Previous lesson review:- The end of the flood and waters receding. 8:1-14

- Release from the ark. 8:15-19

- Sacrifice of clean animals. 8:20-22

- Every living creature will be food (minus the blood). 9:3-6

- Command to be fruitful and multiply and spread out over the earth. 9:7

- Sign of the rainbow. 9:9-17

- Noah gets drunk and the curse of Ham’s descendants. 9:20-28

Nations and Languagesand

The Line of Shem

Genesis 10:1 – 11:26

THE SONS OF NOAHGenesis chapter 10

The Toledot of the Sons of Noah.

Some recurring patterns:

- Sons are listed.

- Grandsons are listed.

- Settling of each clan into their nation and language

- Starts with Japheth (the oldest son).

- Repeats with Ham (the youngest son).

- Concludes with Shem.

- Why are they out of order?

A typical order in Genesis…

- Narrative presents the descendants of the non-seed line to dismiss them.

- Narrative then concentrates on the SEED line that leads to the Messiah!

Japheth’s sons:

GomerMagogMadaiJavanTubal

MeshechTiras

Maritime (Coastland) peoples.

Originally around the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas.

Occupied most of Europe as well as Asia past Persia and India.

Fun Facts:

GORDIAN KNOT

Gomer’s son Togarmah

Ancestor of the Phrygians (in the southern Balkans).

“Gordian Knot” came from this area.-intricate knot tying a Phrygian wagon to a pole – impossible to untie.

-Metaphor for an apparently intractable problem that can be solved only by cheating or lateral thinking

Gomer’s son Ashkenaz

The term “Ashkenazi Jews”

Jews from German and Eastern European regions

Madai

Linked to the Medes of “Medes and the Persians” fame.

Meshech

Possibly linked to the area in Russia near the Volga.

Moscow may get its name from him.

Tiras’s descendants

According to Homer’s Iliad-

Allied with the Trojans against the Greeks in the Trojan war.

Ham’s sons

CushMizraim

PutCanaan

His descendants were major opponents to the Israelites later on.

Cush’s son Nimrod

“a mighty hunter before the Lord”

“before the Lord” implies OPPOSITION to God

His hunting prowess presumably gave him a large following

Founder of Babylon (in the land of Shinar)

Canaan(the son of Ham that was cursed by Noah)

- Father of the Canaanite tribes that later became major problems for the Israelites (Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, etc…)

Shem’s sons

ElamAsshur

ArphaxadLud

Aram

Shem was the SEED son, part of the Messianic line.

His name is where we get the word “Semite”

He is called the father of all the children of Eber (His grandson through Arphaxad)

“Eber” is where the term “Hebrew” is derived.

One of Eber’s sons is Peleg

“For in his days the earth was divided” 10:25

Some say that this is when the continents were divided.

Taken out of context:

Claim that the Hebrew word for “earth” means “countries”, “land”, or “ground”.

Division of the continents at this point would have been extremely catastrophic!

Interpreting Scripture with Scripture:

Nothing else in Scripture to indicate that this referred to continental division.

8 verses later the same word for “earth” is used (“Now the whole earth had one language and one speech…”) - Gen. 11:1

Refers to PEOPLE of the earth not PLANET EARTH.

An interesting idea presented by In the Beginning by Walt Brown Ph.D.

Could it refer to the following?:

Sea level may have been significantly lower.- Post flood Ice Age?- Continents not settled into the mantle yet?

If sea level was 300 feet or more lower than it is today…

Continents would have been interconnected

This could help explain how animals and people migrated to the different continents.

As the ice from the Ice Age melted, sea level would rise.

At some point, the continents would be totally divided by water.

(Happening during Peleg’s time?).

- The word “Peleg” often refers to water.

- Archipelago – a sea having, or dividing many islands.

- Pelagic – relating to or living in the sea.

Hmmm??

The best and most widely accepted interpretation is most likely referring to the linguistic/territorial division that took place at the time of the Tower of Babel.

Overview of where they settled.(Taken from http://www.bible-history.com/maps/2-table-of-nations.html)

Shem – Asia1. Elam (The Persians) settled northeast of the Persian Gulf.

2. Asshur (The Assyrians) the Biblical name for Assyria, settled between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.

3. Arphaxad (The Babylonians) settled in Chaldea.

4. Lud (The Lydians) settled in Asia Minor, but some of them sailed across the Mediterranean and settled in northern Africa.

5. Aram (The Syrians) the Biblical name for Syria, located north and east of Israel.

Ham – Africa1. Cush (The Ethiopians) settled in Ethiopia south of Egypt, also early in their history some of them migrated to an area north of the Persian Gulf (Gen. 10:8-10).

2. Mizraim (The Egyptians) the Bible name for Egypt, settled in northeastern Africa.

3. Phut (The Libyans) sometimes translated Libya, settled in northern Africa.

4. Canaan (The Canaanites) settled above Africa east of the Mediterranean (Later was given to the Hebrews).

Japheth – Europe1. Gomer (The Cimmerians) settled north of the Black Sea, but afterwards his descendants probably occupied Germany, France, Spain and the British Isles.

2. Magog (The Scythians) lived north of the Caspian Sea.

3. Madai (The Medes) settled south of the Caspian Sea.

4. Javan (The Ionians or Greeks) Javan is the Hebrew name for Greeks, they settled in Greece.

5. Tubal (The Turks) lived south of the Black Sea.

6. Meshech (The Slavs) lived between the Black and Caspian Seas,

7. Tiras (The Etruscans) located west of the Black Sea.

THE TOWER OF BABEL

Genesis 10 explained by Genesis 11

- Recapitulation- similar to the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2.

- Introduction of the account summarizing the whole transaction followed by a more detailed description that deals with matters of special importance.

- Chapter 10 shows the nations formed by Noah’s descendants and where they were dispersed.

- Chapter 11 explains why they were dispersed.

ShinarGenesis 11:2

- From the ark’s landing spot, they went “eastward”.

“EASTWARD” –

A metaphor for being outside of God’s blessing?

- Adam/Eve kicked out of garden, Cherubim guarded the east entrance.- Lot leaves Abraham and journeys east to Sodom/Gomorrah.- Abrahams sons from Keturah dispersed “to the land of the east”.

Shinar

- Located in Mesopotamia

- Fertile and able to support many people.

- Babylon located here.

- Built by Nimrod.

The RebellionGenesis 11:3-4

- “Build a tower with its top in the heavens.”

Many ziggurats had religious shrines on top of them.

- Could this have been the beginning of pagan astrological worship of heavenly bodies?- Rev. 17:5 “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations”?

People doubted God’s promise to never flood the whole earth again and wanted a place to escape to?

“Make a name for themselves”!- A form of humanistic pride.

“Lest we be dispersed over the face of the earth.”

- Outright disobedience to God’s command.

God’s Judgement:- He evaluates the problem.

- One people/one language.- Just the beginning of what they will do.- No sin will be impossible for them.

- He confuses the languages.(side note for verse 11:7: “Let Us” refers to the Trinity.)

- Man is scattered.

The Languages

Different languages all have certain constraints and obey rules (syntax).

Language doesn’t require speech i.e. sign language.

In order to communicate, two parts of our brain are required to be functioning correctly.

Broca’s Area

- Helps in movements required to produce speech.

If this area is damaged:

- Can understand speech of others but cannot produce any speech themselves.

Wernicke’s Area

- Helps in understanding speech and using the correct words to express our thoughts.

If this area is damaged:

- May be able to produce speech, but cannot understand the speech of others.

Deaf people require these too in order to use sign language.

The differences between a language and a dialect:

- Mutual unintelligibility (speakers of only one language cannot understand someone speaking a different language i.e. Spanish versus German.

- Dialects are mutually intelligible i.e. Swiss German and Standard German.

The main language families resulted from the Babel experience.

Different dialects became so different that eventually they became mutually unintelligible, forming a new language.

Variations over time have resulted in over 6000 languages today.

See if you can understand this English version of a common piece of literature from the late 1300’s?

The Lord gouerneth me, and no thing schal faile to me; in the place of pasture there he hath set me. He nurschide me on the watir of refreischyng; he conuertide my soule. He ledde me forth on the pathis of ri3tfulnesse; for his na me. For whi thou3 Y schal go in the myddis of schadewe of deeth; Y schal not drede yuels, for thou art with me. Thi 3erde and thi staf; tho han coumfortid me. Thou hast maad redi a boord in my si3t; a3ens hem that troblen me. Thou hast maad fat myn heed with oyle; and my cuppe, fillinge greetli, is ful cleer. And thi mercy schal sue me; in alle the daies of my lijf. And that Y dwelle in the hows of the Lord; in t o the lengthe of daies.

Languages can be traced backwards from thousands of languages to fewer ancestral languages

- French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian all derived from Latin – Romance Languages.

- German, Dutch, Scandinavian, and English – Germanic languages.

- Russian, Polish, Czech, and Serbo-Croat – Slavonic languages.

- Sanskrit and Indian – Indo-European family.

- Hungarian, Estonian, and Finnish – Uralic language family.

- Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic – Semitic languages.

Evolution and language?

Evolutionists claim that language evolved from animal grunts:

- “The continual change is similar to biological evolution.”

Really???

Actual observation shows otherwise:

- Ancient languages were extremely complex.

- No hint of a build-up of simpler languages.

- Many different noun inflections for different case, gender and number.

- Verbs were inflected for tense, voice, number and person.

Many of the changes were not random, but the result of INTELLIGENCE:

- Forming compound words by joining simple words.

- Adding prefixes and suffixes.

-Borrowing words from other languages, etc.

Races

Babel resulted in the isolation of small people groups, each containing a fraction of the total gene pool.

This helped fix certain characteristics and produced the different people groups (“races”) we see today.

Skin colors

One pigment – melanin

Skin color is a result of how much melanin one has.

The differences between “black” and “white” people are not different pigments but different AMOUNTS of the SAME pigment.

Punnett Squares

A and B code for “make lots of melanin” (darker skin)a and b code for “make little melanin” (lighter skin)

Adam and Eve would most likely have had AaBb genes that produced “olive complexion”.

Two-tone twins: Remee and Kian, with their biracial parents, Kylee Hodgson and Remi Horder.

The effect of Babel on skin color:

Small groups of people moving to different areas of the world.

Environment could have affected survival.

Equatorial areas tough on those with light complexion:

- More susceptible to skin cancer and tropical diseases.

Colder environments tough on those with dark complexion:

- Sunlight causes the skin to produce Vitamin D.- Melanin acts as a sunscreen. More melanin = less sunlight absorbed.- Cold weather means more clothing, reducing the amount of skin exposed.- Deficiency of Vitamin D causes bone disease (rickets).

The line of Shem and the reduction in lifespans.

What caused the change?

Environment?

- If so, why did Noah live so long after the flood? (350 more years)

Most likely Genetics

Shem was born before the flood but lived a shorter life than Noah. (600 vs. 950)

Noah’s age at Shem’s conception – 502, well above the average.

Might have caused genetic weakness?

Genealogies: Showing Age at Fatherhood and Age at Death

Ages dropped dramatically after Shem and ESPECIALLY after Peleg – when the Tower of Babel incident caused isolation of small groups.

Genome Decay

- Over 30 new mutations every generation.

- Majority of them are not eliminated by natural selection.

- This causes an exponential decay in fitness.

- If humans have been around as long as evolutionists say, we should have become extinct from the huge mutational load.

- The fact that we aren’t extinct is strong evidence that humans have not been here for longer than a few thousand years.

So what have we learned today?

The Bible can be trusted!!

- Evidence of the Flood.

- Evidence of Noah’s sons and their dispersion over the earth.

- Origin of Language Families and Races

- A reasonable explanation for long ages prior to the flood and reduction after the Tower of Babel.

God is real!!!

The rest of His Book can be trusted too!

It’s His love story for us!

Accept Him as your Lord and SaviorTODAY!