창세기 Chapter 10

Translation: ESV

1

These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

Key Message

All humanity began from one root; every nation and people is the object of God's creation and redemptive history.

▸Chapter 10 is called the 'Table of Nations' and records the dispersal of all humanity beginning from Noah's three sons.

Chapter 10 is called the 'Table of Nations' and records the dispersal of all humanity beginning from Noah's three sons. This chapter is the only place in the Bible that attempts to encompass all peoples of the known world in a geographical and ethnic list. The theological intent is to declare that all humanity descended from one common ancestor and that every nation is the object of God's creative plan and redemptive history.

Related Verses

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.
2

The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

Key Message

Though Japheth's descendants became Gentile nations, they are within God's creative plan and are the object of redemptive history.

▸The descendants of Japheth are traditionally understood as primarily Indo-European peoples — Greeks (Javan), Scythians (Magog), Medes (Madai), and peoples of Asia Minor.

6

The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

Key Message

Ham's descendants also exist within God's creative plan; no nation is outside the scope of God's salvation.

▸Ham's descendants are primarily the peoples of Africa and the Canaan region — Ethiopia (Cush), Egypt (Mizraim/Egypt), Libya (Put), and Canaan.

8

Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.

Key Message

The human drive for power and empire-building began already in the post-flood generation; this is the recurring temptation of humanity that leads to the Tower of Babel.

▸Nimrod is the most fully described individual in Genesis 10, appearing as the 'first mighty man on earth' and a builder of empire.

21

To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born.

Key Message

The Hebrew people and Abraham are connected through Shem's genealogy; the particular lineage of redemptive history is set within universal human history.

▸The most noteworthy point in Shem's introduction is the expression 'father of all the children of Eber.

32

These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

Key Message

The ethnic diversity of humanity exists within God's creative plan; all nations and peoples are one family of God from a single ancestor.

▸Chapter 10 concludes with 'from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.