In Chapter 10 of Genesis the discussion moves to the beginning of nations, or the development of tribes through Japheth, Ham and Shem, the sons of Noah. Ham is given more space as he is seen as the father of the empires and Nimrod is given a mention as the first king of a tribe. Japheth is seen as the father of maritime peoples whose descendants spread out through the world. Shem is the direct descendant of Abram, who is seen as the father of the nation of Israel.
The dispersion of the human family is given in chapter 11 verses 1 to 9; the Tower of Babel story always is represented pictorially as a Babylonian ziggurat, this may be where the story comes from as there was one called Etemenanki dedicated to the deity Marduk in the ancient city of Babylon; this was meant to be a great tower, due to the nearness of Israel and Babylon, it is not improbable for a crossover of stories between nations.
New blog, new country, New Zealand
9 years ago
Are we pushing it to see a theological geography here? I'd value your thoughts on this post: Noah's Theological Geography
ReplyDeleteSorry for all the comments, you're blogging on what I'm studying at the moment so my head is buzzing with this stuff.
An interesting point Dave you gave in your blog, I can see where you are coming from in terms of the tribes and who belongs where.
ReplyDeleteIt depends if you consider the flood to be an hsitorical event or a story that is part of the creation narrative, giving a reason why man needs Jesus.