And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
The verse names Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash as the sons of Aram. Aram was of the line of Shem, placing his sons among the Semitic peoples, and he settled in Syria and founded Damascus. The listing belongs to the record of how the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth spread from one center after the Flood and overspread the whole earth to become its nations, races, tribes and families. That record is true and reliable history, not myth or invention, giving the genuine beginning of history and origin of nations.
Names and Family Setting
The four named here are Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash, given as the sons or children of Aram. The listing belongs to the genealogy tracing the descendants of Noah and the peopling of the earth, the account of Noah's descendants and the origins of the human races. It stands in the record of how Noah's descendants populated the earth, in which cities arose, languages were confused, and nations began, namely the descendants of Shem and Ham and Japheth by whom the whole earth was overspread in obedience to God's command to replenish the earth. Aram was a descendant of Shem, so these sons belong to the Shemite branch of Noah's descendants, and Shem stands as ancestor of the Semitic peoples, including Jews and Assyrians.
Aram settled in Syria and founded Damascus. The verse stands within a line traced down through their generations, which necessarily involves some length of time because several generations are given, while Genesis 11 returns to trace other events from an earlier point. The confusion of tongues occurred but a little more than one hundred years after the Flood, so there is no disarrangement of chronological order. The word rendered Gentiles in verse 5 simply means nations.
Peopling of the Earth
Genesis 10:23 belongs to the account of the beginning of history and the origin of nations after the Flood. It stands alongside God's covenant with Noah and the events at Babel as part of that beginning of nations.
The verse belongs to the record of the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth by whom the whole earth was overspread and scattered in obedience to God's command to replenish the earth. Their descendants spread from the cradle of the human race and the center where the ark rested into different parts of the earth and became the various races, tribes, and families of people. Humanity after the Flood thus began from a small number of family lines and spread gradually from one center. As Noah's descendants populated the earth, cities arose, languages were confused, and nations began. Together with Genesis 9:18-28 this record repays much study.
After the Flood people multiplied and then turned from God and united under Nimrod to build Babel in defiance of God, which led to the confounding of their language. In this peopling of the earth Satan was establishing an organized government opposed to God's plan for the earth, but God overruled that effort so the resulting nations would people the earth. His purpose among all nations was to gather a holy and righteous people who would eventually fill the whole earth.
As they multiplied, colonies pushed out and strong and intellectual men founded cities, tribes, kingdoms, and empires. Nimrod of Ham founded Babylon and Erech and Accad and Calneh, while others of Ham went to Canaan, Arabia, Africa, and Egypt, with Mizraim founding Egypt. Egypt has no independent origin apart from this dispersal, even though its remains show no connection with eastern civilizations, because its founders were driven out and in enmity cast off everything of the parent civilization while keeping the same unsubdued carnal human nature. The dispersal agrees with Hebron in Palestine being built seven years before Zoan in Egypt, with one company of great men and giants going westward and southward to found Hebron and a new colony seven years later passing on by Hebron to found Zoan. The record divides mankind into Hamitic, Semitic, and Japhetic peoples. Hamitic civilization put forth mighty endeavor to rule the world through Babylon and failed, the children of Shem followed and were dominant for many centuries, and then the children of Japheth in the nations of Media and Persia were given the throne when Babylon fell.
Reliable Historical Record
Genesis 10 belongs to reliable history and true historical record, not to a collection of myths or invented stories, and its genealogical facts are genuine historical records. The historic character of the first ten chapters of Genesis is affirmed, and the historical accuracy of the first fourteen chapters is affirmed by ancient traditions and monuments. The Genesis account is the purest and least altered form of traditions shared by ancient peoples.
The record describes actual nations and events and could not have been compiled late in Palestine after memory of the facts had passed away. Archaeology confirms it, for a Hebrew-speaking population lived in Babylonia at the time assigned to Abraham. The dynasty of Ammurabi, identical with Amraphel king of Shinar, ruling Ur of the Chaldees when Abraham was born there, was not Babylonian but Hebrew and South Arabian in name and race, and contract-tablets prove a population of the same character lived under them. This exactly parallels the account that Eber had two sons, Peleg the ancestor of the Hebrews and Joktan the ancestor of the tribes of South Arabia. The same discoveries confirm the high civilization of that age, showing Amraphel was the great king Hammurabi whose code of laws has been found and resembles in many respects the laws of Moses.
The verse names Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash as the sons of Aram.
Aram was of the line of Shem, placing his sons among the Semitic peoples, and he settled in Syria and founded Damascus.
The listing belongs to the record of how the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth spread from one center after the Flood and overspread the whole earth to become its nations, races, tribes and families.
That record is true and reliable history, not myth or invention, giving the genuine beginning of history and origin of nations.
Names and Family Setting
The four named here are Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash, given as the sons or children of Aram. The listing belongs to the genealogy tracing the descendants of Noah and the peopling of the earth, the account of Noah's descendants and the origins of the human races. It stands in the record of how Noah's descendants populated the earth, in which cities arose, languages were confused, and nations began, namely the descendants of Shem and Ham and Japheth by whom the whole earth was overspread in obedience to God's command to replenish the earth. Aram was a descendant of Shem, so these sons belong to the Shemite branch of Noah's descendants, and Shem stands as ancestor of the Semitic peoples, including Jews and Assyrians.
Aram settled in Syria and founded Damascus. The verse stands within a line traced down through their generations, which necessarily involves some length of time because several generations are given, while Genesis 11 returns to trace other events from an earlier point. The confusion of tongues occurred but a little more than one hundred years after the Flood, so there is no disarrangement of chronological order. The word rendered Gentiles in verse 5 simply means nations.
Peopling of the Earth
Genesis 10:23 belongs to the account of the beginning of history and the origin of nations after the Flood. It stands alongside God's covenant with Noah and the events at Babel as part of that beginning of nations.
The verse belongs to the record of the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth by whom the whole earth was overspread and scattered in obedience to God's command to replenish the earth. Their descendants spread from the cradle of the human race and the center where the ark rested into different parts of the earth and became the various races, tribes, and families of people. Humanity after the Flood thus began from a small number of family lines and spread gradually from one center. As Noah's descendants populated the earth, cities arose, languages were confused, and nations began. Together with Genesis 9:18-28 this record repays much study.
After the Flood people multiplied and then turned from God and united under Nimrod to build Babel in defiance of God, which led to the confounding of their language. In this peopling of the earth Satan was establishing an organized government opposed to God's plan for the earth, but God overruled that effort so the resulting nations would people the earth. His purpose among all nations was to gather a holy and righteous people who would eventually fill the whole earth.
As they multiplied, colonies pushed out and strong and intellectual men founded cities, tribes, kingdoms, and empires. Nimrod of Ham founded Babylon and Erech and Accad and Calneh, while others of Ham went to Canaan, Arabia, Africa, and Egypt, with Mizraim founding Egypt. Egypt has no independent origin apart from this dispersal, even though its remains show no connection with eastern civilizations, because its founders were driven out and in enmity cast off everything of the parent civilization while keeping the same unsubdued carnal human nature. The dispersal agrees with Hebron in Palestine being built seven years before Zoan in Egypt, with one company of great men and giants going westward and southward to found Hebron and a new colony seven years later passing on by Hebron to found Zoan. The record divides mankind into Hamitic, Semitic, and Japhetic peoples. Hamitic civilization put forth mighty endeavor to rule the world through Babylon and failed, the children of Shem followed and were dominant for many centuries, and then the children of Japheth in the nations of Media and Persia were given the throne when Babylon fell.
Reliable Historical Record
Genesis 10 belongs to reliable history and true historical record, not to a collection of myths or invented stories, and its genealogical facts are genuine historical records. The historic character of the first ten chapters of Genesis is affirmed, and the historical accuracy of the first fourteen chapters is affirmed by ancient traditions and monuments. The Genesis account is the purest and least altered form of traditions shared by ancient peoples.
The record describes actual nations and events and could not have been compiled late in Palestine after memory of the facts had passed away. Archaeology confirms it, for a Hebrew-speaking population lived in Babylonia at the time assigned to Abraham. The dynasty of Ammurabi, identical with Amraphel king of Shinar, ruling Ur of the Chaldees when Abraham was born there, was not Babylonian but Hebrew and South Arabian in name and race, and contract-tablets prove a population of the same character lived under them. This exactly parallels the account that Eber had two sons, Peleg the ancestor of the Hebrews and Joktan the ancestor of the tribes of South Arabia. The same discoveries confirm the high civilization of that age, showing Amraphel was the great king Hammurabi whose code of laws has been found and resembles in many respects the laws of Moses.