Genesis 10:18, commentary and pictures

The verse names the Arvadite, Zemarite, and Hamathite among the descendants of Canaan the son of Ham, and declares that afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad as part of the genealogy of Noah's sons by whom the whole earth was overspread. That spreading was the pushing out of colonies from the vicinity where the ark rested as the families multiplied, dividing by family and tribe into different parts of the earth in fulfillment of God's command to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. It belongs to the record of a new beginning after the Flood and Babel that gives the distribution of the ancient nations of the world, a true history confirmed by discovery and the foundation for tracing those peoples and their descendants. Those Canaanite families belonged to the settled territories of the land of Canaan and identify the nations later dispossessed by Israel, through which the prophetic curse on Canaan was fulfilled, with no connection to the descendants of Cush or warrant for their enslavement. Their spread followed man's forgetting of God and uniting under Nimrod to build Babel in defiance of Him, for which God confounded their language, yet He overruled even Satan's attempt at an opposing government to make the nations a means by which a holy people would at last be gathered to fill the world.

Setting and Historical Trustworthiness

The verse names the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite among the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, and states that afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. It stands as part of the genealogy of Ham's descendants traced through the families of Canaan. That genealogy belongs to the larger account of the families descended from Noah's sons, and of Noah's sons and grandsons by whom the whole earth was overspread. The chapter traces the origins and dispersal of the world's nations, with the wider genealogy used to trace Hamitic peoples southward into Africa. In that classification Ham is the ancestor of the darker races, including Africans and the Negro, and the black race is identified as descendants of Ham, with environment and inbreeding over centuries said to have deepened skin color. The Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites and other descendants listed are Canaanites associated with the land of Canaan and its settled territories, not Africans.

The verse belongs to Genesis 8 to 11, which records a new beginning after the Flood and Babel. That section records the peopling of the earth and gives the distribution of the ancient nations of the world. It is the most ancient, most precious, and most complete document possessed on that distribution. It provides the historical foundation for tracing those peoples and their descendants, and gives history used for sacred chronology.

Its history is true and confirmed by discovery. Inscriptions show two distinct races living in Babylonia from an early time, a darker non-Semitic people identified with Ham's descendants through Nimrod, and a Semitic people descended through Asshur. Its division of mankind through Eber's two sons, Peleg the ancestor of the Hebrews and Joktan the ancestor of the tribes of South Arabia, is confirmed by fact. In Babylonia at the time assigned to the lifetime of Abraham a dynasty ruled whose names, including Amraphel who is Hammurabi, are not Babylonian but South Arabian and Hebrew, and a Hebrew-speaking population of the same character lived under them in the country. This complete parallelism between the Biblical account and discovery proves the record holds ancient facts that would long have passed from memory if compiled in Palestine at a late date.

The genealogy traces generations steadily downward through several generations, which necessarily involves a length of time, after which chapter 11 returns to take up another line of events from an earlier point. The spreading abroad of the families of the Canaanites is part of that completed genealogical record. The confusion of tongues a little more than one hundred years after the Flood leaves no disarrangement of chronological order. The word translated Gentiles in the chapter simply means nations. A correct understanding of sacred chronology throws light on the chapter.

Spread of Canaanite Nations

The spreading abroad is the pushing out of colonies from the vicinity where the ark rested as the families multiplied. Humanity spread gradually outward from an early center, as families and nations moved outward from the lands first inhabited by Noah's descendants. The family and tribal divisions trace how Noah's three sons peopled the earth into different parts, giving the origins and dispersal of the world's nations and the various races of humanity.

As they multiplied, strong and intellectual men and giants founded cities, tribes, kingdoms, and empires. Nimrod of the family of Ham, Noah's great-grandson, built Babylon and thus places the city's origins in the generations after the Flood, with Erech and Accad and Calneh. Others of Ham's descendants pushed on into Canaan, Arabia, Africa, and Egypt, with Mizraim founding Egypt. One company of great men went westward and southward and founded Hebron, and seven years later a new colony left and founded Zoan in Egypt, passing by Hebron or going from Hebron to Zoan, so that Hebron outdates Zoan. By Abram's time the earth had been peopled by Noah's descendants, large cities had been founded, languages had been confused, and distinct nations had begun to form.

The apparent lack of connection between Egyptian remains and the more eastern civilizations is because Mizraim and those with him may have been driven out by force. In enmity they cast off everything of the parent civilization, reversing and perverting all. Nothing was left in common except the same unsubdued carnal human nature, for man changes his customs but not his heart.

From Noah's three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth came the divisions of mankind into Hamitic, Semitic, and Japhetic peoples and civilizations. The wider genealogy is used to trace Hamitic peoples southward into Africa. Ham is the ancestor of the darker races, including Africans and the Negro, and the black race is identified as descendants of Ham. Environment and inbreeding over centuries deepened skin color.

The Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites named are among Canaan's descendants, and the Canaanite families afterward spread abroad. These descendants were Canaanites associated with the land of Canaan and its settled territories, not Africans. Together the listed peoples and territories identify the nations later dispossessed by Israel, through which the prophetic curse on Canaan was fulfilled. That curse is not connected to the descendants of Cush and does not justify their enslavement.

The spreading abroad of Noah's descendants fulfilled God's command to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, by which the sons of Noah overspread the whole earth. The account of Genesis 9:18-28 together with chapter 10 repays much study.

Rebellion and Divine Overruling

After the Flood, when men began again to multiply on the earth, they did not retain God in their knowledge but forgot Him and plunged into sin. They united under Nimrod to build Babel in defiance of God, and for this God judged them by confounding their language.

That spreading of the descendants of Noah into the nations that populated the earth followed Satan's attempt to establish an organized government in opposition to God's purpose. God overruled that effort and made the nations themselves a means by which a holy and righteous people would eventually be gathered to fill the whole world. This general apostasy left by the fourth century after the Flood only a handful of godly persons, and since God had pledged never again to destroy the world by water and was unwilling to witness the extinction of piety, He gave up the rebellious rest of mankind to idolatry and adopted and separated the faithful family of Abraham to preserve His knowledge and worship in the earth.

In that dividing of mankind into Hamitic, Semitic, and Japhetic peoples and civilizations, Hamitic civilization put forth a mighty endeavor to rule the world. By the religion and education and influence of Babylon it molded the world for fifteen centuries or more, bringing under its spell Hamitic and Semitic peoples, friend and foe, conqueror and conquered, until Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, fell. After the failure of Ham the children of Shem were dominant for many centuries, and afterward rule was given to the children of Japheth in the nations of Media and Persia. Thus by Abram's time the earth had been peopled by Noah's descendants, large cities had been founded, languages had been confused, and distinct nations had begun to form.