(BA) Notes on Genesis 10

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Genesis sees all humankind as descended from the three sons of Noah. The nations of the earth, in its scheme, are members of a family tree. Thus Genesis 10 outlines how the sons of Noah came to father the various peoples of what was, for the authors of Genesis, the known world. This world included various peoples of the Mediterranean, and people about as far north as the Black Sea, about as far east as the extent of the Babylonian Empire, and to the south a little below Egypt. To the extent that the various names of Genesis 10 can be identified, they are all parts of this known world. The chapter cannot be read as describing humanity as it is now known to be -- you won't find the Chinese, or Native Americans, or British in this scheme.

Whether the author(s) of this chapter thought each nation literally descended from a single founder is not clear to me. Some of the verses, in particular with plural names like Kittim, Ludim, Dodanim make me doubt it.

(10:1) these are the generations. Hebrew elleh toldot, the formula which is characteristic of Genesis and typically introduces elements of genealogical or other family history. The Hebrew term translated here as "generations" is toldot. One theory, for which see Friedman's Who Wrote the Bible?, is that there was originally a document, a "Book of Toldot", which contained genealogical material, which was later incorporated into the text of Genesis.

(10:1) Shem, Ham, and Japheth. According to Kittel, about 45 medieval Hebrew manuscripts read Shem, and Ham, and Japheth.

(10:2) Gomer. Identified by consensus with the Cimmerians, a people who attacked the Assyria Empire from the area near Lake Sevan (Tim Bridgman [1998], "Who were the Cimmerians?" Hermathena). The Bible does not describe them in detail. They appear only here, the parallel passage in Chronicles, and a passing reference in Ezekiel 38:6. They have no apparent connection to the "Gomer" of Hosea.

(10:2) Magog. Exact origin unknown, possibly a reference to the land of Lydia in Anatolia. Reappears significantly in Ezekiel 38, a passage of apocalyptic flavor.

(10:2) Madai is the Medes, as in The Medes and the Persians.

(10:2) Javan (Hebrew Yawan) is the Greeks. Compare Ionians and Yawanas (the latter a Sanskrit term for Greeks). Skinner thought it referred specifically to the "Greek settlements in Asia Minor".

(10:2) After Javan, the Septuagint adds Elisa. An Elisha, who in Greek would be Elisa, appears in verse 4.

(10:2) _Meshech. The Masoretic Text reads reads _meshekh, spelled mšk. The Samaritan Pentateuch reads mwšk, reminiscent of the Septuagint's Mosokh.

(10:2) Tiras. Mentioned nowhere else in the Bible; exact identity unknown. Possibly a reference to one of the Sea Peoples (Tursha) or to Thrace.

(10:3) Ashkenaz. Every scholar I have seen associates them with the Iskuzai of the Assyrian records, that is, the Scythians. The only mention of them in the Bible outside the Table of nations is Jeremiah 51:27, which, while not specific enough to nail it down, fits with the identification as Scythians.

(10:3) Riphath. Mentioned only in the Table of Nations; identity unknown.

(10:3) Togarmah. Usually identified with the city of Tegarama (exact location unknown) in Anatolia.

(10:4) Elishah is often identified with the ancient Alashiya, which is in turn usually held to be on Cyprus.

(10:4) Tarshish. A Mediterranean site mentioned in a variety of ancient sources, exact site uncertain.

(10:4) Kittim. Generally identified with Kition on the island of Cyprus, although the Hebrew term eventually became much more widely used, encompassing even the Greeks and Romans.

(10:4) Dodanim. The parallel text in 1 Chronicles 1:7 reads Rodanim, and does Genesis 10:4 in a few medieval manuscripts and the Samaritan Pentateuch. The Septuagint reads Rodioi.

(10:5) coastal peoples. Hebrew ʾiyyei haggoyim, of (cf. ASV marginal note) "coastlands of the nations". The wording is curious, but seems to indicate that the narrator sees Japheth as particularly connected to the sea-going peoples of the Mediterranean. The KJV reads verse five as a summary statement of the Japhethites. But Nahum Sarna, in his 1989 commentary on Genesis, instead sees this as an addendum: "Several maritime peoples separated themselves from the parent body of Japhethites in order to populate the isles and coastlands of the Mediterranean and form distinct political entities" (p. 71-72). In Sarna's view the "maritime peoples" mentioned here as "additional" and "unnamed", rather than being the same as the previously-named descendants of Japheth.

(10:5) ... were divided. Kittel suggests that here we should insert These are the sons of Japheth. So we read "... were divided. These are the sons of Japheth, each in their lands ..."

(10:6) Kush, a people south of Egypt. They reappear in later biblical stories and are noted for dark skin.

(10:6) Mizraim. Egypt. The ending -aim in Hebrew signals a dual form, so it could be read as "the two Egypts": i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt.

(10:6) Canaan. In the biblical telling, the Canaanites were the indigenous inhabitants of the land of Canaan, later partially killed off and enslaved by the Israelite invaders.

(10:10) _Uruk. Hebrew _Erech.

(10:10) Calneh. Kittel (BHK, 1909) notes a proposal, which he marks with a question mark, to instead read Kullabah. This traces back to one Jensen in 1895 -- the proposal is not found in BHS (1997) or mentioned at the appropriate place by Claus Westermann in his commentary on Genesis 1-11. What seems to get more airtime, since its original appearance in 1942, is Albright's proposal to read kullanah, all of them ("The End of 'Calneh in Shinar'", JNES). If we accept Albright's proposal, the verse would read (my rendering) -- "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Uruk, and Akkad, and all of them were in the land of Shinar."

Westermann, however, is reluctant to accept this reading. If we stick with the Masoretic kalneh, which substantially agrees with the Septuagint's "Chalanne" (NETS), then the city referred to is as yet unidentified.

(10:11) Shinar. A biblical term for all or part of Mesopotamia.

(10:12) he went forth to Asshur. Or, Asshur went forth.

(10:12) Anamim. The Samaritan Pentateuch has a reading that perhaps could be read Ainamim. The Septuagint has Ainemetiem. We do not know who they were (Donald Gowen [1986], From Eden to Babel).

(10:13) Naphtuhim. Kittel suggests that perhaps we should read Pethumhim.

(10:14) Pathrusim. Kittel suggests that perhaps Pathrusim is a late addition to this verse.

(10:14) Casluhim. The Septuagint reads Chasmonieim.

(10:14) Philistim. This term is more commonly rendered Philistines.

(10:14) from which came Philistim, and Caphtorim. According to Kittel, we should transpose these words and read and Caphtorim, from which came Philistim. BHS continues to hold that Kittel's approach is probably basically correct, and suggests that "from which came Philistim" is a later gloss added to the text. Compare Jeremiah 47:4 and Amos 9:7, which associate the Philistines with Caphtor.

At the end of this verse is a setumah, a Masoretic line break, sort of like a paragraph break.

(10:15) Sidon. A city in Phoenicia, now in Lebanon.

(10:15) Heth. A collective term for the Hittites. The relationship between the biblical "Hittites" and the Anatolian "Hittites" known to history is unclear. The Hittites of Anatolia once ruled an Empire centered on modern-day Turkey. The biblical Hittites are consistently pictured as pre-Israelite indigenous people within the land of Canaan.

(10:16) Jebusite. The term Jebusite refers, in the Bible, to the pre-Israelite inhabitants of Jerusalem, which according to the Bible was previously known as Jebus.

(10:16) Amorite. Sometimes in the Bible the term Amorite seems to refer to a sub-set of the Canaanites; sometimes it seems to be a term for Canaanites in general.

(10:18) Hamathite. People associated with Hamath, a geographical designation associated with the Aramean region north of Israel.

(10:19) Lasha. Kittel suggests that possibly this should read Bela, as in Genesis 14:2.

(10:20) At the end of this verse is a setuma, a line break somewhat analogous to a paragraph break.

(10:21) Eber (ʿBR), presumably, would be the ancestor of the Hebrews (ʿBRYM).

(10:21) the elder brother of Japheth. This interpretation makes Shem the older brother of Japheth. Another interpretation is the brother of Japheth the elder, making Japheth the oldest brother. However, Hebrew grammar and the invariable order listed in Genesis (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) point to Shem being the oldest. See the notes to the New English Translation (online) for an explanation of the grammatical point.

(10:21) Elam. An ancient region along the east side of the Persian Gulf.

(10:21) Asshur. That is, Assyria.

(10:21) Aram is the Arameans.

(10:23) Uz. Uz makes a reappearance in Job 1:1, "There once was a man in the land of Uz.

(10:23) Mash. The Samaritan Pentateuch has a reading which could perhaps be read Mesha. 1 Chronicles and the Septuagint of Genesis 10:23 have Meshech (Greek Mosoch). Kittel thinks the text is probably corrupt here.

(10:24) Arpachshad begot Shelah. The Septuagint reads Apachshad begot Kenan, and Kenan begot Shelah.

(10:24) Eber (ʿBR). From the name, one would imagine him to be the father of the "Hebrews" (ʿBRYM), although the Bible never, to my memory, explicitly says so.

(10:25) was born. The Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint read were born.

(10:25) the earth was divided. We are not told explicitly what this means. One might imagine it refers to the division of the peoples in the Tower of Babel episode. Whatever event is referred to, the text is relying here on the similarly between the noun PLG, to divide, and the name Peleg.

(10:26) Hazarmaveth. Some mansucripts read Hazar-maveth.

(10:27) Uzal. The Septuagint reads Aizel, and the Samaritan Pentateuch agrees with it.

(10:28) Obal. The Samaritan Pentateuch and 1 Chronicles 1:22 reads Ebal.

(10:30) the eastern hill-country. The Hebrew could also be read as an eastern mountain" or "the eastern mountain."

(10:32) At the end of the verse the Masoretic Text has a petuhah, a line-break roughly equivalent to a modern paragraph break.

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