Table of nations

Genesis 10 is a fascinating passage, full of tantalizing tidbits of ancient history and of intersections between the biblical record and ancient mythology and history. Japhet is the Hebrew equivalent of Iapetus, one of the Titans in Homer and Hesiod, son of Ouranos and Gaia.  One of Japhet’s sons is “Javan,” a clear link to “Ion,” as in “Ionian” Greeks, and Javan begets Dodanim, another Greek term.  Later in the passage, we read about Nimrod and the founding of Babel and Nineveh, and we are told how the descendants of Canaan spread out over the land.

Structurally, however, this passage doesn’t look very promising.  It’s just a list of names, and the names are not even put together symmetrically.  In Genesis 5 and again at the end of chapter 11, we have rhythmic genealogies, but Genesis 10 doesn’t stick to one thing.  Some sections list sons (vv. 2, 6, etc.); other sections give brief, highly suggestive biographies (vv. 8-12); other sections give geographical information (vv. 11-12, 19); and, though this looks like a genealogy at points, some of the names are not personal names but nations, which “beget” other nations (e.g., v. 13).  Is there any arrangement here?

Despite the complexity and apparent randomness of the passage, there is an overall structural logic.  A few underdeveloped hints:

We can begin with the simple observation about the listing of Noah’s sons.  In verse 1, they are arranged in the common order “Shem, Ham, Japheth,” but when the table of nations actually begins in verse 5, we begin not with Shem but with Japheth, then move to Ham (v. 6), then to Shem (v. 21).  And, though the sections are not symmetrical in length or contents, each son’s section begins with “sons of” and ends with some variation of “these are the sons of” (vv. 2 and 5; 6 and 20; 21 and 31).

The passage is also full of lists of seven.  Japheth has seven sons and seven grandsons, a total of 14 descendants.  Cush has seven sons (v. 7), and then the eighth, Nimrod, is separated off and given a section of his own.  Egypt begets seven peoples (vv. 13-14).  Throughout, the descendants proliferate from seven grandsons of Noah (Gomer, Javan, Cush, Mizraim, Canaan, Aram, and Arpachshad), and of course there are 70 nations/sons listed in the whole passage.

Some details here have been drawn from David Dorsey, several commentaries, and articles by Gary Smith and Allen Ross