Genesis 10.6-12-The Sons of Ham and Nimrod
Thursday October 6, 2005
Genesis: Genesis 10:6-12-The Sons of Ham and Nimrod
Lesson # 40
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 10:6.
This evening we will continue with our study of the genealogy that appears in Genesis 10, which theologians call, “the Table of Nations.”
The “Table” represents God’s concern for all people and all nations and not just Israel, which is understood by the omission of Israel from this “Table” and emphasizes that God, is the God of the Gentiles by omitting Israel.
The Table of Nations was written for the benefit of Israel who according to the Word of God would be the medium to bring blessing to the world.
It was necessary for Israel to understand the source from which the various nations that surrounded her originated in order that she might have an insight into their character by which to guide her attitude and conduct toward them.
The Table of Nations presents a background of world history for the call of Abraham and in fact, out of concern for the salvation of the nations, God calls Abraham and his posterity.
The genealogy of Genesis 10 is “segmented” meaning it displays depth and breadth of the relations between the nations tracing their lineage back to a common ancestor, namely, Noah’s three sons.
The Table of Nations genealogy expresses the kinship and distinctions between Israel and the nations where she emerges from them and is destined to bring blessing to them through the Messiah.
The Table of Nations genealogy is “linear” meaning it establishes continuity over stretches of time without narrative to demonstrate the legitimacy of Noah’s son Shem as the one whom the promised “Seed” Jesus Christ will come.
Seventy nations are presented in the Table of Nations: Fourteen from Japheth, thirty from Ham, and twenty-six from Shem.
The Table of Nations is “selective” and “not exhaustive” since it is arranged to give most attention to those nations with whom the nation of Israel would have most contact.
Thus, the descendants of Japheth are given in Genesis 10:2-5 followed by the descendants of Ham are given with special attention to the Canaanites in Genesis 10:6-20 and lastly, the descendants of Shem are given in Genesis 10:21-31, which includes the Israelites.
Each section concludes with a formula summarizing the preceding narrative in terms of “families” (genealogy), “languages” (linguistics), “lands” (territories), and “nations” (politics).
On Wednesday evening, we studied the sons of Japheth in Genesis 10:2-5 and this evening we will study the sons of Ham in Genesis 10:6-12 and in particular Ham’s most famous or should I say “infamous” son, namely, Nimrod.
The earliest imperial world power originated from the Hamitic line, that being Babylon under Nimrod and later in such capitals of empire as Asshur and Nineveh on the Tigris River and Egypt on the Nile.
Genesis 10:6, “The sons of Ham (“hot, burnt, dark, warm, passionate”) were Cush (“black”) and Mizraim (miz’ra-im) (“double straits”) and Put (“a bow”) and Canaan (“belonging to the land of red purple”).”
The descendants of “Cush” were originally connected to Babylonia since it was equated with ancient city-kingdom of Kish in lower Babylonia where emperors of the 3rd millennium B.C. took their title as “kings of the world” (W.F. Albright, “Recent Discoveries in Bible Lands,” in Young’s Analytical Concordance, page 32, cited by Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, page 48).
The descendants of “Cush” include: Ethiopians, Sudanese, Africans, Bushmen, Pygmies, Australian Aborigines and New Guineans.
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“Mizraim” is the ancestor of the ancient Egyptians and is the customary name for Egypt in the Bible, which is also called “the land of Ham” in Psalm 104:23, suggesting that Ham accompanied his son Mizraim in the original settlement of the Nile Valley (see Psalm 78:51).
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The inscriptions of the Persian king Darius I the Great (522-486 B.C.) state that “Put” is located in Cyrenaica in North Africa, west of Egypt, which would put in modern day Libya and Josephus confirms this identification.
The descendants of “Put” include: Libyans, Tunisians, Somalians and North Africans.
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“Canaan” is the grandson of Noah who was cursed by his grandfather and his descendants were called the “Canaanites” who lived in the land west of the Jordan River before the conquest of Joshua (Gen. 13:12; Num. 33:51).
The descendants of “Canaan” include: Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, Asians, Malaysians, American Indians, Eskimos, Polynesians, Pacific Islanders.
Genesis 10:7, “The sons of Cush were Seba (“drink up”) and Havilah (“anguish, pain”) and Sabtah (sab’ta) (“he compassed the mark”) and Raamah (“thunder”) and Sabteca (sab’te-ka) (“striking”); and the sons of Raamah were Sheba (“seven or an oath”) and Dedan (de’dan) (“low country”).”
“Seba” founded the nation that was known to later history as the Sabaeans who lived in Southern Arabia in the region of Yemen and across the Red Sea in Ethiopia.
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“Havilah” is the progenitor of the Hamitic tribe of Havilah, his descendants settled on the east coast of Arabia overlooking the Persian Gulf.
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The descendants of “Sabtah” settled on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula.
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“Raamah” settled in southern Arabia and is specifically mentioned as the father of “Sheba” and “Dedan” and he is the only one of the sons of Cush whose own sons’ names are listed since they were famous in their day, which is reflected in the fact that two of Abraham’s grandsons through Keturah were apparently named after them.
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“Sabteca” appeared to have settled in south Arabia, which is today called “Yemen” and this indicated by Josephus who called them the “Sabactens.”
“Sheba” was in southwest Arabia in what is now part of Yemen and was once famed as the Land of Spices whose land was extremely fertile, being watered by ingenious irrigation systems that were controlled by a vast dam that once spanned the river Adhanat.
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“Dedan” was also located in Arabia near Edom according to Isaiah 21:13, Jeremiah 25:23, 49:8 and Ezekiel 25:13 and was associated with “Sheba” since they were trade partners with Tyre (Ezek. 27:15, 20; 38:13).
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Genesis 10:8, “Now Cush became the father of Nimrod (“rebel”); he became a mighty one on the earth.”
“Nimrod” is the proper noun nimrodh (dr)m=n!) (nim-rode), which means, “rebel” and comes from the verb maradh (dr^m*) (maw-rawd), which means, “to rebel.”
Nimrod was the youngest son of Cush who apparently resented the curse that Noah placed on his youngest son Canaan since he names his youngest son “rebel.”
By designating this name to his youngest son, the inference is that Cush trained Nimrod from childhood to be a leader in a planned and organized rebellion against God’s purposes for mankind.
To the Hebrew mind, giving a name to something involves giving a designation that is expressive of its character and nature and thus the name “Nimrod” is expressive of the character and nature of the youngest son of Cush.
Nimrod is presented in Scripture as the founder of the kingdom of Babylon, which is presented in Scripture as an evil system originating from Satan in both type and prophecy (Isa. 21:9; Jer. 50:24; Rev. 16:19; 17:5; 18:2).
Genesis 10:8, “Now Cush became the father of Nimrod (“rebel”); he became a mighty one on the earth.”
“A mighty one” is the noun gibbor (rw{BG!) (ghib-bore), which is used in a negative sense describing Nimrod as a tyrant who was totally in opposition to God and who revolted against God and oppressed people and used them to further his own selfish interests.
Genesis 10:9, “He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, ‘Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.’”
“Hunter” is the noun tsayidh (dy!x^) (tsah-yid), which is used in the Bible of one who hunts animals for food and pleasure or of one who hunts men to enslave them.
The context will determine which is in view and in Genesis 10:9, the word tsayidh means that Nimrod was a hunter of the souls of men rather than a hunter in the customary sense.
This is indicated by the prepositional phrase “before the Lord” which means “against the Lord” since “before” is the preposition le and the noun panim, which denote that Nimrod was “opposed to” or “against” God in the sense of competing with God for the souls of men
Also, further indicating that this phrase should be translated “against the Lord” is the name Nimrod, which means, “rebel.”
Genesis 10:10, “The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”
“Babel” is located in modern Iraq, about twenty miles south of Baghdad, near the modern city of Hilla, on the Euphrates River, south of where the Tigris and Euphrates approach.
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Picture of Euphrates River in Iraq
“Erech” is modern Warka, the site in southern Iraq, located one hundred miles southeast of Babylon, where the first temple tower (ziggurat) and earliest cylinder seals have been recovered (Jack Finegan, Light from the Ancient East, pages 19-23 as cited by Unger’s Commentary of the Old Testament (page 49).
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“Accad” was the ancient name of northern Babylonia, taken from the name of the city of Agade, which Sargon the Great brought to prominence as the capital of his empire, which dominated the Mesopotamian world (c. 2360-2180 B.C.).
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“Calneh” has not been identified but was located somewhere in Mesopotamia as indicated by the prepositional phrase “in the land of Shinar,” which refers to the southern region of Mesopotamia, south of Baghdad in Iraq.
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Genesis 10:11, “From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah.”
“Assyria” was in the northern part of Mesopotamia and was called “the land of Nimrod” in Micah 5:6.
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“Nineveh” was the capital of the Assyrian Empire (ca. 800-612 B.C.), located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in northern Mesopotamia, which is modern Iraq, in the area of the city of Mosul.
“Rehoboth-Ir” means “plazas of the city,” designating either a suburb of Nineveh or a place situated near the city.
“Calah” is modern Tell Nimrud, approximately twenty miles south of Nineveh.
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Genesis 10:12, “and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.”
“Resen” is probably modern Selamiyeh, which is about two and a half miles northwest of Nimrud and is described in Genesis 10:12 as to be between Nineveh and Calah so that the entire complex of cities that Nimrod built was called “the great city” meaning it was a large metropolitan area.
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Assyrian legends speak of “Ninus” as the founder of Nineveh, which is evidently a form of “Nimrod.”
These kingdoms that Nimrod established were institutions that did not guarantee law and order but rather were simply the achievements of a lawless man who taught men to revolt against authority delegated by God.
Nimrod’s ambition was to build a world empire and a one-world government that opposes the Lord Jesus Christ, which foreshadows Antichrist who will be the ruler of a ten-nation confederacy constituting a Revived Roman Empire, during Daniel’s 70th week, which is also called by theologians as the “Tribulation Period.”
On Sunday morning, we will study that Nimrod is a type of Antichrist.
