As you can see, Ham had other sons, but the curse was only upon Canaan. Why it was not upon the others, I am not prepared to say. From Canaan came the Phoenicians, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, etc.
From Ham’s son Cush came the Africans—the Ethopians, the Egyptians, the Libyans, etc. All of these races are Hamitic, you see. Now we have some detail regarding a son of Cush.
Genesis 10:6-20 KJV
[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.
[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.
Genesis 10:6
And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
As you can see, Ham had other sons, but the curse was only upon Canaan. Why it was not upon the others, I am not prepared to say.
From Canaan came the Phoenicians, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, etc.
From Ham’s son Cush came the Africans—the Ethopians, the Egyptians, the Libyans, etc. All of these races are Hamitic, you see.
Now we have some detail regarding a son of Cush—The peoples descended from Ham’s four sons, Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Canaanites, were Israel’s most hostile neighbors. Cush was possibly in Ethiopia or ancient Nubia, Northern Sudan.
Mizraim was the ancient name for Egypt.
Put was in Libya.
Canaan encompassed Southern Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine west of the Jordan River.
In Moses’ time, Egypt and Canaan were provinces of the same empire.
Ham’s descendants were excluded from the blessing of Shem’s line.
Genesis 10:7
And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
The sons of Cush and Raamah together total seven.
- Seba was in northern Africa.
- Havilah was in southwest Arabia.
- Sabtah was in southern Arabia, in ancient Hadramaut, near the Persian Gulf.
- Raamah was in southwest Arabia near Najran.
- Sabteca was in ancient Samudake near the Persian Gulf.
- Sheba was a kingdom in southwest Arabia with commercial colonies.
- Dedan was in northern Arabia.
Genesis 10:8
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
“He began to be a mighty one in the earth.” He wanted to become the ruler of a great world empire, and he attempted to do it.
Special attention is given to the early history of Babylonia and Assyria, the Mesopotamian empires that would conquer and exile Israel and Judah.
Genesis 10:9
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
“He was a mighty hunter before the LORD.” This doesn’t mean that he was a wild game hunter.
Sometimes a little boy is given an air gun, and when he goes out and shoots a sparrow, his folks say, “My, look at that! He’s a little Nimrod. He hit a sparrow!”
But Nimrod wasn’t shooting sparrows or hunting wild game in Africa. He was a hunter of men’s souls—that is the thought in this passage. Nimrod attained great fame by conquest and terror; his empire extended from Babylonia in the south to Assyria in the north.
The greatest hunter in the world, literally a great hunter before the LORD, Assyrian monarchs glorified their own power, often depicting themselves as valiant hunter-conquerors.
Genesis 10:10
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Babylonia, Hebrew Shinar, is the area surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates in southern Mesopotamia. This kingdom eventually reached into northern Mesopotamia, Assyria.
Of the cities mentioned, Babylon is most important because of its role in building the Tower of Babel. Erech was ancient Uruk and is now Warka in southern Iraq. Accad was the ancient Agade north of Babylon, home of the famous ruler Sargon.
The location of Calneh is uncertain, though it is presumably one of Nimrod’s cities located north of Aram-naharaim in southern Mesopotamia. He was the founder of those great cities in the land of Shinar. Nimrod has quite a story which you can get from secular history.
Nimrod was responsible for the Tower of Babel. It was he who attempted to bring together the human race after the Flood in an effort to get them united into a nation of which he could become the great world ruler. He was the rebel, the founder of Babel, the hunter of the souls of men.
He was the lawless one, and he is a shadow or a type of the last world ruler, the Antichrist who is yet to appear.
The first great civilization, therefore, came out from the sons of Ham. We need to recognize that. It is so easy today to fall into the old patterns that we were taught in school a few years ago.
Now the black man is wanting more study of his race. I don’t blame him. He hasn’t been Truly given an equal opportunity in the past several hundred years. The story of the beginning of the black man is that he headed up the first two great civilizations that appeared on this earth.
They were from the sons of Ham. Nimrod was a son of Ham. I’m not going to attempt to develop that line any further. You see, we are following the pattern set by the Holy Spirit in which He gives the rejected line first and then drops it.
We are going to turn now to the line that will lead to Abraham and then to the nation Israel and finally to the coming of Christ into this world. It is this line which we will follow through the Old Testament.
God is bidding good-bye to the rest of humanity for the time being, but He will be coming back to them later on.
Let me give you a quotation from Saphir’s book, The Divine Unity of Scripture:
The tenth chapter of Genesis is a very remarkable chapter. Before God leaves, as it were, the nations to themselves and begins to deal with Israel, His chosen people from Abraham downward, He takes a loving farewell of all the nations of the earth, as much as to say, “I am going to leave you for a while, but I love you. I have created you: I have ordered all your future; and their different genealogies are traced.”
In chapter 10 seventy nations are listed. Fourteen of them are from Japheth. Thirty of them come from Ham. Don’t forget that. It will give you a different conception of the black man at his beginning.
And twenty-six nations come from Shem, making a total of seventy nations listed in this genealogy. It seems to me that God is showing us what He has done with the nations of the world.
Why has the white man in our day been so prominent?
Well, I’ll tell you why.
Because at the beginning it was the black man, the colored races, that were prominent. Then the sons of Shem made a tremendous impact upon this world during the time of David and Solomon.
And you will notice that from Shem there came others, such as the Syrians, the Lydians, and the Armenians, also the Arabians from Joktan. These great nations appeared next.
Apparently we are currently in the period in which the white man has come to the front. It seems to me that all three are demonstrating that, regardless of whether they are a son of Ham or a son of Shem or a son of Japheth, they are incapable of ruling this world.
I believe that God is demonstrating this to us, and to see this is a tremendous thing.
Genesis 10:11
Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
From there he expanded his territory to Assyria: The Hebrew text can also be translated From that land Assyria went out.
Genesis 10:12
And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
Resen is possibly modern Selamiyeh, northwest of Tell Nimrud. Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the east bank of the Tigris River in northern Iraq. Calah is modern Tell Nimrud, south of Nineveh.
Genesis 10:13
And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
The Ludites were Lydian tribes west of the Nile delta. The identity of the Anamites is uncertain. They were possibly Egyptians near Cyrene, west of Egypt. The Lehabites were possibly a Libyan tribe. The Naphtuhites inhabited northern Egypt.
Genesis 10:14
And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
The Pathrusites inhabited southern Egypt.
Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came, Hebrew text reads Casluhites, from whom the Philistines came, and Caphtorites, The Casluhites possibly inhabited an Egyptian district also known as Cyrenaica.
The Philistines from Crete were sea people who lived intermittently in southwest Canaan during the period of the Exodus and later. They were among Israel’s most troublesome enemies during the early monarchy.
The Caphtorites were Cretans.
Genesis 10:15
And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
Sidon settled in Phoenicia, north of Canaan.
Hittites, Hebrew Heth, The Hittites in Genesis were a coalition of cities within Canaan. They were probably not the same as the Hittites of Anatolia, Asia Minor, whose empire was one of the great empires of antiquity during the patriarchal period.
Genesis 10:16
And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
The Jebusites were ancient inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The Amorites lived throughout the mountains of Palestine in Canaan.
Little is known of the Girgashites, a Canaanite tribe.
Genesis 10:17
And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
The Hivites were an uncircumcised Canaanite tribe.
The Arkites resided in Tell ’Arqa in Lebanon.
The Sinites formed a city-state and inhabited Phoenicia.
Genesis 10:18
And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
The Arvadites inhabited Ruad in northern Phoenicia, near the El Kebir River. They were known for shipping.
The Zemarites inhabited Sumur, modern Sumra, north of Arka on the Phoenician coast.
The Hamathites founded what is now Hama on the Orontes River, the northern boundary of Canaan.
Genesis 10:19
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.
The territory of Canaan is specifically marked off because it would be taken from its inhabitants and given to Israel. An ancient north-south seacoast highway, the Via Maris, extended from Sidon . . . to Gerar, connecting Egypt to Mesopotamia.
Modern Gaza is 11 miles northwest of Gerar. Sodom and Gomorrah were cities on the border of the land southeast of the Dead Sea.
Admah and Zeboiim are mentioned 15 times in connection with Sodom and Gomorrah. All four cities were destroyed by God to cleanse the land. Lasha was possibly in the northern region of the Dead Sea.
Genesis 10:20
These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
Satan will do his best to place the enemies of your soul within your promised possession, just as he ultimately placed these enemies in the Land of Israel, who greatly opposed the people of God.
I hope that you have really enjoyed this post,
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