Genesis 10. Joktan's place? Oh, it's just around the corner, you can't miss it.

Warning! Genesis. 10 is remarkably boring, there are some bits worth noting for later though so here goes...


Genesis 10

1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
    Right.

2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
    Japeth has five sons.

3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
    Gomer has three.

4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
    Javan four.

5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
    Between these sons were the isles divided and each family on each island-nation developed a language of their own.

6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
    Ham has four sons.

7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
    Cush has five sons.

8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
    Six including Nimrod. Let's assume he was mighty.

9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
    He is such a good hunter that people compare good hunters to him, I'm not sure what the 'before the LORD' bit is about but none the less Nimrod is good at hunting.

10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
    He founded four kingdoms? Is that right? or four cities in in one kingdom? either way it's boomtown in the land of Shinar.

11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
    More Cities are good, I'm assuming that a city in this context is no bigger than a house as I really don't believe that there is adequate labour to build all of these cities.

12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
    Does a great city have a garden? There are almost as many cities as people at this point.

13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
    Mizraim, Son of Ham, has four sons, or are they nations? isn't 'im' a plural ending in Hebrew?

14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
    Oh wait... Make that seven, Now in this text seven seems to be a number that indicates that something is favoured by the LORD however I have a feeling that something bad will happen to the descendants of Casluhim.

15 And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth,
    So while being a servant of Shem, Canaan manages to have two sons

16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
    ...and apparently he manages to beget some nations (incidentally, the father of the Jebusites is Jebus, Homer Simpson may be on to something)

17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
    ...and some more nations..

18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
    ...and Every foreigner known to the sons of Shem? What a prolific slave!

19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
    You know... Just round the corner from the Lamb vendor... If you come to a rock that looks like a wang, turn back you've gone too far.

20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
    The Sons of Ham and their descendants were the founders of a great many countries each with their own language.

21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
    Ok.

22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
    Right you are

23 And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
    More children...

24 And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
    I wonder how many years are passing as we go down this page?

25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
    The earth divided? Physically? Politically? Linguistically? this seems like a bit of a minor mention of what is potentially an enormous event.

26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
    Sure.

27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
    Ok.

28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
    Did this need an extra verse, surely this could have been appended onto the line above?

29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
    Well done Joktan.

30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east.
    Just round the corner then. Nice place?

31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
    Shem's sons, Like Ham's have bred families which founded nations each with their own languages.

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
    From Noah's sons and their wives we now have dozens of nations each with their own languages.

What have we learned?

• Nimrod was a great hunter
• The Earth was divided at some point during the life of Peleg
• There are at this point potentially dozens of languages and cultures
• For some reason the location of Joktan's dwelling is important enough to have walking directions to it in a holy-book.
• Not a lot else... Told you it was dry.

Onward to Genesis 11