When was the last time you got excited about reading a family tree?

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When was the last time you gathered your family and friends around you? If you did, were they sitting there with anxious anticipation to read the list of names comprising your family tree?  I’ve never sat my mind down to find out!

Yet, we’re entering a passage of Genesis that’s a long family tree.

The tenth chapter of Genesis is often overlooked by Bible readers as a mere list of names. However, it is actually a remarkable historical document.  A generation ago, it was common for higher critical scholars to belittle its worth.  Archaeology has proven its value; now, Genesis 10 is regarded as an astonishingly accurate document.

It’s often called “The Table of Nations” because it lists the key nations of the Ancient Near Eastern world.  I know it’s a bit of a challenging read for Westerners.  I’m a Westerner too.

Remember something important as we read through this over the next few weeks. You are reading a genealogy of the history of all the people groups that still exist today. The children of Shem, Ham, and Japheth (the sons of Noah) are all around us. 

Here are three keys to guide us through Genesis 10:

  1. The listing differs from a typical genealogy because it gives us the names of the descendants and not the parents.  That means Genesis 10 is a genealogy, atlas, and history book.
  2. The listing isn’t complete.  We don’t find all nations.  The fact that seventy nations are on the list suggests that the arrangement may be structured this way intentionally.
  3. Identifying some of these nations and finding them on modern maps is difficult. Over millennia, nations have changed their names, relocated, modified their language, and even altered their racial composition through intermarriage. Some disappear entirely.

This list contains the story of God. He is weaving His story through the nations and cultures of the world.   As we start, we read Genesis 10:1-5.

 1 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.
4 The sons of Javan:
Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites. 5 (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)  

Genesis 10:1-5, New International Version

I’ve stated this before. Genesis is divided into broad sections by the English phrase “This is the account of…” which is toledot in Hebrew.  Genesis 10:1 is the toledot of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They are Noah’s sons, who survived the flood with him and his wife.  These three men were already married before the flood and now Biblical history shifts from Noah to these men.

Japheth’s lineage is mainly responsible for founding much of what is now Eastern Europe.  Some of the settlements included Ukraine (Gomer), Turkey (Magog, Tubal, Meshech), and Greece (Javan). Others are in southern Russia (Ashkenaz), Cyprus (Elishah), and the Greek Isles (Kittim).

So we have the following given to us:

These are the cultures coming from the lineage of Japheth and his wife.

Perhaps genealogies won’t be your favorite parts of the Bible.  But we must be able to see the hand of Almighty God working through families and cultures of the world.