term (old Egypt. Phet ; Copt. Phaiat ), who were spread over Northern Africa as far as Mauritania, where even in the time of Jerome a river with the neighbouring district still bore the name of Phut ; cf. Bochart , Phal. iv. 33. On Canaan , see Gen 9:25.

Gen 10:7

Descendants of Cush. Seba: the inhabitants of Meroë ; according to Knobel , the northern Ethiopians, the ancient Blemmyer , and modern Bisharin . Havilah: the Αὐαλῖται or Ἀβαλῖται of the ancients, the Macrobian Ethiopians in modern Habesh. Sabtah: the Ethiopians inhabiting Hadhramaut, whose chief city was called Sabatha or Sabota . Raamah: Ῥεγμά , the inhabitants of a city and bay of that name in south-eastern Arabia ( Oman ). Sabtecah: the Ethiopians of Caramania, dwelling to the east of the Persian Gulf, where the ancients mention a seaport town and a river Σαμυδάκη . The descendants of Raamah, Sheba and Dedan , are to be sought in the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf, "from which the Sabaean and Dedanitic Cushites spread to the north-west, where they formed mixed tribes with descendants of Joktan and Abraham."See notes on Gen 10:28 and Gen 25:3.

Gen 10:8-9

Besides the tribes already named, there sprang from Cush Nimrod , the founder of the first imperial kingdom, the origin of which is introduced as a memorable event into the genealogy of the tribes, just as on other occasions memorable events are interwoven with the genealogical tables (cf. 1Ch 2:7, 1Ch 2:23; 1Ch 4:22-23, 1Ch 4:39-41).

(Note: These analogies overthrow the assertion that the verses before us have been interpolated by the Jehovist into the Elohistic document; since the use of the name Jehovah is no proof of difference of authorship, nor the use of ילדfor הוליד, as the former also occurs in Gen 10:13, Gen 10:15, Gen 10:24, and Gen 10:26.)

Nimrod "began to be a mighty one in the earth." גּבּר is used here, as in Gen 6:4, to denote a man who makes himself renowned for bold and daring deeds. Nimrod was mighty in hunting, and that in opposition to Jehovah ( ἐναντίον κυρίον , lxx); not before Jehovah in the sense of, according to the purpose and will of Jehovah , still less, like לאלהים in Jon 3:3, or τῷ Θεῷ in Act 7:20, in a simply superlative sense. The last explanation is not allowed by the usage of the language, the second is irreconcilable with the context. The name itself, Nimrod from מרד , "we will revolt,"points to some violent resistance to God. It is so characteristic that it can only have been given by his contemporaries, and thus have become a proper name.

(Note: This was seen even by Perizonius ( Origg. Babyl . p. 183), who says, "Crediderim hominem hunc utpote venatorem ferocem et sodalium comitatu succinctum semper in ore habuisse et ingeminasse, ad reliquos in rebellionem excitandos, illud nimrod, nimrod, h.e. rebellemus, rebellemus, atque inde postea ab aliis, etiam ab ipso Mose, hoc vocabalo tanquam proprio nomine designatium ," and who supports his opinion by other similar instances in history.)

In addition to this, Nimrod as a mighty hunter founded a powerful kingdom; and the founding of this kingdom is shown by the verb ותּהי with ו consec . to have been the consequence or result of his strength in hunting, so that the hunting was most intimately connected with the establishment of the kingdom. Hence, if the expression "a mighty hunter"relates primarily to hunting in the literal sense, we must add to the literal meaning the figurative signification of a "hunter of men"("trapper of men by stratagem and force," Herder ); Nimrod the hunter became a tyrant, a powerful hunter of men. This course of life gave occasion to the proverb, "like Nimrod, a mighty hunter against the Lord,"which immortalized not his skill in hunting beasts, but the success of his hunting of men in the establishment of an imperial kingdom by tyranny and power. But if this be the meaning of the proverb, יהוה לפני "in the face of Jehovah "can only mean in defiance of Jehovah , as Josephus and the Targums understand it. And the proverb must have arisen when other daring and rebellious men followed in Nimrod's footsteps, and must have originated with those who saw in such conduct an act of rebellion against the God of salvation, in other words, with the possessors of the divine promises of grace.

(Note: This view of Nimrod and his deeds is favoured by the Eastern legend, which not only makes him the builder of the tower of Babel, which was to reach to heaven, but has also placed him among the constellations of heaven as a heaven-storming giant, who was chained by God in consequence. Vid., Herzog's Real-Encycl. Art. Nimrod.)

Gen 10:10

" And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, "the well-known city of Babylon on the Euphrates, which from the time of Nimrod downwards has been the symbol of the power of the world in its hostility to God; - " and Erech "( Ὀρέχ , lxx), one of the seats of the Cutheans (Samaritans), Ezr 4:9, no doubt Orchoë , situated, according to Rawlinson , on the site of the present ruins of Warka , thirty hours' journey to the south-east of Babel; - and Accad ( Ἀρχάδ , lxx), a place not yet determined, though, judging from its situation between Erech and Calneh , it was not far from either, and Pressel is probably right in identifying it with the ruins of Niffer , to the south of Hillah; - " and Calneh: "this is found by early writers on the cite of Ctesiphon , now a great heap of ruins, twenty hours north-east of Babel. These four cities were in the land of Shinar , i.e., of the province of Babylon, on the Lower Euphrates and Tigris.

Gen 10:11-12

From Shinar Nimrod went to Assyria אשּׁוּר is the accusative of direction), the country on the east of the Tigris, and there built four cities, or probably a large imperial city composed of the four cities, or probably a large imperial city composed of the four cities named. As three of these cities - Rehoboth-Ir, i.e., city markets (not "street-city,"as Bunsen interprets it), Chelach , and Resen - are not met with again, whereas Nineveh was renowned in antiquity for its remarkable size (vid., Jon 3:3), the words " this is the great city "must apply not to Resen, but to Nineveh. This is grammatically admissible, if we regard the last three names as subordinate to the first, taking as the sign of subordination ( Ewald , §339a), and render the passage thus: "he built Nineveh, with Rehoboth-Ir, Cheloch, and Resen between Nineveh and Chelach, this is the great city."From this it follows that the four places formed a large composite city, a large range of towns, to which the name of the (well-known) great city of Nineveh was applied, in distinction from Nineveh in the more restricted sense, with which Nimrod probably connected the other three places so as to form one great capital, possibly also the chief fortress of his kingdom on the Tigris. These four cities most likely correspond to the ruins on the east of the Tigris, which Layard has so fully explored, viz., Nebbi Yûnus and Kouyunjik opposite to Mosul, Khorsabad five hours to the north, and Nimrud eight hours to the south of Mosul.

(Note: This supposition of Rawlinson, Grote, M. v. Niebuhr, Knobel, Delitzsch and others, has recently been adopted by Ewald also.)

Gen 10:13-14

From Mizraim descended Ludim: not the Semitic Ludim (Gen 10:22), but, according to Movers , the old tribe of the Lewâtah dwelling on the Syrtea, according to others, the Moorish tribes collectively. Whether the name is connected with the Laud flumen ( Plin . v. 1) is uncertain; in any case Knobel is wrong in thinking of Ludian Shemites, whether Hyksos, who forced their way to Egypt, or Egyptianized Arabians. Anamim: inhabitants of the Delta, according to Knobel . He associates the Enemetiei'm of the lxx with Sanemhit, or Northern Egypt: " tsanemhit , i.e., pars , regio septentrionis ." Lehabim (= Lubim , Nah 3:9) are, according to Josephus, the Δἰβνες or Δύβιες , not the great Libyan tribe ( Phut , v. 6), which Nahum distinguishes from them, but the Libyaegyptii of the ancients. Naphtuchim: in Knobel's opinion, the Middle Egyptians, as the nation of Pthah , the god of Memphis: but Bochart is more probably correct in associating the name with Νέφθυς in Plut. de Is., the northern coast line of Egypt. Pathrusim: inhabitants of Pathros , Παθούρης , Egypt. Petrês , land of the south; i.e., Upper Egypt, the Thebais of the ancients. Casluchim: according to general admission the Colchians , who descended from the Egyptians (Herod. ii. 104), though the connection of the name with Cassiotis is uncertain. " From thence (i.e., from Casluchim , which is the name of both people and country) proceeded the Philistines ." Philistim , lxx Φυλιστιείμ or Ἀλλόφλοι , lit., emigrants or immigrants from the Ethiopic fallâsa . This is not at variance with Amo 9:7 and Jer 47:4, according to which the Philistines came from Caphtor, so that there is no necessity to transpose the relative clause after Philistim. The two statements may be reconciled on the simple supposition that the Philistian nation was primarily a Casluchian colony, which settled on the south-eastern coast line of the Mediterranean between Gaza (Gen 10:19) and Pelusium, but was afterwards strengthened by immigrants from Caphtor , and extended its territory by pressing out the Avim (Deu 2:23, cf. Jos 13:3). Caphtorim: according to the old Jewish explanation, the Cappadocians ; but according to Lakemacher's opinion, which has been revived by Ewald , etc., the Cretans . This is not decisively proved, however, either by the name Cherethites , given to the Philistines in 1Sa 30:14; Zep 2:5, and Eze 25:16, or by the expression "isle of Caphtor"in Jer 47:4.

Gen 10:15-20

From Canaan descended "Zidon his first-born, and Heth." Although Zidon occurs in Gen 10:19 and throughout the Old Testament as the name of the oldest capital of the Phoenicians, here it must be regarded as the name of a person, not only because of the apposition " his first-born, "and the verb ילד , "begat,"but also because the name of a city does not harmonize with the names of the other descendants of Canaan, the analogy of which would lead us to expect the nomen gentile " Sidonian "(Jdg 3:3, etc.); and lastly, because the word Zidon, from צוּד to hunt, to catch, is not directly applicable to a sea-port and commercial town, and there are serious objections upon philological grounds to Justin's derivation, " quam a piscium ubertate Sidona appellaverunt, nam piscem Phoenices Sidon vocant "( var. hist. 18, 3). Heth is also the name of a person, from which the term Hittite (Gen 25:9; Num 13:29), equivalent to " sons of Heth "(Gen 23:5), is derived. " The Jebusite: "inhabitants of Jebus, afterwards called Jerusalem. " The Amorite: "not the inhabitants of the mountain or heights, for the derivation from אמיר , " summit, "is not established, but a branch of the Canaanites, descended from Emor (Amor), which was spread far and wide over the mountains of Judah and beyond the Jordan in the time of Moses, so that in Gen 15:16; Gen 48:22, all the Canaanites are comprehended by the name. " The Girgashites, " Γεργεσαῖος (lxx), are also mentioned in Gen 15:21; Deu 7:1, and Jos 24:11; but their dwelling-place is unknown, as the reading Γεργεσηνοί in Mat 8:28 is critically suspicious. " The Hivites "dwelt in Sichem (Gen 34:2), at Gibeon (Jos 9:7), and at the foot of Hermon (Jos 11:3); the meaning of the word is uncertain. " The Arkites: "inhabitants of Ἀρκή , to the north of Tripolis at the foot of Lebanon, the ruins of which still exist (vid., Robinson). " The Sinite: "the inhabitants of Sin or Sinna , a place in Lebanon not yet discovered. " The Arvadite, "or Aradians, occupied from the eighth century before Christ, the small rocky island of Arados to the north of Tripolis. " The Zemarite: "the inhabitants of Simyra in Eleutherus. " The Hamathite: "the inhabitants or rather founders of Hamath on the most northerly border of Palestine (Num 13:21; Num 34:8), afterwards called Epiphania , on the river Orontes, the present Hamâh , with 100,000 inhabitants. The words in Gen 10:18, " and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad, "mean that they all proceeded from one local centre as branches of the same tribe, and spread themselves over the country, the limits of which are given in two directions, with evident reference to the fact that it was afterwards promised to the seed of Abraham for its inheritance, viz., from north to south, - " from Sidon, in the direction (lit., as thou comest) towards Gerar (see Gen 20:1), unto Gaza,"the primitive Avvite city of the Philistines (Deu 2:23), now called Guzzeh , at the S.W. corner of Palestine, - and thence from west to east, in the direction towards Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim (see Gen 19:24) to Lesha, "i.e., Calirrhoe , a place with sulphur baths, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, in Wady Serka Maein ( Seetzen and Ritter ).

Keil-Delitzsch: Gen 10:21-22

Descendants of Shem. - Gen 10:21. For the construction, vid., Gen 4:26. Shem is called the father of all the sons of Eber , because two tribes sprang from Eber through Peleg and Joktan, viz., the Abrahamides, and also the Arabian tribe of the Joktanides (Gen 4:26.). - On the expression, " the brother of Japhet הגּדול ,"see Gen 9:24. The names of the five sons of Shem occur elsewhere as the names of the tribes and countries; at the same time, as there is no proof that in any single instance the name was transferred from the country to its earliest inhabitants, no well-grounded objection can be offered to the assumption, which the analogy of the other descendants of Shem renders probable, that they were originally the names of individuals. As the name of a people, Elam denotes the Elymaeans , who stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, but who are first met with as Persians no longer speaking a Semitic language. Asshur: the Assyrians who settled in the country of Assyria , Ἀτουρία , to the east of the Tigris, but who afterwards spread in the direction of Asia Minor. Arphaxad: the inhabitants of Ἀῤῥαπαχῖχτις in northern Assyria. The explanation given of the name, viz., "fortress of the Chaldeans"( Ewald ), "highland of the Chaldeans"( Knobel ), "territory of the Chaldeans"( Dietrich ), are very questionable. Lud: the Lydians of Asia Minor, whose connection with the Assyrians is confirmed by the names of the ancestors of their kings. Aram: the ancestor of the Aramaeans of Syria and Mesopotamia.

Keil-Delitzsch: Gen 10:23-24

Descendants of Aram. Uz: a name which occurs among the Nahorides (Gen 22:21) and Horites (Gen 36:28), and which is associated with the Αἰσῖται of Ptolemy, in Arabia deserta towards Babylon; this is favoured by the fact that Uz , the country of Job, is called by the lxx χώρα Αὐσῖτις , although the notion that these Aesites were an Aramaean tribe, afterwards mixed up with Nahorides and Horites, is mere conjecture. Hul: Delitzsch associates this with Cheli ( Cheri ), the old Egyptian name for the Syrians, and the Hylatae who dwelt near the Emesenes (Plin. 5, 19). Gether he connects with the name give in the Arabian legends to the ancestor of the tribes Themûd and Ghadis . Mash: for which we find Meshech in 1Ch 1:17, a tribe mentioned in Psa 120:5 along with Kedar, and since the time of Bochart generally associated with the πορος Μάσιον above Nisibis .

Keil-Delitzsch: Gen 10:25-29

Among the descendants of Arphaxad, Eber's eldest son received the name of Peleg , because in his days the earth, i.e., the population of the earth, was divided, in consequence of the building of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:8). His brother Joktan is called Kachtan by the Arabians, and is regarded as the father of all the primitive tribes of Arabia. The names of his sons are given in Gen 10:26-29. There are thirteen of them, some of which are still retained in places and districts of Arabia, whilst others are not yet discovered, or are entirely extinct. Nothing certain has been ascertained about Almodad, Jerah, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, and Jobab . Of the rest, Sheleph is identical with Salif or Sulaf (in Ptl. 6, 7, Σαλαπηνοί ), an old Arabian tribe, also a district of Yemen . Hazarmaveth (i.e., forecourt of death) is the Arabian Hadhramaut in South-eastern Arabia on the Indian Ocean, whose name Jauhari is derived from the unhealthiness of the climate. Hadoram: the Ἀδραμῖται of Ptol. 6, 7, Atramitae of Plin. 6, 28, on the southern coast of Arabia. Uzal: one of the most important towns of Yemen , south-west of Mareb . Sheba: the Sabaeans , with the capital Saba or Mareb , Mariaba regia (Plin.), whose connection with the Cushite (Gen 10:7) and Abrahamite Sabaeans (Gen 25:3) is quite in obscurity. Ophir has not yet been discovered in Arabia; it is probably to be sought on the Persian Gulf, even if the Ophir of Solomon was not situated there. Havilah appears to answer to Chaulaw of Edrisi , a district between Sanaa and Mecca. But this district, which lies in the heart of Yemen, does not fit the account in 1Sa 15:7, nor the statement in Gen 25:18, that Havilah formed the boundary of the territory of the Ishmaelites. These two passages point rather to Χαυλοταῖοι , a place on the border of Arabia Petraea towards Yemen, between the Nabataeans and Hagrites, which Strabo describes as habitable.

Keil-Delitzsch: Gen 10:30-31

The settlements of these Joktanides lay " from Mesha towards Sephar the mountain of the East, " Mesha is still unknown: according to Gesenius, it is Mesene on the Persian Gulf, and in Knobel's opinion, it is the valley of Bisha or Beishe in the north of Yemen; but both are very improbable. Sepher is supposed by Mesnel to be the ancient Himyaritish capital, Shafâr , on the Indian Ocean; and the mountain of the East , the mountain of incense, which is situated still farther to the east. - The genealogy of the Shemites closes with Gen 10:31, and the entire genealogy of the nations with Gen 10:32. According to the Jewish Midrash, there are seventy tribes, with as many different languages; but this number can only be arrived at by reckoning Nimrod among the Hamites, and not only placing Peleg among the Shemites, but taking his ancestors Salah and Eber to be names of separate tribes. By this we obtain for Japhet 14, for Ham 31, and for Shem 25, - in all 70 names. The Rabbins, on the other hand, reckon 14 Japhetic, 30 Hamitic, and 26 Semitic nations; whilst the fathers make 72 in all. But as these calculations are perfectly arbitrary, and the number 70 is nowhere given or hinted at, we can neither regard it as intended, nor discover in it "the number of the divinely appointed varieties of the human race,"or "of the cosmical development,"even if the seventy disciples (Luk 10:1) were meant to answer to the seventy nations whom the Jews supposed to exist upon the earth.

Keil-Delitzsch: Gen 10:32

The words, " And by these were the nations of the earth divided in the earth after the flood, "prepare the way for the description of that event which led to the division of the one race into many nations with different languages.

Constable: Gen 1:1--11:27

I. PRIMEVAL EVENTS 1:1--11:26

Chapters 1-11 provide an introduction to the Book of Genesis, the Pentateuch, and the whole Bible.

"What we find in chaps. 1-11 is the divine initiation of blessing, which is compromised by human sin followed by gracious preservation of the promise: blessing-sin-grace."¹⁵

"His [Moses'] theological perspective can be summarized in two points. First, the author intends to draw a line connecting the God of the Fathers and the God of the Sinai covenant with the God who created the world. Second, the author intends to show that the call of the patriarchs and the Sinai covenant have as their ultimate goal the reestablishment of God's original purpose in Creation."¹⁶

"Evidently an interest in the way in which the world and humankind came into existence and in the history of the earliest times was characteristic of the ancient civilized world. At any rate, various origin stories' or creation myths' about the activities of a variety of creator-gods are still extant in what remains of the literatures of ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia. But the combination of such accounts with narratives about more recent times testifies to an additional motivation. The aim of such works was to give their readers--or to strengthen--a sense of national or ethnic identity, particularly at a time when there was for some reason a degree of uncertainty or hesitation about this. . . .

"The placing of Gen. 1-11 as a prologue to the main body of the work also afforded the opportunity to express certain distinctively Israelite articles of faith which it would have been more difficult to introduce into the later narratives, particularly with regard to the doctrine of God."¹⁷

"Gen 1-11 as we read it is a commentary, often highly critical, on ideas current in the ancient world about the natural and supernatural world. Both individual stories as well as the final completed work seem to be a polemic against many of the commonly received notions about the gods and man. But the clear polemical thrust of Gen 1-11 must not obscure the fact that at certain points biblical and extrabiblical thought are in clear agreement. Indeed Genesis and the ancient Near East probably have more in common with each other than either has with modern secular thought."¹⁸

Constable: Gen 10:1--11:10

E. What became of Noah's sons 10:1-11:9

This chapter gives in some detail the distribution of Noah's descendants over the earth after the Flood (cf. 9:18-19).

This fourth toledot section (10:1-11:9) brings the inspired record of primeval events to a climax and provides a transition to the patriarchal narratives. All the nations of the world in their various lands with their different languages descended from Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Of special interest to the original Israelite readers were the Canaanites and the other ancient Near Eastern powers.

"From this section we learn that the blessing' is for all peoples because all nations have their source in the one man, Noah, whom God favored. Moreover, the disunity among Noah's offspring that resulted from the tower event [11:1-9] did not prevent the blessing God had envisioned for humanity."³⁴⁵

"The Tower of Babel incident (11:1-9), though following the table in the present literary arrangement, actually precedes chronologically the dispersal of the nations. This interspersal of narrative (11:1-9) separates the two genealogies of Shem (10:21-31; 11:10-26), paving the way for the particular linkage between the Terah (Abraham) clan and the Shemite lineage (11:27). The story of the tower also looks ahead by anticipating the role that Abram (12:1-3) will play in restoring the blessing to the dispersed nations."³⁴⁶

Constable: Gen 10:1-32

1. The table of nations ch. 10

This table shows that Yahweh created all peoples (cf. Deut. 32:8; Amos 9:7; Acts 17:26). As the genealogy in chapter 5, this one traces 10 main individuals, and the last one named had three sons.

"The table of nations is a horizontal' genealogy rather than a vertical' one (those in chaps. 5 and 11 are vertical). Its purpose is not primarily to trace ancestry; instead it shows political, geographical, and ethnic affiliations among tribes for various reasons, most notable being holy war. Tribes shown to be kin' would be in league together. Thus this table aligns the predominant tribes in and around the land promised to Israel. These names include founders of tribes, clans, cities, and territories."³⁴⁷

In contrast to the genealogy in chapter 5, this one lists no ages. It contains place and group names, which are spoken of as the ancestors of other places or groups, as well as the names of individuals. God built nations from families. Thus it is quite clearly a selective list, not comprehensive. The writer's selection of material shows that he had particular interest in presenting Israel's neighbors. Israel would deal with, displace, or subjugate many of these peoples, as well as the Canaanites (ch. 9). They all had a common origin. Evidently 70 nations descended from Shem, Ham, and Japheth: 26 from Shem, 30 from Ham, and 14 from Japheth (cf. Deut. 32:8). Seventy became a traditional round number for a large group of descendants.³⁴⁸ Jacob's family also comprised 70 people (46:27), which may indicate that Moses viewed Israel as a microcosm of humanity as he presented it here.

Japheth's descendants (vv. 2-5) settled north, east, and west of Ararat.³⁴⁹ Their distance from Israel probably explains the brief treatment that they received in this list compared with that of the Hamites and Shemites. The "coastlands" (v. 5) are the inland areas and the northern Mediterranean coastlands on the European shore from Turkey to Spain. The dispersion of the nations "according to . . . language" (v. 5) took place after Babel (ch. 11) all along these coasts as well as elsewhere.³⁵⁰

Ham's family (vv. 6-20) moved east, south, and southwest into Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Africa. Canaan's descendants (vv. 15-21) did not migrate as far south but settled in Palestine.³⁵¹ The length of these Hamite Canaanite lists indicates the importance of these people and places in Israel's later history.

It is possible that Sargon of Agade, whom many secular historians regard as the first ruler of Babylon, may be the Nimrod (meaning "We shall rebel") of verses 8-10.³⁵² Many people in ancient times had more than one name. Reference to him probably foreshadows 11:1-9.

"The influx of the Amorites in Canaan is disputed. It does not necessarily follow that the original Amorites, attributed to Hamite descent in Genesis 10, were a Semitic people since the term Amorite' in ancient Near Eastern documents does not serve as a definitive source for designating ethnicity. Moreover, linguistic evidence does not always assure true ethnic derivation."³⁵³

Shem's posterity (vv. 21-31) settled to the northeast and southeast of the Canaanites. This branch of the human family is also important in the Genesis record of Israel's history.

"When the two lines of Shem are compared (10:21-31; 11:10-26), there is a striking divergence at the point of Eber's descendants, Peleg and Joktan [v. 25]. In chap. 10 Peleg is dropped altogether after his mention, while the nonelect line of Joktan is detailed. It is left to the second lineage in chap. 11 to trace out Peleg's role as ancestral father of Abraham . . ."³⁵⁴

"This Table of Nations, then, traces affiliation of tribes to show relationships, based on some original physical connections.

"It is clear that the writer is emphasizing the development of these nations that were of primary importance to Israel (yalad sections) within the overall structure of the Table (b'ne arrangement)."³⁵⁵

"The three geographical arcs of the branches intersect at the center--that is, Canaan, Israel's future homeland."³⁵⁶

The section reveals that it was God's plan to bless the human race by dividing the family of man by languages, locations, and leaders.³⁵⁷ Remember that God formerly blessed the earth by dividing the light from the darkness, the earth from the heavens, and the land from the seas (ch. 1).

"By correlating the number of nations [in ch. 10, i.e., 70] with the number of the seed of Abraham [in 46:27], he [the writer] holds Abraham's seed' before the reader as a new humanity and Abraham himself as a kind of second Adam, the father of many nations' (Ge 17:5)."³⁵⁸

". . . his intention is not to give an exhaustive list but rather a representative list, one which, for him, is obtained in the number seven."³⁵⁹

"The table's figure of seventy' for the world's nations is alluded to by Jesus in the sending forth of the seventy disciples, as recounted by Luke (10:1-16). Here the evangelist emphasizes the mission of the church in its worldwide evangelistic endeavors."³⁶⁰

Guzik: Gen 10:1-32

Genesis 10 - The Table of Nations

The tenth chapter of Genesis . . . stands absolutely alone in ancient literature, without a remote parallel, even among the Greeks, where we find the closest approach to a distribution of peoples in genealogical framework . . . The Table of Nations remains an astonishing accurate document. (William F. Albright, cited in Boice)

A. The descendants of Japheth.

1. (1) The three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.

2. (2) The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

a. The sons of Japheth: He was the father of the Indo-European peoples, those stretching from India to the shores of Western Europe. They are each linked by linguistic similarities that often seem invisible to the layman but are much more obvious to the linguist.

b. Gomer: From this son of Japheth came the Germanic peoples, from whom came most of the original peoples of Western Europe. These include the original French, Spanish, and Celtic settlers.

c. Magog . . . Tubal, Meshech: These settled in the far north of Europe and became the Russian peoples.

d. Madai: From this son of Japheth came the ancient Medes and they populated what are now Iran and Iraq. The peoples of India also came from this branch of Japheth's family.

e. Javan: From this son of Japheth came the ancient Greeks, whose sea-faring ways are described in Genesis 10:5.

3. (3) The sons of Gomer.

The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

a. Ashkenaz: From this son of Gomer came the peoples who settled north of Judea into what we call the Fertile Crescent.

b. Togarmah: From this son of Gomer came the Armenians.

4. (4-5) The sons of Javan (the ancient Greeks).

The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

a. The sons of Javan were: Geographic names that spring from these names in this chapter abound. Linguists have no trouble seeing the connection between Kittim and Cyprus, Rodanim and Rhodes, Gomer and Germany, Meschech and Moscow, Tubal and Tobolsk.

B. The descendants of Ham.

1. (6) The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

a. Ham: The descendants of Ham are the peoples who populated Africa and the Far East.

b. Cush: Apparently, this family divided into two branches early. Some founded Babylon (notably, Nimrod) and others founded Ethiopia.

c. Mizraim: This is another way the Bible refers to Egypt. Put refers to Libya, the region of North Africa west of Egypt. Canaan refers to the peoples who originally settled the land we today think of as Israel and its surrounding regions.

2. (7-12) The sons of Cush.

The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD." And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, 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 Calah (that is the principal city).

a. Cush begot Nimrod: One son of Cush worthy of note is Nimrod. He was a mighty one on the earth, but not in a good way. He ruled over Babel, which was the first organized rebellion of humans against God. The name Nimrod itself means, "let us rebel."

b. Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD: The context shows that this is not a compliment of Nimrod. The idea is that Nimrod was an offense before the face of God.

i. "This is not talking about Nimrod's ability to hunt wild game. He was not a hunter of animals. He was a hunter of men - a warrior. It was through his ability to fight and kill and rule ruthlessly that his kingdom of the Euphrates valley city states was consolidated." (Boice)

ii. A Jerusalem Targum says: "He was powerful in hunting and in wickedness before the Lord, for he was a hunter of the sons of men, and he said to them, 'Depart from the judgment of the Lord, and adhere to the judgment of Nimrod!' Therefore it is said: 'As Nimrod the strong one, strong in hunting, and in wickedness before the Lord.' "

iii. Ginzberg quotes from a Jewish legend: "The great success that attended all of Nimrod's undertakings produced a sinister effect. Men no longer trusted in God, but rather in their own prowess and ability, an attitude to which Nimrod tried to convert the whole world."

iv. "Hence it is likely that Nimrod, having acquired power, used it in tyranny and oppression; and by rapine and violence founded the domination which was the first distinguished by the name of a kingdom on the face of the earth. How many kingdoms have been founded in the same way, in various ages and nations from that time to the present! From the Nimrods of the earth, God deliver the world!" (Clarke)

3. (13-14) The sons of Mizraim.

Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim).

4. (15-19) The sons of Canaan.

Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

a. Canaan begot Sidon: The family of Sidon, the son of Canaan, went north and is related to the Hittites and Lebanese.

b. And the Sinite: Many people believe the Oriental peoples descended from the Sinites.

5. (20) The spread of the descendants of Ham.

These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.

C. The descendants of Shem.

1. (21-22) The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

a. Children were born also to Shem: From Shem comes Elam, who was an ancestor to the Persian peoples; Asshur, who was the father of the Assyrians; Lud was father to the Lydians who lived for a time in Asia Minor; and Aram was father to the Arameans, who we also know as the Syrians. Arphaxad was the ancestor to Abram and the Hebrews.

2. (23) The sons of Aram.

The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

a. Uz: Later, a region in Arabia was named after this son of Aram.

Job came from the land of Uz (Job 1:1).

3. (24-30) The sons and descendants of Arphaxad.

Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber. To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east.

a. All these were the sons of Joktan: The names under the son of Joktan (son of Eber, son of Salah, son of Arphaxad) are all associated with various Arabic peoples.

b. And Jobab: The one named Jobab may be the one we know as Job in the Old Testament.

4. (31) The spread of the descendants of Shem.

These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.

5. (32) Summary statement: the nations after the flood.

These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

a. "Hence one must consider this chapter of Genesis a mirror in which to discern that we human beings are, namely, creatures so marred by sin that we have no knowledge of our own origin, not even of God Himself, our Creator, unless the Word of God reveals these sparks of divine light to us from afar . . . This knowledge the Holy Scriptures reveal to us. Those who are without them live in error, uncertainty, and boundless ungodliness; for they have no knowledge about who they are and whence they came." (Luther, cited in Boice)

© 2006 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Commentary -- Other

Bible Query: Gen 10:8-12

Q: In Gen 10:8-12, were the deeds of Nimrod an amalgamation of the feats of Lugal-Zaggasi, Sargon of Agade, Hammurabi, and Shalmaneser I, as Asimov’s Guide to the Bible says (p.52)?

A: No. While we do not know much about these ancient Sumerian kings except for the tens of thousands of Sumerian tablets that have been preserved, the similarities between those conquerors and Nimrod are remote. The Bible simply mentions that Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord, that Nimrod’s career began in four cities in Shinar (Sumer), and later he went into Assyrian built four closely spaced cities there, which later became very influential. The Bible does not say anything else about Nimrod, so it is hard to make a comparison. Nimrod could not have been Hammurabi, because Hammurabi (1803/1793-1760/1750 B.C.) lived long after Abraham. Nimrod might in fact be a Biblical reference to Sargon, except that we know too little about both Sargon and Nimrod to say.

Bible Query: Gen 10:9

Q: In Gen 10:9, was Nimrod a good hunter "before the Lord", or an ungodly predator "in defiance of the Lord"?

A: Probably the best translation of the Hebrew word here paniym is "before". Like the English word "before", paniym is used in many contexts. For example, a leader could be before the congregation in Joshua 20:6,9, Israel was defeated before the Philistines in 1 Samuel 4:2, and Israel fled before the Philistines 1 Samuel 4:17.   In this case, paniym probably means an ungodly description, as in "fighting before" This name is related to the Hebrew word marad for meaning "to rebel" (The Bible Knowledge Commentary : Old Testament p.42) or "we shall rebel" according to the New Geneva Study Bible p.25. After the tower of Babel, Nimrod built the city of Babylon in defiance of the Lord.   Nimrod being a "mighty hunter before the Lord" is a negative ungodly connotation for Nimrod according to The Believer’s Bible Commentary p.45-46, Unger’s Bible Dictionary p.794,

Bible Query: Gen 10:9

Q: In Gen 10:9, exactly what ethnic group was Nimrod/Nimrud?

A: There are three possibilities.   Assyria is called the land of Nimrud in Micah 5:6, the city of Calah is also called Nimrud, and the Babylonian city of Borsippa is also called Birs Nimrud.   Descendent of Kassites of Kish, who lived in Mesopotamia and ruled Babylon c.3200 B.C., and Genesis 10:8 said that Cush was the father of Nimrod. Nin-Maradda is a non-Semitic name of a town southwest of Kish, according to Unger’s Bible Dictionary p.794. This view is also compatible with the first view.   Ubaidians were very early (c.3800-3500 B.C.) non-Semite inhabitants of Sumeria and Mesopotamia before the Sumerians who came from the south. Genesis 10:8-10 indicates Nimrod was first in Babylonia, and then went north to Assyria. We know very little about the Ubaidians, but with a connection to Ham they might have been related to the darker-skinned Harappan people of India. See the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.1207-1208 for more on this view.

Bible Query: Gen 10:11

Q: In Gen 10:11 (KJV), should it say, "Out of that land went forth [the person] Asshur"?

A: It should say, "Out of that land he [Nimrod] went to [the place] Asshur". This is essentially how it is translated in the NIV, NKJV, and NASB.

Bible Query: Gen 10:13

Q: In Gen 10:6,13, 1 Chr 1:8,11 why is Egypt not mentioned among these nations? (A Christian puzzled over this)

A: It is mentioned. The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mizraim.

Bible Query: Gen 10:20

Q: In Gen 10:5,20,31, since there were different tongues, why did all the earth have one speech in Gen 11:1?   A: Genesis 10 is an overview, and Genesis 11 speaks of one event within Genesis 10. Genesis 10:5 says, "from these...", 10:18 "Later...". These imply that Genesis 10 says how the descendants later spread. Genesis 11:1 talks of the event of the tower of Babel, that occurred prior to the spreading out of people. See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.87-88 and When Critics Ask p.44-45 for more info.   A clay tablet fragment in Babylon tells of one temple that the offended the gods. They destroyed it in one night and scattered the people with strange speech. See Can Archaeology Prove the Old Testament? p.25-26 for more info.

Bible Query: Gen 10:22

Q: In Gen 10:22, how do you pronounce "Arphaxad"?

A: Cruden’s Concordance and the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary say it is pronounced as "ar-faks’-ad" with the accent on the second syllable and no long vowels. While we do not know for sure if this was a tribe or just a collection of descendants, Ptolemy in his history (chapter 6:1-2) mentioned a region called Arrapachitis which was between Lake Van and Lake Urmiah in Armenia. See the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.155 for more info.

Bible Query: Gen 10:22

Q: In Gen 10:22 and Gen 22:21, was Aram supposedly born twice, as the skeptical Asimov’s Guide to the Bible p.88 says?

A: No, but there are two possible answers:   Multiple individuals: There were not just two, but three individuals in the Bible named Aram.

1. Genesis 10:22 says Aram Syria was a descendent of Shem. (The Hebrew is the same for son and descendent, just as the Hebrew is the same for father and ancestor.)

2. Genesis 22:21 mentions Aram, who was descended from Kemuel (nephew of Abraham), who was from Nahor, who was from Terah, who was descended from Shem.

3. Much later in 1 Chronicles 7:34 there was an Aram son of Shamer of the tribe of Asher.   The Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.122 and The New International Dictionary of the Bible p.74 also mention three people.

One individual: Note that the two Arams in Genesis 10:22 and 22:21 are both descendents of Shem. So they could in fact be one individual, with the Table of Nations mentioning Shem as an ancestor of Aram.

Bible Query: Gen 10:31

Q: In Gen 10:5,20,31, since there were different tongues, why did all the earth have one speech in Gen 11:1?   A: Genesis 10 is an overview, and Genesis 11 speaks of one event within Genesis 10. Genesis 10:5 says, "from these...", 10:18 "Later...". These imply that Genesis 10 says how the descendants later spread. Genesis 11:1 talks of the event of the tower of Babel, that occurred prior to the spreading out of people. See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.87-88 and When Critics Ask p.44-45 for more info.   A clay tablet fragment in Babylon tells of one temple that the offended the gods. They destroyed it in one night and scattered the people with strange speech. See Can Archaeology Prove the Old Testament? p.25-26 for more info.

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Genesis (Book Introduction)

GENESIS, the book of the origin or production of all things, consists of two parts: the first, comprehended in the first through eleventh chapters, gives a general history; the second, contained in the subsequent chapters, gives a special history. The two parts are essentially connected; the one, which sets out with an account of the descent of the human race from a single pair, the introduction of sin into the world, and the announcement of the scheme of divine mercy for repairing the ruins of the fall, was necessary to pave the way for relating the other, namely, the call of Abraham, and the selection of his posterity for carrying out the gracious purpose of God. An evident unity of method, therefore, pervades this book, and the information contained in it was of the greatest importance to the Hebrew people, as without it they could not have understood the frequent references made in their law to the purposes and promises of God regarding themselves. The arguments that have been already adduced as establishing the Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch prove of course that Moses was the author of Genesis. The few passages on which the rationalists grounded their assertions that it was the composition of a later age have been successfully shown to warrant no such conclusion; the use of Egyptian words and the minute acquaintance with Egyptian life and manners, displayed in the history of Joseph, harmonize with the education of Moses, and whether he received his information by immediate revelation, from tradition, or from written documents, it comes to us as the authentic work of an author who wrote as he was inspired by the Holy Ghost (2Pe 1:21).

JFB: Genesis (Outline)

• THE CREATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. (Gen 1:1-2)
• THE FIRST DAY. (Gen 1:3-5)
• SECOND DAY. (Gen 1:6-8)
• THIRD DAY. (Gen 1:9-13)
• FOURTH DAY. (Gen 1:14-19)
• FIFTH DAY. The signs of animal life appeared in the waters and in the air. (Gen 1:20-23)
• SIXTH DAY. A farther advance was made by the creation of terrestrial animals, all the various species of which are included in three classes: (1) cattle, the herbivorous kind capable of labor or domestication. (Gen 1:24-31)
• THE NARRATIVE OF THE SIX DAYS' CREATION CONTINUED. The course of the narrative is improperly broken by the division of the chapter. (Gen 2:1)
• THE FIRST SABBATH. (Gen 2:2-7)
• THE GARDEN OF EDEN. ( Gen 8-17)
• THE MAKING OF WOMAN, AND INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE. (Gen 2:18-25)
• THE TEMPTATION. (Gen 3:1-5)
• THE FALL. (Gen 3:6-9)
• THE EXAMINATION. (Gen 3:10-13)
• THE SENTENCE. (Gen 3:14-24)
• BIRTH OF CAIN AND ABEL. (Gen. 4:1-26)
• GENEALOGY OF THE PATRIARCHS. (Gen. 5:1-32)
• WICKEDNESS OF THE WORLD. (Gen. 6:1-22)
• ENTRANCE INTO THE ARK. (Gen. 7:1-24)
• ASSUAGING OF THE WATERS. (Gen 8:1-14)
• DEPARTURE FROM THE ARK. (Gen 8:15-22)
• COVENANT. (Gen 9:1-7)
• RAINBOW. (Gen. 9:8-29)
• GENEALOGIES. (Gen. 10:1-32)
• CONFUSION OF TONGUES. (Gen. 11:1-32) the whole earth was of one language. The descendants of Noah, united by the strong bond of a common language, had not separated, and notwithstanding the divine command to replenish the earth, were unwilling to separate. The more pious and well-disposed would of course obey the divine will; but a numerous body, seemingly the aggressive horde mentioned (Gen 10:10), determined to please themselves by occupying the fairest region they came to.
• CALL TO ABRAM. (Gen. 12:1-20)
• RETURN FROM EGYPT. (Gen. 13:1-18)
• WAR. (Gen. 14:1-24)
• DIVINE ENCOURAGEMENT. (Gen. 15:1-21)
• BESTOWMENT OF HAGAR. (Gen. 16:1-16)
• RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. (Gen. 17:1-27)
• ENTERTAINMENT OF ANGELS. (Gen 18:1-8)
• REPROOF OF SARAH. An inquiry about his wife, so surprising in strangers, the subject of conversation, and the fulfilment of the fondly cherished promise within a specified time, showed Abraham that he had been entertaining more than ordinary travellers (Heb 13:2). (Gen 18:9-15)
• DISCLOSURE OF SODOM'S DOOM. (Gen 18:16-22)
• ABRAHAM'S INTERCESSION. (Gen 18:23-33)
• LOT'S ENTERTAINMENT. (Gen. 19:1-38)
• ABRAHAM'S DENIAL OF HIS WIFE. (Gen. 20:1-18)
• BIRTH OF ISAAC. (Gen 21:1-13)
• EXPULSION OF ISHMAEL. (Gen 21:14-21)
• COVENANT. (Gen 21:22-34)
• OFFERING ISAAC. (Gen. 22:1-19)
• AGE AND DEATH OF SARAH. (Gen 23:1-2)
• PURCHASE OF A BURYING-PLACE. (Gen. 23:3-20)
• A MARRIAGE COMMISSION. (Gen 24:1-9)
• THE JOURNEY. (Gen. 24:10-67)
• SONS OF ABRAHAM. (Gen 25:1-6)
• DEATH OF ABRAHAM. (Gen 25:7-11)
• DESCENDANTS OF ISHMAEL. Before passing to the line of the promised seed, the historian gives a brief notice of Ishmael, to show that the promises respecting that son of Abraham were fulfilled--first, in the greatness of his posterity (compare Gen 17:20); and, secondly, in their independence. (Gen 25:12-18)
• HISTORY OF ISAAC. (Gen 25:19-34)
• SOJOURN IN GERAR. (Gen. 26:1-35)
• INFIRMITY OF ISAAC. (Gen. 27:1-27)
• THE BLESSING. (Gen. 27:28-46)
• JACOB'S DEPARTURE. (Gen. 28:1-19)
• JACOB'S VOW. (Gen 28:20-22)
• THE WELL OF HARAN. (Gen. 29:1-35)
• DOMESTIC JEALOUSIES. (Gen. 30:1-24)
• JACOB'S COVENANT WITH LABAN. (Gen. 30:25-43)
• ENVY OF LABAN AND SONS. (Gen. 31:1-21)
• LABAN PURSUES JACOB--THEIR COVENANT AT GILEAD. (Gen. 31:22-55)
• VISION OF ANGELS. (Gen 32:1-2)
• MISSION TO ESAU. (Gen 32:3-32)
• KINDNESS OF JACOB AND ESAU. (Gen 33:1-11)
• THE PARTING. (Gen 33:12-20)
• THE DISHONOR OF DINAH. (Gen. 34:1-31) Though freed from foreign troubles, Jacob met with a great domestic calamity in the fall of his only daughter. According to JOSEPHUS, she had been attending a festival; but it is highly probable that she had been often and freely mixing in the society of the place and that she, being a simple, inexperienced, and vain young woman, had been flattered by the attentions of the ruler's son. There must have been time and opportunities of acquaintance to produce the strong attachment that Shechem had for her.
• REMOVAL TO BETHEL. (Gen 35:1-15)
• BIRTH OF BENJAMIN--DEATH OF RACHEL, &c. (Gen 35:16-27)
• DEATH OF ISAAC. (Gen 35:28-29)
• POSTERITY OF ESAU. (Gen. 36:1-43)
• PARENTAL PARTIALITY. (Gen 37:1-4)
• THE DREAMS OF JOSEPH. (Gen. 37:5-36)
• JUDAH AND FAMILY. (Gen. 38:1-30)
• JOSEPH IN POTIPHAR'S HOUSE. (Gen. 39:1-23)
• TWO STATE PRISONERS. (Gen 40:1-8)
• THE BUTLER'S DREAM. (Gen 40:9-15)
• THE BAKER'S DREAM. (Gen 40:16-23)
• PHARAOH'S DREAM. (Gen. 41:1-24)
• JOSEPH INTERPRETS PHARAOH'S DREAMS. (Gen 41:25-36)
• JOSEPH MADE RULER OF EGYPT. (Gen. 41:37-57)
• JOURNEY INTO EGYPT. (Gen. 42:1-38)
• PREPARATIONS FOR A SECOND JOURNEY TO EGYPT. (Gen 43:1-14)
• ARRIVAL IN EGYPT. (Gen. 43:15-30)
• THE DINNER. (Gen 43:31-34)
• POLICY TO STAY HIS BRETHREN. (Gen. 44:1-34)
• JOSEPH MAKING HIMSELF KNOWN. (Gen. 45:1-28)
• SACRIFICE AT BEER-SHEBA. (Gen 46:1-4)
• IMMIGRATION TO EGYPT. (Gen. 46:5-27)
• ARRIVAL IN EGYPT. (Gen 46:28-34)
• JOSEPH'S PRESENTATION AT COURT. (Gen. 47:1-31)
• JOSEPH'S VISIT TO HIS SICK FATHER. (Gen. 48:1-22)
• PATRIARCHAL BLESSING. (Gen. 49:1-33)
• MOURNING FOR JACOB. (Gen. 50:1-26)

TSK: Genesis (Book Introduction)

The Book of Genesis is the most ancient record in the world; including the History of two grand and stupendous subjects, Creation and Providence; of each of which it presents a summary, but astonishingly minute and detailed accounts. From this Book, almost all the ancient philosophers, astronomers, chronologists, and historians have taken their respective data; and all the modern improvements and accurate discoveries in different arts and sciences, have only served to confirm the facts detailed by Moses, and to shew, that all the ancient writers on these subjects have approached, or receded from, truth and the phenomena of Nature, in exactly the same proportion as they have followed or receded from, the Mosaic history. The great fact of the deluge is fully confirmed by the fossilised remains in every quarter of the globe. Add to this, that general traditions of the deluge have been traced among the Egyptians, Chinese, Japanese, Hindoos, Burmans, ancient Goths and Druids, Mexicans, Peruvians, Brazilians, North American Indians, Greenlanders, Otaheiteans, Sandwich Islanders, and almost every nation under heaven; while the allegorical turgidity of these distorted traditions sufficiently distinguishes them from the unadorned simplicity of the Mosaic narrative. In fine, without this history the world would be in comparative darkness, not knowing whence it came, nor whither it goeth. In the first page, a child may learn more in an hour, than all the philosophers in the world learned without it in a thousand years. (The original publisher remembers these words addressed to him and other boys in the year 1780, by his excellent tutor, the later Rev. John Ryland, of Northampton.)

TSK: Genesis 10 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Gen 10:1, The generations of Noah; Gen 10:2, Japheth; Gen 10:6, Ham; Gen 10:8, Nimrod the first monarch, and the descendants of Canaan; Gen 10:21, The sons of Shem.

Poole: Genesis 10 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 10

Noah’ s posterity, Gen 10:1 . Sons of Japheth, Gen 10:2-5 . Of Ham, Gen 10:2-14 ; among whom Nimrod the first monarch and tyrant; he reigns in Babel, &c., Gen 10:10 . Asshur builds Nineveh, &c., Gen 10:11 . Sons of Canaan, Gen 10:15 . Their border, Gen 10:19 . Of Shem, Gen 10:21-31 .

This chapter, though it may seem to some unprofitable, as consisting almost wholly of genealogies, yet hath indeed great and manifold uses.

1. To show the true original of the several nations; about which all other authors write idly, fabulously, and falsely; and thereby to manifest the providence of God in the government of the world and church, and the truth and authority of the Holy Scriptures.

2. To discover and distinguish from all other nations that people or nation in which God’ s church was to be, and from which Christ was to come.

3. That Noah’ s prophecy concerning his three sons might be better understood, and the accomplishment of it made evident.

4. To explain divers prophetical predictions and other passages of Scripture, as will appear in the sequel. For the better understanding of this chapter, compare with it 1Ch 1:4-24 . And consider these three things.

1. In the search of these genealogies we must avoid both carelessness, for the reasons now mentioned, and excessive curiosity about every particular person here named, and the people sprung from him; which is neither necessary nor profitable, nor indeed possible now to find out, by reason of the great changes of names, through length of time, loss of ancient records, differences of languages, extinction of families, conquest and destruction of nations, and other causes. It may suffice that divers of them, and those the most eminent, are evident and discernible at this day, as will appear in the progress, by which we may and ought to presume the truth of the rest, whose names are lost in the public confusions of the world in former ages, of whom I shall therefore be silent, and only speak of the principal persons, and that briefly.

2. The same people which were originally seated in one place did ofttimes shift their places, or at least sent forth colonies; and that sometimes into places far distant from their brethren, as appears from the ancient and famous expeditions mentioned in sacred and profane story. So you must not wonder if you meet with the same people in divers countries.

3. In general, the world was divided into three parts, whereof the more eastern parts were allotted to Shem and his issue, the more southern parts to Ham, and the more northern parts of it to Japheth.

MHCC: Genesis (Book Introduction)

Genesis is a name taken from the Greek, and signifies " the book of generation or production;" it is properly so called, as containing an account of the origin of all things. There is no other history so old. There is nothing in the most ancient book which exists that contradicts it; while many things recorded by the oldest heathen writers, or to be traced in the customs of different nations, confirm what is related in the book of Genesis.

MHCC: Genesis 10 (Chapter Introduction)

(Gen 10:1-7) The sons of Noah, of Japheth, of Ham.

(Gen 10:8-14) Nimrod the first monarch.

(v. 15-32) The descendants of Canaan, The sons of Shem.

Matthew Henry: Genesis (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis

We have now before us the holy Bible, or book, for so bible signifies. We call it the book, by way of eminency; for it is incomparably the best book that ever was written, the book of books, shining like the sun in the firmament of learning, other valuable and useful books, like the moon and stars, borrowing their light from it. We call it the holy book, because it was written by holy men, and indited by the Holy Ghost; it is perfectly pure from all falsehood and corrupt intention; and the manifest tendency of it is to promote holiness among men. The great things of God's law and gospel are here written to us, that they might be reduced to a greater certainty, might spread further, remain longer, and be transmitted to distant places and ages more pure and entire than possibly they could be by report and tradition: and we shall have a great deal to answer for if these things which belong to our peace, being thus committed to us in black and white, be neglected by us as a strange and foreign thing, Hos 8:12. The scriptures, or writings of the several inspired penmen, from Moses down to St. John, in which divine light, like that of the morning, shone gradually (the sacred canon being now completed), are all put together in this blessed Bible, which, thanks be to God, we have in our hands, and they make as perfect a day as we are to expect on this side of heaven. Every part was good, but all together very good. This is the light that shines in a dark place (2Pe 1:19), and a dark place indeed the world would be without the Bible.

We have before us that part of the Bible which we call the Old Testament, containing the acts and monuments of the church from the creation almost to the coming of Christ in the flesh, which was about four thousand years - the truths then revealed, the laws then enacted, the devotions then paid, the prophecies then given, and the events which concerned that distinguished body, so far as God saw fit to preserve to us the knowledge of them. This is called a testament, or covenant ( diatheke ), because it was a settled declaration of the will of God concerning man in a federal way, and had its force from the designed death of the great testator, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev 8:8. It is called the Old Testament, with relation to the New, which does not cancel and supersede it, but crown and perfect it, by the bringing in of that better hope which was typified and foretold in it; the Old Testament still remains glorious, though the New far exceeds in glory, 2Co 3:9.

We have before us that part of the Old Testament which we call the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, that servant of the Lord who excelled all the other prophets, and typified the great prophet. In our Saviour's distribution of the books of the Old Testament into the law, the prophets, and the psalms, or Hagiographa , these are the law; for they contain not only the laws given to Israel, in the last four, but the laws given to Adam, to Noah, and to Abraham, in the first. These five books were, for aught we know, the first that ever were written; for we have not the least mention of any writing in all the book of Genesis, nor till God bade Moses write (Exo 17:14); and some think Moses himself never learned to write till God set him his copy in the writing of the ten Commandments upon the tables of stone. However, we are sure these books are the most ancient writings now extant, and therefore best able to give us a satisfactory account of the most ancient things.

We have before us the first and longest of those five books, which we call Genesis, written, some think, when Moses was in Midian, for the instruction and comfort of his suffering brethren in Egypt: I rather think he wrote it in the wilderness, after he had been in the mount with God, where, probably, he received full and particular instructions for the writing of it. And, as he framed the tabernacle, so he did the more excellent and durable fabric of this book, exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount, into which it is better to resolve the certainty of the things herein contained than into any tradition which possibly might be handed down from Adam to Methuselah, from him to Shem, from him to Abraham, and so to the family of Jacob. Genesis is a name borrowed from the Greek. It signifies the original, or generation: fitly is this book so called, for it is a history of originals - the creation of the world, the entrance of sin and death into it, the invention of arts, the rise of nations, and especially the planting of the church, and the state of it in its early days. It is also a history of generations - the generations of Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc., not endless, but useful genealogies. The beginning of the New Testament is called Genesis too (Mat 1:1), Biblos geneseos the book of the genesis, or generation, of Jesus Christ. Blessed be God for that Book which shows us our remedy, as this opens our wound. Lord, open our eyes, that we may see the wondrous things both of thy law and gospel!

Matthew Henry: Genesis 10 (Chapter Introduction)

This chapter shows more particularly what was said in general (Gen 9:19), concerning the three sons of Noah, that " of them was the whole earth overspread;" and the fruit of that blessing (Gen 9:1, Gen 9:7), " replenish the earth." Is is the only certain account extant of the origin of nations; and yet perhaps there is no nation but that of the Jews that can be confident from which of these seventy fountains (for so many there are here) it derives its streams. Through the want of early records, the mixtures of people, the revolutions of nations, and distance of time, the knowledge of the lineal descent of the present inhabitants of the earth is lost; nor were any genealogies preserved but those of the Jews, for the sake of the Messiah, only in this chapter we have a brief account, I. Of the posterity of Japheth (Gen 10:2-5). II. The posterity of Ham (Gen 10:6-20), and in this particular notice is taken of Nimrod (Gen 10:8-10). III. The posterity of Shem (Gen 10:21, etc.).

Constable: Genesis (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

Each book of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament, called the Torah [instruction] by the Jews) originally received its title in the Hebrew Bible from the first word or words in the book.¹ The Hebrew word translated "in the beginning" is beresit. The English title "Genesis," however, has come to us from the Latin Vulgate translation of Jerome (Liber Genesis). The Latin title came from the Septuagint translation (the Greek translation of the Old Testament made about 300 years before Christ). "Genesis" is a transliteration of the Greek word geneseos, the Greek word that translates the Hebrew toledot. This Hebrew word is the key word in identifying the structure of Genesis, and the translators have usually rendered it "account" or "generations" (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; 37:2).

Date

The events recorded date back to the creation of the world.

Many Christians believe the earth is millions of years old. They base this belief on the statements of scientists and understand Scripture in the light of these statements. Likewise, many Christians believe that the human race began hundreds of thousands of years ago for the same reason.

Most evangelicals who take the Scriptures seriously believe that the earth is not much older than 10, 000 years. They base this on the genealogies in Scripture (Gen. 5; 10; 11; et al.), which they understand to be "open" (i.e., not complete). Evangelicals usually hold to a more recent date for man's creation, also for the same reason.

A smaller group of evangelicals believes that the genealogies are either "closed" (i.e., complete) or very close to complete. This leads us to date the creation of the world and man about 6, 000 years ago.²

Liberal interpreters have placed the date of composition of Genesis much later than Moses' lifetime.

If one accepts Mosaic authorship, as most conservative evangelicals do, the date of composition of Genesis must be within Moses' lifetime (ca. 1525-1405 B.C.). This book was perhaps originally intended to encourage the Israelites to trust in their faithful, omnipotent God as they anticipated entrance into the Promised Land from Kadesh Barnea or from the Plains of Moab.³ Moses may have written it earlier to prepare them for the Exodus,⁴ but this seems less likely.

Writer

The authorship of the Pentateuch has been the subject of great controversy among professing Christians since Spinoza introduced "higher criticism" of the Bible in the seventeenth century. The "documentary hypothesis," which developed from his work, is that Moses did not write the Pentateuch, as most scholars in Judaism and the church until that day believed. Instead, it was the product of several writers who lived much later than Moses. A redactor (editor) or redactors combined these several documents into the form we have now. These documents (J, E, D, P, and others) represent a Yahwistic tradition, an Elohistic tradition, a Deuteronomic tradition, a Priestly tradition, etc.⁵

The evidence that Moses wrote the Pentateuch is conclusive if one believes that Jesus Christ spoke the truth when He attributed authorship to Moses (Matt. 19:8; Mark 7:10; Luke 18:29-31; 20:37; 24:27; John 7:19). Jesus Christ did not specifically say that Moses wrote Genesis, but in our Lord's day the Jews regarded the Pentateuch (Torah) as a whole unit. They recognized Moses as the author of all five books. Consequently they would have understood what Jesus said about any of the five books of Moses as an endorsement of the Mosaic authorship of them all.⁶

Scope

The events recorded in Genesis stretch historically from Creation to Joseph's death, a period of at least 2500 years. The first part of the book (ch. 1-11) is not as easy to date precisely as the second part (ch. 12-50). The history of the patriarchs recorded in this second main division of the text covers a period of about 300 years.

The scope of the book progressively and consistently narrows. The selection of content included in Genesis points to the purpose of the divine author: to reveal the history of and basic principles involved in God's relationship with people.⁷

Purpose

Genesis provides the historical basis for the rest of the Bible and the Pentateuch, particularly the Abrahamic Covenant. Chapters 1-11 give historical background essential to understanding that covenant, and chapters 12-50 record the covenant and its initial outworking. The Abrahamic Covenant continues to be the basic arrangement by which God operates in dealing with humanity throughout the Pentateuch and the rest of the Bible.

"The real theme of the Pentateuch is the selection of Israel from the nations and its consecration to the service of God and His Laws in a divinely appointed land. The central event in the development of this theme is the divine covenant with Abraham and its . . . promise to make his offspring into the people of God and to give them the land of Canaan as an everlasting inheritance."⁸

Genesis provides an indispensable prologue to the drama that unfolds in Exodus and the rest of the Pentateuch. The first 11 chapters constitute a prologue to the prologue.

"Two opposite progressions appear in this prologue [chs. 1-11]: (a) God's orderly Creation with its climax in His blessing of man, and (b) the totally disintegrating work of sin with its two greatest curses being the Flood and the dispersion at Babel.⁹ The first progression demonstrates God's plan to bring about perfect order from the beginning in spite of what the reader may know of man's experience. The second progression demonstrates the great need of God's intervention to provide the solution for the corrupt human race."¹⁰

Theology

"The subject matter of the theology in Genesis is certainly God's work in establishing Israel as the means of blessing the families of the earth. This book forms the introduction to the Pentateuch's main theme of the founding of the theocracy, that is, the rule of God over all Creation. It presents the origins behind the founding of the theocracy: the promised blessing that Abraham's descendants would be in the land.

"Exodus presents the redemption of the seed out of bondage and the granting of a covenant to them. Leviticus is the manual of ordinances enabling the holy God to dwell among His people by making them holy. Numbers records the military arrangement and census of the tribes in the wilderness, and shows how God preserves His promised blessings from internal and external threats. Deuteronomy presents the renewal of the covenant.

"In the unfolding of this grand program of God, Genesis introduces the reader to the nature of God as the sovereign Lord over the universe who will move heaven and earth to establish His will. He seeks to bless mankind, but does not tolerate disobedience and unbelief. Throughout this revelation the reader learns that without faith it is impossible to please God' (Heb. 11:6)."¹¹

Message¹²

The message of the Bible might be the best place to begin our study of the Old Testament. What is the Bible all about? We could state it as follows: God desires to glorify Himself by blessing humankind.

The message of the Pentateuch (Torah) is that people can experience God's blessing by trusting Him (believing His word) and by obeying Him (following His initiative).

Genesis is in the Bible primarily to teach us this lesson. People can enjoy a personal relationship with God and thereby realize their own fulfillment as human beings only through trust in God and obedience to God. This is the message statement. Genesis reveals that God is faithful to His promises and powerful enough to bring them to fulfillment.

Genesis reveals that God originally intended people to have an immediate relationship with their Creator. Evidences for this are as follows.

1. God made man as a special creation (2:7).

2. He made man with special care (2:7).

3. He made man in His own image (1:26-27).

4. He regarded man as His son (1:28-30).

5. He consistently demonstrated concern for man's welfare (3:9).

God's immediate relationship with Adam was broken by the Fall (ch. 3). In the Fall man did two things.

1. He failed to trust God's goodness with his mind.

2. He rebelled against God's government with his will (3:6).

God then took the initiative to re-establish the relationship with man that He had created man to enjoy. He provided a covering for man's sin until He would finally remove it. This temporary covering came through the sacrificial system.

Throughout Genesis we see that people in general consistently failed to trust and obey God (e.g., in Noah's day, at Babel, in the patriarchal period).

Genesis also records what God has done to encourage people to trust and obey Him. It is only by living by these two principles that people can enjoy a relationship with God and realize all that God created them to experience.

On the one hand, Genesis reveals much about the person and work of God. This revelation helps us trust and obey Him. It is through His personal revelations to the main characters in Genesis that God revealed Himself initially (e.g., Adam and Eve, Noah, the patriarchs).

On the other hand, Genesis reveals much about the nature of man. Not only did God reveal the perversity of man, but He also identified positive examples of faith and obedience in the lives of the godly.

In Genesis we learn that faith in God is absolutely essential if we are to have fellowship with Him and realize our potential as human beings.

Faith is the law of life. If one lives by faith he flourishes, but if he does not, he fails. The four patriarchs are primarily examples of what faith is and how it manifests itself. In each of their lives we learn something new about faith.

Abraham's faith demonstrates unquestioning obedience. When God told him to do something, he did it. This is the most basic characteristic of faith. That is one reason why Abraham is "the father of the faithful." God revealed Himself nine times to Abraham and each time Abraham's response was unquestioning obedience.

Isaac's faith helps us see the quality of passive acceptance that characterizes true faith in God. This was his response to God's two revelations to him.

Jacob's story is one of conflict with God until he came to realize his own limitations. Then he trusted God. We can see his faith in his acknowledged dependence on God. God's seven revelations to him eventually led him to this position.

Joseph's life teaches us what God can do with a person who trusts Him consistently in the face of adversity. The outstanding characteristic of Joseph's life was his faithful loyalty to God. He believed God's two revelations to him in dreams even though God's will did not seem to be working out as he thought it would. Patient faith and its reward shine through the story of Joseph.

Faith, the key concept in Genesis, means trusting that what God has prescribed is indeed best for me and waiting for God to provide what He has promised. A person of faith is one who commits to acting on this basis even though he or she may not see how it is best.

The Pentateuch is all about God, man, and our relationship. In our study of it, we will be building a model to show how each new book builds on what has preceded. The key concept in Genesis is faith.

Constable: Genesis (Outline)

Outline

The structure of Genesis is very clear. The phrase "the generations of" (toledot in Hebrew, from yalad meaning "to bear, to generate") occurs ten times (really eleven times since 36:9 repeats 36:1), and in each case it introduces a new section of the book.¹³ The first part of Genesis is introductory and sets the scene for what follows. An outline of Genesis based on this structure is as follows.

1. Introduction 1:1-2:3

2. The generations of heaven and earth 2:4-4:26

3. The generations of Adam 5:1-6:8

4. The generations of Noah 6:9-9:29

5. The generations of the sons of Noah 10:1-11:9

6. The generations of Shem 11:10-26

7. The generations of Terah 11:27-25:11

8. The generations of Ishmael 25:12-18

9. The generations of Isaac 25:19-35:29

10. The generations of Esau 36:1-43

11. The generations of Jacob 37:1-50:26

A full expository outline designed to highlight the relative emphases of the book follows. We shall follow this outline in these notes as we seek to unpack the message of the book.

I. Primeval events 1:1-11:26

A. The story of creation 1:1-2:3

1. An initial statement of creation 1:1

2. Conditions at the time of creation 1:2

3. The six days of creation 1:3-31

4. The seventh day 2:1-3

B. What became of the creation 2:4-4:26

1. The garden of Eden 2:4-3:24

2. The murder of Abel 4:1-16

3. The spread of civilization and sin 4:17-26

C. What became of Adam 5:1-6:8

1. The effects of the curse on humanity ch. 5

2. God's sorrow over man's wickedness 6:1-8

D. What became of Noah 6:9-9:29

1. The Flood 6:9-8:22

2. The Noahic Covenant 9:1-17

3. The curse on Canaan 9:18-29

E. What became of Noah's sons 10:1-11:9

1. The table of nations ch. 10

2. The dispersion at Babel 11:1-9

F. What became of Shem 11:10-26

II. Patriarchal narratives 11:27-50:26

A. What became of Terah 11:27-25:11

1. Terah and Abraham's obedience 11:27-12:9

2. Abram in Egypt 12:10-20

3. Abram's separation from Lot ch. 13

4. Abram's military victory ch. 14

5. The Abrahamic covenant ch. 15

6. The birth of Ishmael ch. 16

7. The sign of circumcision ch. 17

8. Yahweh's visit to Abraham 18:1-15

9. Abraham's intercession for Lot 18:16-33

10. The destruction of Sodom ch. 19

11. Abraham's sojourn at Gerar ch. 20

12. The birth of Isaac 21:1-21

13. Abimelech's treaty with Abraham 21:22-34

14. The sacrifice of Isaac 22:1-19

15. The descendants of Nahor 22:20-24

16. The purchase of Sarah's tomb ch. 23

17. The choice of a bride for Isaac ch. 24

18. Abraham's death 25:1-11

B. What became of Ishmael 25:12-18

C. What became of Isaac 25:19-35:29

1. Isaac's twin sons 25:19-26

2. The sale of the birthright 25:27-34

3. Isaac and Abimelech 26:1-11

4. Isaac's wells 26:12-33

5. Jacob's deception for Isaac's blessing 26:34-28:9

6. Jacob's vision at Bethel 28:10-22

7. Jacob's marriages and Laban's deception 29:1-30

8. Jacob's mishandling of God's blessings 29:31-30:24

9. Jacob's new contract with Laban 30:25-43

10. Jacob's flight from Haran ch. 31

11. Jacob's attempt to appease Esau 32:1-21

12. Jacob at the Jabbok 32:22-32

13. Jacob's meeting with Esau and his return to Canaan ch. 33

14. The rape of Dinah and the revenge of Simeon and Levi ch. 34

15. Jacob's return to Bethel ch. 35

D. What became of Esau 36:1-37:1

E. What became of Jacob 37:2-50:26

1. God's choice of Joseph 37:2-11

2. The sale of Joseph into Egypt 37:12-36

3. Judah and Tamar ch. 38

4. Joseph in Potiphar's house ch. 39

5. The prisoners' dreams and Joseph's interpretations ch. 40

6. Pharaoh's dreams and Joseph's interpretation ch. 41

7. Joseph's brothers' first journey into Egypt ch. 42

8. Joseph's brothers' second journey into Egypt ch. 43

9. Joseph's last test and its results ch. 44

10. Joseph's reconciliation with his brothers 45:1-15

11. Israel's move to Egypt 45:16-46:30

12. Joseph's wise leadership 46:31-47:27

13. Jacob's worship in Egypt 47:28-48:22

14. Jacob's blessing of his sons 49:1-28

15. Deaths and a promise yet to be fulfilled 49:29-50:26¹⁴

Constable: Genesis

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Genesis (Book Introduction)

THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

INTRODUCTION.

The Hebrews now entitle all the Five Books of Moses, from the initial words, which originally were written like one continued word or verse; but the Septuagint have preferred to give the titles the most memorable occurrences of each work. On this occasion, the Creation of all things out of nothing, strikes us with peculiar force. We find a refutation of all the heathenish mythology, and of the world's eternity, which Aristotle endeavoured to establish. We behold the short reign of innocence, and the origin of sin and misery, the dispersion of nations, and the providence of God watching over his chosen people, till the death of Joseph, about the year of the world 2369 (Usher) 2399 (Salien and Tirinus), the year before Christ 1631. We shall witness the same care in the other Books of Scripture, and adore his wisdom and goodness in preserving to himself faithful witnesses, and a true Holy Catholic Church, in all ages, even when the greatest corruption seemed to overspread the land. (Haydock)

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This Book is so called from its treating of the Generation, that is, of the Creation and the beginning of the world. The Hebrews call it Bereshith, from the word with which it begins. It contains not only the History of the Creation of the World, but also an account of its progress during the space of 2369 years, that is, until the death of Joseph.

Gill: Genesis (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS

This book, in the Hebrew copies of the Bible, and by the Jewish writers, is generally called Bereshith, which signifies "in the beginning", being the first word of it; as the other four books of Moses are also called from their initial words. In the Syriac and Arabic versions, the title of this book is "The Book of the Creation", because it begins with an account of the creation of all things; and is such an account, and so good an one, as is not to be met with anywhere else: the Greek version calls it Genesis, and so we and other versions from thence; and that because it treats of the generation of all things, of the heavens, and the earth, and all that are in them, and of the genealogy of men: it treats of the first men, of the patriarchs before the flood, and after it to the times of Joseph. It is called the "first" book of Moses, because there are four more that follow; the name the Jewish Rabbins give to the whole is חמשה חומשי תורה, "the five fifths of the law", to which the Greek word "pentateuch" answers; by which we commonly call these books, they being but one volume, consisting of five parts, of which this is the first. And that they were all written by Moses is generally believed by Jews and Christians. Some atheistical persons have suggested the contrary; our countryman Hobbes ^a would have it, that these books are called his, not from his being the author of them, but from his being the subject of them; not because they were written by him, but because they treat of him: but certain it is that Moses both wrote them, and was read, as he was in the Jewish synagogues, every sabbath day, which can relate to no other writings but these, Joh 1:45. And Spinosa, catching at some doubts raised by Aben Ezra on Deu 1:1 concerning some passages which seemed to him to have been added by another hand, forms objections against Moses being the author of the book of Genesis; which are sufficiently answered by Carpzovius ^b. Nor can Ezra be the author of the Pentateuch, as Spinosa suspects; since it is plain these writings were in being before his time, in the times of Josiah, Amaziah, yea, of David, and also of Joshua, 2Ch 34:14 nay, they are even referred to in the book of Ezra as the writings of Moses, Ezr 3:2 to which may be added, in proof of the same, Deu 31:9. Nor are there any other writings of his authentic; what are ascribed to him, as the Analepsis of Moses, his Apocalypse, and his Last Will and Testament, are apocryphal. That this book of Genesis particularly was written by him, is evident from the testimony of Philip, and even of our Lord Jesus Christ, who both testify that he wrote concerning the Messiah, Joh 1:45 as he did in this book, where he speaks of him as the seed of the woman that should break the serpent's head; as the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed; and as the Shiloh, to whom the gathering of the people should be, Gen 3:15. Nor is there any reason to believe that he wrote this book from the annals of the patriarchs, since it does not appear, nor is it very probable, that they had any; nor from traditions delivered down from one to another, from father to son, which is more probable, considering the length of the lives of the patriarchs: but yet such a variety of particulars respecting times, places, persons, their genealogies and circumstances, so nicely and exactly given, can scarcely be thought to be the fruit of memory; and much less is it to be imagined that he was assisted in it by Gabriel, when he lived in solitude in Midian: but it is best of all to ascribe it to divine inspiration, as all Scripture is by the apostle, 2Ti 3:16 for who else but God could have informed him of the creation, and the manner and order in which every creature was brought into being, with a multitude of things recorded in this book? the design of which is to lead men into the knowledge and worship of the one true God, the Creator of all things, and of the origin of mankind, the fall of our first parents, and their posterity in them; and to point at the means and method of the recovery of man by the Messiah, the promised seed; and to give an account of the state and case of the church of God, in the times of the patriarchs, both before and after the flood, from Adam, in the line of Seth, to Noah; and from Noah to the times of Joseph, in whose death it ends: and, according to Usher ^c, it contains an history of two thousand, three hundred, and sixty nine years.

Gill: Genesis 10 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 10

This chapter gives an account of the posterity of the three sons of Noah, by whom the world was peopled after the flood, Gen 10:1 of the posterity of Japheth, Gen 10:2 of the posterity of Ham, Gen 10:6 and of the posterity of Shem, Gen 10:21.