Genesis 10:21–28

Ham, we know, is called "the little one" (Genesis 9:24) — usually translated "youngest." And the dates show that not Shem but Japheth was the eldest. Shem holds first place in the usual formula "Shem, Ham, and Japheth." That is not due to the order of birth. It is due to the spiritual purpose which gave Shem that position. When the chapter lists "the generations" in detail, however, Japheth's sons come first... Japheth had the honour of the firstborn. Ham wins recognition for rising early to political place and natural power. But the honour toward God was kept for Shem, though he is named last.

Shem comes last, the father of Hebrews, the brother of the one who has long despised him, as holding an elder brother's title. Such is the general result in the peopling of the world under God's ordering.

Verse 21 sets a notable mark on Eber. It introduces his forefather in the unusual terms "father of all the children, or sons, of Eber," though Eber came several generations later. Shem is called not Arphaxad's father, nor Salah's, but Eber's. The opposite happened to Ham, though perhaps not so sharply: he had to bear the shame of the title "father of Canaan" (Genesis 9:18). So God calls us to look two ways. On one side stands the man who inherited the curse. He became the enemy's instrument, trying to stop Israel from taking possession of the promised land in due time. On the other side we see the interest God took in pointing us forward to those who stood in the first line of the heirs of Shem's blessing. For "blessed be Jehovah the God of Shem."

Japheth, the picture of energy and independence, gains little notice for now. He passes away from the centre of view out to the border-lands. In Ham's family we have the earliest development of the world-empires, and the most open opposition to God. Shem means "name," and to him Jehovah reveals Himself. He rightly comes third: the verse marks him as the father of all the children of Eber ("passage") — the pilgrim race.

He is specified, on the one hand as the father of all the sons of Eber, and on the other as the brother of Japheth the elder (or, great one)... we may compare Genesis 14:13, "Abram the Hebrew," to understand better what seems meant. And here the Septuagint, the early Greek translation of the Old Testament, gives "the passer." This at least gives a distinctive stamp, where only tradition gives one to Eber personally.

People usually trace it to his ancestor Eber, or Heber. But Genesis 11:17-26 shows five generations between Eber and Abraham. By that derivation many others could have been called Hebrews. Genesis 10:21 says that Shem was "the father of all the children of Eber." This shows the Hebrews were Shemites. But many other tribes were Shemites too, and they could not be called Hebrews.

Here lies the real and superior dignity of Shem. Messiah is to come of his stock... "Blessed be Jehovah the God of Shem." This was not predicted of the elder, but "God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem." And so it has been. How vast in His providence the spread of that energetic race! And have they not dwelt in the tents of Shem too? Not as mere conquerors, but as sharers in that blessing pictured so well in Israel's "own olive tree."

The list now names the immediate descendants of Shem, it seems in the order of birth. Arpachshad, the ancestor of the chosen line, stands in third place — neither first nor last. Either of those places could have been used for a special reason, as happens elsewhere.

Elam and Asshur were famous among mankind. They are prominent in the Bible too, and bound up with Jewish history. Yet the list only names them, though they come before Arpachshad — as it does with Lud, who comes after him.

Son of Shem. He settled in a highland district east of Babylonia, which became the seat of a powerful monarchy. The district was also called ELAM... In the days of Abraham, Chedorlaomer king of Elam was able to make war as far away as the Dead Sea. In Scripture Elam often stands for Persia... Daniel was at Shushan, which was in the province of Elam.

In Genesis 10:11 the older Authorized Version seems to say that a son of Ham named Asshur built Nineveh. Then Genesis 10:22 and 1 Chronicles 1:17 name Asshur as the son of Shem. But the margin of verse 11 reads that "he went out into Assyria" — that is, Nimrod went out into Asshur or Assyria (the Hebrew is the same). Micah 5:6 confirms this, since it links Assyria and Nimrod together. Assyria goes back to Asshur or Assur, a son of Shem. Nimrod came later and may have subdued the country.

Here again mercy will triumph over judgment. Isaiah 19 says clearly that in the day of Messiah's power and glory Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the middle of the earth... Both did countless evils to man. Both sinned shamelessly against God. But what will mercy not do on God's part, even for the enemies of His guilty and chastened people?

Lud is the next son of Shem. Here we need extra care, since another race with a similar name lived in Africa. They were the first named of the Mizraim or Egyptian peoples... So there was a Ludim of Ham as well as of Shem. Josephus was right to say that Shem's Lud settled in Asia Minor, as the Lydians.

Aram is the last of the sons of Shem. His name usually stood for the high tableland north-east of Palestine, though it also had a wider use in combination with other terms... At its largest it took in the watershed of the Jordan and the country north, west and east. It also took in the land stretching to the Tigris, with Armenia on the north down to Arabia on the south.

As to the children of Shem (Genesis 10:22), Elam is the same as Persia... Asshur is named in the judgment which will take place in the last times (Micah 5:6; Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 30:33). He appears also in the conspiracy of Psalm 83, and in other places. Arpachshad is one of the ancestors of the Israelites... Asshur displaced Aram, or Syria, and Aram appears under the title of the king of the North. The same remarks, it seems, may be made of Lud.

Here lies the real and higher dignity of Shem. Messiah is to come from his stock. Canaan was cursed — not all of Ham, but Canaan — and the living word said, "Blessed be Jehovah the God of Shem." The word said nothing like this of the elder brother. Of him it said, "God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem." And so it has been.

Aram is the last of the sons of Shem. People generally gave his name to the high plateau north-east of Palestine, though they also used it more widely, joined with other terms. In the King James Version, following the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, "Syria" stands for that general use. In the largest sense the name took in the Jordan basin and the country north, west, and east. It also took in the land stretching to the Tigris, with Armenia on the north down to Arabia on the south. In the south-east part, the land is called Aram-Naharaim, that is, Syria of the two rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. Genesis 24:10 translates that name as "Mesopotamia".

The first of them gave his name to the sandy soil south-east of Palestine, in the north of the Arabian desert, and west of the Euphrates. Job 1 tells us who lived there, and about the raids of the Sabeans and the Chaldeans.

We do not know who Job's parents were. But he lived in the land of Uz, so he was one of Shem's descendants (Genesis 10:23). His friends belonged to Shem's branch of the great human family too. Teman, the ancestor of Eliphaz, was a grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:11). Shuah, the ancestor of Bildad, was one of Abraham's children by Keturah (Genesis 25:2). These family details show us roughly where the land of Uz lay, and Lamentations 4:21 confirms that it was not far from Edom.

Hul seems to have gone farther north. We may trace his name in Ard-el-Huleh and Bahr-el-Huleh, south of this district. These are the waters of Merom, which Josephus calls the lake Semechonitis, though he himself connects Hul with Armenia.

Mash, as Bochart supposes, seems to match the place the classical writers called Mons Masius. That is the mountain range north of Mesopotamia, between the two great rivers, the Euphrates and the Hiddekel, or Tigris. In 1 Chronicles 1:17 the name is Meshech, but not the Meshech joined with Kedar, who came from Japheth. In that same family list the writer places these four sons of Aram straight alongside the sons of Shem, Aram included. Such lists often use this short form. The difference is only on the surface.

In the Bible there is no more important chapter than Genesis 10 for the way God arranged languages, families, and nations. This chapter alone gives us the rise of the different races and where they came from. Who else could have told us how and when the earth was divided like this? This is God's own account of the nations. Here man is lost.

Last of all we come to Shem's descendants in verses 21-31. Scripture gives him a striking description: father of all the sons of Eber, brother of Japheth the elder. Eber led the way through Peleg, in due time, to the father of the faithful. Shem did not have the natural rank of the elder brother over Japheth, but the blessing was his above all, as the curse was Canaan's... The Lydians answer to Lud, and the Syrians to Aram.

Of all Shem's descendants, the most important line is the shortest in this genealogy. It matters for its distant results and even for its nearer ones, through its moral and divine connections. We must now look at it.

One of his sons, Asshur, built Nineveh (Gen. 10:11), one of the cities well known as an enemy of Israel, though its founder came from the race of Shem. But the line of blessing did not run through Asshur, but through Arphaxad... When we come to Shem, we are in a higher atmosphere, so to speak. We find that God is the Lord God of Shem. The moral side, the character of things, comes into view — and not just names or history.

Notice that the inspiring Spirit led Moses to change his style at this point. He brings in Arphaxad and his family as a fresh start... In evil, a new departure began with Cush and his descendants. So here, for good, a new departure begins where Arphaxad comes before us. Yet for now we are told little about him, unlike Nimrod, who shot into prominence at once... Good is rare here below, and it grows slowly.

Arphaxad was Shem's eldest son, born two years after the flood.

This region, south of Armenia, was the early home of Shem's descendants, as later Asshur held power there... But Shem's people, unlike the others, were always inclined to stay at home. That made the later crossing all the more remarkable in the forefather of the Hebrews, at the call of God.

We can say little about Salah, or Salach, with any certainty, because the Bible is silent. He was the father of Eber, in the direct line of the chosen patriarch Abram, the man entrusted with the promise. The name means shoot or extension. But to call the name invented for that reason ought to be too absurd even for rationalists to believe.

The root of the word is 'to pass over,' as when someone crosses a river, or moves from one region to another. Abraham was told to leave his country and his relatives and go into the land of Canaan. The word Hebrew is not used until Abraham had left his country and was in the land of Canaan (Gen. 14:13). Once there he was a 'sojourner' — a stranger in a foreign country, living in tents.

They went to the East and got a name. They were the direct descendants of Eber. God did not call them Hebrews; the other nations did. Some take the name from Arba in Hebrew, since the word means to come over, because Abraham came over the river.

Son of Arphaxad and father of Sala (Luke 3:36). He is usually called the 'second' Cainan, because of the earlier one named in Luke 3:37. His name is striking, because it does not appear in the Hebrew, Samaritan Pentateuch, Vulgate, Syriac or Arabic texts of Gen. 10:24; Gen. 11:12; 1 Chr. 1:18. It is in the Septuagint, the old Greek Old Testament, and from there it may have found its way into Luke's Gospel. Or perhaps, as some think, later copies of the Septuagint took it from Luke.

The name of Eber's second son was Joktan, which means "small." Peleg's name, "division," marked an era: the more peaceful dividing of the earth, which came after God's judgment forced the scattering of mankind.

We should keep the "dividing" of the earth in the days of Peleg (chap. 10:25) separate. The scattering came first: Hebrew uses a different word, and the translation ought to use a different word too. Earlier in the chapter the isles are "separated," while here the earth is "divided." The orderly sharing out of the earth followed the confused scattering.

Earlier we had Nimrod's grasp at power and the spread of his rule from Babel, the beginning of his kingdom. Here, in Peleg's days, we have the earth divided. We are not told of human pride and power here, nor of Jehovah scattering men abroad by confusing their language... The division of the earth after that, in the days of Peleg, seems to have happened peacefully. But it is a fact that has lasted ever since, whatever migrations have come through hard circumstances or the desire for a better life.

There is no solid reason to limit the "division" to Eber's own family, with the younger branch moving into southern Arabia and the elder staying in Mesopotamia. If this verse meant only that family split, the younger son would more naturally have carried the name, not the elder who stayed where he was. Besides, how can an event so ordinary match the large words used — "in his days the earth was divided"?

"When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." Israel was, and shall yet be, God's earthly centre. It is a fact of the deepest interest that, from the very outset, as we see in Genesis 10, the Creator and Governor of the world formed the nations and fixed their bounds according to His own sovereign will. He did it with direct reference to the seed of Abraham, and to that narrow strip of land they are to possess under the everlasting covenant made with their fathers.

The genealogy itself may tell us something, however. In Peleg we see how men were taking possession of the earth more than ever. At the same time, the days of their hold on it were shortening fast — by half, in this very Peleg's time (Gen. 10:25)... God still numbers the fleeting years of those who have forgotten Him.

Joktan, Peleg's brother, has many sons to continue his line. Peleg must wait for another occasion, when his son will appear in the renowned line that leads on to David. The name of Peleg will be a continual reminder, until the new heavens and the new earth, of the judgment upon man through sin. Even the day of grace met the sin and rose above the judgment in God's wise way. It did not do this by cancelling the judgment or wiping out the sin. It did it by giving power to the Apostles at Pentecost to speak to men in the very languages they were born into — using the marks of judgment as channels to proclaim His grace.

The name of Eber's second son was, as we have seen, Joktan, "small." It stands in contrast with Peleg, whose name, "division," marked an era — the more peaceful dividing of the earth, after God's judgment forced mankind to scatter. There is no solid reason to limit this "division" to Eber's own family, with the younger branch moving into southern Arabia and the elder staying in Mesopotamia. If only that family split were meant, the younger son would more naturally have carried the name, not the elder who stayed where he was. Besides, how can so ordinary an event match the large words used — "in his days the earth was divided"?

An old Jewish paraphrase on 1 Chronicles 1:19 suggests that Joktan got his name from the shortening of human life at that time. It is certain that lifespans then sank by half, judging by the recorded years of Peleg (Genesis 11:18-19) and of those who came after him, dropping by stages to their ordinary range.

Joktan matches the Arabic Kachtán, on plenty of evidence of different kinds. Masoudy, in his work called "The Golden Meadows," says of the Beni Sad and of the Kahtan Arabs that they are the only remnants of the original tribes of Arabia… These two tribes, the Beni Sad and Kahtan, are famous in the most distant antiquity, at a time when Arabian history is, for the most part, covered in complete darkness. We shall see that the traces of his thirteen sons are nearly all clear enough too.

Son of Joktan, of the family of Shem. Genesis 10:26; 1 Chronicles 1:20. His descendants have been traced to Southern Arabia, where the tribe of Shelif or Shulaf has been found.

Hazarmaveth clearly matches the district east of modern Yemen, which the Arabs call Hádramäwt (court of death). It too lies in the south of Arabia, on the Indian Sea. It may be unhealthy, but it is no less famous for its rich spices. One of its ports was Zafári, the Sephar we read of later in this chapter.

Jerah, or Yerach, "the moon," is the fourth. Michaelis places him in the "low land of the moon," or in the "mount of the moon," both of which were near Hádramäwt… Indeed, on nothing ancient is Arab tradition more united, as we may see in Golius, than in calling this son of Joktan "Father of Yemen" (Abu Yemen).

Enough still shows up today, even about the least noticeable of these early tribes of Arabia, not only to confirm the account Moses gives, but to show the gracious interest of God in races of mankind that are otherwise obscure and unremarkable.

In the Bible there is no more important chapter than Genesis 10 for the way God's providence arranged languages, families, and nations. Here alone we are told how the different races arose, and where they came from. Who else could have told us how and when the earth was divided in this way?

Plenty of evidence of different kinds shows that Joktan matches the Arabic name Kachtán… We shall see that the traces of his thirteen sons are almost all clear enough too. Some have doubted this, thinking it was a Jewish tradition that Muslim writers took up later. But why doubt that the Katanitai, named by the geographer Claudius Ptolemy, are the Beni Kachtán, or Kahtanys?

The fifth son appears to have settled further east, in the part of the peninsula long called 'Omán. That name is also given to the lower waters of the Persian gulf… The old classical name of the headland is Korodamon akron. Long ago the learned Bochart guessed that the name of the forefather lies hidden in it, that is, Hadoram. Forster is so sure this is sound that he says the fact "is simply this: the headland now bears the name of Hadoram, shortened in the usual Arabic way, in its modern form Ras-el-Had."

Uzal comes sixth. Long ago he gave his name to the capital city of Yemen, later called Sanà, as it still is. E. S. Poole quotes the printed edition of the Marásid. It says the city's name was Oozál. When the Abyssinians arrived and saw it was beautiful, they said Sanà, which means beautiful, and so it was called Sanà. Arabic authors have compared it with Damascus for its waters and its fruits… It seems the Jews have lived there for longer than anyone can remember, and they know it only by the name of Uzal. Older English versions have obscured an important reference in Ezekiel 27:19, where Henderson and Darby read that Vedan and Javan of Uzal traded in Tyre's markets, with wrought iron, cassia and calamus in their barter.

Of Diklah… there is little to say. The name means "palm-trees". For that reason some have looked to the city Phoinikon in the north-west of Arabia Felix. Gesenius, following Bochart, leaned the same way, and looked for his descendants among the widespread people that classical writers called Minaei… Yet Mr. Poole knows of no trace of Diklah in Arabic works, except the mention of a place called Dakalah in El-Yemameh, where many palm-trees grew. Even about the least noticeable of these early tribes of Arabia, enough still appears today. It bears witness to the account Moses gave. It also shows the gracious interest of God in the races of mankind that are otherwise obscure and unknown.

Nothing is better known than the many races and tongues and peoples of mankind, each having its own separate bond of union. Yet not one of these nations can tell how that fact began, so full of meaning for history. Here it is written with simple and calm dignity by the instrument God chose for the purpose. History has utterly failed to show how families first rose into separate nations and tongues, just as science fails in the material world.

Genesis 10 is a chapter that few would read with interest. It seems to be just a list of generations, of fathers, sons, and so on. But the way God gives us history is not at all the way men give it… Not only are the names of the nations given here found throughout the Bible, but they keep their characters right through history to the end. In Ezekiel, especially in chapters 38 and 39, we find many of these names in connection with the very last days before the millennium.

Obal means "bare, or stripped of leaves." It is true that the settlement which recalls the founder was on the African side of the Red Sea, not in Arabia; but it is not a difficulty we cannot get past. We may not be able to trace those who stayed with the great mass in Arabia, while it is of interest to identify those who crossed the strait to Africa. Nothing binds us to confine all the descendants of Joktan, except as a general rule, to Arabia. Those on the western side of the strait were only a few miles from the coast of Yemen, where large numbers of their relatives lived.

Abimael means "father of Mael," and "Mael" is taken to mean "fatness." His people lived on the edge of the great Arabian desert. To this day the district has a high reputation for its balsam, and the sale of it is still an active and highly profitable trade. But in ancient times it was far more so, when Egypt and the West, Rome especially, used spices in large amounts and in luxury.

Sheba needs the greater care, because in the inspired history we hear of no fewer than three heads of tribes who bore the name. First came the Cushite Raamah's son (v. 7). Then came the tenth of Joktan's sons, the one in question here. Later came Jokshan, Abraham's son by Keturah, who fathered another Sheba (Gen. 25:2-3).

Son of Joktan, a descendant of Shem. Gen. 10:28; 1 Chr. 1:22. His descendants have been traced to Southern Arabia, or Arabia Felix. The capital of the district was at or near the modern Mareb.

There is no reasonable doubt about the Queen of Sheba, whose visit to King Solomon holds such an interesting place in Scripture. Our Lord called her the queen "of the South." She ruled the Sabean kingdom we have just spoken of. Indeed "Yemen" means the south generally, and that quarter of Arabia in particular. But Scripture carefully distinguishes the Shemite lines of Sheba, Joktan's and Jokshan's, from Raamah's Sheba in Yemen and the related Seba near the Persian Gulf. Those two Shemite lines are distinct in themselves as well.

As to her country or kingdom, I would just note that we read of several Shebas. .. The Sheba of which this history speaks must have been connected with the great-grandson of Ham, the nephew of Seba (Gen. 10:7). The reason is that the Lord speaks of the queen as being from "the south" and "from the ends of the earth," while Keturah's family was sent east, and Shem's portion was more central.

Genesis 10 is a chapter few would read with interest. It seems to be just a list of generations, of fathers, sons, and so on. What can be interesting about that? But the way God gives us history is not at all the way men give it... Not only are the names of the nations given here found throughout the Bible, but they keep their characters all through history to the end. In Ezekiel, especially in Ezekiel 38 and 39, we find many of these names connected with the very last days before the millennium.

In the Bible no chapter is more important than Genesis 10 for the way God arranged languages, families, and nations. Only here are we told how the different races began, and where they came from. Who else could have told us how and when the earth was divided?