Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

The Table of Nations

Commentary by Jack Kelly

70 grandsons of Noah became the heads of all the nations of the world. Knowing who they are will greatly improve your understanding of current events. Over the years I’ve collected bits of information from here and there as I’ve studied Genesis 10 and Ezekiel 38-39.

Much of the information below can be gained by referencing Genesis 10, the so-called Table of Nations, in a good study Bible. Learning the modern names of the nations whose founding families are listed there really helps connect Bible prophecy to current events.

Frequently the Lord used these ancient names to identify countries to be involved in the fulfillment of prophecy. Learning their modern identities is often helpful in relating these prophecies to current events.

Genesis 10:1-32

1. This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

2. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, (Eastern Europe, and along the Rhine and Danube valleys) Magog, (Georgia, Russia) Madai, (Medes, now Kurds, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan) Javan, (Greece) Tubal, and Meshech (Turkey and The Central Asian Republics of the former Soviet Union, S. E. of the Black Sea) Tiras.. (Etruscans now Italy)

3. The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, (Germany) Riphath (a corruption of this word translates into Europe) and Togarmah. (Turkey again as well as Armenia)

4. The sons of Javan: Elishah, (Sicily) Tarshish, (England or perhaps Spain) Kittim (Cyprus) Rodanim. (Rhodes).

5. From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.

6. The sons of Ham: Cush, (Black Africa) Mizraim (Egypt) Put (Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, North Africa) Canaan (Phoenicia, now Lebanon, and the nations Israel defeated in the Promised Land)

7. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah Sabteca. (These may represent the Black African nations) The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. (The people of the southern Arabian Peninsula. Abraham also had 2 grandsons by these names through a son born to his 2nd wife Ketura. Sheba in known in secular history as Saba home of the Sabeans and Dedan was the ancient capitol of what’s now Saudi Arabia)

8. Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth.

9. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”

10. The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar.

11. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah

12. and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

13. Mizraim (Mizraim means two Egypts and refers to both Upper (south) and Lower (north) parts where these people lived) the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites,

14. Pathrusites, Casluhites (Philistines) and Caphtorites. (Crete)

15. Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, (The following tribes are all mentioned as either Canaanite or Amorite nations who inhabited the promised land)

16. Jebusites, (original inhabitants of Jerusalem) Amorites, Girgashites,

17. Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, (possibly became the Chinese, see Isaiah 49:12)

18. Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

Later the Canaanite clans scattered

19. and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. (The land of Lebanon, Israel, and western Jordan)

20. These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

21. Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber (this name is the root of the word Hebrew).

22. The sons of Shem: Elam, (Persia, now Iran) Asshur, (Assyria, now Syria) Arphaxad, (North Eastern Iran) Lud and Aram. (Damascus, also Syria)

23. The sons of Aram: Uz, (the land of south western Jordan) Hul, Gether and Meshech.

24. Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber.

25. Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; (when the continents as we know them were formed) his brother was named Joktan.

26. Joktan (Joktan means “of no account.” His sons probably settled in the Arabian Peninsula) was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

27. Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

28. Obal, Abimael, Sheba, (Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan,probably Yemen)

29. Ophir, Havilah and Jobab.

30. The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

31. These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

32. These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood. (Genesis 10:1-32)

Many of the nations we hear about in today’s news existed in ancient times but under different names. By using the ancient names for the countries He prophesied about, the Lord made possible the use of scripture to interpret scripture.

Following is an In Depth Look at the Modern Equivalent to Biblical Names in Ezekiel 38, for further information on the countries also listed there.

Gog

I believe that Gog is a supernatural being (showing up in the battle of Ezekiel 38 and the final battle at the end of the Millennium) perhaps Satan’s counter part to Michael the Arkangel. There is an obscure reference in the Septuigent translation of the Book of Amos in 7:1 to a Gog, King of the Locusts, for what that’s worth. You won’t find any hint of this in translations rendered into English from Hebrew. You can only get there from the Greek (Septuigent) translation. But with no connection to any physical territory or people as there is with Magog and the others named in Ezekiel 38, and with Biblical appearances so far apart in time, there’s good reason to believe that Gog is a non-human character, one of Satan’s own.

Magog

In contrast, there are over 130 historical references tying Magog to the ancient Scythians. In Colossians 3:11 Paul mentioned the Scythians. The Strong’s concordance identifies a Scythian as an inhabitant of Scythia or modern day Russia. The Great Wall of China was known as the “Ramparts of Magog” in ancient times and was built to protect China from Magog. Magog was a son of Japeth and inhabited central Asia. His children, the Scythians, are the ancestors of today’s Russian people.

Meshech and Tubal

These two were brothers of Magog and are linked to the same general area, but more likely with the Turkic people. Josephus associated Meshech with Cappodocia, home of the ancient Hittite Empire in Eastern Turkey.
Persia

This one’s easier because the name changed to Iran in our memory.

Cush and Put

These two were sons of Ham and brothers to Mizraim (which means “two Egypts”) and Canaan. Narrowly they are called Ethiopia (Cush) and Lybia (Put) but both were in possession of much larger territory in the past. The word Cush has a Hebrew root meaning black, and can be representative of the black races of Africa, while Put can represent the north part of the continent; Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, etc. Note that all are sons of Ham and therefore not Semitic. The common denominator among African nations is religion (Islam) not race (Arab).

Gomer

Another son of Japeth and brother to Magog, Gomer inhabited the Rhine and Danube valleys, and can be associated with Eastern Europe of today.

Beth Togarmah

Beth means house in Hebrew. Togarmah was a son of Gomer. The Armenians of today call themselves the House of Togarmah. The Turks (but not the Kurds, who are the ancient Medes of Media-Persia fame) are also included, and they’re the ones Ezekiel had in view.

Sheba and Dedan

These two are first mentioned as grandsons of Cush in Genesis 10:7. Later, in Genesis 25:3, we read of two grandsons of Abraham’s named Sheba and Dedan as well, born to Jokshan, a son of Abraham and his 2nd wife, Keturah. It’s not clear which pair of grandsons is being referenced, but commentaries none-the-less identify these two as probably representing the nations of the Arabian Penninsula, notably Saudi Arabia.

According to archaeologists W. F. Albright and Wendell Phillips, Sheba was on the southwestern edge of the Arabian Peninsula across the Red Sea from present-day Ethiopia. Sheba is known in history as Saba in Southern Arabia, the Sabaeans of classical geography, who carried on the trade in spices with the other peoples of the ancient world. Dedan was probably the habitat of the Arabs on the northern part of the Arabian Desert, which is modern-day Saudi Arabia. The ancient capital of Saudi Arabia is still called Dedan on many maps today.

Tarshish

Tarshish was a son of Javan, who settled the area of Southern Greece. There are three schools of thought where Tarshish is concerned. One view locates Tarshish to the East, accessible from Solomon’s great seaport at Ezion Geber on the Red Sea. Since Javan and his family traveled north and west from Babel at the confusion of tongues, it seems unlikely. Large sea going vessels were often nicknamed “Ships of Tarshish” and more likely this is how Tarshish came to be linked with Ezion Geber, since both Solomon and Hezekiah built such vessels there.

Others see this as a reference to ancient Tartessus, a seaport in southern Spain, near Gibraltar. Still others recall the sea going navies of the Phoenicians, who operated Ships of Tarshish out of nearby Cadiz and sailed as far north as England for tin, a metal used in the making of bronze and other alloys, which they mined in Cornwall. Some believe that the name Britannia is actually derived from a Phoenician word meaning “source of tin.” If so, since the ships of Tarshish brought tin to the ancient world, this reference could be to Great Britain making the “lions” (KJV) or “villages”(NIV) of Tarshish Great Britain’s colonies, of which the US is most prominent today. The fact that the lion is a symbol of the British Empire lends support to this view.

Summary

Again, it’s instructive to view the common motivator as religion, not race. Some years ago, an editorial in the Jerusalem Post outlined the “Arab” plan as being composed of two phases. Phase one was to gain as much as possible through the inexpensive negotiating process while simultaneously weakening Israel and strengthening the Moslem coalition. Phase two, after no more negotiated gain can be made, is to go to war for the rest.


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bahmer

Amen and Amen thank you very much for that Zemirah that is interesting although it is hard to put all of that information into ones head and store it there.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

...and that is why we have computers, bahmer,

Unlike ours, their memories may be expanded by purchasing more RAM or ROM at practically any store.