Read Genesis 10 here or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph divisions:
10:1-14 {s} The sons of Japheth and Ham
10:15-20 {s} The sons of Canaan
10:21-32 {p} The sons of Shem
These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations; and of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. Gen 10:32
We saw last time that God had told Noah, when he emerged from the ark, to “be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth,” (Gen 9:1). Josephus records in the Antiquities of the Jews, that after five generations had been born on the earth, God repeated this command to Noah, for by the fifth generation, the eight persons who had emerged from the ark had increased to a sufficient number to send out colonies. Scripture confirms this:
And to Eber were born two sons; the name of the one was Peleg [Division]; for in his days was the earth divided … Gen 10:25
And if we count the names of Noah’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren recorded in chapter 10, we find that there are seventy. Thus Noah divided the earth into seventy districts, and assigned a district to each of his seventy grandchildren and great-grandchildren who became the patriarchs of the nations.
When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. Deu 32:8
The Bible takes pains to mention more than once that Israel, when he went down to Egypt, numbered seventy persons (Gen 46:27, Deu 10:22). Seventy is a biblically significant number that we will continue to encounter.
Gen 10:1-32 {s+s+p} forms a Strong Theme, with the topic, The seventy descendants of Noah who became the fathers of the nations.
Generally speaking, the sons of Japheth fathered the Europeans, the sons of Ham the Africans, and the sons of Shem the Near and Middle Easterners. For a more detailed breakdown:
Gen 10:1-14, The sons of Japheth and Ham
Gen 10:15-20, The sons of Canaan
Gen 10:21-32, The sons of Shem
If there are questions, these are good resources:
The Sixteen Grandsons of Noah – Harold Hunt
The Table of Nations – Bill Cooper (pdf download; the link is good)
After the Flood: the early post-Flood history of Europe traced back to Noah – Bill Cooper / in print
Understanding the Ice Age in the Context of Biblical History – Answers in Genesis
If you can only read one, make it After the Flood; truly impeccable scholarship!
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