THE SONS OF NOAH
Hi Doves!!
(This will be my last study. I really enjoyed sharing what I learned and exposing, what I hope was, some interesting information, which can be absorbed, or discarded, as you see fit. Wish I had the time to continue on, but that was not to be, the Lord has other things for me, to do, right now.)In this chapter we will explore the lives of Noah’s three sons and discover how the post-Flood earth was repopulated. We know that in the genealogy of Noah, the birth order of his sons is reversed; revealing the way in which fallen man will choose to worship God. (please see THE WAYS OF WORSHIP, which goes into this birth order of Noah’s sons). Thus, we will start with his youngest, Japheth, and finish with his oldest, Shem.Japheth (mind/soul)
Japheth is the middle of Noah’s three sons, but his decedents are listed first in the genealogy of the three. Japheth had seven sons. Let us now recall what Noah said in the first part of his blessing to Japheth; “God shall enlarge Japheth”.According to the historian, Josephus, (Antiquities of the Jews 1:6) these seven sons represent a great multitude of people which will populate most of Europe and this includes all the lands that the Europeans will colonize such as America and India. To give you an idea of how many peoples this will become I will make a partial list here: Armenians, Welch, Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons, Turks, Slav, Mongols, Hungarians, Greeks, Italians, French, Russian, Indian, and American. Japheth was promised enlargement.
It is important that history has recorded their geographic enlargement. The entire Western hemisphere is settled by Japhetic people, and the Indians (Hindus) are of the same stock. Remember that Japheth represents the intellectual part of mankind, and there is much history that suggests that the enlargement promised to Japheth is also intellectual. Historically all the great philosophers are Japhetic. The Greeks, who began modern philosophy, are descendants of Japheth, and so are the Hindus. The Greeks and the Hindus are the two truly great philosophic races on earth.
Let us look, now, at the second part of Noah’s blessing to Japheth; “and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.” To Shem (the Jews) was given the primacy of Spiritual teachings, but there comes a time when Japheth enters that field and will “dwell in the tents of Shem”, and philosophy will be married to theology. All of this points us to the Cross, and when the spiritual guidance of humanity will be passed from the Jews to the Gentiles.
After God, through Moses, lists the genealogy of Japheth’s sons, he gives us more information about these descendants; “By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; everyone after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.” (Gen. 10:5). The posterity of Japheth is allotted to the isles of the Gentiles; all places beyond the sea from Judea are called isles, and this directs us to understand that promise in Isaiah 42:4; “the isles shall wait for his law”, the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ.Ham (body)
Ham was the youngest son of Noah. Ham is the most notorious of the sons because of his act of incest with his mother. Because the Lord has already blessed Ham, as one of Noah’s sons, Noah could not curse Ham directly. Instead he curses Canaan, Ham youngest son, the product of that sinful union.
Why would Noah curse Canaan, and not Ham’s other sons? Can Noah justify cursing Canaan if Canaan was the offspring of the union between Ham and his Sethic wife? No, he could not unless Canaan was somehow connected to Ham’s sin. As we have discussed before, God points out Canaan as Ham’s youngest son at the time that they leave the Ark. Long before Ham commits the act; long before he has 3 others sons; and long before Noah tilled the earth and produced the vineyard, which produced the wine that made him drunk.
God does this, to call our attention to the fact that Canaan was a really bad seed produced out of Ham’s shameful act. Canaan became the accursed seed, just as Cain was a bad seed. The incestuous act of Ham brought forth Canaan, and Canaan brought forth the “giants” this side of the Flood. Hence, it is very plain that Noah was justified in cursing Canaan. Ham’s heart of rebellion had been exposed. Not only was it rebellion against his father’s authority, but ultimately, it was rebellion against God and His authority. This attitude of rebellion in Ham would one day expose itself, not only in Ham, but also in Ham’s descendants.
Consequently, Ham will become a servant to the other two sons of Noah. The curse, though pronounced on Canaan, was a Hamitic curse, aimed at Ham and all his descendants, not only Canaan. The sons of Ham are Cush, Mizaim, Phut, and Canaan, and it is from this line that the servants of Shem and Japheth will come. This curse, and the resentment it caused, will eventually create much tension between the descendants of the sons of Noah.
Let us now look at sons of Ham, and their descendants, to find where this all leads. Ham’s first son is named Cush; he becomes the father of the Ethiopians, Arabians, and the Babylonians. Cush, in the Bible, is the same as “Ethiopia”. The people of Cush first moved southward, into Arabia and then crossed the Red Sea into modern day Ethiopia.
The most memorable of Cush’s sons is Nimrod, who founded his kingdom in Babel. He was the chief architect of the Tower of Babel, trying to build a tower to reach the heavens. He and his descendants settled down in the Tigris- Euphrates river valley.The second son of Ham is named Mizraim. Mizraim will become the father of the Egyptians and the Philistines. Mizraim is the ancestor of the Egyptians and in Scripture is used to identify Egypt. In Psalms 105:23 Egypt is called “the land of Ham”. Many scholars take this to indicate that Ham accompanied Mizraim in the initial settlement of the Nile Valley.
The last of Mizraim’s sons is named Caphtorim and he becomes the father of the Philistines. The Caphtorim are twice associated with the Philistines in the Bible; in Amos 9:7 and Jeremiah 47:4. The Philistines are generally thought to have migrated from the island of Crete, as Caphor is identified in secular writings as Crete. From Crete they eventually migrated across the Mediterranean, landing on the eastern shore of Can’nann, settling into the land known in Biblical times as Philistia.Of all the descendants from the sons of Noah, few have had the impact and influence on Ancient Israel as the Philistines have. One of the most famous of all Bible stories involves a faceoff between a young David and a giant named Goliath, who was a Philistine from Gath in Philistia.
The third son of Ham is Phut. “Phut” is the same as Libya when mentioned in the Bible. The region of Libya applied to Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. Therefore, Phut became the father of the Libyans and the Sabeans.
Last, but certainly not least, is Ham’s fourth son, Canaan. He becomes the father of the Canaanite Tribes. Canaan’s descendants, according to Scripture, “spread abroad” (Gen 10:18). Of all the lines descending from Noah’s sons, these people migrated perhaps more than any other. It would be Canaan who would become the father of the Holy Land, the backdrop against which the drama of Israel would unfold. It would be his sons that would become the originators of the peoples that would populate and inhabit the Holy Land throughout the Bible.
The contributions, made by the descendants of Ham, the youngest of Noah’s sons, are staggering. As we might recall, Ham represents the body and the physical world. They become the builders of civilization, the “mighty men” in both size (as with Canaan, the giant) and in intellect, and “religious” (as opposed to spiritual) worship.They were the first explorers, and the first cultivators of the basic food groups. They discovered and invented medicines, and the first surgical practices. They were the first to develop fabrics, and the devices used to sew these fabrics. They were the inventors of mathematics, surveying, and navigation. “These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.” (Gen. 10:20).Shem (spirit)
Shem is the eldest son of Noah, whom is listed last in the genealogy of Noah’s sons. When the generations of Shem are mentioned, in Genesis 10:21, he is given two titles.“Unto Shem, also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him was children born.”
First and foremost, Shem is considered the “father of all the children of Eber”. Shem has five sons, and Eber is the grandson of Shem’s fifth son; so why is Eber so important? The Lord is telling us that Abraham (father of all the Hebrew tribes and of God’s covenant people) not only descended from Eber (Heber), but after him was called the Hebrews. We know that from Abraham’s bloodline the Messiah will come. Therefore, Eber, just like Canaan, is pointed out as a very important character, long before he is born, or even conceived. We will look at Eber more in depth, later.Shem’s second title is “elder brother of Japheth”. Why would this also be part of Shem’s description? Most likely this was intended to signify the union of the Gentiles with the Jews in the church. Moses mentions that it was Shem’s honor to be the father of the Hebrews; but, lest Japheth seed should therefore be looked upon as forever cast out from the church, he here reminds us that Shem was the brother of Japheth, not in birth only, but in blessing; for Japheth was to “dwell in the tents” of Shem.
Shem, whose name means “name” in Hebrew, becomes the father of the Hebrews. This is very significant information, yet, what about his other sons and their genealogy? His first son is named Elam and his descendants will populate Arabia. His second son is named Asshur and his descendants will populate Assyria. His third son is named Lud and his descendants shall populate Lydia and be called the Lydians. His fourth son is named Aram and his descendants shall populate Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Syria.
His fifth son is named Arphaxad, and as we have seen, his descendants become the Hebrews, through his grandson, Eber. Eber himself, we may suppose, was a man eminent for the truth in a time of general apostasy, as we will see, includes the building of the Tower of Babel. He was most likely a great example of piety to his family, and the Hebrew language was probably retained by his family, amid the confusion of Babel. The Lord did this as a special token of His favor toward Eber, and from him the professors of religion were called the “children of Eber”.
Shem’s most honorable title is the father of the Hebrews. Yet, when Moses wrote this, the Hebrew people were a poor and despised people; bond- slaves in Egypt. Still, they were God’s people and it was an honor for 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, so Shem, though he had many sons is dignified by the title “father of Eber”, on whose seed the blessing was entailed.Noah’s prophetic blessing, on awakening from his wine, may be regarded as having been fulfilled in Shem’s descendants, who occupied Syria, Palestine, Chaldea, Assyria, part of Persia and Arabia. In the first of these three, as well as in Elam, Canaanites had settled, but Shemites ruled, at some time or other, over the Canaanites, and Canaan thus became Shem’s servant, just as foretold by Noah in Gen. 9:25-26.Shem’s genealogy brings to a close Chapter 10 of Genesis, the chapter that describes the descendants of Noah’s three sons. We are told in the last few lines of this chapter that the descendants of these sons would populate the earth.
“These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations; and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.” (Gen. 10:32)Let’s review what we now know about these families. The descendants of Japheth become the Gentiles, these are the “fair skinned” people that will one day inhabit Europe and America, but also they will be spiritually linked with the descendants of Shem, thus sharing Noah’s blessing. So Japheth can be called the father of the fair skinned peoples of the world.
The descendants of Ham are the dark skinned people of Egypt, and the descendants of Ham’s son Cush are even darker skinned, to the point of being called “black”. Cush’s descendants are the black races of people, the people of Ethiopia and Africa. Shem, we know is the father of the Hebrews, and his first son, Elan means “dusky” in that language. These people have darker shin than the people of Japheth, but lighter than the people of Ham. This would reflect the skin tone of the Arabians and the Syrians which is “dusky” in color, somewhere between “fair” and “black”.
Could the descendants of these three sons, along with representing different races, also represent different religions? We know that the descendants of Shem are the Jewish people, and it is most likely that the descendants of Japheth, (the Greeks, Europeans and eventually the Americans) would come to represent the Gentiles that “dwell in the tents of Shem”, thus representing Christianity; an offshoot of the Jewish faith.
Ham’s descendants, on the other hand, represents the people who populated the areas that we know today are mainly populated with the Muslim people.We see three races of people and we see three religions being foreshadowed by the information of where these races settled, and their descendants that followed.############
This is the end of my study….I was called away to do other things before I had a chance to finish the whole Book of Genesis. But, from these studies we can clearly see that by looking into the true meanings of the words that the Lord chose to use, through Moses, we can glean much more of the TRUTH.
My main purpose was to find the origins of the Truth, and the origins of Religion and how they are relative to what plays out throughout the Bible, mainly in the Book of Revelations. I was thrilled with what I found; it was so exciting to research, in depth, God’s Holy Word. This would be considered more of a meat study than a milk one, therefore may not be pleasing to all people,(as I have found out with many of my, Church going, friends, and a few people on this site.) but, that is totally okay!!!I am not trying to change anyone’s mind about what they believe, as that is between them and the Lord. The very best way to find out is to study on your own and see what He reveals to you. Amen?
The Lord lead me to do this study, therefore I must have been ready to find out. I pray I have shown how doing this kind of research can be an enlightening and fulfilling experience.
Thank you for letting me share all this with you.
God bless you all!!!!See you soon!!!
Patti C.