13 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites... (NIV)
Sidon is of course a city, or a city-state, about 22 miles north of Tyre on the Mediterranean coastline. The Targum says that Canaan was the father of Bothniam (בותניאם) who built Sidon, but we will accept the record of the Bible's text over the Targum.
For many centuries, the Bible was the only document to even mention the Hittites. Some critics even used this gap of knowledge as evidence that the Bible must contain fabrications and myths. But then in 1871 and later in 1906-1907, vast amounts of Hittite evidence began to be turned up from as far east as the Euphrates and as far northwest as Boghaz-koy in Turkey. At least ten thousand documents have been unearthed, vindicating Joshua's reference to the entire fertile crescent as "the land of the Hittites" (Joshua 1:4).
The man's name in this verse is actually Heth (חת), whose family settles along the Halys River in central Turkey before 2200 BC, when they were overrun by an Indo-European (Japhethite?) group that simply took over as the Hittite ruling class and adopted the unusual Hittite dress (heavy coats, upturned shoes). Physically the Hittites were stocky with large prominent noses, retreating foreheads and are often depicted with thick lips. Later carvings from Carchemish show Hittites with long beards that are pleated or braided.
The Bible depicts the Hittites as owning fields. Abraham bought the field which contained the Cave of Macpelah from a Hittite names Ephron son of Zohar (Genesis 23:9) in order to bury his wife Sarah after her death.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:11-12
11 Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 12 Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites. (NIV)
The Philistines mentioned here are really just a parenthetical aside. If we don't count them in the complete list, then the complete "Table of Nations" (1 Chronicles 1:5-23) has 70 names. 26 of them are from Shem, 30 are from Ham and 14 are from Japheth.
For the people reading Chronicles, the number 70 would have a special satisfaction and even a spiritual significance. As a multiple of 7, it presents God's hand in the providence of the world.
The Ludites are sometimes described as bowmen (Jeremiah 46:9), and are placed in both Africa (as descendants of Mizraim's Egyptians) and Asia—it is generally accepted that Lud was the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor.
The Anamites may have been a minor tribe of the Egyptians. An Assyrian text from the time of Sargon II (722-705 BC) refers to the Anami in Egypt.
The Lehabites were probably the Libyans (Nahum 3:9) or a branch of the Libyans.
The Naphtuhites have not been identified. They were probably an Egyptian tribe; perhaps located in the central Nile region.
The Pathrusites would appear to be an Egyptian people living in the upper (southern) Nile region. Pathros was a city in that part of Egypt (Isaiah 11:11; Jeremiah 44;1,15; Ezekiel 29:14; 30:14).
The Casluhites are also difficult to identify, perhaps because, as the ancestors of the Philistines, they were displaced from Egypt. We learn from the Doctoral Thesis of Dr. John Brug that the Philistines were the product of two distinct races, one a race of giants inhabiting the southwest coast of Canaan; the other a Greek race of a more typical height. They worked and fought together and gave us such diverse individuals as Goliath and Delilah in Scripture.
The Caphtorites were the inhabitants of the island of Crete, although the island of Cyprus is sometimes mentioned as the land of Caphtor, as well. The Talmud (Chullin 60b) mentions that the Caphtories destroyed the Awites and took their land, and that the Awites were the original Philistine people in Abraham's time. This seems to support Dr. Brug's archaeological and exegetical findings.
They were all people, like us, who needed a Savior. Some of their descendants are still in the world. Reaching out to them begins with reaching out to the people right in our own communities. They gospel is the tool we use; the gospel is the only message that saves.
The Philistines mentioned here are really just a parenthetical aside. If we don't count them in the complete list, then the complete "Table of Nations" (1 Chronicles 1:5-23) has 70 names. 26 of them are from Shem, 30 are from Ham and 14 are from Japheth.
For the people reading Chronicles, the number 70 would have a special satisfaction and even a spiritual significance. As a multiple of 7, it presents God's hand in the providence of the world.
The Ludites are sometimes described as bowmen (Jeremiah 46:9), and are placed in both Africa (as descendants of Mizraim's Egyptians) and Asia—it is generally accepted that Lud was the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor.
The Anamites may have been a minor tribe of the Egyptians. An Assyrian text from the time of Sargon II (722-705 BC) refers to the Anami in Egypt.
The Lehabites were probably the Libyans (Nahum 3:9) or a branch of the Libyans.
The Naphtuhites have not been identified. They were probably an Egyptian tribe; perhaps located in the central Nile region.
The Pathrusites would appear to be an Egyptian people living in the upper (southern) Nile region. Pathros was a city in that part of Egypt (Isaiah 11:11; Jeremiah 44;1,15; Ezekiel 29:14; 30:14).
The Casluhites are also difficult to identify, perhaps because, as the ancestors of the Philistines, they were displaced from Egypt. We learn from the Doctoral Thesis of Dr. John Brug that the Philistines were the product of two distinct races, one a race of giants inhabiting the southwest coast of Canaan; the other a Greek race of a more typical height. They worked and fought together and gave us such diverse individuals as Goliath and Delilah in Scripture.
The Caphtorites were the inhabitants of the island of Crete, although the island of Cyprus is sometimes mentioned as the land of Caphtor, as well. The Talmud (Chullin 60b) mentions that the Caphtories destroyed the Awites and took their land, and that the Awites were the original Philistine people in Abraham's time. This seems to support Dr. Brug's archaeological and exegetical findings.
They were all people, like us, who needed a Savior. Some of their descendants are still in the world. Reaching out to them begins with reaching out to the people right in our own communities. They gospel is the tool we use; the gospel is the only message that saves.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:10
10 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty hunter on earth. (NIV)
In the parallel verses in Genesis, Nimrod is called a “mighty warrior on the earth” (Gen. 10:8) and a “mighty hunter before the LORD” (Gen. 10:9). In the years after the flood, as the world was being resettled, Nimrod’s tribe was centered in southern Mesopotamia. This was the area of Babylon, Erech, and Akkad (Gen. 10:10). Nimrod himself extended his borders north toward the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates, building the huge city of Nineveh (northeast across the Tigris from Mosul), Calah (just southeast of today’s Mosul) and the unidentified cities of Rehoboth Ir and Resen.
Link to a 1902 Encyclopedia article with archaeological sketches of the area:
Although Nimrod is sometimes thought to be one and the same with Gilgamesh king of Uruk, we can’t really make that distinction from what we have about Nimrod in Scripture. As a matter of interest, Gilgamesh was the fifth king or chieftain of Uruk. A list of very early kings of the region does exist (with reigns lasting 20,000 to 40,000 years each), but it breaks off with the phrase, “Then the flood swept over.” A Kish dynasty was later replaced by the Eana dynasty, whose first king was drowned but whose second king, Emmerkar, built the city of Uruk. Emmerkar was followed by Lugulbanda the Shepherd, Dumuzi the Fisherman, and Gilgamesh.
In the parallel verses in Genesis, Nimrod is called a “mighty warrior on the earth” (Gen. 10:8) and a “mighty hunter before the LORD” (Gen. 10:9). In the years after the flood, as the world was being resettled, Nimrod’s tribe was centered in southern Mesopotamia. This was the area of Babylon, Erech, and Akkad (Gen. 10:10). Nimrod himself extended his borders north toward the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates, building the huge city of Nineveh (northeast across the Tigris from Mosul), Calah (just southeast of today’s Mosul) and the unidentified cities of Rehoboth Ir and Resen.
Link to a 1902 Encyclopedia article with archaeological sketches of the area:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/N/NIN/country-round-nineveh-fig1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/N/NIN/nineveh.html&h=423&w=333&sz=52&hl=en&start=12&um=1&usg=__13U-fiKkNLRRzjTuzlYU9Ggr680=&tbnid=tokeJRr9fv_NrM:&tbnh=126&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnineveh%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4SUNA_enUS252US253%26sa%3DN
Although Nimrod is sometimes thought to be one and the same with Gilgamesh king of Uruk, we can’t really make that distinction from what we have about Nimrod in Scripture. As a matter of interest, Gilgamesh was the fifth king or chieftain of Uruk. A list of very early kings of the region does exist (with reigns lasting 20,000 to 40,000 years each), but it breaks off with the phrase, “Then the flood swept over.” A Kish dynasty was later replaced by the Eana dynasty, whose first king was drowned but whose second king, Emmerkar, built the city of Uruk. Emmerkar was followed by Lugulbanda the Shepherd, Dumuzi the Fisherman, and Gilgamesh.
Although many of names in 1 Chronicles are actually regions or whole nations, Nimrod himself is certainly an actual man. The Jewish writings outside the Bible call him Nimrod “the Evil” (הרשע). To Muslims he is Nimrod “al-Jabbar,” the Thug or Compeller.
There is no direct mention of any of Nimrod’s actions in the Bible. He isn’t accused of any particular sin. But the subtle hints in his titles, “a mighty hunter/warrior on earth” tell us that not everything this man did was in line with God’s plan. Perhaps, taken by himself, he wasn't that bad of a guy. But his failure came with the legacy he left for those who came later. He established a pattern in his life that caused his people to veer away from God later on, much like Voltaire (whom even Mozart described as the “arch-scoundrel”).
The lesson we learn from Nimrod, if no other, is to take care how we instruct our children. What are we passing down to them? Is it our faith? Is it something else?
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” ( — Jesus, Luke 18:16)
Saturday, October 18, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:9
9 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. (NIV)
The people of Seba are also called Sabeans, "a nation far away" (Joel 3:8). In Job, Sabean raiders carried off the patriarch's oxen and donkeys (Job 1:15). They are usually mentioned in conjunction either with Cush (Isaiah 43:3; 45:14) or Sheba (Psalm 72:10).
Havilah seems to have been in the Arabian Peninsula, perhaps extending northward with or near the land of Uz (see verse 17 in this chapter). Another Havilah was a descendant of Shem (see verse 29). It is that Havilah, not this one, to which Moses refers in his comments about the four rivers flowing from the headwater in the Garden of Eden.
Sabta was a man whose dwelling by the same name is unknown to us. Perhaps it was in southern Arabia.
Raamah became a merchant tribe, dealing with Tyre for “all kinds of spices and precious stones, and gold” (Ezekiel 27:22). Raamah’s descendants, Sheba and Dedan, were influential tribes in their own right.
The people of Sheba were traders in precious stones, incense and slaves (Jeremiah 6:20; Joel 3:8). Their distant land was either in the extreme south of the Arabian peninsula or across the straight in the Horn of Africa. It was the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon 2 Chron. 9:1-12; Mathew 12:42).
Dedan's descendants were the Asshurites, the Letushites and the Leummites (Genesis 25:3). The latter were descended from Abraham by Keturah his second wife. But the Asshurites present a difficulty that may not be possible to solve. We will discuss this in the next verse.
Sabteca is not known outside this genealogy and its source in Genesis 10:7.
The Targum on this passage does not really help us since the names become even less comprehensible: Sindi (סינידאי) and Hinduqi (הנדקאי, although here we can recall that "Hindu-Cush" was a place designation at one time for northern India), Semdæi (סמדאי), Lubyæ (לובאי), the Mauritaneans (מווריאטינוס) and the Zingæ (זינגאי). The sons of the Mauritaneans: Zemargad (זמרגד) and Misag (מזג).
We can do no better than quote Jesus himself about these peoples. His words apply to us today every bit as much as they did then:
The people of Seba are also called Sabeans, "a nation far away" (Joel 3:8). In Job, Sabean raiders carried off the patriarch's oxen and donkeys (Job 1:15). They are usually mentioned in conjunction either with Cush (Isaiah 43:3; 45:14) or Sheba (Psalm 72:10).
Havilah seems to have been in the Arabian Peninsula, perhaps extending northward with or near the land of Uz (see verse 17 in this chapter). Another Havilah was a descendant of Shem (see verse 29). It is that Havilah, not this one, to which Moses refers in his comments about the four rivers flowing from the headwater in the Garden of Eden.
Sabta was a man whose dwelling by the same name is unknown to us. Perhaps it was in southern Arabia.
Raamah became a merchant tribe, dealing with Tyre for “all kinds of spices and precious stones, and gold” (Ezekiel 27:22). Raamah’s descendants, Sheba and Dedan, were influential tribes in their own right.
The people of Sheba were traders in precious stones, incense and slaves (Jeremiah 6:20; Joel 3:8). Their distant land was either in the extreme south of the Arabian peninsula or across the straight in the Horn of Africa. It was the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon 2 Chron. 9:1-12; Mathew 12:42).
Dedan's descendants were the Asshurites, the Letushites and the Leummites (Genesis 25:3). The latter were descended from Abraham by Keturah his second wife. But the Asshurites present a difficulty that may not be possible to solve. We will discuss this in the next verse.
Sabteca is not known outside this genealogy and its source in Genesis 10:7.
The Targum on this passage does not really help us since the names become even less comprehensible: Sindi (סינידאי) and Hinduqi (הנדקאי, although here we can recall that "Hindu-Cush" was a place designation at one time for northern India), Semdæi (סמדאי), Lubyæ (לובאי), the Mauritaneans (מווריאטינוס) and the Zingæ (זינגאי). The sons of the Mauritaneans: Zemargad (זמרגד) and Misag (מזג).
We can do no better than quote Jesus himself about these peoples. His words apply to us today every bit as much as they did then:
The Queen of the South (Sheba) will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. (— Jesus, 29 AD)
Friday, October 17, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:8
8 The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. (NIV)
Taking the information in Genesis 5 and 11 (the genealogies) at face values, the year the Great Flood ended was 2457 BC (1657 years after the creation). Noah's sons began to have their own families after this, and here the writer of Chronicles turns from Japheth in the north to Ham in the south.
The Canaanites were specially cursed by Noah (Genesis 9:25). The Canaanites, Noah prophesied, would become the slaves of both Shem and Japheth (Genesis 9:26-27). The land of Canaan, of course, extended from north of the Sea of Galilee to the Negev south of the Dead Sea. This is the famous region described as “a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.” (Exodus 3:8)
The tribe of Put (the Greek translations pronounce it Phout or Phoud, Φουδ) seems to have settled far west of the Nile; Libya has been suggested as a location. Jeremiah says they were adept with the shield (Jer. 46:9). Nahum calls the people of Put in his time "allies of Thebes" (Nahum 3:9).
Cush was south of Egypt, corresponding to the northern part of modern Sudan. A source of valuable topaz (Job 28:19), it was the farthest land to the south known to the Hebrews. They are described by Isaiah as “a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech” (Isaiah 18:2). At various times they dominated Egypt or portions of Egypt (Tirhakah, a Cushite, ruled part of Egypt in Isaiah's time; Isaiah 37:9; 2 Kings 19:9).
Mizraim is simply the Hebrew word for Egypt (מצרים). Since the date for the flood falls after the assumed dates for the earliest kings of Egypt, how can we reconcile the (fairly reliable) evidence of Egyptian archaeology with the text of the Bible? I have never advocated so-called Higher Criticism, which attempts to correct the text based on suppositions. Lower Criticism, which examines the text based on the study of Biblical manuscripts and to a lesser degree quotations of the Bible in other writings such as the early Church Fathers, has a place in our study of Scripture. But Lower Criticism doesn't play much of a role here.
A problem with Egyptian dates from archaeology is that they are educated guesswork. I respect the educated part of that guesswork. The dates become more and more reliable as we farther along in history--the dates of the Eighteenth Dynasty (the Pharaohs of Moses' time) seem to be fairly accurate. If we work backwards from there, we get to the Twelfth Dynasty during the time of Joseph (Sesotris II and Sesostris III would have been the Pharaohs of the fat and lean years). A bit earlier, in the Eleventh Dynasty, we find that Intef II (also called Wahankh) would probably have been the Pharaoh who took a fancy to Sarah in Genesis 12:14-20.
Many of the earlier "dynasties" were only a few decades long, and some of them may have overlapped. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the Pharaohs of the "Old Kingdom" (the Thinnis period and the Age of the Pyramids) were simply the immediate family members of Mizraim himself, the grandson of Ham, when they took up residence on the banks of the Nile in the 25th or 24th Century BC.
When we consider that from Adam to Seth, in 130 years, the world's population went from 2 to 10,000, it is obvious that 3 couples (Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives) would produce at the very least 30,000 between 2459 (two years after the flood ended, when Shem became the father of Arphaxad, Genesis 11:10) and the 2190's (the end of the Age of Pyramids), there would have been thousands, probably tens of thousands, of people in Egypt for the building of the pyramids.
But for all of their accomplishments, the Egyptians, Cushites, Putites and Canaanites needed the gospel as much as any of the rest of us. Some heard it and rejected it. Some were kept from hearing it by sinfully obstructive leaders or parents. Others heard it and did not reject it, and the Lord put faith in their hearts.
Whatever our accomplishments, we have God to praise and thank for the greatest accomplishment of all: He sent his Son Jesus Christ to rescue us from our sins. And for this we thank, praise, serve and obey him.
Taking the information in Genesis 5 and 11 (the genealogies) at face values, the year the Great Flood ended was 2457 BC (1657 years after the creation). Noah's sons began to have their own families after this, and here the writer of Chronicles turns from Japheth in the north to Ham in the south.
The Canaanites were specially cursed by Noah (Genesis 9:25). The Canaanites, Noah prophesied, would become the slaves of both Shem and Japheth (Genesis 9:26-27). The land of Canaan, of course, extended from north of the Sea of Galilee to the Negev south of the Dead Sea. This is the famous region described as “a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.” (Exodus 3:8)
The tribe of Put (the Greek translations pronounce it Phout or Phoud, Φουδ) seems to have settled far west of the Nile; Libya has been suggested as a location. Jeremiah says they were adept with the shield (Jer. 46:9). Nahum calls the people of Put in his time "allies of Thebes" (Nahum 3:9).
Cush was south of Egypt, corresponding to the northern part of modern Sudan. A source of valuable topaz (Job 28:19), it was the farthest land to the south known to the Hebrews. They are described by Isaiah as “a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech” (Isaiah 18:2). At various times they dominated Egypt or portions of Egypt (Tirhakah, a Cushite, ruled part of Egypt in Isaiah's time; Isaiah 37:9; 2 Kings 19:9).
Mizraim is simply the Hebrew word for Egypt (מצרים). Since the date for the flood falls after the assumed dates for the earliest kings of Egypt, how can we reconcile the (fairly reliable) evidence of Egyptian archaeology with the text of the Bible? I have never advocated so-called Higher Criticism, which attempts to correct the text based on suppositions. Lower Criticism, which examines the text based on the study of Biblical manuscripts and to a lesser degree quotations of the Bible in other writings such as the early Church Fathers, has a place in our study of Scripture. But Lower Criticism doesn't play much of a role here.
A problem with Egyptian dates from archaeology is that they are educated guesswork. I respect the educated part of that guesswork. The dates become more and more reliable as we farther along in history--the dates of the Eighteenth Dynasty (the Pharaohs of Moses' time) seem to be fairly accurate. If we work backwards from there, we get to the Twelfth Dynasty during the time of Joseph (Sesotris II and Sesostris III would have been the Pharaohs of the fat and lean years). A bit earlier, in the Eleventh Dynasty, we find that Intef II (also called Wahankh) would probably have been the Pharaoh who took a fancy to Sarah in Genesis 12:14-20.
Many of the earlier "dynasties" were only a few decades long, and some of them may have overlapped. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the Pharaohs of the "Old Kingdom" (the Thinnis period and the Age of the Pyramids) were simply the immediate family members of Mizraim himself, the grandson of Ham, when they took up residence on the banks of the Nile in the 25th or 24th Century BC.
When we consider that from Adam to Seth, in 130 years, the world's population went from 2 to 10,000, it is obvious that 3 couples (Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives) would produce at the very least 30,000 between 2459 (two years after the flood ended, when Shem became the father of Arphaxad, Genesis 11:10) and the 2190's (the end of the Age of Pyramids), there would have been thousands, probably tens of thousands, of people in Egypt for the building of the pyramids.
But for all of their accomplishments, the Egyptians, Cushites, Putites and Canaanites needed the gospel as much as any of the rest of us. Some heard it and rejected it. Some were kept from hearing it by sinfully obstructive leaders or parents. Others heard it and did not reject it, and the Lord put faith in their hearts.
Whatever our accomplishments, we have God to praise and thank for the greatest accomplishment of all: He sent his Son Jesus Christ to rescue us from our sins. And for this we thank, praise, serve and obey him.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:7
7 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim. (NIV)
The Targum is confused about this passage and these people: “But the sons of Macedon (דמקדון), Alsu (אלסו) and Tarsus (וטרסוס), Itlivan (איטליון) and Dardania (ודרדניא), or, according to others, Elisha (אלישה), Alas (אלס), Tisas (טוסס), Aczia (אכזיה), also Dardania (ודרדניה), Ridom, Chamen and Antioch.”
The land of Elishah is mentioned in Ezekiel Ezekiel 27:7 as the source of dye for “awnings… of blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah.” In the New Testament, Lydia of Philippi was a dealer in such purple dye.
Tarshish (Hebrew תרשיש, note the difference with the spelling in the Targum above) is often associated with Tartessus on the Atlantic coast of Spain—virtually the most distant place known to most writers of the Bible. This may be the place to which Jonah was running (Jonah 1:3) when the Lord commanded him to visit the capital city of Israel's enemies, the Assyrians.
The Kittim (כִּתִּים) were a maritime people, probably from Cyprus, who intermarried with the Casluhites and produced the mixed nation of the Philistines (see 1 Chron. 1:12).
The Rodanim were probably also a maritime people; the island of Rhodes is often thought to be related to this name. Ezekiel 27:15 may be a reference to the same people.
These descendants of Javan were, for the most part, the people of southern Europe: the Greeks, the natives of the Iberian Peninsula; and the peoples of the Mediterranean Islands. Isaiah directs our attention again and again to these people, reminding us that the gospel is not just for a few people or familiar-looking people or even just the people close by, but for everyone:
The glory of the gospel of forgiveness will roll out across the waves to everyone. What could you do to help carry along the story of the cross—the victory of Jesus—to someone in the world today?
The Targum is confused about this passage and these people: “But the sons of Macedon (דמקדון), Alsu (אלסו) and Tarsus (וטרסוס), Itlivan (איטליון) and Dardania (ודרדניא), or, according to others, Elisha (אלישה), Alas (אלס), Tisas (טוסס), Aczia (אכזיה), also Dardania (ודרדניה), Ridom, Chamen and Antioch.”
The land of Elishah is mentioned in Ezekiel Ezekiel 27:7 as the source of dye for “awnings… of blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah.” In the New Testament, Lydia of Philippi was a dealer in such purple dye.
Tarshish (Hebrew תרשיש, note the difference with the spelling in the Targum above) is often associated with Tartessus on the Atlantic coast of Spain—virtually the most distant place known to most writers of the Bible. This may be the place to which Jonah was running (Jonah 1:3) when the Lord commanded him to visit the capital city of Israel's enemies, the Assyrians.
The Kittim (כִּתִּים) were a maritime people, probably from Cyprus, who intermarried with the Casluhites and produced the mixed nation of the Philistines (see 1 Chron. 1:12).
The Rodanim were probably also a maritime people; the island of Rhodes is often thought to be related to this name. Ezekiel 27:15 may be a reference to the same people.
These descendants of Javan were, for the most part, the people of southern Europe: the Greeks, the natives of the Iberian Peninsula; and the peoples of the Mediterranean Islands. Isaiah directs our attention again and again to these people, reminding us that the gospel is not just for a few people or familiar-looking people or even just the people close by, but for everyone:
Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. (Isaiah 24:15)Isaiah also reminds us that faith in Christ will be expressed by these people:
Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them. (Isaiah 42:10)
The glory of the gospel of forgiveness will roll out across the waves to everyone. What could you do to help carry along the story of the cross—the victory of Jesus—to someone in the world today?
Monday, October 13, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:6
6 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. (NIV)
The Targum also adds “And the names of their countries were Asia (אסיא) Persia (ופרכווי) and Barbary (וברבריא).”
Ashkenaz in western Russia was eventually the dwelling of some of the deported Northern or “Lost” tribes of Israel, which were exiled by the Assyrians in the Eighth Century BC.
The people of Riphath seem to have been associated with the Paphlagonians, on the southern part of the Dead Sea near Pontus.
Togarmah appears to be a region either in or identical with Armenia. Togarmah will also be mentioned in Ezekiel 27 associated with Tyre and in Ezekiel 38 associated with Gog.
As we see the descendants of Japheth spreading out and making nations of their own, we see people who would, according to Noah's own prophecy, dwell in the tents of Shem, and these people would much, much later be visited by Christian missionaries and be brought to faith in Jesus. The Armenians in particular were among the earliest converts to Christianity. Their translation of the New Testament was so old and so faithful that it is one of the witnesses used to establish the original text.
God's word always accomplishes what the Lord sends it out to do (Isaiah 55:11). When we realize when we were brought to faith, and how far removed so many of us are from Shem, how can we see anything but the grace of God, his undeserved love sweeping into our lives and rescuing us from destruction? The God we worship loves us, and through Jesus, he has given us peace.
The Targum also adds “And the names of their countries were Asia (אסיא) Persia (ופרכווי) and Barbary (וברבריא).”
Ashkenaz in western Russia was eventually the dwelling of some of the deported Northern or “Lost” tribes of Israel, which were exiled by the Assyrians in the Eighth Century BC.
The people of Riphath seem to have been associated with the Paphlagonians, on the southern part of the Dead Sea near Pontus.
Togarmah appears to be a region either in or identical with Armenia. Togarmah will also be mentioned in Ezekiel 27 associated with Tyre and in Ezekiel 38 associated with Gog.
As we see the descendants of Japheth spreading out and making nations of their own, we see people who would, according to Noah's own prophecy, dwell in the tents of Shem, and these people would much, much later be visited by Christian missionaries and be brought to faith in Jesus. The Armenians in particular were among the earliest converts to Christianity. Their translation of the New Testament was so old and so faithful that it is one of the witnesses used to establish the original text.
God's word always accomplishes what the Lord sends it out to do (Isaiah 55:11). When we realize when we were brought to faith, and how far removed so many of us are from Shem, how can we see anything but the grace of God, his undeserved love sweeping into our lives and rescuing us from destruction? The God we worship loves us, and through Jesus, he has given us peace.
1 Chronicles 1:5
5 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. (NIV)
Japheth's family settled in the north, spreading out both east and west of Ararat. The people of Gomer were the Cimmerians of Russia, from Madai came the Medes and Persians. The people of Javan were the Ionian Greeks; the descendants of both Tubal and Meshech settled in Asia Minor—present-day Turkey.
The identity and location of Tiras is more of a problem. Tiras, apart from being mentioned in this family, is otherwise unknown in the Bible. The Book of Jubilees places his descendants on islands in an ocean (“The seventh portion came to Tiras: four great islands in the middle of the sea that extend to the region of Ham. Then the islands of Kamaturi fell by lot for the descendants of Arphaxad as his inheritance,” Jubilees 9:13-14), but nothing more solid than that can really be said. Other speculations about Tiras being the ancestor of the Thracians (or even the Norsemen) can't be considered definitive.
In this context, Magog is simply a territory or family descended from Japheth. These people probably lived in or near the fertile crescent, perhaps to the east in modern Iran. Later in Ezekiel 38-39 and in Revelation 20, Magog is associated with Gog: they symbolize all of the spiritual and moral evil that the world battles with. Whatever they represent in the last days, their final fate is the same as the devil’s. They are overthrown, disarmed, and thrown into hell forever.
We could add that the Jewish Targum adds to these verses. For example, to "Tiras" it adds: "And the names of their countries were Africa, Germany, Media, Macedonia, Bithynia, Mœsia and Thrace." And there are other additions like that--which is what the Targum really is. But these things aren't helpful. What this list does for us more than anything else is (1) it shows us the regions in which Japheth's descendants went to live after the Flood, and (2) how much God blessed Japheth and his family.
Let that at least be a lesson for this day: Notice how much God has blessed you and your family, and praise God for it.
Japheth's family settled in the north, spreading out both east and west of Ararat. The people of Gomer were the Cimmerians of Russia, from Madai came the Medes and Persians. The people of Javan were the Ionian Greeks; the descendants of both Tubal and Meshech settled in Asia Minor—present-day Turkey.
The identity and location of Tiras is more of a problem. Tiras, apart from being mentioned in this family, is otherwise unknown in the Bible. The Book of Jubilees places his descendants on islands in an ocean (“The seventh portion came to Tiras: four great islands in the middle of the sea that extend to the region of Ham. Then the islands of Kamaturi fell by lot for the descendants of Arphaxad as his inheritance,” Jubilees 9:13-14), but nothing more solid than that can really be said. Other speculations about Tiras being the ancestor of the Thracians (or even the Norsemen) can't be considered definitive.
In this context, Magog is simply a territory or family descended from Japheth. These people probably lived in or near the fertile crescent, perhaps to the east in modern Iran. Later in Ezekiel 38-39 and in Revelation 20, Magog is associated with Gog: they symbolize all of the spiritual and moral evil that the world battles with. Whatever they represent in the last days, their final fate is the same as the devil’s. They are overthrown, disarmed, and thrown into hell forever.
We could add that the Jewish Targum adds to these verses. For example, to "Tiras" it adds: "And the names of their countries were Africa, Germany, Media, Macedonia, Bithynia, Mœsia and Thrace." And there are other additions like that--which is what the Targum really is. But these things aren't helpful. What this list does for us more than anything else is (1) it shows us the regions in which Japheth's descendants went to live after the Flood, and (2) how much God blessed Japheth and his family.
Let that at least be a lesson for this day: Notice how much God has blessed you and your family, and praise God for it.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:4
4 The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth. (NIV)
They were in the ark for a year and ten days, and along with them, God rescued some of all the animals. Mysterious jumbles of bones in the arctic and elsewhere continue to disturb and confuse many people, but the destruction of the Flood doesn't confuse us. That sin was the cause—that's distrubing, but only because we're amazed that God doesn't just trash the whole thing again and again.
But he promised not to. He promised that he would let it go until the very end, and that even the rainbow would be a reminder that he will permit the world to spin and exist until the very last day, and that he will never again destroy the world in a flood. The next destruction will be final, and it will be in fire.
The way Noah cursed Ham and blessed his other sins (based on their reactions to his own sinful binge of drunkenness) has affected the course of human history. Ham and his Canaanite descendants live under a curse. Japheth dwells in the tents of Shem and God has extended the boundaries of Japheth.
But we are not loved or condemned on a personal basis by our family or our race. God looks for faith in each and every one of us, whatever our family history.
After the Flood, perhaps because of the hydrological changes brought about by the catastrophe, the lifespans of men changed radically. Men were no longer living to be many centuries old. Where men had once lived eight or nine centuries, they would now live eight or nine decades.
But whatever our lifespan, it is what comes afterward that makes a difference. Through faith in Christ, we have been given the gift of eternal life.
They were in the ark for a year and ten days, and along with them, God rescued some of all the animals. Mysterious jumbles of bones in the arctic and elsewhere continue to disturb and confuse many people, but the destruction of the Flood doesn't confuse us. That sin was the cause—that's distrubing, but only because we're amazed that God doesn't just trash the whole thing again and again.
But he promised not to. He promised that he would let it go until the very end, and that even the rainbow would be a reminder that he will permit the world to spin and exist until the very last day, and that he will never again destroy the world in a flood. The next destruction will be final, and it will be in fire.
The way Noah cursed Ham and blessed his other sins (based on their reactions to his own sinful binge of drunkenness) has affected the course of human history. Ham and his Canaanite descendants live under a curse. Japheth dwells in the tents of Shem and God has extended the boundaries of Japheth.
But we are not loved or condemned on a personal basis by our family or our race. God looks for faith in each and every one of us, whatever our family history.
After the Flood, perhaps because of the hydrological changes brought about by the catastrophe, the lifespans of men changed radically. Men were no longer living to be many centuries old. Where men had once lived eight or nine centuries, they would now live eight or nine decades.
But whatever our lifespan, it is what comes afterward that makes a difference. Through faith in Christ, we have been given the gift of eternal life.
Friday, October 10, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:3
3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. (NIV)
Born 622 years after the creation, Enoch was the shortest-lived of all the pre-flood or antediluvian patriarchs. Enoch was a preacher. If we turn to the other end of the Bible, Jesus’ brother Jude records the contents of one of Enoch’s sermons:
Was Enoch prophesying about the judgment of the Last Day, or about the Flood, which was till seven hundred years away? Perhaps, like so many of the Old Testament preachers, it was hard to tell the difference between the first coming of Christ (his birth and ministry) from the second (when he will come again to judge the living and the dead).
987 years after the Lord finished the creation and rested for a day and 57 years after the death of Adam, Enoch was suddenly no more to be found. He ‘walked with God, and was no more.’ Like Elijah, God took him bodily into heaven without an intervening death. Like Elijah, Enoch’s sins were purged away by the blood of Christ as God set aside the curse of death for these men who put their trust in the coming Messiah. It was that Messiah whose life fulfilled God’s requirement of perfection, and it was that Messiah whose death satisfied God’s condemnation of our sins. It was that Messiah whose name was and is Jesus Christ.
Methuselah’s son Lamech died a few years before his father, about five years before the Flood. Methuselah, whose name is now synonymous with a very long-lived individual, remained on earth an incredible 969 years. He lived and walked with the still-living Adam for 243 of those years, and when he finally closed his eyes in sleep, called home by his Lord, it was the 1656th year of the world—the very year in which his grandson Noah entered the ark and alone with seven others survived the wrath of God.
I have a mental picture of a 500-year old Noah with his nearly hundred-year-old sons patting the earth on the grave of Methuselah as the first drops of rain began to fall. The four men let their shovels drop as they turned back to the huge door of the 450-foot-long ship. Perhaps two of the shovels fell on top of one another, making a crude cross in the dust. It was on the lumber of the ark that God rescued the remnant of mankind then—the few who put their trust in him.
It would be on the lumber of the cross that God rescued us: all who put our trust in him.
Born 622 years after the creation, Enoch was the shortest-lived of all the pre-flood or antediluvian patriarchs. Enoch was a preacher. If we turn to the other end of the Bible, Jesus’ brother Jude records the contents of one of Enoch’s sermons:
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14-15).
Was Enoch prophesying about the judgment of the Last Day, or about the Flood, which was till seven hundred years away? Perhaps, like so many of the Old Testament preachers, it was hard to tell the difference between the first coming of Christ (his birth and ministry) from the second (when he will come again to judge the living and the dead).
987 years after the Lord finished the creation and rested for a day and 57 years after the death of Adam, Enoch was suddenly no more to be found. He ‘walked with God, and was no more.’ Like Elijah, God took him bodily into heaven without an intervening death. Like Elijah, Enoch’s sins were purged away by the blood of Christ as God set aside the curse of death for these men who put their trust in the coming Messiah. It was that Messiah whose life fulfilled God’s requirement of perfection, and it was that Messiah whose death satisfied God’s condemnation of our sins. It was that Messiah whose name was and is Jesus Christ.
Methuselah’s son Lamech died a few years before his father, about five years before the Flood. Methuselah, whose name is now synonymous with a very long-lived individual, remained on earth an incredible 969 years. He lived and walked with the still-living Adam for 243 of those years, and when he finally closed his eyes in sleep, called home by his Lord, it was the 1656th year of the world—the very year in which his grandson Noah entered the ark and alone with seven others survived the wrath of God.
I have a mental picture of a 500-year old Noah with his nearly hundred-year-old sons patting the earth on the grave of Methuselah as the first drops of rain began to fall. The four men let their shovels drop as they turned back to the huge door of the 450-foot-long ship. Perhaps two of the shovels fell on top of one another, making a crude cross in the dust. It was on the lumber of the ark that God rescued the remnant of mankind then—the few who put their trust in him.
It would be on the lumber of the cross that God rescued us: all who put our trust in him.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:2
2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared (NIV)
Kenan is a name related to Cain; both names can mean “smith” or craftsman; sometimes the name is thought to indicate “settlement” or “civilization.”
Mahalalel’s name means “Praise of God;” it’s the first name in the Bible to contain a reference to God (the -el suffix). It isn't hard to recognize the “praise” element in his name, which sounds very similar to the word hallelujah.
The name Jared means “descend” or “descent.” By the time he was born, Adam was over 500 years old. Seth was over 300.
While Adam's descendants were settling down and praising God, Cain's line (unmentioned in Chronicles) was also at work. About the time Jared was born, Cain's line produced it's own Lamech (Genesis 4:18-24), a man filled with venom and hatred, whose terrible “sword song” pits in the face of God and rejects God's will toward marriage (he has married more than one woman). Lamech promises to take justice into his own hands and be eleven times more vengeful that God.
The three men in our text carried God's promise of a Savior from sin—the promise of the protevangel in Genesis 3:15—from one generation to the next. Their families put their trust in God, and waited for the time when one man would provide the one sacrifice for all mankind's sin.
That sacrifice would wait until the advent of Jesus Christ. But in the mean time, Jared was about to become the father of a man who would call the world to repentance, and remind the world that there is more to God's creation than this one world, this one universe, and this one brief lifetime.
Kenan is a name related to Cain; both names can mean “smith” or craftsman; sometimes the name is thought to indicate “settlement” or “civilization.”
Mahalalel’s name means “Praise of God;” it’s the first name in the Bible to contain a reference to God (the -el suffix). It isn't hard to recognize the “praise” element in his name, which sounds very similar to the word hallelujah.
The name Jared means “descend” or “descent.” By the time he was born, Adam was over 500 years old. Seth was over 300.
While Adam's descendants were settling down and praising God, Cain's line (unmentioned in Chronicles) was also at work. About the time Jared was born, Cain's line produced it's own Lamech (Genesis 4:18-24), a man filled with venom and hatred, whose terrible “sword song” pits in the face of God and rejects God's will toward marriage (he has married more than one woman). Lamech promises to take justice into his own hands and be eleven times more vengeful that God.
Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.
The three men in our text carried God's promise of a Savior from sin—the promise of the protevangel in Genesis 3:15—from one generation to the next. Their families put their trust in God, and waited for the time when one man would provide the one sacrifice for all mankind's sin.
That sacrifice would wait until the advent of Jesus Christ. But in the mean time, Jared was about to become the father of a man who would call the world to repentance, and remind the world that there is more to God's creation than this one world, this one universe, and this one brief lifetime.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
1 Chronicles 1:1
1 1 Adam, Seth, Enosh
The book of Chronicles is a look back at the history of the people of Judah. It was written after the people returned from their captivity in Babylon. The closing words of the book are the proclamation from Cyrus king of Persia: “The LORD, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up” (2 Chronicles 36:23).
Although Cyrus allowed other captive peoples to return home, the significance for the Jews was that they were once again restored to the Promised Land, and there they wold await the coming of the Savior, promised from the very earliest times. The first promise of the Messiah, sometimes called the protevangel or “First Gospel,” was given as God was expelling Adam and Eve from Eden and speaking this curse to the devil:
Before he brings us to his present moment, our author takes us back to the time of Adam with the simplest possible words: Adam, Seth, Enosh. After Adam and Eve's firstborn son Cain killed his younger brother Abel, God gave them many more children. After many years, they had a certain son that they named Seth. “Seth” is not the Hebrew spelling of the Egyptian god Set (Sutekh); rather, it means either “granted” or “substitute.” He was born when Adam was 130 years old (Gen. 5:3).
When Seth’s son Enosh was born (Adam was by now 235; Seth was a mature 105, Genesis 5:6), men “began to call on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26b). This meant that men began to go out of their way to preach and share the gospel. After 235 years, the world was becoming filled with people. With more than 9 generations born and raised, the thousands of people in Seth’s family line were beginning to encounter the thousands of people in Cain’s family line, and the need to share the message of forgiveness was more and more obvious as they saw so many who, as Paul says, “live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.” (Philippians 3:18-19).
After Enosh died, 1,140 years after God formed Adam from the red clay of Eden, there was an emptiness in the world. Sin and death were the things common to all mankind. But by this time, Enoch, the great-great grandson of Enoch, was already taken up into heaven—the promise of life after death, a heaven even more beautiful and blessed than the Eden they were forbidden from re-entering, was there in the promise of the protevangel and the story of Enoch.
A savior from sin—everything in Chronicles points us back to this; to him. The Savior is the descendant of these men: Christ traces his human lineage back through them: Adam, Seth, Enosh.
And we find our forgiveness and our eternal salvation in Christ.
The book of Chronicles is a look back at the history of the people of Judah. It was written after the people returned from their captivity in Babylon. The closing words of the book are the proclamation from Cyrus king of Persia: “The LORD, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up” (2 Chronicles 36:23).
Although Cyrus allowed other captive peoples to return home, the significance for the Jews was that they were once again restored to the Promised Land, and there they wold await the coming of the Savior, promised from the very earliest times. The first promise of the Messiah, sometimes called the protevangel or “First Gospel,” was given as God was expelling Adam and Eve from Eden and speaking this curse to the devil:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
Before he brings us to his present moment, our author takes us back to the time of Adam with the simplest possible words: Adam, Seth, Enosh. After Adam and Eve's firstborn son Cain killed his younger brother Abel, God gave them many more children. After many years, they had a certain son that they named Seth. “Seth” is not the Hebrew spelling of the Egyptian god Set (Sutekh); rather, it means either “granted” or “substitute.” He was born when Adam was 130 years old (Gen. 5:3).
When Seth’s son Enosh was born (Adam was by now 235; Seth was a mature 105, Genesis 5:6), men “began to call on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26b). This meant that men began to go out of their way to preach and share the gospel. After 235 years, the world was becoming filled with people. With more than 9 generations born and raised, the thousands of people in Seth’s family line were beginning to encounter the thousands of people in Cain’s family line, and the need to share the message of forgiveness was more and more obvious as they saw so many who, as Paul says, “live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.” (Philippians 3:18-19).
After Enosh died, 1,140 years after God formed Adam from the red clay of Eden, there was an emptiness in the world. Sin and death were the things common to all mankind. But by this time, Enoch, the great-great grandson of Enoch, was already taken up into heaven—the promise of life after death, a heaven even more beautiful and blessed than the Eden they were forbidden from re-entering, was there in the promise of the protevangel and the story of Enoch.
A savior from sin—everything in Chronicles points us back to this; to him. The Savior is the descendant of these men: Christ traces his human lineage back through them: Adam, Seth, Enosh.
And we find our forgiveness and our eternal salvation in Christ.
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