After The Flood Part 4: Blessing and Cursing Noah's Sons

Blessing and Cursing Noah’s Sons

Let's talk about a hungover dad doling out curses and blessings on his sons and then let's talk about a long genealogical table about those sons.

So whatever decision we make about Noah's motives, he's setting out a program of sorts here for the destinies of his children and as we saw those destinies will start to blur as you go into the actual story but at least at this moment it's a program.

This is equally programmatic as the seat of the woman and the seat of the snake. It gave you slots for how to make sense of all these characters you're about to go meet.

What we are going to see here is a section of blessing and curses that will help you to know where to put characters, but then also it will alert you to the surprises that come along the way

When a character you thought was cursed is now in on the blessing and a character you thought was in the blessing is now bringing a curse down upon themselves. But to know that you have to know the sections and I admit I am not as good about this as I would like to be. Study study study right?

Genesis 9:25–27 NASB95

25 So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. 27 “May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

There are three sections

So Noah's poem, notice how there's two and he saids so that's marking the first apart from the second two, the second two little group separate from the first one.

Cursed be Canaan, as a slave of slave, he will be set in a lower status in relationship to his brothers.

Blessed be not Shem.

He doesn't bless Shem, does he? He blesses Yahweh, The Elohim of sham. This is interesting.

So he, presumably, you know, ever since Seth who begin to call on the name of Yahweh at the end of Genesis four, and then it raises this question of like, oh yeah, who's worshiping Yahweh? There's like a family line that's acknowledging the creator Yahweh, Elohim. So that's kinda getting carried on through the family and Yahweh is here attached to Shem in a significant way.

Bless be Yahweh, God of Shem and may Canaan be in lower status in relationship to him or its Hebrew word that could mean him or them, meaning him and his brother.

May God remember yapheth and may yapheth dwell in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be a lower status mention him.

So it's low program you got three sons, who is set on the lowest status. Obviously, Canaan,

Not Ham, one particular descendant of him that is Canaan.

And then these other two brothers have this interesting relationship.

One is aligned with Yahweh, Elohim the creator, and then Japheth is going to become large, which you think, oh, he's gonna become more important than Shem, but then what you hear is this line, he will dwell in the tents of Shem.

So here's the function that this little poem has. The next chapter is going to be a table of the descent, these three, and then each one's gonna get filled out with all of these people names or place names. And so what that setting you up for the reader to do is you go out into the Bible, your every story you walk into, you're looking for some way that this program is being acted out or subverted not through Shem, Ham or Japheth but through their descendants later on.

It's like everybody's in on a team, the J team, The H team, the S team, and so there'll be some story about Abimelech and Abraham or story. These kind of random stories sometimes.

And, but what they are is the S team and the J team, and that's what the story's about.

It's a way, it's actually a remarkable way to tell a story, because then you can now be telling a master narrative, but with so many different kinds of characters and in all these ways there's usually links back to this poem or back to the narratives of Genesis one through 11.

All of a sudden there's a lot of stock put into you, remembering who comes from what family so that you can get the surprise or get like what's going on in the story.

Structure of Genesis 10

We're we're gonna come back. I'm gonna come back to the act, the thing about enlarging Japheth and dwelling in the tents. We're gonna come back to that.

What I first wanna do is just take in the lists.

Genesis 10:1–32 CJB

1 Here is the genealogy of the sons of Noach—Shem, Ham and Yefet; sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Yefet were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tuval, Meshekh and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Rifat and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Yavan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. 5 From these the islands of the nations were divided into their lands, each according to its language, according to their families, in their nations. 6 The sons of Ham were Kush, Mitzrayim, Put and Kena‘an. 7 The sons of Kush were S’va, Havilah, Savta, Ra‘mah and Savt’kha. The sons of Ra‘mah were Sh’va and D’dan. 8 Kush fathered Nimrod, who was the first powerful ruler on earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before Adonai—this is why people say, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Adonai.” 10 His kingdom began with Bavel, Erekh, Akkad and Kalneh, in the land of Shin‘ar. 11 Ashur went out from that land and built Ninveh, the city Rechovot, Kelach, 12 and Resen between Ninveh and Kelach—that one is the great city. 13 Mitzrayim fathered the Ludim, the ‘Anamim, the L’havim, the Naftuchim, 14 the Patrusim, the Kasluchim (from whom came the P’lishtim) and the Kaftorim. 15 Kena‘an fathered Tzidon his firstborn, Het, 16 the Y’vusi, the Emori, the Girgashi, 17 the Hivi, the ‘Arki, the Sini, 18 the Arvadi, the Tz’mari and the Hamati. Afterwards, the families of the Kena‘ani were dispersed. 19 The border of the Kena‘ani was from Tzidon, as you go toward G’rar, to ‘Azah; as you go toward S’dom, ‘Amora, Admah and Tzvoyim, to Lesha. 20 These were the descendants of Ham, according to their families and languages, in their lands and in their nations. 21 Children were also born to Shem, ancestor of all the descendants of ‘Ever and older brother of Yefet. 22 The sons of Shem were ‘Elam, Ashur, Arpakhshad, Lud and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were ‘Utz, Hul, Geter and Mash. 24 Arpakhshad fathered Shelach, and Shelach fathered ‘Ever. 25 To ‘Ever were born two sons. One was given the name Peleg [division], because during his lifetime the earth was divided. His brother’s name was Yoktan. 26 Yoktan fathered Almodad, Shelef, Hatzar-Mavet, Yerach, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 ‘Oval, Avima’el, Sheva, 29 Ofir, Havilah and Yovav—all these were the sons of Yoktan. 30 Their territory stretched from Mesha, as you go toward S’far, to the mountain in the east. 31 These were the descendants of Shem, according to their families and languages, in their lands and in their nations. 32 These were the families of the sons of Noach, according to their generations, in their nations. From these the nations of the earth were divided up after the flood.

What you first get are seven sons of Japheth.

That's interesting. I wonder if he had any more. Well, if somebody was one to selectively create the number of seven, you would never know, would you?

Three sons of the first born Gomer, Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah and we're going to do four sons of the fourth check him. Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, Dodanim.

7

verse 5 - From these separated the islands of the nations in their lands, each into their language, into their families and by their nations.

How many nations separated out from this list of seven plus seven? I'm given a list of seven plus seven, and then I'm told the nations from this part of the map spread out.

So in other words, there's more nations than these seven and seven names. There's, as the author selectively making a point by these patterns of seven. Seven's a number that spells with the same letter complete in Hebrew. So seven becomes an icon, a literary design icon for completeness.

So when we're talking about Magog and Meshak and so on, what we're talking about is what's modern day Turkey in the Roman period this is Asia minor. This is where almost entirely where Paul's church planting efforts took place, that's interesting.

Tarshish, no one really knows where Tarshish is, but it's somewhere past the boot of Italy. Believed to be Spain. I’ll Comeback to that like I said earlier

What's interesting so it's mostly north and west. What we would call, you know, Asia minor and Eastern Europe.

The one outlier is up here by the Caspian sea, Ashkanaz and Madai, which is associated with Armenia and then the Madai are kind of the parallel face of the kingdom of Persia.

The kingdom of Persia, so that's this whole family here.

Can I think of a moment where Persia is going to play an important point in the story of the Bible? Oh yeah, it's the empire after Babylon that allows the exiles to go back home.

It's a Madai, a descendant of Madai who bank rolls the rebuilding of the second temple in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Let him dwell in the tent of Shem. Is what it said?

Genesis 10:6–20 CSB

6 Ham’s sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7 Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be powerful in the land. 9 He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord.” 10 His kingdom started with Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, 12 and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah. 13 Mizraim fathered the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh, 14 Pathrus, Casluh (the Philistines came from them), and Caphtor. 15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 as well as the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the Canaanite clans scattered. 19 The Canaanite border went from Sidon going toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and going toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha. 20 These are Ham’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.

The sons of Ham.

Four sons of Ham, Cush, Egypt (Mizraim). So Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.

Seven sons and grandsons of Cush so here we go. We're very selectively doing the grandson list and once again, seven.

Cush = Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Ra'amah, Sabtekah, five from Cush and then two from Ra'amah that is grandsons of Cush. Sheba and Dedan.

At this point, we're replaying the same seven sons of Japheth, seven grandsons. We get four sons of Ham, seven sons and grandsons of Cush.

What you're expecting is another list of seven something like this instead what you get is a narrative.

That sticks out like a sore thumb.

Cush also had another child

10:8-9: Cush bore Nimrod [ דרמנ = “we will rebel”], he began ( לחה ) to be a mighty warrior ( רובג ) in the land. He was a mighty warrior hunter ( דיצ־רבג ) before Yahweh, therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty warrior hunter ( דיצ־רבג ) before Yahweh

Nimrod is the Hebrew word, "we will rebel." In other words, the letters of his name in Hebrew, say we will rebel.

It's also the name him of an ancient Mesopotamian city With Nimrod, which in Acadian the other Semitic language doesn't mean we will rebel. So in other words, the name has been spelled in Hebrew precisely to Lampoon it as we will rebel.

Now he began to be a Gibeon.

He's a Gibeon. He was a Gibeonite, a mighty warrior hunter so not just a Gibeon who slays humans, he slays animals. Do you remember Gilgamesh? Gilgamesh, that statue, the animal slayer?

He was mighty before Yahweh, therefore people loved to repeat his name.

And what do you remember about the Giborim? You remember that little section in chapter six, verse four, the Nephilim, these are the Giborim, the men of the name.

The men who right? They perpetuate their name through violet conquest and hunting and so on.

You know, what's interesting is that the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon.

Genesis 10:8, the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, Babel, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh.

These all play a key role in the rise of the Babylonian industrial complex and these are all Mesopotamian cities down, you know, in that Nile Delta, the Euphrates Delta area. And in the Plains of Shinar. There's 'cause where's a story gonna take place in Shinar, like in just a couple paragraphs.

You know what's interesting is that Nimrod also then went across up to the Tigres and he's responsible for founding Assyria.

And he built Nineveh, Rehoboath Ir, Calah, Resen, it's between Nineveh and Calah, the great city.

Babylon and Assyria.

These are the two empires that will chop the family, the monarchies of Israel in half. Taking the Northern tribes into exile. Assyria taking Judah and Babylon.

So why is, am I being given this information? It's now we have little sub teams here with on the

And then this is gonna populate a whole list of characters that will appear in the stories, in the stories to follow and Nineveh the, Nineveh among this complex of Assyrian city is called the great city.

Nineveh that great city, anybody?

Jonah 1:1–2 CSB

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.”

Jonah The opening lines of Jonah.the word of Yahweh came to Jonah son of Amattai. Go to Nineveh, that great city. Do you wanna know how many times Nineveh's called that great city? Two times.

This is a perfect example of Surprises. Jona is a Shemite, The Ninevehites are from Ham.

But in this story the Shemite is the one who is slow to forgive and almost the bad guy of the story, where the one who is quick to repent and experiences God's mercy and blessing, The Hamite.

So the whole book of Jonah is doing that subversion.

Jonah is the snake in the story and they are they are the ones who are a seed of the woman, at least in this book. This is the perfect example of that swapping, this messing with your categories of who's good and who's bad.

Then the genealogy just goes on

We get seven sons of Mitzraim plus one from Mitzraim or Egypt come the Ludim and the Ahamim and the Lebabim and the Naphtulim and the Patrusim and the Kasluhim. Oh, and then we're told almost in parenthesis it's marked. From there came the Philistines and then the Kaphtorim.

So even though the Philistines are not technically from this lineage. They, you could say immigrated into the region and became associated with, hmm, I wonder if the Philistines have any role to play. Yeah, so the Philistines were wearing the H team.

And then Canaan has how many sons?

12.

That's so interesting that the 12 sons of Canaan will become the arch rivals of the 12 sons of Jacob. Yeah, in the land that's interesting.

The Sidon and Heth and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite and the Arvadite, Tsemarite, Hamathite and the Caananite.

Just in case the borders of the land of Canaan are gonna be important to anybody later on in the story. Maybe I'll just tell you them right now.

The borders of Canaan. This the land of Canaan.So later the Canaanite night clans scattered and the borders of Canaan reached from, and if you get outta map, you're just doing a counterclockwise circle around the borders of the promised land from Sidon toward Gerar, Gaza, Sodom and Gomorrah.

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

Let me show you the map.

So the H team is mostly in this region of Canaan.

A couple are up north here in what today we would called Lebanon and then down here, and then there's a little red box for these are the 12 Canaanite tribes.

One of, you know, one of them is Mitzraim which is the standard word for Egypt and what yeah. , Cush is the upper Nile and the Potro sea. These are two tribes associated with the upper Nile or Southern Egypt, which is also called by Ethiopia essentially.

But then Put, Lehathim we're talking about all of these Northern African tribes here, but then also look, there's a whole representation of Arabic tribes of the nomadic migrating shepherd tribes, Sheba, Ra'amar, Sabtah and so on and isn't it interesting these are precisely the regions that Ishmael and Edom, and the descendants of Abraham's other wife after Sarah, they're all gonna settle in this land.

So this is what you call it, it's symbolic, ethno-geography.

“The Table of Nations is a form of symbolic ethnogeography. The Table identifies groups of people by their ancestors and their character traits, only to problematize those clear-cut categories later.” - Tim Mackie The Bible Project

Genesis 10:21–25 CSB

21 And Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber. 22 Shem’s sons were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23 Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. 25 Eber had two sons. One was named Peleg, for during his days the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

Shem.

Hmm, we get the introduction to Shem here in verse 21.

Verse 21, sons were also born to Shem, you know, he wasn't the oldest brother.

Rival young girl and older, anybody? So it isn't interesting that that's the younger one who becomes associated with Yahweh, Shem, 'cause Japheth.

Sons were born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth and Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber. This is the origin of the word Hebrew. The E-B and the R is the root, those root letters of the word Hebrew, put a H on the beginning and an EW on the end and you have Hebrew.

So all the sons of Eber.

Now, Eber's not gonna appear till down here.

So somebody really wants to highlight that some, the line of Shem specifically aligned with his descendant later on Eber.

To be continued.

So let's go to the sons of Shem.

Elam, ah, Shems 12 sons and grandsons up to Peleg.

Elam, Assur, Arphachshad, Lud, Aram.

The sons of Aram, Uz, Hul.

There was a man who lived in the land of Uz.

Job.

Hul, Gether, Mash. The sons of Arphachshad, Shelah, Eber.

The sons of Eber, Peleg and Joktan. Something happens once you get to Eber.

Notice when we name Shem, we noticed a guy named Hebrew and Hebrew has two sons and there's a little narrative here.

Two sons were born to Hebrew, one was named division Peleg. Peleg is the word for division, why? Because in his day the land was peleged. It's a verb.

Now his brother's name was Joktan. So we just said there's some division that happens in the generation of Peleg. The land was peleged and there was two sons Peleg and Joktan, and where does the genealogy go from here? Which brother does it follow? Joktan

Okay, so do you see, we're gonna leave this hanging but not forever we're gonna pick it up right after the scattering of Babylon.

So there's two sons of Hebrew, one leads to Babylon. One's going to lead to Abraham. Yeah, so this, even within the chosen line, there's subdividing going on here. This one leads to Babylon, one ...

Joktan has his sons, Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Yarach, Hadoram, Uzzal, Diqlah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, Yobab which actually looks like one letter different than Job's name, but I've always wondered if there's something there

The region where they all lived.

The region where all of those from Joktan live is stretches from Mesha to Sephar, you know, way out in the east. Where did Adam and Eve go when they were exiled from the garden? To the east. Where did Cain go when he was exiled? To the east. Where did the east people go when they're exiled? Or when, just where do they go live? To the east.

Genesis 11:1–2 CSB

1 The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. 2 As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Look at the very next story.

When everybody goes to build Babylon, where do they go? They go to the east. So it's this, it's not so much a geographical map as a mental map. When people go east of Eden, It all becomes a symbolic kind of place where rebellion happens. Cain, Adam and Eve, Cain.

I wonder what's gonna happen with all of these descendants of Joktan. Well, is it interesting they end up in the same place as the people of Shinar and they're gonna be associated with Babylon.

Curse of Canaan

Okay so now let's plug this into Noah's poem. Shall we?

Look at the Document https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SHpv3IrBu_MSEVvPgzrJ5U0iQvkpVEA77X-77zbzwJ0/edit?usp=sharing

Let's go back to Noah's words here.

So cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants. So then again, Ham is not cursed. The fourth son of Ham is set in the curse here and who are all these going to be? Well, if I go to Genesis 10, Sidon.

I won't work through this whole list, but just, it's a little map where I went through and every time that Sidon appears in the rest of the Hebrew Bible. Sometimes they're really nice to the Hebrews, sometimes they're really hostile, sometimes they introduce foreign gods and in the end they become slaves to Babylon and to Assyria.

The Hittites, Heth, the Hittites, the Heth is the Hittites.

The Jebusites. The name of Jerusalem before it becomes an Israelite city, it goes by two names before it.

One is Jebus when David conquers the city, it's called Jebus and it's run by Canaanites. But there's one time that Abraham ends up there and it's not named Yebus it's named Shalem or Salem and who, who's hanging out there?

You can go down the list here. All of these 12 sons of Canaan are gonna have complicated relationships to the line of Shem and it was interesting exercise because, but it's never monolithic.

Each generation of even these subtribes of Canaan have their own relationships and make their own good decisions or poor ones just kinda like humans do.

“[T]he Canaanites are notorious throughout the Old Testament for their aberrant sexual practices, and Levitcus 18:3 links both Egypt and Canaan as peoples whose habits are abominable: ‘You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt ... and ... as they do in the land of Canaan.’ Ham’s indiscretion towards his father may easily be seen as a type of the later behavior of the Egyptians and Canaanites. Noah’s curse on Canaan thus represents God’s sentence on the sins of the Canaanites, which their forefather Ham had exemplified.” Wenham, Gordon J. (1987). Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 1: Genesis 1-15. Thomas Nelson. 201.

However, not all Hamites or Canaanites will repeat the sins of their ancestors; many will turn and give their allegiance to Yahweh, like Tamar, Rahab, and the Hivite-Gibeonites. And some apparently never gave up the worship of Yaweh, like Melchizedek in Genesis 14.

Is this a declarative curse or a request of the righteous before God?

“Is Noah praying and wishing that Canaan will be cursed, or is Canaan cursed because Noah has pronounced the anathema? Does ... [he] mean ‘Cursed be Canaan’ or ‘Cursed is Canaan’? Now, there is no doubt that ‘cursed,’ when spoken by God, is declarative ... (Gen. 3:14, 17-19; 4:11). But does ‘cursed’ have one nuance in the divine mouth and another nuance in the human mouth? Here the optative thrust [= petition to God] seems preferable, for ‘cursed,’ a passive participle, is followed by four jussive requests (‘may he be ...,’ vv. 26-27; ‘may he enlarge,’ v. 27, and probably ‘may he dwell,’ v. 27). That Noah appeals to God in v. 27 also lifts the words of Noah out of the area of potent magic and into the realm of request.” Hamilton, Victor P. (1990). The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17. Eerdmans. 324.

Blessing for Yahweh of SHem

Interestingly, in contrast to Canaan’s curse, Shem is not blessed himself. Rather, Yahweh is blessed and identified as the deity of Shem. Yahweh’s covenant name is entrusted to Shem alone among the brothers; this is a subtle hint that it will be Shem’s lineage that carries forward the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15, 4:26).

“This is then the first intimation that the line of God’s election blessing is going through Shem (cf. 4:26). The phrase ‘the Lord, the God of Shem,’ indeed anticipates many similar expressions in later texts, e.g., ‘the Lord, the God of Abraham’ [your fathers, Israel, etc.] (24:27; Exod 3:15, 32:27, 34:23).” Wenham, Gordon J. (1987). Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 1: Genesis 1-15. Thomas Nelson. 202.

Canaan’s subjugation to Shem points forward to the narrative fulfillment in the period of Joshua (kind of). While the Israelites will make some descendants of Ham their slaves (the Canaanites), there will be many sons of Ham who in fact make slaves out of the sons of Shem and Ham: Egypt, Assyria, and most notably, Babylon.

The book of Joshua, what is the book of Joshua except in outworking of Noah's words. So about the line of Shem with Yahweh that is Abraham's descendants going into the land of Canaan and then these Canaanites repeat the sins of Ham and are this cultural religious threat to them being faithful to the covenant and so there's subjugation.

A Future for Japheth ... and Shem ... and Canaan

Japheth.

What we're told is that Japheth's going to get really big and then dwell in the tents of Shem.

Noah’s words for Japheth ( תפי ) play on his name in Hebrew, Yephet ( תפי ). The name comes from the root patah = “to make large.” Noah anticipates that Japheth’s territory will be expanded in the future.

The enlarging of Japheth invites the reader to study the list of Japheth’s descendants in Genesis 10:2-5.

Genesis 10:2–5 CSB

2 Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 And Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these descendants, the peoples of the coasts and islands spread out into their lands according to their clans in their nations, each with its own language.

Here we find tribes and nations that mostly make up ancient Anatolia (Roman Asia Minor, modern Turkey) and Greece. Noah anticipates that these tribes and nations will enlarge their territory and make their way into the territory of Shem.

“May he dwell in the tents of Shem” could be interpreted in two different ways.

“To displace, to disinherit”

There are some contexts where one group “dwelling in the tent” of another is the result of conflict and dispossession.

Psalm 78:55 NASB95

55 He also drove out the nations before them And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

1 Chronicles 5:10 NASB95

10 In the days of Saul they made war with the Hagrites, who fell by their hand, so that they occupied their tents throughout all the land east of Gilead.

On this reading, Noah’s words anticipate a future conflict between all of his children where Japheth dispossess Shem from his tent and makes Canaan his slave. Many texts throughout the Hebrew Bible activate this meaning. For example, this meaning is possible when the nations at war with Israel are from Japheth, or when a future conflict is anticipated between Israel and the nations.

So what you should do then is go look back at that list.

These descendants of Japheth and say, am I, are there, is there anybody in that list that's gonna end up hostile too into the line of Shem.

In Genesis 14, five kings of the east (two from Ham and two from Japheth) come to enslave four rebellious kings of Canaan. In the conflict, Lot, a descendant of Shem, is taken captive. Abram, a son of Shem, and two Canaanite allies defeat the five kings and restore the captives.

Abraham gonna get 318 buddies and perform a gorilla raid in the middle of the night to rescue Lot and then come back and run through Salem and meet a Canaanite and just guess what that Canaanite gonna say?

That Canaanite priest Melchizedek says to Abram, "Blessed be Abram by God most high, creator of heaven and earth praise be to God most high, who delivered your enemies into your hand. So this Canaanite who's the priest of Yahw... God can see this conflict between Shem and Japheth.

The pagan prophet Balaam speaks about the future conflict between Noah’s sons (Num. 24:23-24). He speaks of a descendant of Japheth, the Kittim, who will come to oppress Asshur (from Ham and Shem) and Eber (from Shem).

This conflict is expanded and developed in Daniel 7-12 in the sequence of empires leading up to the final beast and horn that will displace the sons of Ham (Assyria and Babylon) and Shem (the Israelites) in terms of political power in the land promised to Abraham.

Noah’s blessing on Japheth and its relation to the table of nations in Genesis 10 is also behind Ezekiel’s fascinating oracle about Gog of Magog. Magog is a seed of Japheth and rules over his brothers Meshek and Tubal. He also brings the sons of Ham (Cush and Put) and non-Israelite sons of Shem (Persia/Elam) as mercenaries in his war with Israel after its restoration from exile. Ezekiel brings together the common Day of Yahweh motif where Yahweh destroys the seed of the serpent from among the nations (see Isa. 13-14; Joel 3-4; Zech. 14).

Ezekiel 38:2 CSB

2 “Son of man, face Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him

Ezekiel anticipates that after the Israelites come back from exile, there's still gonna be one final showdown where rebellious empires are going to like Babylon and Assyria rise up and trying to work towards God's purposes and the name of this bad guy is Gog from the land of Magog.

People have all kinds of theories.

One main view is to look where else in the Hebrew Bible does the word Magog appear?

Well, it appears in one other place. That's kind of interesting.

Genesis 10:2 CSB

2 Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

It's in Genesis 10 and it's in the list of Japheth sons of Japheth, Magog.

So here in Ezekiel's view, Noah on this view is getting a prophetic glance into this final, this conflict between the brothers that started with Cain and Abel is just this theme. A generational theme of brothers trying to disinherit and dispossess each other, kill each other. and then once you get to Rachel and Leah, it's clear that it includes sisters too and so now it's just brothers and sisters and conflict all the way through. And so it seems like what Ezekiel was doing is projecting wide this conflict that's been at work ever since Genesis one through 11.

“To live together with”

However, if you search on that phrase to live in the tents of, there are also places where it means to join somebody for the party and to be at peace with them so that the phrase can mean two meanings, depending on the context to take them over or to come hang out with.

Psalm 15:1 NIV

1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?

Like with Yahweh, who can dwell in your tent with you. Clearly doesn't mean take you, take over. It means like become a covenant partner.

Job 11:14–15 CSB

14 if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it, and don’t allow injustice to dwell in your tents— 15 then you will hold your head high, free from fault. You will be firmly established and unafraid.

Job, Job's friends rather said when they accuse him, they say that Ra has come to dwell in his tent, because namely you've sinned surely 'cause look at this terrible stuff that happens to you. So Ra has become your friend. He's come to join you in your tent.

Psalm 120:5 NIV

5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!

There's in Psalm 120, to live in the tent of the people of the east means that you are forced to live with them now. This poet doesn't want to, but he finds himself forced to do.

So can I think of any stories where or passages in the Bible where I get depictions about the nations coming together, especially nations to come dwell in the tents of Shem, because whose tents are Shem's really?

Blessed be Yahweh the God of Shem and all of a sudden an idea like what God says to Abraham, "I'm going to bless you so that all the families of the earth will be blessed through you." That is your tent.

On this reading, Noah’s words anticipate a day when all of his sons will live together in peace so that the “nations” (sons of Japheth) would be incorporated into the “tents of Shem,” that is, experience Yahweh’s covenant blessings.

Genesis 12:1-3, 17:3-8, and 22:15-18 all point to this incorporation of the nations into the blessing of Abraham’s family.

Isaiah 2:1-4 and chapter 60 depict this gathering of the nations to live in the new Jerusalem and experience its abundance.

Zechariah 2:10-13 and 8:23 depict this same inclusion of the nations in the post-exile restoration of God’s covenant people.

Isaiah 2:2–4 NIV

2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

The book of Isaiah loves this idea.

Look at Isaiah chapter two, in the end of days, when Yahweh has completed his work among the nations, the mountain of Yahwehs house, his temple will be established up as the highest, then come on now, the highest place exalted above the hills and you remember how in Genesis two, that one river went out to water all the nations?

Now here, all of the nations will become a river going up. Come on, that's good. That's a good one. All these people will come and say, well, let's go up to the mountain of Yahweh to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us Torah. He'll teach us, we'll walk in his paths. The Torah will go out from Zion. The word of Yahweh from Jeru, this famous poem, isn't it? Yahweh will bring justice to the nations. AK47s turned into combine harvesters. Yeah. Spears into pruning hooks. No more war.

I think what's happened is that this little line to dwell in the tents of Shem is intentionally has two meanings, because both of those meanings are going to take place. The conflict between the brothers, but then also the ultimate reconciliation of all of these brothers. Does that make...

The, a creative author can word things to open up possibilities and so it's as if what Noah maybe perhaps meant in a negative sense happens, but Yahwehs purpose for the reconciliation of the brothers is what ultimately will happen. These passages are all over the prophets, this vision of all of the Shemites and the Japhetites even the Canaanites coming together, is the great hope of the prophets and so Noah becomes this image of a new Adam.

Imagine the day when all of his sons are at peace, that would be quite a day and that's exactly the day that that Isaiah's depicting.

Noah’s words invite us to ponder this portrait of the future of nations, using the patterns of Genesis 1-11 to anticipate just where the story is going. The table of nations, then, becomes a palette of future hope. The stories to follow, from Genesis 11 to the end of 2 Kings, all work out the programmatic poems in Genesis 3:1415 and 9:25-27. There will be hostility between the seed of the woman and the seed of the snake.

When the nations are at war, they are giving into the power of the snake that is luring them into jealous and angry violence (see “Gog of Magog” in Ezek. 38-39).

When the nations become a “tent of Yahweh,” then humanity will see that they are brothers who can live together in peace (Ps. 133; Isa. 2:1-4).

Seventy Nations From Separating Brothers

“The peoples listed amount precisely to seventy, excluding Nimrod, who is an individual. There are fourteen Japhethites, thirty Hamites, and twenty-six Shemites. The figure seventy, even if not explicitly given, can hardly be fortuitous. The mere recognition in verse 5 of the existence of additional, unnamed ‘maritime nations’ lends added significance to the enumeration as being deliberately chosen. In the biblical world the number seventy is ‘typological’; that is, it is used for rhetorical effect to evoke the idea of totality, of comprehensiveness on a large scale, as opposed to the use of seven on a smaller scale. Thus, according to Genesis 46:27, the entire household of Jacob that went down to Egypt comprised seventy souls. The representative body of the entire community of Israel in the wilderness consisted of seventy elders, as recorded in Exodus 24:9 and Numbers 11:24; and the prophet Ezekiel, in 8:11, uses the same figure at the end of the period of the monarchy. ... In light of this convention, one may safely assume that making the offspring of Noah’s sons total seventy is a literary device to convey the notion of the totality of the human race. The same device is employed in rabbinic literature, where the phrases ‘seventy peoples’ or ‘seventy languages’ express humanity in its entirety. This device affords an insight into a major function of the Table, a document thus far unparalleled in the ancient world. This strangely perplexing miscellany of peoples, tribes, and places is no mere academic or scholastic exercise. It affirms, first of all, the common origin and absolute unity of humankind after the Flood. It also ... asserts that the varied ways that humans divide themselves are all secondary to the essential unity of the international community, which truly constitutes a family of man.” Adapted from Sarna, Nahum M. (2001). Genesis, The JPS Torah Commentary. Jewish Publication Society. 69.

“After the genealogy of the sons of Japheth, the oldest of the sons of Noah, the Bible gives us the pedigree of the sons of Ham, the third son, in order to leave to the end—as the climax—Shem, who, although the middle one in order of birth, was the most important of them, since he was the primogenitor of the people of Israel. The Torah first completes the genealogy of Japheth and Ham so as to dispose of the subject and avoid the need to revert to it later; whereas the account of Shem‘s offspring, who are central to the narrative, will continue in the subsequent chapters. In accordance with this principle, the descendants of Ishmael are listed first (25:12-18), so that the Bible may proceed afterwards to the history of Isaac‘s children, who are the more important (25:19 ff.); similarly the roll of Esau‘s sons (chapter 36) precedes that of Jacob (37:2 ff.).” Cassuto, Umberto (2012). From Noah to Abraham: A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part Two. Varda Books. 198.

Future Hope: The Brothers Come Together in Peace

Acts 2:1–13 CSB

1 When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. 3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.” 12 They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.”

As we read this the part that is easy for us to skip is the list of nations.

Return to the table of nations in Genesis 10 and 11. THis is the known world in the OT. There is no reference in it or anywhere else to locations like China, South America, North America, Australia. From Eastern Mesopotamia to Tarshish, the most western point. everything else was a complete mystery to Biblical writers.

Acts 2 is not merely a rehashing of all the names in Genesis 10 many names are different. but as you look up each location they line up Geographically.

9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those residing in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and the Romans who were in town, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs (Acts 2:9–11).

The list begins with “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those residing in Mesopotamia” (2:9). Jewish literature from the intertestamental period tells us that there was a Jewish population in Parthia (=Persia) at this time (1 Macc 15:15–22). These were Jews who had migrated to Persia after choosing not to return to Jerusalem after the end of the exile.

The Medes are known from the Old Testament in connection with where the ten northern tribes of Israel had been deported by the Assyrians (2 Kgs 17:6; 18:11). Persians (Parthians) and Medes are mentioned together in the Old Testament (Esth 1:19; Dan 5:28; 6:8, 12, 15), and the kings of Media are mentioned with the Elamites as well (Jer 25:25).

The list in Acts, then, begins at the farthest points east where there were Jewish populations, then progresses westward.

After moving westward through Mesopotamia, the list naturally splits into southern and northern directions, following the land as it forks at the Mediterranean Sea.

The southern fork extends through Judea and Arabia. The island of Crete is also mentioned. Paul took the gospel to both places (Titus 1:5; Gal 1:15–17). For the most part, Paul’s missionary journeys followed the north fork through Asia Minor and Greece. But there were people at Pentecost from the nations of the south fork. We know the gospel followed the Nile down into Ethiopia (Acts 8:26–40) and bore fruit in Cyrene (Acts 11:20; 13:1).

The list keeps moving westward to Rome. By starting in the east, where there were Jewish populations because of the exile, and moving west, the Pentecost list confirms God’s evangelism strategy articulated by Paul, who said that the gospel was for the Jew first, and then the Gentile (Rom 1:16). Three thousand Jews came to believe in Jesus as a result of the events at Pentecost (Acts 2:41), and those three thousand Jewish converts went back to their homelands after the Pentecost pilgrimage. These new disciples were the seeds of the gospel, Yahweh’s plan to reclaim the nations.

The book of Acts ends with Rome, the destination of the imprisoned Paul on his way to appeal to Caesar. Luke’s account therefore has Rome as its westernmost progression. But reversing the disinheritance of the nations required going farther than Rome.

The most westerly point in the Table of Nations was Tarshish.

Paul particularly made the territory of Yaphet his mission, And his goal was to make it to Tarshish.

He calls it Spain.

There's a number of Pauline scholars who think that Genesis 10 gave Paul his missionary strategy, so that Yaphet may dwell in the tents of Shem.

Romans 15 CSB

1 Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. 2 Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. 4 For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. 5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice. 7 Therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed you, to the glory of God. 8 For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers, 9 and so that Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to your name. 10 Again it says, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people! 11 And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples praise him! 12 And again, Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will appear, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; the Gentiles will hope in him. 13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 14 My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. 15 Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. God’s purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God. 18 For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles, 19 by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. 20 My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation, 21 but, as it is written, Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand. 22 That is why I have been prevented many times from coming to you. 23 But now I no longer have any work to do in these regions, and I have strongly desired for many years to come to you 24 whenever I travel to Spain. For I hope to see you when I pass through and to be assisted by you for my journey there, once I have first enjoyed your company for a while. 25 Right now I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints, 26 because Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 Yes, they were pleased, and indeed are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual benefits, then they are obligated to minister to them in material needs. 28 So when I have finished this and safely delivered the funds to them, I will visit you on the way to Spain. 29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. 30 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayers to God on my behalf. 31 Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 and that, by God’s will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you. 33 May the God of peace be with all of you. Amen.

And when Paul, the apostle, wants to give a rationale, a scriptural rationale for why he's doing what he's doing, he brings together in a beautiful collection quotations from the Torah, the former prophets, the latter prophets and the Ketuvim, it's in Romans 15. He quotes from a line from second Samuel 22.

He quotes from Deuteronomy. He quotes from the Psalms and then he quotes from Isaiah 11

Isaiah 66:15–23 CSB

15 Look, the Lord will come with fire— his chariots are like the whirlwind— to execute his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For the Lord will execute judgment on all humanity with his fiery sword, and many will be slain by the Lord. 17 “Those who dedicate and purify themselves to enter the groves following their leader, eating meat from pigs, vermin, and rats, will perish together.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 18 “Knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages; they will come and see my glory. 19 I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan, and the coasts and islands far away—who have not heard about me or seen my glory. And they will proclaim my glory among the nations. 20 They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,” says the Lord. 22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me”— this is the Lord’s declaration— “so your offspring and your name will remain. 23 All humanity will come to worship me from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another,” says the Lord.

Chart Taken from The Unseen Realm by Michael Hiesler

Why did Paul want to get to Spain (Tarshish)? Paul saw his ministry as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 66, where Yahweh would take people from all nations to be his children. Paul believed he was the instrument to bring in the “full number of the Gentiles” that would result in all true Israelites—those who believe in Jesus—being saved (Rom 11:25–27). Tarshish is listed in Isaiah 66, but was not represented in the names at Pentecost. The farthest point west in the Pentecost list is Rome (Acts 2:10). Paul knew that Spain (Tarshish) was part of the mission of Isaiah 66. He needed Spain so that his “offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:16).

And so it was that a room full of Jews, commissioned directly by the Spirit, went out and began the process by which the disinherited nations would be brought back into Yahweh’s family. Pentecost marked the beginning of an unstoppable march across the known world—and our world, a world they didn’t know—that would culminate in a global Eden.

Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 305–306.

Bibliography

https://bibleproject.com/classroom/noah-to-abraham

Smith, George (1873). The Chaldean Account of the Deluge (2). Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. 213-34.

Wenham, Gordon J. Genesis 1-15: word Biblical Commentary, Volume 1. Word Publishing, 1987.

https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/8867/who-were-the-sons-of-god-bene-elohim-in-genesis-62

Heiser, Michael (2017). Reversing Hermon: Enoch, The Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ. Defender.

Annus, Amar (2010). “On the Origin of Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions." Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, Volume 19.4. 277-320.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jan/01/noahs-ark-was-circular

Tremper Longman III, John H. Walton, et al. The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate

Gilgamesh subduing a lion, Louvre museum Darafsh [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. First Edition. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015.

Bible Study

Here's a 3-day Bible study plan to complement your lesson on "Blessing and Cursing Noah’s Sons." Each day focuses on a specific theme drawn from the lesson to help participants engage with the text and its implications.

Day 1: Understanding the Blessing and Curse

Focus Passage: Genesis 9:18-29 Key Points:

Explore Noah's poem and its implications for Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Note the distinction: Yahweh is blessed, not Shem directly. What does this say about Shem’s relationship to Yahweh? Discuss Canaan’s curse and its significance within the family structure.

Reflection Questions:

What does Noah’s blessing of Yahweh rather than Shem reveal about the nature of blessings in the Bible? How does the curse on Canaan shape our understanding of future narratives involving his descendants? Why is it important to recognize the roles of individual descendants rather than entire lineages?

Prayer Focus: Ask for wisdom to see God’s hand in blessings and trials and to trust His purposes.

Day 2: The Table of Nations and God’s Sovereignty

Focus Passage: Genesis 10 Key Points:

Highlight the symbolic ethnogeography in the Table of Nations. Examine the selective use of the number seven in the genealogy. Reflect on the connection between Japheth, Shem, and Canaan, especially the phrase “dwell in the tents of Shem.”

Reflection Questions:

How does the structure of the Table of Nations show God's sovereignty over history? What does the recurring use of the number seven teach us about God's order and completeness? How can Japheth’s dwelling in the tents of Shem point forward to God’s redemptive plan?

Prayer Focus: Praise God for His sovereignty over history and the unity He brings through His plan.

Day 3: Surprises in the Narrative

Focus Passage: Genesis 10:8-12, Genesis 11:1-9 Key Points:

Examine Nimrod's role as a “mighty warrior” and his connection to Babylon and Assyria. Discuss how descendants who seem cursed (e.g., Assyria funding the second temple) play a role in God’s plan. Reflect on the interplay of blessing and curse in subsequent biblical narratives.

Reflection Questions:

How does Nimrod’s legacy as a rebel contrast with God’s purposes for humanity? In what ways do we see God using unexpected people or nations for His purposes? How does this section challenge our assumptions about who is “in” or “out” of God’s blessing?

Prayer Focus: Pray for humility to see God working through unexpected circumstances and people.

This study will guide participants through key aspects of your teaching, providing reflection and discussion points to deepen their understanding of the text and its theological significance.