G
E N E S I S
CHAP. X.
This chapter shows more particularly what was
said in general (ch. ix. 19), concerning the three sons of Noah, that
"of them was the whole earth overspread;" and the fruit of that
blessing (ch. ix. 1, 7), "replenish the earth." Is is the
only certain account extant of the origin of nations; and yet perhaps there is
no nation but that of the Jews that can be confident from which of these
seventy fountains (for so many there are here) it derives its streams. Through
the want of early records, the mixtures of people, the revolutions of nations,
and distance of time, the knowledge of the lineal descent of the present
inhabitants of the earth is lost; nor were any genealogies preserved but those
of the Jews, for the sake of the Messiah, only in this chapter we have a brief
account, I. Of the posterity of Japheth, ver. 2-5. II. The posterity of Ham
(ver. 6-20), and in this particular notice is taken of Nimrod, ver. 8-10. III.
The posterity of Shem, ver. 21, &c.
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The Generations of Noah.
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B. C. 2347.
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1 Now these are the generations
of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born
after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and
Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 3 And the
sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 And the sons
of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 By these
were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his
tongue, after their families, in their nations.
Moses begins with
Japheth's family, either because he was the eldest, or because his family lay
remotest from Israel and had least concern with them at the time when Moses
wrote, and therefore he mentions that race very briefly, hastening to give an
account of the posterity of Ham, who were Israel's enemies and of Shem, who
were Israel's ancestors; for it is the church that the scripture is designed
to be the history of, and of the nations of the world only as they were some
way or other related to Israel and interested in the affairs of Israel.
Observe, 1. Notice is taken that the sons of Noah had sons born to them after
the flood, to repair and rebuild the world of mankind which the flood had
ruined. He that had killed now makes alive. 2. The posterity of Japheth were
allotted to the isles of the Gentiles (v. 5), which were solemnly, by
lot, after a survey, divided among them, and probably this island of ours
among the rest; all places beyond the sea from Judea are called isles
(Jer. xxv. 22), and this directs us to understand that promise (Isa. xlii. 4),
the isles shall wait for his law, of the conversion of the Gentiles to
the faith of Christ.
6
And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7
And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha:
and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 8
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said; Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter
before the LORD. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,
and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of
that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and
Calah, 12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is
a great city. 13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim,
and Naphtuhim, 14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came
Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
That which is
observable and improvable in these verses is the account here given of Nimrod,
v. 8-10. He is here represented as a great man in his day: He began
to be a mighty one in the earth, that is, whereas those that went before
him were content to stand upon the same level with their neighbours, and
though every man bore rule in his own house yet no man pretended any further,
Nimrod's aspiring mind could not rest here; he was resolved to tower above his
neighbours, not only to be eminent among them, but to lord it over them. The
same spirit that actuated the giants before the flood (who became mighty
men, and men of renown, ch. vi. 4), now revived in him, so soon was
that tremendous judgment which the pride and tyranny of those mighty men
brought upon the world forgotten. Note, There are some in whom ambition and
affectation of dominion seem to be bred in the bone; such there have been and
will be, notwithstanding the wrath of God often revealed from heaven against
them. Nothing on this side hell will humble and break the proud spirits of
some men, in this like Lucifer, Isa. xiv. 14, 15. Now,
I. Nimrod was a
great hunter; with this he began, and for this became famous to a proverb.
Every great hunter is, in remembrance of him, called a Nimrod. 1. Some
think he did good with his hunting, served his country by ridding it of the
wild beasts which infested it, and so insinuated himself into the affections
of his neighbours, and got to be their prince. Those that exercise authority
either are, or at least would be called, benefactors, Luke xxii. 25. 2.
Others think that under pretence of hunting he gathered men under his command,
in pursuit of another game he had to play, which was to make himself master of
the country and to bring them into subjection. He was a mighty hunter,
that is, he was a violent invader of his neighbours' rights and properties,
and a persecutor of innocent men, carrying all before him, and endeavouring to
make all his own by force and violence. He thought himself a mighty prince,
but before the Lord (that is, in God's account) he was but a mighty
hunter. Note, Great conquerors are but great hunters. Alexander and Cesar
would not make such a figure in scripture-history as they do in common
history; the former is represented in prophecy but as a he-goat pushing, Dan.
viii. 5. Nimrod was a mighty hunter against the Lord, so the LXX; that
is, (1.) He set up idolatry, as Jeroboam did, for the confirming of his
usurped dominion. That he might set up a new government, he set up a new
religion upon the ruin of the primitive constitution of both. Babel was the
mother of harlots. Or, (2.) He carried on his oppression and violence in
defiance of God himself, daring Heaven with his impieties, as if he and his
huntsmen could out-brave the Almighty, and were a match for the Lord of hosts
and all his armies. As if it were a small thing to weary men, he thinks to
weary my God also, Isa. vii. 13.
II. Nimrod was a
great ruler: The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, v. 10. Some
way or other, by arts or arms, he got into power, either being chosen to it or
forcing his way to it; and so laid the foundations of a monarchy, which was
afterwards a head of gold, and the terror of the mighty, and bade fair to be
universal. It does not appear that he had any right to rule by birth; but
either his fitness for government recommended him, as some think, to an
election, or by power and policy he advanced gradually, and perhaps
insensibly, into the throne. See the antiquity of civil government, and
particularly that form of it which lodges the sovereignty in a single person.
If Nimrod and his neighbours began, other nations soon learned to incorporate
under one head for their common safety and welfare, which, however it began,
proved so great a blessing to the world that things were reckoned to go ill
indeed when there was no king in Israel.
III. Nimrod was a
great builder. Probably he was architect in the building of Babel, and there
he began his kingdom; but, when his project to rule all the sons of Noah was
baffled by the confusion of tongues, out of that land he went forth into
Assyria (so the margin reads it, v. 11) and built Nineveh,
&c., that, having built these cities, he might command them and rule over
them. Observe, in Nimrod, the nature of ambition. 1. It is boundless. Much
would have more, and still cries, Give, give. 2. It is restless.
Nimrod, when he had four cities under his command, could not be content till
he had four more. 3. It is expensive. Nimrod will rather be at the charge of
rearing cities than not have the honour of ruling them.
The spirit of building is the common effect of a spirit of pride. 4. It is
daring, and will stick at nothing. Nimrod's name signifies rebellion, which
(if indeed he did abuse his power to the oppression of his neighbours) teaches
us that tyrants to men are rebels to God, and their rebellion is as the sin
of witchcraft.
15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16
And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 17 And the
Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 18 And the Arvadite, and
the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the
Canaanites spread abroad. 19 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. 20 These are
the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their
countries, and in their nations.
Observe here, 1.
The account of the posterity of Canaan, of the families and nations that
descended from him, and of the land they possessed, is more particular than of
any other in this chapter, because these were the nations that were to be
subdued before Israel, and their land was in process of time to become the
holy land, Immanuel's land; and this God had an eye to when, in the
mean time, he cast the lot of that accursed devoted race in that spot of
ground which he had selected for his own people; this Moses takes notice of,
Deut. xxxii. 8, When the Most High divided to the nations their
inheritance, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the
children of Israel. 2. By this account it appears that the posterity of
Canaan were numerous, and rich, and very pleasantly situated; and yet Canaan
was under a curse, a divine curse, and not a curse causeless. Note, Those that
are under the curse of God may yet perhaps thrive and prosper greatly in this
world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the blessing or the curse, by what
is before us, but by what is within us, Eccl. ix. 1. The curse of God always
works really and always terribly: but perhaps it is a secret curse, a curse to
the soul, and does not work visibly, or a slow curse, and does not work
immediately; but sinners are by it reserved for, and bound over to, a day of
wrath. Canaan here has a better land than either Shem or Japheth, and yet they
have a better lot, for they inherit the blessing.
21
Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth
the elder, even to him were children born. 22 The children
of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. 23 And
the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. 24 And
Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. 25 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. 26 And Joktan
begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, 27 And
Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, 28 And Obal, and Abimael, and
Sheba, 29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were
the sons of Joktan. 30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou
goest unto Sephar a mount of the east. 31 These are the
sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after
their nations. 32 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.
Two things
especially are observable in this account of the posterity of Shem:--
I. The
description of Shem, v. 21. We have not only his name, Shem,
which signifies a name, but two titles to distinguish him by:--
1. He was the
father of all the children of Eber. Eber was his great grandson; but why
should he be called the father of all his children, rather than of all
Arphaxad's, or Salah's, &c.? Probably because Abraham and his seed, God's
covenant-people, not only descended from Heber, but from him were called Hebrews;
ch. xiv. 13, Abram the Hebrew. Paul looked upon it as his
privilege that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, Phil. iii. 5. Eber
himself, we may suppose, was a man eminent for religion in a time of general
apostasy, and a great example of piety to his family; and, the holy tongue
being commonly called from him the Hebrew, it is probable that he
retained it in his family, in the confusion of Babel, as a special token of
God's favour to him; and from him the professors of religion were called the
children of Eber. Now, when the inspired penman would give Shem an
honourable title, he calls him the father of the Hebrews. Though when
Moses wrote this, they were a poor despised people, bond-slaves in Egypt, yet,
being God's people, it was an honour to a man to be akin to them. As Ham,
though he had many sons, is disowned by being called the father of Canaan,
on whose seed the curse was entailed (ch.
ix. 22), so Shem, though he had many sons, is dignified with the title of the
father of Eber, on whose seed the blessing was entailed. Note, a family of
saints is more truly honourable than a family of nobles, Shem's holy seed than
Ham's royal seed, Jacob's twelve patriarchs than Ishmael's twelve princes, ch.
xvii. 20. Goodness is true greatness.
2. He was the
brother of Japheth the elder, by which it appears that, though Shem is
commonly put first, he was not Noah's first-born, but Japheth was older. But
why should this also be put as part of Shem's title and description, that he was
the brother of Japheth, since it had been, in effect, said often before?
And was he not as much brother to Ham? Probably this was intended to signify
the union of the Gentiles with the Jews in the church. The sacred historian
had mentioned it as Shem's honour that he was the father of the Hebrews; but,
lest Japheth's seed should therefore be looked upon as for ever shut out from
the church, he here reminds us that he was the brother of Japheth, not
in birth only, but in blessing; for Japheth was to dwell in the tents of
Shem. Note, (1.) Those are brethren in the best manner that are so by
grace, and that meet in the covenant of God and in the communion of saints.
(2.) God, in dispensing his grace, does not go by seniority, but the younger
sometimes gets the start of the elder in coming into the church; so the
last shall be first and the first last.
II. The reason of
the name of Peleg (v. 25): Because in his days (that is, about
the time of his birth, when his name was given him), was the earth divided
among the children of men that were to inhabit it; either when Noah divided it
by an orderly distribution of it, as Joshua divided the land of Canaan by lot,
or when, upon their refusal to comply with that division, God, in justice,
divided them by the confusion of tongues: whichsoever of these was the
occasion, pious Heber saw cause to perpetuate the remembrance of it in the
name of his son; and justly may our sons be called by the same name, for in
our days, in another sense, is the earth, the church, most wretchedly divided.
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