Genesis 10:22–23

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.