Overview of chapter 10 and 11: (Ross) Chapter 10 has already divided the nations according to peoples and tongues. “Territories,” “clans,” “nations,” and “languages” occur three times, though not always in the same order (10:5, 20, 31). Probably 11:1–9 explains how the arrangement in chapter 10 came about. Genesis often goes outside the chronological order to arrange the material thematically. The exact chronology is only hinted at in the expression about Peleg: “In his time the earth was divided” (10:25).
Japheth: v.2 (NET) The Greek form of the name Japheth, Iapetos, is used in Greek tradition for the ancestor of the Greeks.
Ham: (NET) His descendants settled in Nubia (Ethiopia), Upper and Lower Egypt, Libya. Note: The descendants of Canaan lived in the region of Phoenicia (Palestine) v.6. They would be expelled out of their land when Israel established their kingdom there. Another name that related to the Israelite was Babel v.10 and Assyria v.11. Babel or Babylon would be the nation that destroyed the Israelite (southern kingdom) and captured the Israelite to their country in 700 BC. Assyrians captured teh norther kingdom of Israel in the 500 BC.
They were both related to a common ancestor, name, Nimord.
10:8 Cush was the father of Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth. 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. (That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”)
Three times, he was described to be mighty. From Genesis the only other record of any mighty person is the Nephilim in 6:4 and that was the beginning of the violence behavior of the pre-flood mankind.
Mizraim (the Hebrew name for Egypt, NET) v.13 would be the country where the Jews were enslaved.
Reflection: The sins of man are repeating. The mighty warrior means there would be war between clans or nations. Mankind was wiped out once, but sin was not wiped out.
Shem: the father of all the sons of Eber (later become Hebrew in ch 11) v.21.
One of the descendants' name is very interesting and may hint the geographical shift of the land. (https://answersingenesis.org/geology/plate-tectonics/did-the-continents-split-apart-in-the-days-of-peleg/)
v.25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan
(NET)The expression “the earth was divided” may refer to dividing the land with canals, but more likely it anticipates the division of languages at Babel (Gen 11).
No matter what you decided about the meaning of the word "divided" you will notice that this must be a historical moment.
Reflection: This chapter helps me to understand how one family of Noah would became all the nations, and different kinds of languages-by dividing and spreading. Chapter 11 told us that that was not the intention of mankind from the beginning. God's will will prevail, not man's.
Audrey
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