Genesis 10: Been Around the World

Journey through the Book of Genesis with me.  The plan is simple. Read ONE chapter a day. Blog or journal 5* things you learned that you previously didn't know and ask 5* questions about the chapter that you'll ponder all week. Let's go!

** You'll probably learn way more than 5 things and have more than 5 questions about each chapter. That's totally fine. The more the merrier! 

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Genesis 10:1-32

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Question 1: Why is the genealogy list out of order? Verse 1 lists them from oldest to youngest, but the actual list is youngest (Japheth), middle child (Ham), and the eldest (Shem).

Question 2: “Uz” was the grandson of Shem (v.3) Job came from the land of Uz. Same place?

Question 3: verse 5, “To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan.” Is this “division” simply a way of explaining the spreading out of the sons/nations across the face of the earth or is there another significant division that took place on the earth during this period?

Question 4: In verse 29, might “Jobab” be the same person as Job? How early did Job live? Might this be too early a comparison?

Question 5: Cush, Egypt, and Put appear to be the people group who became north Africans. (Cush’s grandson: “Sheba” – v.7 is Ethiopia). Noah cursed Canaan in Genesis 9:25 that, “…a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” Since Canaan, Put, Egypt, and Cush are brothers, did the curse spread to them, which explains why Africans were slaves to Europeans (sons of Japheth and Shem)?

WHAT I LEARNED

Insight 1: The sons of Japheth include Gomer, Magog…Tubal and Meshech. These names (which would later become nations) are the same names in Ezekiel 38:1-2 that the Lord instructed Ezekiel to prophecy against. “The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Gog,of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal; prophesy against him…”

Insight 2: Nimrod would seem to be a godly man because he “was a mighty hunter before the LORD” (verse 9). However, he is also described as the founder/builder of Babel (disastrous account) and Assyria/Nineveh – nations that were enemies of Israel (the apple of God’s eye). It would seem, then, that Nimrod being a “mighty hunter” is not a compliment. Everything associated with him has a bent toward violence (hunter of men? Didctator?), hence Nimrod may have been an offense before the Lord?

Insight 3: Credit to Nimrod, however, he was quite the engineer who built kingdoms, including “…Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, … land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.” (verse 10-12)

Insight 4: All the cities that end with “ites” come from Canaan (v.15), a constant pest to Israel.

Insight 5: Arpachshad (Shem’s son) was the ancestor of Abram and the Hebrews.

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