GENESIS 10
BERESHIS 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.
2 The sons of Japheth [Settled mainly in Europe]; Gomer [France], and Magog [the two oldest sons] [Germany/West Russia/Scandanavia], and Madai [Medes/ Persia (roughly Iran)] , and Javan [Greece/ Ionia], and Tubal [Tobolski], and Meshech [Moscow], and Tiras [Thracia -Bulgaria, Romania, Crimea on the Black Sea].
Gomer and Magog migrated west into the heart of Europe settling next to each other either side of the Rhine (Josephus/ Herodotus.
In Rev 13 Gomer under Charlemagne became the Beast of the Sea. Subsequently the 'holy Roman empire' seat of power transferred to Magog (Germany) The Beast of the Earth (central Europe).
Since WWII France and Germany have been at the heart of Europe. Since its formation as the European Economic Community Gomer and Magog have enjoyed unprecented co-operation - a sign we are in the Latter Days.
The sons of Japheth were beginning and the root of the Indo-European races. Known for their inventiveness and for their exploratory zeal.
Gomer and Magog were the two oldest of his sons.
Josephus tells us in antiquities book 1,
"Japheth the son of Noah had seven sons. Beginning at the mountains Taurus and Ammanus, they proceeded along Asia as far as the River Tenai, which is the River Dong, and along Europe to Cadiz just beyond the straits of Gibraltar".
The River Dong led up within the heartland of Russia, the river Danu wandered across the western territory of the land of Europe and finally the river Rhine...into Europe as far as the area of Spain itself.
Josephus says that Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatae but were then called Gomerites, whereas Magog founded the Magogites who are by the Greeks called the Scythi.
Herodotus says not only did some of them travel up the River Dong but that the name Scythi was the name given by the Greeks to an ancient and widely extended people of Europe who had spread themselves from the River Dong, westwards along the banks of the River Danube. So they migrated in that westerly direction.
Siculus tells us in terms of this migration westerly that Scythia was above Gaul, which is the same as saying that Magog was above Gomer. He says Scythia was above Gaul extending to the Baltic but it describes that large tract of land above the Rhine.
So the Rhine became the geographic dividing line as it were between Magog to the north and Gomer to the south.
France [and perhaps northern Spain] and Germany answering we believe to Gomer and to Magog. Magog more in the central heartland of Europe and answering predominantly to the territory of Europe.
...The fourth son was Javan and Javan relates to the area of Greece and to the Ionian Peninsula that derives its name from Javan himself.
Bro Roger Lewis - Notes from "The Sons of Japheth"
Startling Developments in Europe
We are looking at developments in Europe today and the revival of the beast system, the red line because this is part of the system of the seed of the serpent, that will oppose the seed of the woman at the time of the end.
The developments we are looking at here are part of that serpent power before our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
How the Sons of Japheth managed to revive the Beast?
Genesis 10 verse 1,
'Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan and Tubal and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations'.
So here we are given now the generations of the sons of Japheth in their dispersion as verse 2 says. The stock of Japheth were those known for their exploratory zeal. These are they who would divide the isles of the Gentiles and populate them as verse 5 says; the sons of Japheth were the Indo-European races and from them would come those leading explorers of the world that would migrate all over the place!
They migrated from where the story first began, because the sons of Noah were
going to migrate from where the ark came to rest in Ararat, the sons of Japheth would now advance into other regions. Two sons in particular we believe migrated the furthest of all!
Josephus writes concerning the migration of the sons of Japheth,
'Japheth the son of Noah had 7 seven sons, and beginning at the mountains Taurus and Amanus, they proceeded along Asia as far as the river Tanais, which is the river Don' - 'Antiquities' book 1 chapter 6.
The river Don is in the heartland of modern Russia today, but heading in fact eastward, and the sons of Japheth headed in that direction as far as that river and then up along that river. But Josephus wrote,
'they also proceeded along Europe to Cadiz'
which is just beyond the straits of Gibraltar; and Josephus goes on to write,
'that Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, but who were then called Gomerites, and Magog founded those who were from him and they were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called the Scythians'.
And Heroditus takes up that word 'Scythian', and he writes that the Scythian, Magogites, that was a name given by the Greeks to a widely extended people of Europe who had spread themselves from the river Don westwards along the banks of the Danube. So the Scythians, Magogites, one of the sons of Japheth, had spread along the Danube in a westerly direction now travelling across Europe.
Finally Diodorus Siculus says,
'that Scythia was above Gaul extending to the Baltic and describing that large tract of land above the Rhine'.
So if we were to look at those names what we would find is that those three historical writers tell us that the sons of Japheth migrated firstly up the river Don then along into the area of Europe here, travelling along the Danube, and travelling west to the Iberian peninsula itself of Spain and Portugal, and in particular, Gomer and Magog were above one another or continuous to one another separated by the river Rhine. Gomer was to the south and Magog was to the north of that geographical divide.
That is interesting because it is these two sons in particular that we want to look at.
They were the first two, the oldest two boys of Japheth, as it says in verse 2, 'Gomer and Magog'. So here are the oldest sons of Japheth now, who migrated perhaps the most westerly right to the far side of Europe.
Gomer - was in the area of what we would call modern France, and in the Iberian peninsula. To the north of that, separated by the Rhine River, was the power of the second son of Japheth known as Magog.
Bro Roger Lewis - [text abridged]
In Genesis 10, the third son is called Madai, the same word is translated'Media' in other parts of the Old Testament and is the word for the 'Medes' and the Persians answering to the modern territory of Iran. Javan is the word from whence the Ionian peninsula has derived its
name answering to Greece and the islands around it. Tubal we believe was to the north, Meshech began a little lower than that, down between the Black and Caspian Seas, but Meshech migrated northwards.
The last son, the son mentioned as Tiras is the area of Thracia answering to the territories of Roumania and Bulgaria and around the area of the Black Sea. It has been suggested that the 'ras' at the end of Tiras, is the beginning of the word 'Russe' who would become the Russians or the Russi who also migrated from the Black Sea area northwards into what would eventually become modern Ukraine.
So if we were to ask where did the sons of Japheth go the answer would be they populated most of Europe. So that brings us to the beasts of Daniel 7 which in turn follow the story of Daniel 2 in terms of the metals of the empire. Daniel 2 is Nebuchadnezzar's view or version of the kingdom of men; he sees it as a mighty great warrior, whereas Daniel 7 is the divine estimate of those same nations, as given by dream to Daniel, and God sees those same powers as nothing other than wild beasts following one after the other.
Where did those beasts live brethren &sisters? What we find is that as we come through Daniel's four beasts we are also moving steadily westwards. The Babylonian empire only stretched across to the area of modern Palestine on the Mediterranean coast. But the Medo-Persian empire travelled a little further westwards into the territory which was biblically known as Asia Minor or modern Turkey and across the Bosphorus and into the region beyond, and I suppose technically is actually part of Europe.
The Grecians went a little further because they embraced Macedonia and Achaia and reached even further, but it's not until we come to Daniel's fourth beast that we suddenly realize that this empire is completely European. And Daniel's 4th beast is Europe and continues until the time of Christ. There is no fifth beast. So the theatre of operation for bible prophecy in the latter day for that beast is going to be in Europe. The Japhethite territory. The beast that lives for 2,000 years roams the lands of the sons of Japheth.
That is what Revelation is all about. The 4th beast of Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 says, 'well, there's that next beast which is simply the next stage of that 4th beast, and Revelation 13 says, 'and here's the next stage', and again, 'here's the next stage' and finally, 'there's the last stage' and simply it is just the 4th beast down through time, until Christ comes to do battle with it, because there is never a 5th beast.
So the Roman empire, an essential religion, the Roman Catholic Church in its successive stages of manifestation spans all those centuries of time, from the apostles of the first century until our own time, with modern Europe under the influence of the Papacy. So we are in Europe in order for the unfolding of this particular story of the Roman beast to take place, therefore, the connection with the sons of Japheth, and this beast in particular, because this is where the sons of Japheth live as well.
Bro Roger Lewis - [text abridged]
3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
àTarshish is a proper name, occurring first in Gen. 10:4, designating the second son of Javan, who was the fourth son of Japheth, eldest son of Noah.
Alexander the Great is styled by Daniel "King of Javan," melech yavan; and it is worthy of note that the Hindoos call the Greeks Yavanas, which is the ancient Hebrew appellation.
Tarshish was, then, the second son of him from whom the Greeks descended. He was doubtless an important personage in the original settlement of the coasts, which are always colonized before the interior of new countries. Coasts and islands are represented by the same word in Hebrew, Javan is in apposition with "the isles afar off," in the last chapter of Isaiah.
His descendants are a maritime people to this day inhabiting the isles and coasts of the Archipelago, &c. The Javanese settled the coasts of the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and the Atlantic region above the Straits of Gibraltar. It is to be expected, therefore, that the settlements would be originally named after their patriarchs, namely,
"Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim."
The Mediterranean was named the Sea of Tarshish, because, it is probable, his settlements were more commercial and enterprising than those of his other brethren. The southern coast of Spain, abutting both on the Atlantic and Mediterranean, is considered as peculiarly his.
One of his Atlantic settlements was called Tartessus, Ταρτησσοζ, or, as it occurs in Polybius and Stephanus Byzantinus, Ταρσηιον, Tarseı̈on. Tartessus is probably a contraction for Ταρσου ́ησοζ, Tarsou nasos, Tar shish's Island, for Tartessus was originally an island formed by the two mouths of the Bœtis, or Guadalquiver, and the Atlantic: one of the channels is dried up, so that it is now a part of the peninsula.
Having arrived at the westernmost coasts from Ararat, the sons of Tarshish would extend settlements wherever the land line would indicate. Following this in a northerly direction, it would at last lead them in view of Britain, along whose southern coast they might spread themselves to the Land's End, a part of the island abounding in tin.
These Spanish and British coasts are indicated as the settlements of Tarshish, or some of "the isles," or coasts, "afar off," by the articles they brought for sale at the Tyrian fairs. Addressing himself to Tyre, a famous city on the coast of the Holy Land, and styled by Isaiah "the mart of nations," Ezekiel says,
"Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs."
These are products of the mines of Spain and Britain, which were brought to Tyre in "the ships of Tarshish," which saith the prophet,
"did sing of thee (Tyre) in thy market; and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas."
From this it appears, that the Tarshish branch of the Javanese had become an eminently maritime and commercial people of the west and north west from Tyre. "Silver spread into plates," says Jeremiah, "is brought from Tarshish;" and he adds, "and gold from Uphaz," or Ophir.
Tyre was the strength of Tarshish, for it was by the Tyrian trade that Tarshish maintained its maritime ascendancy. Tyre was the mart for the products of the coasts and isles afar off brought in the ships of Tarshish; hence as a commercial city she is styled the "daughter of Tarshish." The relations between the coasts of the Tarshish people and the city of Tyre, were very profitable and intimate. The rejoicing between the two was reciprocal; for Tyre sang as a harlot, and the mariners from Tarshish sang the praises of the customer that enriched them.
Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, March 1858
5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
1 Now these are the toldot of the Bnei Noach: Shem, Cham, and Yephet; and unto them were banim born after the mabbul (flood).
2 The Bnei Yephet: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Yavan, and Tuval, and Meshech, and Tiras.
3 And the Bnei Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphat, and Togarmah.
4 And the Bnei Yavan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5 By these were the coastlands of the Goyim divided in their lands; every one after his leshon, after their mishpechot, in their Goyim.
6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim [Egypt], and Phut, and Canaan.
àThe history of a nation which dates its kings to the days of Abraham, which has a national record of 4,000 years, a Bible history, as an ally, an enemy and persecutor of Israel, and which has been in so many ways an instrument in the hands of Deity for carrying out His purposes, ought to present an attractive field of study to the Bible student, for it is only such who can benefit by the story.
The discovery of the true interpretation of the monumental inscriptions of Egypt, and the near identity of the Coptic with the language of ancient Egypt, confirm and elucidate the Scripture narrative in many particulars.
I propose to point out some of them for your consideration and study. A very painstaking and elaborate summary of the deciphered inscriptions has been published by "Canon" Trevor, and from his series of papers we extract the leading facts.
It will be borne in mind that the ancient Egyptians are supposed to be descended from Caphtorim, son of Mizraim, son of Ham, son of Noah. Mizraim in the Hebrew Scriptures, is a common name of Egypt, and it is still so called by the Arabs.
In Psalm 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:22, it is styled "the land of Ham." The more modern name familiar to us, "Egypt," is a word of Greek origin, signifying 'the land of the Copt," the most ancient race of the country.
The Coptic language was the language of Egypt till about the time of the Saracen invasion, a.d. 640, and it has been ascertained to be a corrupted form of that on the monuments which are now revealing to us, on stone tablets, the history of its people before, contemporaneous with, and subsequent to the exodus under Moses, strongly confirmatory of the Mosaic record.
Bro. Sintzenich
The Christadelphian, Dec 1873
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.
à'The amazing extent of the worship of this man, Nimrod, indicates something very extraordinary in his character. There are ample reasons to believe that in his own day, he was an object of high popularity, though by setting himself up as king, Nimrod invaded the patriarchal system and abridged the liberties of mankind, yet he was held by many to have inferred benefits upon them, that amply indemnified them for the loss of their liberties, and covered him with glory and renown.
By the time that he appeared, the wild beasts of the forest, multiplying more rapidly than the human race, must have committed great degradations on the scattered and straggling populations of the earth, and must have inspired great terror in the minds of men. The exploits of Nimrod therefore, in hunting down the wild beasts of the field and ridding the world of monsters, must have gained for him a character of a preeminent benefactor of his race.
By this means, not less than by the bands he trained, was his power acquired when he first began to be mighty upon the earth. In the same way, no doubt, was this power consolidated. Then over and above as the first great city builder after the flood, by gathering together men in masses and surrounding them with walls, he did still more, allowing them to pass their days in security.
Had Nimrod gained renown only thus, it had been well! but not content with delivering men from the fear of wild beasts, he set to work also to emancipate them from that fear of the LORD which is the beginning of wisdom and in which alone, true happiness can be found'.
Alexander Hislop - Two Babylons
Nimrod
Nimrod was a mighty one in the earth - he was a mighty hunter in the face of God, in defiance of God, right under God's face. Nimrod did not just hunt wild beasts he was a mighty hunter of the seed of the woman. He was the first persecutor of the saints. His intention was to establish a rival system and he would persecute the seed of the woman.
Notes from The Mysterious tale of two temples by Bro Roger Lewis
The False Prophet
The false prophet is consistently identified with the beast! As the beast is associated with Europe how is Islam uniquely associated with the beast system of Europe? How is the Papacy associated with the beast system of Europe? To ask the question is to give the answer. It is self evident that one is a tremendous fulfilment and the other is no fulfilment at all!
There is always a rival system and a rival temple, and a rival leader from the very beginning. In his book " Two Babylons" Alexander Hislop writes concerning a man called Phoroneus who lived at a time when mankind was scattered abroad. He is said to have been the first to have gathererd mankind into a community, the first of mortals that reigned, and the first to adopt idolatrous sacrifices. That character can agree with none other than Nimrod in terms of Genesis 11, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon. The first who gathered men into communities and reigned over mortals was Nimrod, Phoroneus was one of the titles of Nimrod.
Now the name given to him in connection with offering idolatrous sacrifices is very significant. Phoroneus signifies the 'apostate', and that name had very likely been given him by the uninfected portion of the sons of Noah; all tradition from the earliest time bears testimony to the apostasy of Nimrod and to his success in leading men away from the patriarchal faith'.
The first great 'apostate' is Nimrod. Who is the last great leader of apostasy? and the answer is the false prophet, and he is the inheritor of this system and this spirit. Nimrod means "he will rebel", and here is one of his titles, Phoroneus, 'the apostate one'. You will never see the man of sin [2 Thss 2] unless you first see an apostasy. The false prophet is part of a continuum of bible prophecy that began a long time ago, and he is that final champion of the seed of the serpent.
So whereas the story began with Nimrod and Shem, for the purpose of Thessalonians it is the man of sin vs the Lord Jesus, and for the purpose of the Revelation, it is the false prophet vs the faithful and true. But that false prophet is the last stage in a long story and the last leader in a long line, he is the latter day inheritor of the mantle of Nimrod, who was the first great false prophet. He is of the same spirit, he is the inheritor of the Babylonish system.
My notes from an address by Bro Roger Lewis
9 He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before Yahweh.
Divide and Conquer
àThis conqueror was Eth-Nimrod, sent forth from the faces of Yahweh liphnai Yahweh, to hunt the apostates from them. The war thus brought upon them by their presumption and pride completely shattered them, and brought the building of the city and tower to a standstill.
"They left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel, "confusion," because Yahweh did there babel, confound the language of all the earth. And from thence did Yahweh (by the hand of Nimrod) scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth."—(Gen. 9:8, 9.)
The city of confusion, Babylon, was the point of Nimrod's departure on his career of conquest. "From thence" did Yahweh scatter them abroad. The vengeance must have been terrible, seeing that his severity became a proverb. He hunted them as beasts until the land of their wickedness acquired the name of "The land of the enemy's tooth," from shin, "tooth," and ar, an enemy, the derivation of Shin-ar we prefer.
Babylon figures no more in Bible history after this early notice for a very considerable period.
Bro Thomas, History of the Nations
The Christadelphian, May 1873
10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and [Akkad], and Calneh, in [Eretz] Shinar.
The origin of the kingdom of men
àIt consisted of eight cities and a territory, watered by the Euphrates and the Hiddikel or Tigris, "Rivers of Cush," styled the land of Shinar, or "the spoil of the tooth," as is conjectured by some. But this conjecture aside, we conclude that the territory was so named because it was the hunting-ground where Nimrod rent the prey on founding his dominion.
The Bible history of nations shows that war comes upon them as a punishment for their iniquity. The "earth," in the days of Nimrod, though in its infancy, had "become vain in its imaginations, and its heart was darkened," "Go to," said they,
"let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly; and let us build us a City and a tower, and its top in the heavens; and let us make us a name, lest we be dashed in pieces over the face of all the earth."
This was a policy designed to circumvent any purpose of God in his exercise of lordship over them. Mankind were then united in one community, and had nothing to fear from a foreign power upon earth. The "balance of power" among nations was then no part of statesmanship. The policy of the leaders was to consolidate their power against the assaults of heaven, that they might not be broken to pieces for their iniquity, as their predecessors had been by the flood.
Society, at this time, was scarcely older than a hundred years.
Bro Thomas
The Christadelphian, May 1873
Babylon vs. Israel
When this controversy first began, we believe that the rivals were Nimrod and Shem. So Nimrod was a king-priest of the Babylonish rites of worship and Melchizedek was the king-priest of Salem where God is worshipped in truth, after the pattern given to Noah and thereafter.
Brother Thomas said that Melchizedek was Shem. Shem and Nimrod were both alive at the same time and I believe there was a conflict between them because they were the two leaders of the two systems. In the Babylonish records we're told of a controversy between two kings, and another king who isn't named had Nimrod judicially put to death because he would not tolerate the system of apostasy that Nimrod had devised.
A certain king put him to death, said the ancient Babylonish records and that Babylonish system which documents the untimely death of Nimrod, put to death by the sword on the orders of a certain king, well that king is named in the Egyptian account of the death of Nimrod; and in the Egyptian record the king who caused the slaying is called Sim, and I believe it was the Shem of Noachian time, and that controversy between the two kings lead to the death of the one.
You can feel a sense of deja-vu;
'And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the LORD shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and destroy with the brightness of His coming'.
The end of this controversy at the time of the end, the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians, he shall inherit the mantle of Nimrod, and the Lord Jesus who is the Messiah of Israel will be the latter day Shem, and the one champion will order the execution of the other, in this final resolution of this conflict, in the final conflict of the two systems.
There will be two champions at the time of the end, just as there were two champions at the start of this whole story, two rival systems with all authority and power, based in one man on either side of the ledger; it's quite marvellous how the bible is very specific, very precise about the balance of this story.
Notes from 'The foundation of the world' by Bro Roger Lewis
6 And the Bnei Cham: Cush, and Mitzrayim, and Phut, and Kena'an.
7 And the Bnei Cush: Seva, and Chavilah, and Savtah, and Raamah, and Savtecha; and the Bnei Raamah: Sheva, and Dedan.
8 And Cush fathered Nimrod; he began to be a gibbor in ha'aretz.
9 He was a gibbor, a hunter before Hashem; therefore it is said, like Nimrod the gibbor, the hunter before Hashem.
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.
15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
11 Out of that land he went forth to Asshur, and built Nineveh, and Rechovot-Ir, and Kelach,
12 And Resen between Nineveh and Kelach; the same is haIr Hagedolah.
13 And Mitzrayim fathered Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehavim, and Naphtuchim,
14 And Patrusim, and Casluchim, out of whom came Pelishtim (Philistines), and Caphtorim.
15 And Kena'an fathered Tzidon his bechor, and Chet,
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.
Canaan the son of Ham had 11· sons (Gen. 10. 15-17), colonising areas from Hamath to Gaza, along the Mediterranean coast, Judaean hills and Jordan Valley (Gen.l0.19), corrupting and polluting the whole land with their depraved morals, similar to the immorality and depravity that prevails today (Gen.18 &19).
20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
16 And the Yevusi, and the Emori, and the Girgashi,
17 And the Chivvi, and the Arki, and the Sini,
18 And the Arvadi, and the Tzemari, and the Chamati; and afterward were the mishpechot haKena'ani spread abroad.
19 And the boundary of the Kena'ani was from Tzidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Azah (Gaza); as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Amora (Gomorrah), and Admah, and Tzevoyim, even unto Lesha.
20 These are the Bnei Cham, after their mishpechot, after their leshonot, in their territories, and in their Goyim.
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.
àThe whole earth was of one lip and the same words, when they first dwelt in the land of Shinar.—(Gen. 11:1.) This was the earth in its undivided state; but in the days of Peleg, their language was divided, a division, peleg, which would result in national distinctions and appropriations of the earth.
Now the son of Eber was named Peleg, either because the earth had been divided in the year of his birth, or was to be divided after his birth, and before his own death.
In those days, names were often prophetical as well as commemorative of events. Peleg might, therefore, signify that the earth should be divided in his days. If this were the case, it allows 239 years after his birth for the fulfilment of the predictions, or 340 from the flood.
Noah lived 350 years after the Flood, and was 58 years contemporary with Abram. Abram's father, Terah, resided in Chaldea, and was there 70 years before the birth of Abram, and 108 before the death of Noah, and 98 before the death of Peleg.
Now if the earth had not been divided till after Terah's birth, Terah should have been the man named Peleg. We infer, then, that it was divided before Terah's birth. For the same reason we believe it was divided before the birth of Nahor, Serug, and Reu, son of Peleg; and therefore, the phrase
b'y̯man, "in his days," refers to the period from his birth to the birth of Reu, and not till the end of his life. This theory would allow thirty years more, and so place the earth's division between 101 and 131 years after the Flood. The following are the items of this period: [Gen 11]
Years after Flood Aged
Shem begat Arphaxed 2
Arphaxed begat Salah 37 35
Salah lived and begat Eber 61 30
Eber lived and begat Peleg 101 34
Peleg lived and begat Reu 131 30
Bro Thomas
The Christadelphian, May 1873
21 Also unto Shem avi kol Bnei Ever, and the older brother of Yephet, even to him were offspring born.
22 The Bnei Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram.
23 And Bnei Aram: Uz, and Chul, and Geter, and Mash.
24 And Arpachshad fathered Shelach; and Shelach fathered Ever.
25 And unto Ever were born two banim: the shem of one was Peleg; for in his days was ha'aretz divided; and his brother's shem was Yoktan.
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.
26 And Yoktan fathered Almodad, and Sheleph, and Chatzarmavet, and Yerach,
27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
28 And Oval, and Avimael, and Sheva,
29 And Ophir, and Chavilah, and Yovav; all these were the Bnei Yoktan.
30 And their moshav (dwelling) was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar har hakedem.
31 These are the Bnei Shem, after their mishpechot, according to their leshonot, in their territories, after their Goyim.
32 These are the mishpechot of the Bnei Noach, after their toldot, in their Goyim; and by these were the Goyim divided/separated in ha'aretz after the mabbul.