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, the Kittim and the Dodanim.
5 From these came the nations of the sea-lands, with their different families and languages.
6 And the sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.
7 And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
8 And Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was the first of the great men of the earth.
9 He was a very great bowman, so that there is a saying, Like Nimrod, a very great bowman.
10 And at the first, his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11 From that land he went out into Assyria, building Nineveh with its wide streets and Calah,
12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah, which is a very great town.
13 And Mizraim was the father of the Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim;
14 And Pathrusim and Casluhim and Caphtorim, from whom came the Philistines.
15 And Canaan was the father of Zidon, who was his oldest son, and Heth,
16 And the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite,
17 And the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite,
18 And the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; after that the families of the Canaanites went far and wide in all directions;
19 Their country stretching from Zidon to Gaza, in the direction of Gerar; and to Lasha, in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim.
20 All these, with their different families, languages, lands, and nations, are the offspring of Ham.
21 And Shem, the older brother of Japheth, the father of the children of Eber, had other sons in addition.
22 These are the sons of Shem: Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram.
23 And the sons of Aram: Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash.
24 And Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber.
25 And Eber had two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his time the peoples of the earth became separate; and his brother's name was Joktan.
26 And Joktan was the father of 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 country was from Mesha, in the direction of Sephar, the mountain of the east.
31 These, with their families and their languages and their lands and their nations, are the offspring of Shem.
32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, in the order of their generations and their nations: from these came all the nations of the earth after the great flow of waters.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 10
Commentary on Genesis 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
This chapter shows more particularly what was said in general (ch. 9:19), concerning the three sons of Noah, that "of them was the whole earth overspread;' and the fruit of that blessing (ch. 9:1, 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,
Gen 10:1-5
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,
Gen 10:6-14
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. 6:4), 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. 14:14, 15. Now,
Gen 10:15-20
Observe here,
Gen 10:21-32
Two things especially are observable in this account of the posterity of Shem:-