Genesis 9Review

Genesis 9 Review1. The command to “be fruitful and multiply” is given (1, 7)

2. The fear of mankind is given to the animals (2)

3. Meat is given as food to humans (3)

4. The establishment of government is given to avenge murder (4-6)

5. An eternal covenant, the rainbow, is given as comfort and a promise that a cataclysmic Flood will not occur again (8-17)

6. 3 sons populate the entire earth (3 distinct ‘races’) (18-19)

7. Noah becomes drunk; gives a blessing to Seth (the line of Christ); a curse on Canaan, his grandson, and the Canaanites (20-27)

8. Noah lives 950 years; 350 years after the Flood (28)

Genesis 9 Review“After such a merciful deliverance from the deluge, after witnessing such a solemn demonstration of God's holy wrath against sin, and after starting out with full provision and Divine assurance, one would have supposed that the human race, ever after, would adhere to the path of righteousness--- but, alas! The very next thing we read is that "Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent" (Gen. 9:20, 21). Scholars tell us that the Hebrew word here for "uncovered" clearly indicates a deliberate act and not a mere unconscious effect of drunkenness. The sins of intemperance and impurity are twin sisters! No wonder the Psalmist was constrained to cry, "What is man that thou art mindful of him?” …Who would have imagined such a tragic sequel? How evident it is that truth is stranger than fiction.” (A.W. Pink)

Genesis 9:28-2928 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

Genesis 9 Review“Noah's fall utters a solemn warning to every servant of God. It is deeply significant that following this prophecy, recorded in the closing verses of Genesis 9, nothing whatever except his death is recorded about Noah after his terrible fall. The last three hundred years of his life are a blank!”

The Apostle Paul wrote, ”No, I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified from the prize" (1 Cor. 9:27).”

Genesis 9:28-29• Noah was not affected greatly by the changed

atmospheric conditions following the Flood, and lived another 350 years, dying at the age of 950

• He lived longer than any of his ancestors except Jared (962) and Methuselah (969)

• If there are no gaps in the genealogies of Genesis 11, this means that Noah continued living until Abraham was about 58 years old, when Noah died.

• However, there may be gaps of uncertain duration that exist in the genealogies of Genesis 10.

• Noah certainly lived until after the dispersion of Babel

Genesis 9I Peter 5:6-10

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

 9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. 

Genesis 9I Peter 5:10-11

 10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself 

perfect,  (‘to set the bone’ or ‘to mend the net’)

confirm, (‘to come along side, and hold you up’)

strengthen (‘to make strong’)

and establish you. (‘to keep the ground from shaking underneath you again’)

11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Genesis 10-11Jehovah God and the Founding of Nations

Genesis 10Genesis 10 is a remarkably accurate historical document

There is no comparable catalog of ancient nations available from any other source in the world

It is unparalleled in its antiquity and comprehensiveness

Genesis 10Dr. William F. Albright, acknowledged leading authority on the archaeology of the Near East, though not holding to the infallibility of the Bible, writes about Genesis 10:

“It stands absolutely alone in ancient literature, without a remote parallel, even among the Greeks, where we find the closest approach to a distribution of peoples in genealogical framework…The Table of Nations remains an astonishingly accurate document” (Recent Discoveries in Bible Lands”, Analytical Concordance to the Bible, 1936, p. 25)

Genesis 10:1“Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.”

1. Descendants of Japheth (10:2-5) (3 generations listed)

2. Descendants of Ham (10:6-20) (3 generations listed)

3. Descendants of Shem (10:21-32) - 6 generations are listed, so it is assumed that Shem is the one compiling the record; perhaps he lost touch with the other branches of the family after the Dispersion at Babel; his subscript is attached after Genesis 11:10.

Genesis 10:2-52 The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer (Japheth’s 1st) were Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan (Japheth’s 4th) were Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. 

5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

Genesis 10:2-52 The sons of Japheth -

The name of Japheth himself is found in the literature of Iapetos, the legendary father of the Greeks, and Iyapeti, the reputed ancestor of the Aryans in India.

Genesis 10:2-52 The sons of Japheth were (7): 

1 - Gomer - Herodotus and Plutarch identify Gomer with the area around the Black Sea, a name surviving to the present day in Crimea. One branch eventually moved westward, with the name probably being preserved both in Germany and Cambria (Wales)

2 - Magog - perhaps referring to the area around the Black Sea (Georgia); Josephus says Magog (or Gog) was the ancestor of the Scythians, who inhabited the Black Sea. Our map shows Magog to the south; Gog to the north of the Black Sea.

Genesis 10:2-52 The sons of Japheth were (7): 

3 - Madai – the ancestor of the Medes, settling in Persia; perhaps including the Aryans who migrated into India.

4 - Javan – Ionia, which was the same as Greece. Both Japheth and Javan were founders of the Greeks. Javan is listed as the father of Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. “Hellas” is the form of “Elishah,” which came to be applied to Greece as a whole (Hellenists, etc.). The Iliad mentions the Eilesian people; the Tell el Amarna tablets and Ugaritic tablets mention the Alasians, people from Cyprus.

Genesis 10:2-52 The sons of Japheth …

5 - Tubal – is known in the Assyrian monuments as the Tibareni, perhaps the modern Russian city of Tobolsk; in Ezekiel 38:2, they are associated with ‘Rosh’ a name from which the modern “Russia” was derived. Thus, Magog, Meshech, and Tubal can be considered the progenitors of the modern Russian peoples.

6 - Meshech – represents the Russian name of Muskovi (Moscow, Russia)

7 - Tiras - the ancestor of the Thracians, and possibly the Etruscans of Italy.

Genesis 10:2-53 The sons of Gomer (the oldest son of Japheth) were 

Ashkenaz – Germany, and to this day, German Jews are called Ashkenazi; the name may have been preserved by the Scandia and Saxons, as colonists from Germany made their way into Denmark and its northern islands, and to the western shores of the continent. They also remained in Armenia, and according to Strabo, was called Sakasene.

Riphath – according to Josephus, the ancestors of the Paphlagonians and Carpathians (Europe)

Togarmah – the ancestor of the Armenians, Turkey, and Turkestan (Asia Minor, and perhaps Germany as well)

Genesis 10:2-54 The sons of Javan (the 4th son of Japheth) were 

Elishah – “Hellas” which came to be applied to Greece

Tarshish – Tartessos in Spain, and Carthage in Northern Africa (Phoenician cities, and the Phoenicians were Canaanites). Perhaps the Tarshish settles Spain and Carthage, but the Phoenicians became more prominent

Kittim – Cyprus, and possibly to the Greek mainland and maybe Macedonia.

 Dodanim – Rodanim (I Chronicles 1:7), the Dardanelles and Rhodes.

Genesis 10:55 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

• The descendants of Japheth spread over Europe with one major branch heading eastward into Persia and India.

• It is to the descendants of Japheth that the term ‘Gentile’ is applied

• The ‘islands’, coastlands, and other regions were ‘divided’ into these different groups, a development which took place at the Tower of Babel

Genesis 10:66 The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. 

• The account proceeds to the sons of Ham, whose descendants are given in somewhat more detail than those of Japheth. The grandsons of Japheth are listed for only two of his sons (Gomer and Javan), but those of three of Ham’s sons are given (Cush, Mizraim, and Canaan).

• Why these are selected, omitting details of five sons of Japheth, one of Ham, and three of Shem is not clear

Genesis 10:6Perhaps these are the only ones he had information on at the time the list is compiled

• It is incidental confirmation of the Semitic authorship of this section to note that at least some of Shem’s descendants are listed to the 5th generation including Shem.

• Japheth’s descendants are given in two cases to the 2nd generation; Ham’s in two cases to the 3rd.

• Perhaps the writer listed so few because the list was sufficient to establish the origin of all major tribes and nations after the Dispersion at Babel

Genesis 10:6One other possibility is that the names listed in Genesis 10 were the families actually living in Babel at that fateful time when the tongues were changed.

• The reference to different ‘tongues’ (verses 5, 20, and 31) shows, at least, that those whose names are listed either participated in the Dispersion themselves or else were directly affected by it in the development of their own families (Morris, p. 250)

Genesis 10:66 The sons of Ham were (4)

Cush - the same name as the Biblical name ‘Ethiopia’; they migrated south to Arabia, then crossed the Red Sea into Ethiopia; the Tell El Amarna tablets call this land ‘Kashi’

Mizraim - the ancestors of the Egyptians and is the customary name for Egypt in the Bible; Egypt is also called ‘the land of Ham’ (Psalm 105:23, etc.), suggesting that Ham accompanied his son Mizraim in the original settlement of the Nile Valley; some suggest that the semi-legendary founder of Egypt’s first dynasty, Menes, was the same as Mizraim (Morris, p. 250)

Genesis 10:66 The sons of Ham were (4)

Put - Put in the Bible is the same as Libya, applied to the region of North Africa west of Egypt. This identification is confirmed by Josephus.

Canaan  - the ancestor of the Canaanites, living in the land of Canaan---Biblical Palestine---before the Exodus of Moses, and the conquest by Joshua.

Genesis 10:77 The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. 

Genesis 10:77 The sons of Cush were (5)

Seba – migrated across Arabia to Africa, the Sudan (Sabeans in Isaiah 45:14); Josephus identifies ‘Saba’ as the city of Meroe, in upper Egypt (near Ethiopia)

Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca – settled Arabia

“and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan” – perhaps these two sons of Raamah were well known at the time, and therefore mentioned. Two grandsons of Abraham were named after these two men (apparently), children of Abraham’s wife Keturah (whom he married after Sarah died; Gen. 25:1; I Chron. 1:32, bearing 6 sons)