TABLE OF NATIONS – 2 by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: When we first came to town, I didn’t know who was related to who, and I made the mistake of talking about someone, only to realize later that the person I was talking to was related to the person I was talking about. That’s when I heard things like – “Yes, he’s my second cousin,” “I’m related to him on my mother’s side,” or “We’re not blood related, but he’s my wife’s nephew.” For a long time, I felt left out. Our second daughter, Abigail, took care of that problem when she married Jarrett. Now, I have family in Henderson! We might be related, maybe not by blood. But, if you think about it, we’re all related by blood. If you believe what the Bible tells us about how the world came to be, especially after the Great Flood, we all go back to one family, Noah, and his wife and three sons – Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Today is part of our message titled “TABLE OF NATIONS.” The goal of this series is to understand how God chose this one family of Abraham to bring his plan of salvation into this world. What we will accomplish in this sermon: 1. There’s only one plan of salvation; 2. They all knew it, but, in time, they chose to forget it; 3. The plan is not that old; 4. Those who choose the plan will one day rejoice together around the throne of God.
Genesis 10 1 Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.
Context: In part one of this message, we learned how the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, were a field manual for God’s people, the people of Israel, as they entered the Promised Land. Moses wrote these books in the 15th century BC to help them identify those wicked nations who were occupying the land and drive them out and to be a light unto all the nations and peoples around them. Listen to Deuteronomy 9:5 “It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” What was the word that God had sworn to Abraham? Listen to Genesis 12 1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God gave the people of Israel the land at the crossroads of civilization so that they would be a light unto the world. By the way, God allocated the land to Israel way before Israel was Israel. In fact, that is one of the purposes of the Table of Nations, to show them how they were chosen and how they were chosen to take the gospel to the other nations.
Application: Do you realize that God has placed you where you are for a reason? Someone around you needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Some of the other reasons for the Table of Nations were: God wanted them to know that all these nations around them were all from “one blood,” as Paul says in his message on Mars Hill (Areopagus); they all had the same plan, but, in time, they forgot the plan and made their own plan and passed it down to their children and grandchildren.
Application: Which plan are you passing down to your children and grandchildren?
To understand all this, we need to take a closer look at the Table of Nations. We will have to time travel from our modern world to the ancient world, especially to the heart of where everything began, the Middle East. As we just read in the opening, Noah and his wife had 3 sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Japheth was the oldest, Ham was the youngest, and Shem was in the middle. These together gave us the 70 nations from their children and grandchildren. Japheth had 14 listed, Ham had 30 listed, and Shem had 26 listed. The lists are more than just a listing of names, there are also certain geographical, linguistic, and family connections that are emphasized. While Japheth’s list emphasizes geographical and linguistic relationships, Ham and Shem’s lists emphasizes family and linguistic relationships. One thing that is lacking is any physical anthropology. Some years ago, I got a call from a person, and his question was “Can you confirm what I always thought about Noah’s 3 sons, one was white, one was black, and one was brown?” or “Weren’t Japheth’s descendants all the European people, Ham’s descendants all the African people, and Shem’s descendants all the Middle Eastern or Asian people?” Unless Noah had 3 different wives, that is not possible.To start with, they probably all looked very similar, as brothers from the same parents would look. In time, after the dispersion from the Tower of Babel, when certain groups went away and became more isolated, certain variations (hair color, skin tone, shape of the eye) became fixed in the different populations. Don’t buy into the myth of evolution.
In today’s message, we will focus just on the descendants of Japheth. Keep in mind that there was a lot of information that is no longer available to us. Also, as people moved, they interacted and intermarried. Nothing is hard and fast. At least, when Moses wrote this book, this is where the nations were in 1500 BC. Good sources for the sermon are D.J. Wiseman, Eugene Merrill, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and Bodie Hodge Tower of Babel: The Cultural History of Our Ancestors.
1. Gomer: Gimmiray of Assyrian or Cimmeroi of Greek writings. His people began to the north of Babel in the area south of the Black Sea. He had 3 sons:
- Ashkenaz: Jeremiah 51:27 “…Prepare the nations against her, Call the kingdoms together against her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.” This is what today is known as Armenia. Later, they must have migrated to where the Germanic peoples lived centuries later. Jews people from Germany and east Europe are still known as Ashkenazi Jews.
- Riphath: They are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 1:6. They probably lived below Black Sea. Some other suggestions are the Celts, the Gauls, and Portugal. Also, the Miautso people in China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.
- Togarmah: These were people in the land that later became known as Cappadocia, Armenia, and Turkey.
2. Magog: Ezekiel 38 1 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him…6 Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.” This would include modern day Slavs, modern Russia, Huns, etc.)
3. Madai: According to Josephus, they became the ancestors of the Medes. This is what we hear in Daniel 6:15 Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.” According to some historians, some Madai went into India. Some have suggested that the Indian god Prajapati, a Vedic creator, was a distortion of Japheth. Very interesting since Hitler claimed to be the superior Aryan race, but they are actually from Iran and India! There are also plenty of evidence for this from the field of linguistics when you compare the Indo-European languages: nam (name), manu (man), pita (father), mata (mother), hrdya (heart), nava (new), etc.
4. Javan: This refers to Greek. It also lines up with Ionia. Among the Greeks, Iapetos was considered to be their father. That’s where we also get Jupiter.
- Elishah – island of Cyprus.
- Tarshish – Tarsus, hometown of Paul
- Kittim – Cyprus
- Dodanim – Rhodes
5. Tubal – Mentioned alongside Gog and Meshech in Ezekiel 39.
6. Meshech – the land between the Black and Caspian Sea. This is where we get Moscow or the Russian people.
7. Tiras – Thracians or the people of Troy. According to Anglo-Saxon history, a man named Brutus fled from Troy (originally from Japheth’s line) and came to Britain and founded a city named New Troy (Trinovantum) in 1100BC, which was the name of London in olden times. From Brutus we have Britain. This is also where we get Tiras the “king of the gods” in Norse mythology. Hence, we now have Tuesday. For that matter, we also have Wednesday, which is Woden or Odin’s day (King of Northern Europe in 4th-5th century AD). Also, Thursday, which is Thor’s Day. Wodin’s wife was Friya, from which we get Friday.
Since many of these ancients had a long lifespan, especially Noah and his 3 sons, they began to be worshipped!
Romans 1. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Genesis 10:5 “From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.”
Listen to those who will come out of the Great Tribulation – Revelation 7 9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
Invitation: Do you understand that the world is not that old, at least by looking at the human family? Do you understand that there was and is the same plan of salvation? Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Will you be around the throne?
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