Barrington began the next portion of study along Route 66 by reading Genesis 10:1 - 5. “‘Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.’”
Staci hesitated. “This is just a chapter with a bunch of names, isn’t it?”
King nodded. “Yes, but it is still an important chapter. This is a chapter of genealogies, of families, which are the origin of the nations of the world. Now let’s move on with Noah’s Family record.”
King read Genesis 10:6 - 10. “‘And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 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. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.’”
“Look at that,” Fronk exclaimed. “The very first Hunter was Nimrod! 1”
“Who was Nimrod? Q12” Staci asked.
“‘He began to be a mighty one in the earth,’ ” Barrington replied. “He wanted to become the ruler of a great world empire, and he attempted to do just that.”
Fronk looked at him. “That may be so, but don’t forget, ‘He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.’ Doesn’t that indicate he was a hunting for the Lord?”
“He was the founder of those great cities David just read from verse 10,” Fuller told him. “He has quite a story, and if you like history, then you should look into Alexander Hislop’s book, The Two Babylons. This book gives the background of Nimrod’s history, how he was responsible for the Tower of Babel. It was he who attempted to bring together the human race after the Flood in an effort to get them united into a nation of which he could become the great world ruler. He was the rebel, the founder of Babel, the hunter of the souls of men. He was the lawless one, and he is a shadow or a type of the last world ruler, the Antichrist.”
“Tristian Salvadori,” Lenox said with a nod.
Fuller nodded. “Yes. The two have strong similarities. The first great civilization came out from the sons of Ham. We need to recognize that. You see, we are following the pattern here set by the Holy Spirit in which He gives the rejected line first and then drops it.”
Staci looked at him. “Rejected line?”
“This is leading up to where Christ came from. Which bloodline he was in.”
King agreed. “Exactly. We’re going to turn now to the line that will lead to Abram and then to the nation Israel and finally to the coming of Christ into this world. It is a line which we will follow through the Route of the Old Testament. God is bidding good-bye to the rest of humanity for the time being, but He will be coming back to them later on. In this chapter, seventy nations are listed. Fourteen of them are from Japheth. Thirty of them come from Ham. And twenty-six nations come from Shem, making it a total of seventy nations listed in this genealogy.”
“Staci, you have the next passage,” King said.
Staci paused, looking at the pages of her Bible. “I’m not sure I can pronounce these names, but I’ll try.” She read Genesis 10:15 - 20. “‘And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth, And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.’ ” She pursed her lips in thought. “Hmm. That’s a lot of begetting, and I’m sure I didn’t get the names right…except for the easy ones like Ham and Canaan.”
There were chuckles around the table.
“Now…this is Canaan’s genealogy?” Erin inquired.
King nodded. “That’s right.”
“But that last part of the passage indicates that it was Ham’s genealogy.”
“In a way, it still is,” Fuller pointed out. “Canaan is the son of Ham.”
Erin nodded. “Oh.”
“Let’s move on to Shem,” King said. “Erin…? Just read verses 21 through 25.”
Erin read Genesis 10:21 - 25. “‘Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.’”
Fronk nodded. “That was a good show.”
Erin looked at him as if he were crazy. “What was?”
“Mash.”
Shiva frowned.
Lenox leaned back in his seat. “Crazy Man, it was a good show until they got rid of Frank Burns. Then, it was just another sitcom. And I didn‘t like Colonel Potter.”
“Hey!” Shiva exclaimed. “What are you doing? This isn’t a study about the 4077th.”
Staci couldn’t help but grin.
“Sorry,” Lenox said. He pointed at Fronk. “He started it.”
Barrington laughed, shaking his head.
“Well, if you clowns can come back down to earth and get serious,” Erin said, “I do have a question about this passage.” She turned to King. “What does it mean about the earth being divided?”
King paused thoughtfully. “When I went over this verse that you are referring to in a previous Bible study, I found all sorts of weird interpretations of what was meant by ‘the earth was divided’. That it refers to a physical division here in the earth, that the earth had undergone some tremendous physical catastrophe.”
“Well, it had,” Shiva pointed out. “It’s called the Flood. And who knows what that did to the earth itself.”
“That is true, my brother. But let’s look at it from another point of view. Perhaps all that Moses is simply doing is anticipating the next chapter in which he will give us the account of the Tower of Babel. At that time, the earth was divided. The simple interpretation here seems to be one that a great many people miss, and we should not miss it. Now let us conclude this chapter and move on to the Tower of Babel. Darren…I believe you are up.”
Fuller turned to his Bible, adjusted his reading glasses and read Genesis 10:26 - 32. “ ‘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, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. 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, in their lands, after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.’ ”
“Before we move on,” King replied, “I know it was difficult to get through this chapter. But I want to submit to you that this truly is one of the great chapters of the Bible although we have given very little time to it. You can see what a rich study this would make for anyone who really wanted a fair appraisal of the human family. A great many have used this remarkable chapter for just that purpose. But now we close this chapter and move along on Route 66 to Genesis chapter 11.”
