The Tower Of Babel - Genesis 11
Refer to the page in this website called the "Table of Nations."
The references listed at the bottom of this page can help give you more detailed information. Many have invested resources, time and finances that go beyond the scope and goal of this website. Concerning our origins, I am only compiling general lists of information and the references I have at the bottom of this page are useful for detailed study as desired. My desire is to give guidelines and make it easier to find information concerning our origins.
Languages
All our different languages come out of the Tower of Babel area. It was God who scattered the people who refused to obey the command to repopulate the earth and inhabit the entire earth (Genesis 9:1). You can see from the verses in Genesis 11:1-9 that the languages were changed from one universal language to many languages. Some have estimated that there were at least seventy languages involved originally. Each people group with groups of families that shared a common language (God was not cruel to separate families via language differences) carried with them not only their special characteristics (DNA, genes) but their own new language as they scattered. They scattered for a number of reasons. They scattered because the different groups could not understand each other and what about the possibility of escaping from Nimrod who, with his followers, could have tried to get them to remain to the point of hunting them down, imprisoning them or killing them. Some have said, since Nimrod was a "mighty hunter" that he was disposed to not only hunting animals, but people. Nimrod was considered a world dictator and like other world dictators, he wanted full control of his subjects.
An excellent article about the Tower of Babel by Bodie Hodge on the Answers in Genesis website can be read here.
How far back can you go?
Many can trace back their own ancestry through various websites or some printed documentation. Few can find their ancestry through family records that have been preserved and are in their possession. I am fortunate to have a reasonable amount of records that place my first ancestor to arrive in the USA in the late 1600's from England. That is as far as I am able to go and to many, it sounds good. Well, how about all the others before this first arriving ancestor? I would have to go to great length to get that information and I am not really interested to attempt any further costly research. At least I know that my ancestors came from or came through England - maybe Ireland or Scotland - or maybe even somewhere else in Europe. The question is, who settled originally in all those countries I am mentioning for myself? How about you, the reader of this article? Are you able to come up with enough records to at least narrow down some original point of origin for your earliest ancestor in your present country of residence? This website is available worldwide and I am only referring to myself since I live in the USA. Now let us talk about you.
How much information do you have at your disposal? If you were born in a particular country and you haven't moved, maybe you can trace back some. If you or your family have immigrated from another country, can you trace your ancestry?
It comes down to what some love to call race (check the page "Races - Are They for Real?)" I prefer to not use the word "race." We have to look at what area of the world your family could have originated from. This could be difficult for many and I can only imagine. Your search may not be as easy as mine is in at least being able to go back to the country of origin of my first ancestor in the USA. Or, possibly you have a great deal of information going back a long way in your ancestry.
The question is, just how far back can you go - 100, 200, 300 ... 1000 years? How about more than 1000 years? I cannot do that reliably. Period.
Let me try to give you some ideas as to the different areas of the world where from many of us could have originated. I feel reasonably certain in knowing about where I originated. I say about, because most of us can be quite mixed with many cultures from many regions of the world. I can basically say that very, very few people are considered almost pure and I even have to use the word almost.
On the first page of this website titled "Biblical Overview of Origins", assuming you have read the information on that page, we all descended from ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN. They are Adam and Eve in Genesis and other Scripture points to them as real including the words of Paul in I Corinthians 15:45.
The Three Original People
The next area of consideration for our ancestors is the survivors of the Global Flood. This is Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. The Genealogy or lineage from Noah is broken down in his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and where they and their descendants ultimately migrated and settled. Now we can say that we have descended from one or more of them. The Descendants of Shem are called Semites; the descendants of Ham through his son Canaan are called Canaanites; the Descendants of Japheth are called Japhethites.
Here is a good website with two useful links that give you more information on the descendants of Noah:
http://www.bible-truth.org/GEN10.HTM http://www.bible-truth.org/race.htm
First, we need to clarify something. I mentioned in a previous paragraph that very few of us are considered almost pure. What we find at this stage of study of the three sons of Noah is an immediate mixing possibility of peoples from each line. It starts getting really mixed up very early. A good example of this is where the descendants of Ham and Japheth settled in the mid-east and in northern Africa. Also, various tribes from each of the three sons settled near each other and could have intermarried.
Ham and His Son Canaan - The Canaanites
In reading the account about the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, we discover that the people were rebelling against God even to the point of worship of false gods. The main character and instigator of this rebellion was called Nimrod who, incidentally came from the line of Ham. Even his name was rebel, so don't name any of your children after Nimrod. We need to back up to Ham. What is the significance of this rebellion and does it originate from an unrighteous source? Yes, it does. You need to read the account when the ark landed after the Global Flood and what happened to Noah through his grandson Canaan. Read Genesis 9:18-28 for the answer. Why do I need to do this?, you might ask. The lineages from each son of Noah will follow in chapters 10 an 11. The main emphasis of the curse (you did read or have knowledge of chapter 9?) that was placed on Canaan (by Noah) and his descendants was that it caused a line of unrighteous descendants and it all culminated in the building of the Tower of Babel. Out of this came all of our diverse languages, and more.
What was one of the conditions of the curse placed on Ham's son Canaan and their descendants? They were to serve Shem and Japheth. What happened was a great deal of technology and discoveries came from this unrighteous lineage - and it doesn't mean that there weren't some believers in God in this lineage. These descendants mostly from Ham and Canaan through the people at the Tower of Babel dispersed in a different fashion than Shem. A great deal of Shem's descendants stayed put in the area of the middle east. They are considered the Jewish people today and guess what? Their brothers are settled all around them. It is possible that many won't accept that.
Many of Ham's descendants settled further south in Africa and some left immediately and settled in what is called China today; thus some of the Asians. As to what happened in the settling of the Americas, these are sometimes considered different people than just Asians. They can be an extreme mix from many areas. It would appear that the settlers in Alaska, northern Canada and some in the Americas could have come from Asia, but there is still the possibility of many mixes of peoples. Others originally came through a southern route below Asia and crossed over to the Americas and the Pacific islands as well. Please don't lose insight that these that went extreme east from the Tower of Babel could still have the possibility of being mixed with the descendants of Japheth. We will see in a later paragraph that India was settled by the descendants of Japheth.
Shem, Eber and Peleg - The Semites
Let us back up again to the line of Shem. Eber the father and his son Peleg refused to participate in the activities going on at the Tower of Babel. These are the ones that did not change their language and became the early ancestors of the Hebrews. The name Eber refers to the Hebrew name itself. When the Hebrews settled later on in Judea, they would be called Jews. A few even moved out to other areas outside the middle east, but generally not far.
Japheth - The Japhethites
Japheth is considered as having settled mostly in the European area but some settled east of what is called Georgia today. This is not the Georgia of the southern USA. This is the country of Georgia. It is said that the Armenians, Italians and Spanish came from this area and the Italians and Spanish moved to Europe. The Armenians are generally still close to the area of Georgia today. Some of Japheth's descendants settled around other areas of the middle east and north Africa as well causing a further mix of peoples. The Greeks, Persian, Russians, Turks descended from Japheth. India was settled by the descendants of Japheth.
Where did the Arabs Come From?
Islamic tradition refers to Ishmael as the father of the Ishmaelites and therefore started the Arab nation. You have to study about Ishmael, born to Abraham in Genesis to get a good hold on many of the Arab descendants in the area of the middle east. Ishmael's mother, Hagar, was of Egyptian origin. Ishmael comes from the line of Shem through Abraham and also from those who settled in Egypt through Hagar. The Egyptians were originally settled from the lines of Ham and Japheth and maybe even still mixed with some Semites. Is it possible that Ishmael's ancestry was quite mixed up?
England, Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, etc.
I recommend a book written by Bill Cooper called "After the Flood" that gives a very detailed account of the descendants that settled in England, Scandinavia and some other parts of Europe. The book is available online.
The Chinese
The Chinese trace their roots back to Noah. An interesting article from the Institute for Creation Research reveals some information about the Chinese pictograph language. The link can be accessed by clicking here.
Conclusion
This is very brief overview of the descendants of the three sons of Noah. Read Genesis 10:32 for Biblical clarification that we all descended from at least one of Noah's sons. I hope this stirs some interest in you to further research our origins to some true detail. I will recommend that if you want more information to read the following three books which give more detailed insight on the developments that occurred from these groups of peoples:
Here is an article by Tim Osterholm that goes into considerable depth about our origins:
http://www.soundchristian.com/man/
Reference Books:
Chittick, Donald E, The Puzzle of Ancient Man, Newberg, Oregon, Creation Compass: Second Edition, 1998.
Burney, Gerry, Science, Origins & Ancient Civilizations, Calif.: www.xulonpress.com, 2009
Noorbergen, Rene, Secrets of the Lost Races, Brushton, NY: Teach Services Inc., 2001.
Don Landis with Jackson Hole Bible College: The Genius of Ancient Man, Master Books, 2012
Don Landis with Jackson Hole Bible College: The Secrets of Ancient Man, Master Books, 2015
Please don't forget to look up information on origins from the following:
Answers in Genesis
Creation Ministries International
Hebrew for Christians
Institute for Creation Research
Refer to the page in this website called the "Table of Nations."
The references listed at the bottom of this page can help give you more detailed information. Many have invested resources, time and finances that go beyond the scope and goal of this website. Concerning our origins, I am only compiling general lists of information and the references I have at the bottom of this page are useful for detailed study as desired. My desire is to give guidelines and make it easier to find information concerning our origins.
Languages
All our different languages come out of the Tower of Babel area. It was God who scattered the people who refused to obey the command to repopulate the earth and inhabit the entire earth (Genesis 9:1). You can see from the verses in Genesis 11:1-9 that the languages were changed from one universal language to many languages. Some have estimated that there were at least seventy languages involved originally. Each people group with groups of families that shared a common language (God was not cruel to separate families via language differences) carried with them not only their special characteristics (DNA, genes) but their own new language as they scattered. They scattered for a number of reasons. They scattered because the different groups could not understand each other and what about the possibility of escaping from Nimrod who, with his followers, could have tried to get them to remain to the point of hunting them down, imprisoning them or killing them. Some have said, since Nimrod was a "mighty hunter" that he was disposed to not only hunting animals, but people. Nimrod was considered a world dictator and like other world dictators, he wanted full control of his subjects.
An excellent article about the Tower of Babel by Bodie Hodge on the Answers in Genesis website can be read here.
How far back can you go?
Many can trace back their own ancestry through various websites or some printed documentation. Few can find their ancestry through family records that have been preserved and are in their possession. I am fortunate to have a reasonable amount of records that place my first ancestor to arrive in the USA in the late 1600's from England. That is as far as I am able to go and to many, it sounds good. Well, how about all the others before this first arriving ancestor? I would have to go to great length to get that information and I am not really interested to attempt any further costly research. At least I know that my ancestors came from or came through England - maybe Ireland or Scotland - or maybe even somewhere else in Europe. The question is, who settled originally in all those countries I am mentioning for myself? How about you, the reader of this article? Are you able to come up with enough records to at least narrow down some original point of origin for your earliest ancestor in your present country of residence? This website is available worldwide and I am only referring to myself since I live in the USA. Now let us talk about you.
How much information do you have at your disposal? If you were born in a particular country and you haven't moved, maybe you can trace back some. If you or your family have immigrated from another country, can you trace your ancestry?
It comes down to what some love to call race (check the page "Races - Are They for Real?)" I prefer to not use the word "race." We have to look at what area of the world your family could have originated from. This could be difficult for many and I can only imagine. Your search may not be as easy as mine is in at least being able to go back to the country of origin of my first ancestor in the USA. Or, possibly you have a great deal of information going back a long way in your ancestry.
The question is, just how far back can you go - 100, 200, 300 ... 1000 years? How about more than 1000 years? I cannot do that reliably. Period.
Let me try to give you some ideas as to the different areas of the world where from many of us could have originated. I feel reasonably certain in knowing about where I originated. I say about, because most of us can be quite mixed with many cultures from many regions of the world. I can basically say that very, very few people are considered almost pure and I even have to use the word almost.
On the first page of this website titled "Biblical Overview of Origins", assuming you have read the information on that page, we all descended from ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN. They are Adam and Eve in Genesis and other Scripture points to them as real including the words of Paul in I Corinthians 15:45.
The Three Original People
The next area of consideration for our ancestors is the survivors of the Global Flood. This is Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. The Genealogy or lineage from Noah is broken down in his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and where they and their descendants ultimately migrated and settled. Now we can say that we have descended from one or more of them. The Descendants of Shem are called Semites; the descendants of Ham through his son Canaan are called Canaanites; the Descendants of Japheth are called Japhethites.
Here is a good website with two useful links that give you more information on the descendants of Noah:
http://www.bible-truth.org/GEN10.HTM http://www.bible-truth.org/race.htm
First, we need to clarify something. I mentioned in a previous paragraph that very few of us are considered almost pure. What we find at this stage of study of the three sons of Noah is an immediate mixing possibility of peoples from each line. It starts getting really mixed up very early. A good example of this is where the descendants of Ham and Japheth settled in the mid-east and in northern Africa. Also, various tribes from each of the three sons settled near each other and could have intermarried.
Ham and His Son Canaan - The Canaanites
In reading the account about the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, we discover that the people were rebelling against God even to the point of worship of false gods. The main character and instigator of this rebellion was called Nimrod who, incidentally came from the line of Ham. Even his name was rebel, so don't name any of your children after Nimrod. We need to back up to Ham. What is the significance of this rebellion and does it originate from an unrighteous source? Yes, it does. You need to read the account when the ark landed after the Global Flood and what happened to Noah through his grandson Canaan. Read Genesis 9:18-28 for the answer. Why do I need to do this?, you might ask. The lineages from each son of Noah will follow in chapters 10 an 11. The main emphasis of the curse (you did read or have knowledge of chapter 9?) that was placed on Canaan (by Noah) and his descendants was that it caused a line of unrighteous descendants and it all culminated in the building of the Tower of Babel. Out of this came all of our diverse languages, and more.
What was one of the conditions of the curse placed on Ham's son Canaan and their descendants? They were to serve Shem and Japheth. What happened was a great deal of technology and discoveries came from this unrighteous lineage - and it doesn't mean that there weren't some believers in God in this lineage. These descendants mostly from Ham and Canaan through the people at the Tower of Babel dispersed in a different fashion than Shem. A great deal of Shem's descendants stayed put in the area of the middle east. They are considered the Jewish people today and guess what? Their brothers are settled all around them. It is possible that many won't accept that.
Many of Ham's descendants settled further south in Africa and some left immediately and settled in what is called China today; thus some of the Asians. As to what happened in the settling of the Americas, these are sometimes considered different people than just Asians. They can be an extreme mix from many areas. It would appear that the settlers in Alaska, northern Canada and some in the Americas could have come from Asia, but there is still the possibility of many mixes of peoples. Others originally came through a southern route below Asia and crossed over to the Americas and the Pacific islands as well. Please don't lose insight that these that went extreme east from the Tower of Babel could still have the possibility of being mixed with the descendants of Japheth. We will see in a later paragraph that India was settled by the descendants of Japheth.
Shem, Eber and Peleg - The Semites
Let us back up again to the line of Shem. Eber the father and his son Peleg refused to participate in the activities going on at the Tower of Babel. These are the ones that did not change their language and became the early ancestors of the Hebrews. The name Eber refers to the Hebrew name itself. When the Hebrews settled later on in Judea, they would be called Jews. A few even moved out to other areas outside the middle east, but generally not far.
Japheth - The Japhethites
Japheth is considered as having settled mostly in the European area but some settled east of what is called Georgia today. This is not the Georgia of the southern USA. This is the country of Georgia. It is said that the Armenians, Italians and Spanish came from this area and the Italians and Spanish moved to Europe. The Armenians are generally still close to the area of Georgia today. Some of Japheth's descendants settled around other areas of the middle east and north Africa as well causing a further mix of peoples. The Greeks, Persian, Russians, Turks descended from Japheth. India was settled by the descendants of Japheth.
Where did the Arabs Come From?
Islamic tradition refers to Ishmael as the father of the Ishmaelites and therefore started the Arab nation. You have to study about Ishmael, born to Abraham in Genesis to get a good hold on many of the Arab descendants in the area of the middle east. Ishmael's mother, Hagar, was of Egyptian origin. Ishmael comes from the line of Shem through Abraham and also from those who settled in Egypt through Hagar. The Egyptians were originally settled from the lines of Ham and Japheth and maybe even still mixed with some Semites. Is it possible that Ishmael's ancestry was quite mixed up?
England, Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, etc.
I recommend a book written by Bill Cooper called "After the Flood" that gives a very detailed account of the descendants that settled in England, Scandinavia and some other parts of Europe. The book is available online.
The Chinese
The Chinese trace their roots back to Noah. An interesting article from the Institute for Creation Research reveals some information about the Chinese pictograph language. The link can be accessed by clicking here.
Conclusion
This is very brief overview of the descendants of the three sons of Noah. Read Genesis 10:32 for Biblical clarification that we all descended from at least one of Noah's sons. I hope this stirs some interest in you to further research our origins to some true detail. I will recommend that if you want more information to read the following three books which give more detailed insight on the developments that occurred from these groups of peoples:
Here is an article by Tim Osterholm that goes into considerable depth about our origins:
http://www.soundchristian.com/man/
Reference Books:
Chittick, Donald E, The Puzzle of Ancient Man, Newberg, Oregon, Creation Compass: Second Edition, 1998.
Burney, Gerry, Science, Origins & Ancient Civilizations, Calif.: www.xulonpress.com, 2009
Noorbergen, Rene, Secrets of the Lost Races, Brushton, NY: Teach Services Inc., 2001.
Don Landis with Jackson Hole Bible College: The Genius of Ancient Man, Master Books, 2012
Don Landis with Jackson Hole Bible College: The Secrets of Ancient Man, Master Books, 2015
Please don't forget to look up information on origins from the following:
Answers in Genesis
Creation Ministries International
Hebrew for Christians
Institute for Creation Research