Genesis 10:1

Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah,.... The genealogy of them, and which is of great use to show the original of the several nations of the world, from whence they sprung, and by whom

Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The generations of the sons of Noah - Hebrew, towlªdot (H8435) (see the note at Genesis 5:1).

GENESIS CHAPTER 10 Noah’ s posterity, . Sons of Japheth, . Of Ham, ; among whom Nimrod the first monarch and tyrant; he reigns in Babel, &c., . Asshur builds Nineveh, &c., . Sons of Canaan, . Their border, . Of Shem, . This chapter, though it may seem to some unprofitable, as consisting almost wholly of genealogies, yet hath indeed great and manifold uses. 1. To show the true original of the several nations; about which all other authors write idly, fabulously, and falsely; and thereby to manifest the providence of God in the government of the world and church, and the truth and authority of the Holy Scriptures. 2. To discover and distinguish from all other nations that people or nation in which God’ s church was to be, and from which Christ was to come. 3. That Noah’ s prophecy concerning his three sons might be better understood, and the accomplishment of it made evident. 4. To explain divers prophetical predictions and other passages of Scripture, as will appear in the sequel. For the better understanding of this chapter, compare with it . And consider these three things. 1. In the search of these genealogies we must avoid both carelessness, for the reasons now mentioned, and excessive curiosity about every particular person here named, and the people sprung from him; which is neither necessary nor profitable, nor indeed possible now to find out, by reason of the great changes of names, through length of time, loss of ancient records, differences of languages, extinction of families, conquest and destruction of nations, and other causes. It may suffice that divers of them, and those the most eminent, are evident and discernible at this day, as will appear in the progress, by which we may and ought to presume the truth of the rest, whose names are lost in the public confusions of the world in former ages, of whom I shall therefore be silent, and only speak of the principal persons, and that briefly. 2. The same people which were originally seated in one place did ofttimes shift their places, or at least sent forth colonies; and that sometimes into places far distant from their brethren, as appears from the ancient and famous expeditions mentioned in sacred and profane story. So you must not wonder if you meet with the same people in divers countries. 3. In general, the world was divided into three parts, whereof the more eastern parts were allotted to Shem and his issue, the more southern parts to Ham, and the more northern parts of it to Japheth.

Genesis 10:1 Now these [are] the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.Ver. 1. And unto them were sons born after the flood.] Great store of sons: else how could they so soon have peopled the whole earth? See here the virtue of that divine benediction, Genesis 9:1; Genesis 9:7.

(1) Shem, Ham, and Japheth.—This is the un-deviating arrangement of the three brothers. (See Note on Genesis 9:24; Genesis 10:21.)

CHAPTER X The generations of the sons of Noah, 1. JAPHETH and his descendants, 2-4. The isles of the Gentiles, or Europe, peopled by the Japhethites, 5. HAM and his posterity, 6-20. Nimrod, one of his descendants, a mighty hunter, 8, 9, founds the first kingdom, 10. Nineveh and other cities founded, 11, 12. The Canaanites in their nine grand branches or families, 15-18. Their territories, 19. SHEM and his posterity, 21-31. The earth divided in the days of Peleg, 25. The territories of the Shemites, 30. The whole earth peopled by the descendants of Noah's three sons, 32. NOTES ON CHAP. X Verse 1. Now these are the generations] It is extremely difficult to say what particular nations and people sprang from the three grand divisions of the family of Noah, because the names of many of those ancient people have become changed in the vast lapse of time from the deluge to the Christian era; yet some are so very distinctly marked that they can be easily ascertained, while a few still retain their original names. Moses does not always give the name of the first settler in a country, but rather that of the people from whom the country afterwards derived its name. Thus Mizraim is the dual of Mezer, and could never be the name of an individual. The like may be said of Kittim, Dodanim, Ludim, Ananim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, Philistim, and Caphtorim, which are all plurals, and evidently not the names of individuals, but of families or tribes. See Genesis 10:4; Genesis 10:6; Genesis 10:13; Genesis 10:14. In the posterity of Canaan we find whole nations reckoned in the genealogy, instead of the individuals from whom they sprang; thus the Jebusite, Amorite, Girgasite, Hivite, Arkite, Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite, and Hamathite, Genesis 10:16-18, were evidently whole nations or tribes which inhabited the promised land, and were called Canaanites from Canaan, the son of Ham, who settled there. Moses also, in this genealogy, seems to have introduced even the name of some places that were remarkable in the sacred history, instead of the original settlers. Such as Hazarmaveth, Genesis 10:26; and probably Ophir and Havilah, Genesis 10:29. But this is not infrequent in the sacred writings, as may be seen 1 Chronicles 2:51, where Salma is called the father of Bethlehem, which certainly never was the name of a man, but of a place sufficiently celebrated in the sacred history; and in 1 Chronicles 4:14, where Joab is called the father of the valley of Charashim, which no person could ever suppose was intended to designate an individual, but the society of craftsmen or artificers who lived there. Eusebius and others state (from what authority we know not) that Noah was commanded of God to make a will and bequeath the whole of the earth to his three sons and their descendants in the following manner: - To Shem, all the East; to Ham, all Africa; to Japheth, the Continent of Europe with its isles, and the northern parts of Asia.

1. Now these are the generations] The title of a new section in P; see note on Genesis 2:4.

- Section VIII - The Nations - Japheth 2. גמר gomer, “Gomer, completion; related: complete;” Κιμμέριοι Kimmerioi.