Genesis Chapter 10 & 11

Oral tradition of Creation It appears that Methuselah, who in his first 243 years was contemporary with Adam, had still nearly 100 years of his long life to run after Shem was born. Again, when Shem died Abraham was 148 years old, and Isaac had been nine years married. There are, therefore, but two links -- Methuselah and Shem -- between Adam and Isaac. Thus the early records of the creation and the fall of man which came down to Isaac, would challenge (apart from their inspiration) the same confidence which is readily yielded to a tale that reaches the hearer through two well known persons between himself and the original chief actor in the events related.

TABLE OF NATIONS The Race of Japheth is credited with 14 descendants only (7 sons and 7 grandsons). Ham has no less than 29 descendants (4 sons, 23 grandsons, and 2 great- grandsons). Shem the same (5 sons, 5 grandsons, 1 great-grandson, and 20 remoter descendants to the 6 th generation).

Descendants of Japheth Europe In the immediate descendants of Japheth (10:2), Gomer, Magog, Tubal and Mesech, we have the principal nations of Asia Minor, but Madai stands for the Medes on the extreme East, and Javan (the Ionians) for the Greeks (? and Romans) on the extreme West. Gomer's descendants apparently located themselves northward of this tract, while the sons of Javan extended themselves along the Mediterranean coastlands westward, Tarshish standing, apparently, for Spain, Kittim being the Cyprians, and Rodanim the Rhodians

Sons and Descendants of Ham Africa At the South and then goes northward in the following order: Cush or Ethiopia, Mizraim or Egypt, Phut Libya and lastly Canaan-the Holy Land-afterward occupied by the Israelites. The sons of Cush, which follow (10:7), are apparently nationalities of the Arabian coast, where Egyptian influence was predominant. These, with the sons of Raamah, embrace the interior of Africa as known to the Hebrews, and the Arabian tract as far as Canaan, its extreme northern boundary. Babylonia (Nimrod)

Ham (Hot) The descendants of Ham, generally produced peoples and nations that were opponents to the work of God and His people in the Old Testament. That is why the Old Testament came to proclaim the divine wrath on these peoples, being symbols of evil. Cush referred to the darkness of ignorance; Egypt to the love of the world that enslaves the soul; Canaan to the devilish work,...etc. Yet prophecies of the Old Testament did not leave these peoples without hope, but proclaiming the rejection of God’s people of faith, they also proclaimed the entrance of these nations into the divine covenant.

Descendants of Shem His five sons dwelt in the region extending between the west of Asia and the east of the Mediterranean Sea. From his descendants came the Jews, the Aramites, the Assyrians, and the Arabs; That is why the languages spoken by the descendants of Shem, are called the Semite languages, like the Arabic and the Hebrew languages. Asshur (Assyria), to the Northwest; Arpachshad (? the Chaldaeans), to the West; Lud (Lydia), Northwest of Assyria; and Aram (the Aramaean states), South of Lud and West of Assyria. The tribes or states mentioned as the sons of Aram (Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash), however, do not give the names with which we are familiar in the Old Testament (Aram Naharaim, Aram Zobah, etc.),

THE TOWER OF BABEL That tower actually represents contemporary philosophies -- especially Existentialism -- that sees God as suppressing and depriving man of his freedom; As though the glory of God is based on the humiliation of man; and His power is on the expense of man’s dignity. They saw it inevitable, in order to get rid of that God, to deify themselves, and to escape, to enjoy complete freedom.

One Languge It has been natural for all people to speak one language, thought by some scholars to be the Hebrew tongue, basing their view on the fact that the early names like Adam, Eve, Eden, etc. were Hebrew; While others proclaimed that the first language was the Caldean (the Syrian), on account of, that all the languages of the east were derived from one source; and the Hebrew was just a branch of that language; especially that the early fathers dwelt in the land of the Tigris and Euphrates, seat of the Chaldean people.

Because of pride, man lost his binding unity; and as St. Augustine says: [Through pride, tongues were divided; and through the humble apostles, tongues were united]. Because of pride, man lost his inner unity; so it he in his pride, did not understand the language of God, full of love, as a fruit of that, the body would not understand the language of the Spirit; the Spirit would have a language against that of the body; and as said by the apostle Paul about man who is outside the circle of the Holy Spirit, Grantor of unity: “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Galatians 5: 17).

St. Augustine comments on the verse, “The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built” (Gen. 11: 5), saying that [They were not the sons of God; they were living in an earthly way, in what we call “An earthly city”]. As to saying: “The Lord came down to see”, this does not mean the literal concept of this phrase, {God is, in his wholeness everywhere, and does not need to move from one place to another; but it is said that He comes down, when He does something extraordinary on earth, as though by that His presence could be felt. In the same way, saying “to see” does not mean that He would learn something new, as there is nothing that he does not know, but it is said, “to see”, or to “know”, in a sense, to let others see and know]. And as we previously said, that He, in His love, talks to us in our human language, so that we can understand His ordinances and secrets as much as we can.

St. Augustine presents us with an interpretation of mentioning the descendants of Shem, directly after the talk about the great flood and the building of the city of Babel, saying that, as from the descendants of Ham came he, who built Babel, the symbol of the earthly city, so also, from the descendants of Shem came he, who builds the city of God