Bible for You--No.28

Dad
May 2, 2003

—Genesis Chapter 10!11/90DO 2775

—Bible Classtime with Grandpa!

1. (Techi: Thank You for this good class time‚ Jesus. We pray that You'll please bless it & help us to learn a lot from it & to have a good class. Please give Grandpa wisdom, & help us to be good students, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank You Lord! And thank you for giving us the classes, Grandpa. We really enjoy them!) Thank the Lord‚ Honey! Amen! Well, I enjoy them too. I'm taking a refresher course at the same time!

2. Tonight we'll start on Genesis Chapter 10! And what do they call this kind of Chapter? (David: A genealogy.) Right! You studied one before in Genesis Chapter 5. And what's another easier name for "genealogy" that doesn't come from the Greek? (David: The "begats"?) You could say the "begats," yes, but there's another even simpler one. I made one for you once. We called it our... (David: Family tree!) Yes. This is a family tree.—Only these kinds of trees look like they're upside-down! They come down from the top, where the patriarchs & older generations are at the top, with following generations shown below.

The Sons of Japheth!

3. (Verse 1:) "Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem‚ Ham, & Japheth: & unto them were sons born after the Flood."—And from all these sons of Noah & their sons, the whole World got divided up!

4. (Verse 2:) "The sons of Japheth: Gomer"—this one settled present-day Germany—"and Magog"—this one went to Russia. And Japheth was what branch of the human tree? (Techi: The Whites.) Yes, & they're also called what? (David: Gentiles.) Right. Let's trust they were gentle, but men were not too gentle in those days. And Gomer was what? (Techi: Germany.) And Magog? (Kids: Russia!) Right!

5. "And Madai"—the Medes—"& Javan"—Greece—"& Tubal." What great city is named after Tubal? You've almost got it when you say it.—Tobolsk! Do you know where Tobolsk is? (Techi: In Russia?) Yes, it used to be one of the most important cities in Siberia. "...And Meshech & Tiras." (David: Meshech is Moscow.) Right! You'll run into some of these names again‚ & they have a lot of significance in both the past & the future. (Techi: Like Gog & Magog?) Yes.

6. (Verse 3:) "And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz." That's why the Jews who settled in Europe & were predominantly from Germany & Eastern Europe are called Ashkenazi & speak a kind of Hebrew called Yiddish. The Jews who multiplied very rapidly & were prosperous in Spain & Morocco are known as Sephardic Jews. Ashkenazi is German Jewish. (Techi: So if you knew German you could understand Hebrew?) Modern Hebrew, believe it or not, or what they call Yiddish, is about 60% Hebrew & 40% German because they lived there so long. So we have "the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz‚ & Riphath"—that's the Celts—"and Togarmah"—that's Turkey.

7. (Verse 4:) "And the sons of Javan; Elishah, & Tarshish, Kittim, & Dodanim." Remember, what are all of these? (David: The sons of Japheth.) Yes‚ they're all White Gentiles & they populated primarily Europe & later the Americas. In other words, the Gentile part of the World. And what part of the World did Ham populate? (Techi: Africa.) And what part did Shem primarily populate? (Techi: Asia!)

8. Now remember, not each of these races is always completely pure, 100%, but they were mixtures. Japheth actually remained more pure as all-White Gentiles than did Shem‚ because Shem & his descendants mixed with whom? (Techi: Ham.) Right‚ so that they all got a little darker shade! In some of these places that we're going to read about, the people there today are virtually completely Black!

9. To show how Shem & Ham really got mixed together, look at the Indians of India. The lower castes can be black as can be, while the upper castes range from light brown to white. The same is true of Egypt: The upper class Egyptians are almost White. They kept their purity as descendants of Shem. Shem was light-skinned, but his mixtures with Ham caused some of his descendants to be quite dark, like the lower-class Egyptians.

10. (Techi: What was Dodanim, the last name in verse 4?) Do you really want to know that bad? If we're going to look up all of these, I don't know if we're ever going to get done! This Bible reference book has a lot in it, but I don't believe everything in it because a lot of it is by a big Presbyterian denomination & some of their stuff is kind of modernistic. Here we are: "Dodanim—fourth son of Javan." That doesn't help us any‚ we know that already! It doesn't even tell you who they are.

11. We don't want to get into great detail & go into too many little things & spend our time on too many questions. I think the simplest thing is for me to just tell you what I know, & that's the quickest. How's that? (David: Yes, Sir!) Because if we've got to look every one of these words up in a Bible reference book, & then we come to a dead-end anyhow because the Bible reference often doesn't know anyway, then it's going to take a lot of time. Is that OK? (Kids: Yes, Sir!)

12. (Verse 4:) "And the sons of Javan; Elishah, Tarshish & Kittim." You'll run into some of these names later that are important in Bible Prophecy, such as "the merchants of Tarshish" (Eze.38:13), & it says that "the ships of Chittim"—or "Kittim," as it says here—came against whom? (David: The Antichrist.) The Antichrist, in a big war! (Dan.11:30.) Tarshish is usually considered the British Isles, & Chittim is usually considered Cyprus—which, by the way, was peopled by what two main peoples? (David: Greeks?) Four-fifths of them are Greeks, right‚ & one-fifth of them are Turkish.

13. Mama & I were in Cyprus & we sympathised with the Turks when we heard about all of the horrible things the Greeks had done to them. So we sympathised with the Turkish war in which they invaded Cyprus & rescued their people there. And they have forces there now to protect them from the Greeks.

14. Let's go back to Kittim, which Bible students say is Cyprus. Isn't it amazing, it talks about the ships of Tarshish & Kittim—from one end of the British Empire to the other! Get it? They still have two big bases right in Cyprus.

15. (Verse 5:) "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations." Britain used to have Cyprus, so these were the "isles of the Gentiles." Get that? "Divided in their lands." And the principal isles are the British Isles & Cyprus.

The Descendants of Ham!

16. (6th verse:) "And the sons of Ham; Cush, & Mizraim." Mizraim, for your information‚ was Egypt. "...And Phut, & Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, & Havilah." Hey! Where did we hear about Havilah before? Didn't we hear of a land by that name back when we were studying about the Garden of Eden? (David: Yes‚ that's right! We did!) (See Gen.2:11.)

17. "And Sabtah, & Raamah, & Sabtechah: & the sons of Raamah; Sheba, & Dedan." Ah, now we're getting somewhere! Where was Sheba? Who was Sheba? (Techi: The Queen of Sheba!) As I recall, all these places are South, beginning with Egypt & on down even in the Arabian Peninsula. They say that was probably where Sheba was located, in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was not always a desert, neither was Egypt or some of those other places. They've found out that Northern Africa, which is now covered by the Sahara Desert, once upon a time was a rich, flourishing area & had all kinds of agriculture & plenty of rain. But apparently God cursed not only [Canaan] & his sons, but also the land. [See "The Un-Cursed Sons of Ham!", ML #2928.]

18. (Verse 8:) "And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the Earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." (Techi: Why does it say "before the Lord"?) I guess the Lord must have made him mighty. He was a mighty hunter, & it was very important in those days, since they had to eat meat, that people would be able to hunt & get it!

19. (Verse 10:) "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel." Uh oh! See‚ these people obviously aren't some of the best, because some of them get in trouble very soon. And what great & mighty city & kingdom came out of Babel? (David: Babylon!) So these people got in trouble very soon, they worshipped idols & got into all kinds of wickedness. "...Erech, & Accad, & Calneh, in the land of Shinar."

20. (Verse 11:) "And out of that land went forth Asshur, & builded Nineveh." Nineveh was the capital of what? It sounds close to Asshur. (David: Assyria.) Right! These all were idol-worshippers & wicked people. See, Ham's [son's*] line really came to lots of trouble. [*Canaan: See "The Un-Cursed Sons of Ham!"‚ ML #2928.] "And the city Rehoboth, & Calah. And Resen between Nineveh & Calah, the same is a great city."

21. (Verse 13:) "And Mizraim"—this is Egypt—"begat Ludim, & Anamim, & Lehabim, & Naphtuhim." When it says "im," it usually means a giant. They had giants in the land, remember? (Techi: So Mizraim was a son of Ham, & he had a whole bunch of giant sons?) Well, Nimrod was a mighty hunter, he could have been a giant. These are all the sons of Ham—Cush, Mizraim, etc. Mizraim kind of sounds like miserable! The ancient Egyptians were a miserable people.

22. (Verse 14:) "And Pathrusim, & Casluhim‚ (out of whom came Philistim‚) & Caphtorim." Aha! The Philistines! And apparently they had a few giants around then. Remember who one of them was? (Techi: Goliath.) Goliath!

23. (Verse 15:) "And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, & Heth." Now Sidon is a very important city of what country today? (Techi: Tyre & Sidon.) Tyre & Sidon are both very important cities of that country, which is Lebanon. Sidon was his firstborn, "& Heth, & the Jebusite‚ & the Amorite, & the Girgasite, & the Hivite, & the Arkite, & the Sinite, & the Arvadite‚ & the Zemarite, & the Hamathite: & afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad." (Techi: There sure are lots of "ites"!)

24. That reminds me of a joke! Did you hear about the shortest man in the Bible?—Bildad the Shuhite! The "shoe-height," get it? Did you hear about the smallest man in the Bible?—The Roman soldier that slept on his watch! Ha! (Techi: Cute!) Did you hear about the best baseball player in the Bible?—It was the Prodigal Son, he made a home run! (David: Ha! And did you know that Joseph was a tennis player?—He served in the courts of Pharaoh!) Ha, ha, ha! Well, that helps to lighten up this rather dry & long bunch of "ims" & "ites"!

25. (Techi: Why does it say "the Amorite & the Girgasite"?) It just shows their different divisions of the family. I don't know what the difference is between an "ite" & an "im." (Techi: When it says "the Sinite," is that like the Sinai Desert?) I don't know, it could be. By the time Moses got there‚ the Canaanites had taken over the Promised Land‚ & all that land there & on down South. Both the Arabian Peninsula & North Africa downwards is where the Hamites went with all these names they've got here.

26. (Verse 19:) "And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza." Now you're beginning to hear some familiar names, like Gaza! What is that called now? (David: The Gaza Strip.) Right! The Gaza Strip is one of the Israeli-occupied territories right along the Southern coast of the Mediterranean. (Techi: Why is it called the Gaza Strip?) Because it's a little strip along the coast that the Palestinians have, whose principal city is Gaza‚ & it's now occupied by the Israelis. They don't live there much, but they have a lot of Jewish police there.

27. The Blacks used to have most of this land, then they moved down into the Siniatic Peninsula, & they also moved over this way into the Arabian Peninsula. They also moved down South this way into Egypt. So most of Canaan's descendants were in Africa & Arabia, Southward. Get it?

28. I'll show you on the map of the World. Egypt is the beginning of Africa right up here. Here's Libya & here's Egypt right over here. Saudi Arabia is generally called the Mideast. It is separated from Africa by the Red Sea. And they've cut the Suez Canal right through here‚ so Africa is not joined to the Mideast.

29. This area over here is what they call the Mideast, & Africa is here. Here's Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, all this here, that's part of Africa. But this over here is known as the Mideast. It's not the Far East. The Far East is India, China & Japan, etc. But this is the Mideast, & that's where the U.S. is trying to strike up a big war right now with Iraq. (Techi: You can hardly even see Kuwait, that little tiny green dot.) Yes, I know‚ it's just a hunk of desert, only it's got a lot of oil under it!

30. As somebody was saying the other day, if it weren't for all that oil under Kuwait, the U.S. wouldn't be at war there now.—Because all kinds of dictators have grabbed all kinds of little countries before which the U.S. hardly even took notice of and didn't give a damn about. But because this little place has so much oil‚ the U.S. says, "Oh! We're on a righteous crusade to save this little country from big bad Iraq!"

31. All right! Let's try to finish the Chapter. We've got a lot more names to plow through here, and the quicker we get it over with the better! I don't really know much about all these names and I'm not that kind of a student of genealogy, but it's not that important anyway.

Lebanon

32. (Verse 19:) "And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon"—which is a city in Lebanon. Let's see if we can find a good map. Lebanon lies along the coast between Israel & Syria. Actually they border right on each other, & Syria is one of the most bitter enemies of Israel.

33. Lebanon was a friend of the West until Israel started fooling around with it, & they had a big invasion of Lebanon about nine years ago‚ in 1982. (Techi: Did the U.S. go to war for that too?) Well, they tried to. They tried to come in & save Lebanon. But then what happened was, they had hundreds of soldiers living in this one building—which wasn't very smart of the Americans—& a suicide driver, whom they now think was an Arab girl, drove this great big truckload of explosives right in under the building in a kind of a garage & the whole thing blew up & killed almost 250 U.S. soldiers! Some think maybe the Israelis did it themselves, but set it up so the Arabs got the blame!

34. So after that, the U.S. withdrew from Lebanon, out to their fleet in the Mediterranean‚ off the coast. They were so mad about all those soldiers being killed, that their battleship fired big shells that were 16 inches in diameter, each one weighing about one ton & that could blow up a whole block, at the poor Lebanese, of all things!—Some say it was just for revenge! (Techi: Did it kill a bunch of people?) Oh yes! It killed hundreds of people. They could blow up whole villages! So the Americans again wound up on the side of the Israelis & against the Lebanese.

35. In this recent Gulf War the Israelis are being very quiet & no doubt have been told to be quiet. "Don't you get into this!" Because the minute the Israelis would get into this war against Saddam Hussein, it would turn all the Arabs against Israel & the U.S., because immediately the U.S. would go & try to defend Israel. So that would make it a real mess! The U.S. would lose most of its Arab allies if Israel got into this, because the Arabs are very bitter against Israel, of course, for having invaded their land & stolen a whole country from the Palestinians, & no Arab country would want to be on the same side as Israel, fighting against another Arab country‚ Iraq.

Israeli Grabs!

36. Take a look at this map & you can see Lebanon, & Tyre & Sidon are along here somewhere. (Techi: Oh, yes, Sidon & Tyre.) And here is Haifa, Israel, where Mama & I stayed. And this area is the Golan Heights. During the 1967 war with the Arabs, Israel grabbed this big hunk of Syria, which Syria is still very angry with the Jews about!

37. Then down here is the Gaza Strip‚ which the Jews grabbed, and in this same 1967 War the Jews also grabbed all of Jerusalem. This whole part occupied by the Jews here is called the West Bank.—The West Bank of the Jordan River. This was Jordanian land, it was a part of Jordan, until the 1967 War, at which time the Israelis grabbed all of this, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and the entire West Bank of the Jordan River. So now all of this is dominated by the Israelis‚ they rule it. But most of the Arabs live up in this area and in this West Bank area, and the Gaza Strip.

38. So now the Israelis have all of Jerusalem and these other areas, and they're populating it as fast as they can, putting settlements in there as fast as they can so they can say, "It no longer belongs to the Arabs, it belongs to us, the Jews!" (Techi: But isn't Jerusalem part of Israel though?) Well, now it's the capital. They made Jerusalem their capital. (Techi: But it didn't used to be?) No, not for centuries. See, the Arabs had taken all of this over.

The Jews Scattered!

39. (Techi: Where did the Jews come from?) The British & the American Jews invaded it & came flooding in after World War 2. (Techi: So there were no Jews in Israel?) Hardly any at all! Just a handful that had managed to survive & live with the Arabs.

40. The Lord predicted that He'd take the Jews out of Israel & scatter them all over the World. (Techi: But they used to be there, right?) Yes, they used to be there, centuries before. And it was a sad day when they got scattered all over the World‚ after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. …

41. So all that coast there used to be occupied by the Canaanites, & the Arabs came later. First of all it was settled by the Canaanites, then the Jews came up & conquered it & it was settled by the Jews. And then when God cast the Jews out of their land because of their wickedness & their sins & idolatry, He let the Arabs take it over. So it was in Arab hands for centuries.

42. OK! We're still on Verse 19, "Sodom‚ & Gomorrah"—you've heard of them before‚ haven't you? (Kids: Yes.) See, they were Canaanites, very wicked. (Techi: They were all Black?) Yes. "...And Admah, & Zeboim, even unto Lasha." That's another place you've probably heard of. (Techi: Where is that?) It's one of those towns in there. But if we don't keep pushing ahead we're not ever going to get through this tough Chapter! (Verse 20:) "These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, & in their nations."

The Descendants of Shem!

43. Now we come to Shem—the Jews & all of their descendants. (Verse 21:) "Unto Shem also‚ the father of all the children of Eber."—Which is also pronounced Heber, & they were the Hebrews‚ from whom Abraham was a descendant. Abraham was not a Jew, he was a Hebrew! (Gen.14:13.) How about that? (Techi: Hebrews aren't Jews?) No, they came before the Jews. (Techi: What are the Jews exactly?) We'll get to that later, Honey. They're descendants of Heber & Abraham.

44. "The brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. The children of Shem; Elam, & Asshur, & Arphaxad, & Lud, & Aram. And the children of Aram; Uz, & Hul, & Gether‚ & Mash." (Verse 24:) "And Arphaxad begat Salah; & Salah begat Eber."

Lost Continent of Atlantis!

45. (Verse: 25:) "And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the Earth divided." Now that's a big subject! What do you think that means? (Techi: That means the Earth was divided.) Some Bible students believe that that is when Atlantis sank in the Atlantic Ocean.

46. If you'll look at the World map, you'll see how the countries fit right together there, so they think that Atlantis was in the Atlantic Ocean. There's a whole lot of study you can do on that if you want to, because the historical Atlantis did exist and was mentioned in a lot of the writings of the ancient historians. (See WNE‚ pg.347, "Russians Report New Evidence of What May Be Lost Atlantis.")

47. (Techi: That's where they found the story of it, in the ancient writings?) Yes, in the writings of the historians that claimed that they had seen Atlantis and that's where it was. (Techi: How big was the hunk of land?) It looks like it must have been some good-sized piece of land, because the Atlantic Ocean is about 3,000 miles wide! (Techi: But couldn't this have all fit together though?) Yes, they don't know whether it meant that the continents moved apart—and they're still moving—or whether Atlantis sank and divided them that way. (Techi: They are? They're moving again?) Yes, only a few centimeters a year or something like that‚ so it's no big deal.

48. (Techi: So do you think that it actually happened that slow?) Well, no, I think "when the Earth was divided," that something big happened! (Techi: Why did the Lord divide it?) The Atlantans were apparently idolaters & very wicked. Have you read some of my Letters about the visions & dreams that I had about Atlanta? She's the spirit of Atlantis. (See ML#s 613 & 615.)

49. Well, we could get off into all kinds of things now, but we'd better punch ahead & try to finish this so we can have our test tomorrow night, OK?

Finishing Up the Chapter!

50. (Verse 26:) "And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph‚ and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, and Ophir, and Havilah." You'll read someplace else in the Bible that the land of Ophir had a lot of gold. (Job 22:24; Psa.45:9) Sheba was a rich land from which came the Queen of Sheba, remember? "...And Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan."

51. (Verse 30:) "And their dwelling was from Mesha‚ as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the East. These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues."—Just imagine, they got all split up with different languages later. "In their lands‚ after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: & by these were the nations divided in the Earth after the Flood."

Review of the Main Divisions!

52. Okay, what were the main divisions? The three sons of... (Techi: Noah!—Shem, Ham & Japheth.) Yes, & which way did the Japhethites go? (David: West.) (Techi: North.) North & West. And they are the nations of what is still called the West of today. And where did the Hamites go? (David: South, into Africa.) And where did the Shemites go? (David: East into Asia.) Right!

53. (David: What about South America?) South America was settled by the Shemites, and later colonised by the Japhethites. (Techi: But they're brown.) Well, actually they've pretty well established that even the North American Indians were Shemites who came across the Bering Strait to Alaska, and then came down through North America and Central America and settled South America. So they are a mixture of Japhethites and Shemites.

54. The only Hamites in North America are the Negroes, mostly in the United States. (Techi: But where did the brown come from?) The brown came from the mixture of the Japhethites & Shemites. (Techi: So Shem was brown?) Well, he mixed quite a bit with the Hamites. (Techi: So they actually were a mixture.) Well, a lot of these countries & people ended up mixing with the Hamites & that's why they're dark. As we said earlier‚ some Indians are very black.

55. (Techi: Some Spanish are kind of dark too.) Yes‚ but I would say Spain is more Japhethite. The pure Spanish people of Spain are not brown at all, they're white, because they're Japhethites. But when some of them went Southward, into Africa & into the islands, they mixed a little bit with some of the Arabs, & they became brown. And there was also some mixing with the darker North African Moors, when they occupied Spain for four or five hundred years.

56. (Techi: So Shem was White?) The Shemites were actually sort of an olive colour who moved East into Asia. They mixed quite a bit with the Blacks, or the Hamites. Take the Indians of India, the lower castes are almost black. But generally speaking, just remember that the Japhethites went Northwest & peopled Europe & the Americas. And the Hamites went South, the Blacks, & peopled Africa. The Shemites went East into Asia, & there is where they began to be mixed a little bit. Especially in Asia they got mixed & became a little bit browner.

57. And that's enough for tonight! If you think I know everything, I don't! I've studied books by people who studied all of this‚ & they don't know either, because it's lost in ancient history. Get it?

58. (David: What are the test questions going to be like?) Just the most important things. I don't expect you to remember all of these names, but I will very likely ask you questions about the ones that I did tell you who they were. For instance: "The Earth was divided in the days of blank"—Peleg! (Techi: Or "What is Tubal?"—Tobolsk!) Yes, I will definitely ask you those. What is Meshech? (Kids: Moscow!) Tubal? (Techi: Tobolsk.) (Techi: And Gomer is Germany. Ashkenaz is German.) (David: Togarmah was Turkey.) (Techi: Tarshish is the British Isles.) (David: Kittim is Cyprus.) Right! (Techi: And Madai is the Medes, Magog is Russia!) Good for you! Are you reading those? (Techi: Some of them I'm reading & some of them I know.) Good for you!

59. Well, there you are! Try to remember what I told you, who these very important ones were. OK? (Kids: OK!) We could go over this Chapter again & review it if you'd like & have a test the next night. (David: No, no, that's fine! We can have the test tomorrow.)

60. This is a tough Chapter because this is literally how all the Earth was divided into all the various tribes & descendants of the three sons of Noah. The last genealogy we studied in Genesis Chapter 5 were all wiped out except for Noah & his sons, so this is the one that counts! It was a tough Chapter to get through, it's a genealogy & all those funny names, but I think I brought out to you some of them that are important & significant & are mentioned later in the Bible.

61. (Techi: But Noah was a descendant of Adam & Eve, right?) Yes‚ that was important! And of course the Creation & the era before the Flood is important. But now we're starting all over again with Noah & his family who've now peopled the whole Earth. All the rest of them were wiped out in the Flood. Okay, praise the Lord! Let's pray! I think it's your turn, David.

62. (David: Amen! Thank You Lord! Thank You Jesus! Thank You for this good class, Lord. Thank You how we learned so much more about Bible history & all the different peoples that populated our Earth. Thank You for all that we learned, & we pray that You'll help us to remember it. Help us to study well for our test‚ Jesus, so we'll be able to know & remember these things. And thank You for Grandpa teaching us. Thank You for how it's so interesting, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen!) Amen! Praise the Lord! God bless you all!

Picture captions & fact boxes:

Page 1:

MAGOG [MAY gog] (Land of Gog)—the name of a man & a people in the Bible:

1. The second son of Japheth & a grandson of Noah (Gen.10:2).

2. The descendants of Magog (Eze.38:2), a people who lived in Northern Asia & Europe. The Jewish historian Josephus identified these people as the Scythians‚ known for their destructive warfare. Scythia is the ancient name of a region in SE Europe & Asia, lying North & East of the Black & Caspian seas; now part of the Soviet Union. Magog may be a comprehensive term which means "northern barbarians." The people of Magog are described as skilled horsemen (Eze.38:15) & experts in the use of the bow and arrow (Eze.39:3,9).

MESHECH & TUBAL (Moscow & Tobolsk) are understood to have originated with the Moschi & Tibareni—tribes that inhabited regions in the Caucasus, a mountain range in Southwest Russia between the Black & Caspian seas.

Page 2:

ASHKENAZ [ASH keh nazz] (a fire that spreads)—the oldest son of Gomer & a grandson of Japheth. Ashkenaz also became the name of a people that settled in the vicinity of Armenia.

Two examples of local races within the Indian geographical area.

Page 3:

KITTIM [KIT im] (meaning unknown)—the name of a man & an island in the Old Testament:

1. A son of Javan (Gen.10:4). Tradition has it that the descendants of Kittim settled on Cyprus & the nearby coasts & island & were called Kittim or Chittim.

2. The Hebrew name for Cyprus (Jer.2:10). Kittim also became a symbol of Rome (Dan. 11:30). The Hebrews must have been familiar with Kittim, or Cyprus. From the oracle of Balaam (Num.24:24), it is evident that the Israelites associated Cyprus with ships. The Prophet Jeremiah saw Kittim as the western boundary of the known World (Jer.2:10), & Ezekiel reported that Cyprus supplied Phoenicia with material for Phoenician ships (Eze.27:6).

HAVILAH—A land of uncertain location, perhaps a district in eastern Arabia (Gen.2:11). King Saul's army attacked the Amalekites "from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt" (1Sam.15:7), suggesting a location somewhere in the northeastern Sinai Peninsula.

SHEBA—A mountainous country in southwest Arabia (1Kings 10:1-13), identified as the land of "the queen of the South" (Luke 11:31) who came to investigate Solomon's fame & wisdom. By means of its international trade & control of trade routes through its land, Sheba developed into a strong commercial power. Its trade specialties were perfumes & incense. Camel caravans followed routes northward across its dry regions, bearing their precious commodities for the royal courts of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Thus the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon may have been motivated also by her interest in trade & in the unhindered movement of her caravans into the large territory under Solomon's control.

NIMROD [NIM rahd]—a son of Cush & grandson of Ham, the youngest son of Noah (Gen.10:8-12; 1Chr.1:10). Nimrod was a "mighty one on the Earth"—a skilled hunter/ warrior who became a powerful king. His fame as a "mighty hunter" meant that he was a provider & protector of the people at a time when wild animals were a continual menace. Early Babylonian seals represented a king in combat with a lion.

The principal cities of Nimrod's Mesopotamian kingdom were "Babel, Erech‚ Accad, & Calneh, in the land of Shinar" (Gen.10:10). From the land of Babylon he went to Assyria. In Micah 5:6 Assyria is called "the land of Nimrod." The origin & meaning of the name Nimrod is uncertain‚ but it is doubtful that it is Hebrew. It is probably Mesopotamian, originating from the Akkadian (northern Babylonian) god of war & hunting, Ninurta, who was called "the Arrow‚ the mighty hero."

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Mediterranean Sea

LEBANON

SYRIA

JORDAN

ISRAEL

EGYPT

Beirut

Sidon

Tyre

Haifa

Tel Aviv

Jerusalem

Gaza Strip

West Bank

Damascus

Amman

Golan Heights

Dead Sea

Sinai Desert

(Striped sections are Israeli-Occupied Territories)

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World map showing how the continents could have joined together before the Earth was divided.

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JAPHETHITES went Northward, & settled in regions around the Black & Caspian Seas. Japheth‚ therefore, was the father of the Europeans & the North & South Americans.

HAMITES went Southward. The names given seem to indicate South & Central Arabia, Egypt, the East Shore of the Mediterranean, & the East Coast of Africa. Canaan, son of Ham, & his descendants, settled & gave their name to the land which later became the homeland of the Jews. Egypt was called the "Land of Ham." Ham himself may have led the migration to Egypt. "Khen," an Egyptian god, was the Egyptian equivalent of the Hebrew word "Ham." Egypt was called "Mizraim," the name of Ham's son.

SHEMITES went Eastward into Asia, & included Jews‚ Assyrians, Syrians‚ Elamites in the North Euphrates Valley & its borders, & all Arabs.

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Can you guess which son of Noah each of these people came from?

1. Englishman. 2. Japanese. 3. African. 4. Indian. 5. Italian. 6. Chinese. 7. Filipina. 8. Black American. 9. Australian.

Answers:

1. Japheth. 2. Shem. 3. Ham. 4. Shem. 5. Japheth. 6. Shem. 7. Shem. 8. Ham. 9. Japheth.

Photographs courtesy of the Fairburn System of Visual References

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family