Table of Nations

Text and Content

Genesis 10 lists in turn the descendants of Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, after the Flood. The order is Japheth (10:2-5), Ham (10:6-20), and Shem (10:21-31). Each section closes with a similar formula: "after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations" (10:20). Genesis 10:32 summarizes that from these the nations were divided in the earth. The same genealogy appears again in 1 Chronicles 1.

• Line of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. Their descendants are said to have divided the coastlands among themselves ("the isles of the Gentiles," 10:5).
• Line of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. Nimrod, a descendant of Cush, is introduced as a mighty warrior who founded Babel, Nineveh, and other cities. The descendants of Canaan include Sidon and the various Canaanite peoples.
• Line of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. From Eber, a descendant of Arphaxad, came Peleg and Joktan. A brief note states that in Peleg's days "was the earth divided" (10:25).

Background

Many of the names in the list correspond to peoples or places of the ancient Near East. Scholars commonly identify Mizraim with Egypt, Asshur with Assyria, Javan with the Greek peoples, and Madai with the Medes. Many names, however, remain of uncertain identity. Canaan is placed in the line of Ham and Elam in the line of Shem, though linguistically the reverse would be closer to the facts. For this reason, some scholars hold that the list was organized according to geographical and political relationships rather than lineage. The names in the Hebrew Masoretic Text are traditionally counted as seventy. The Greek Septuagint contains a few additional names, and its list is sometimes counted as seventy-two.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The Table of Nations is immediately followed by the account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11), after which the genealogy of Shem narrows to Abraham. The promise of Genesis 12:3, "in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed," is therefore read against the background of all the nations listed in chapter 10.

Many interpreters see the following New Testament passages as taking up this theme:

• The scene at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, when people from many nations each heard the gospel in their own language (Acts 2:5-11)
• Paul's statement in Acts 17:26 that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men"
• Revelation 7:9-17, which depicts a great multitude drawn from every nation and kindred

Jewish tradition understood seventy as the number representing all the nations of the world. In Luke 10, the number of disciples Jesus sent out is given as seventy or seventy-two, depending on the manuscript. Some interpreters connect this number with the Table of Nations and read the sending of the disciples as a foreshadowing of the mission to the Gentiles.

Interpretations and Debates

• Authorship: Some traditionally regard the text as written by Moses. Historical-critical scholars hold that it was woven together from different sources.
• Racial interpretation: In the modern West, an interpretation spread that identified the line of Ham in Genesis 10:6 with Africans and, combined with the curse of Genesis 9:25, was used to justify the enslavement of Black people. In the text, however, the one cursed is Canaan, not Ham. Many denominations and theologians today reject this interpretation.
• Gog and Magog: Some dispensationalist interpretations connect "Gog and Magog" in Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 20:8 with Magog, Meshech, and Tubal in this list and identify them with particular modern nations such as Russia. Other interpreters read the phrase as symbolic.
• Nimrod traditions: The story that Nimrod led the building of the Tower of Babel in rebellion against God appears in later traditions, such as Josephus. The text of Genesis contains no such account.
• The division in Peleg's days: Many interpreters take the statement in 10:25 that "the earth was divided" to refer to the division of languages at Babel. Some have read it as a reference to continental drift, but the text itself does not say this.

In the Korean Church

In missions preaching, the passage is cited alongside "all nations" in the Great Commission as a text showing that God had all peoples in view from the beginning. At the same time, a claim that the Korean people are descendants of Joktan, based on Genesis 10:30, has circulated through some popular books and church gatherings. This is an interpretation the text does not directly support, and it has no backing from mainstream biblical scholarship.