Page 11 - Bible Geography and Near East Studies - Textbook w videos short

The geology of the Earth demonstrates the reality of Noah’s Flood and the awful results of God’s
judgment on sin.

Eventually Noah and his family were able to exit the ark
that sat upon a mountain we know of today as Ararat. It
is over 16,000 feet high, but the ark could have rested
anywhere on the slopes, at a lower elevation. Noah’s
family created homes in the new plains and began
populating the area.

Noah was commanded by God to “Be fruitful and increase
in number and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1) Genesis 11
tells us that Noah’s clan moved eastward and settled in
the plain of Shinar. We do know geographically where
they settled. Shinar is located in the plains between the
Tigris and Euphrates river in what we know today as Iraq
(see map to left).

For nearly 100 years, Noah’s sons, Ham, Shem, and
Japheth, increased in number and prospered. They
reproduced according to God’s command to fill the earth, but they stayed together. Eventually all of
mankind at that time gathered in the Persian Gulf region at a place called Babel, and it was here that
they followed their leader named Nimrod and built a tower to reach to heaven. It was here that they
rebelled against God, seeking their own greatness, and the Lord miraculously scattered them by
changing their languages to forcibly distribute them over the face of the earth (Genesis 11:1-9).

The Origin of Nations

Noah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth and represent the family groups of people that migrated
from the Tower of Babel to other parts of the earth.

Shem was Noah’s oldest son. He and his wife were childless before the flood, but afterward bore a son
at 110 years of age. He was eventually the father to five sons who became the fathers of five Semitic
nations:
1. Elam – the Persians,
2. Asshur – Assyrians,
3. Arphaxad – Chaldeans or Babylonians,
4. Lud – Lydians settling in Asia Minor and Northern Africa
5. Aram- the Syrians

Ham was Noah’s second oldest son. Ham and his wife bore four sons who became the fathers of the
nations of Africa. Ham’s fourth son, Canaan, was prophetically cursed because his father gazed at
Noah’s nakedness while he was drunk. This curse would mean that later he would lose his land to the
Hebrews and would be subservient to the descendants of Shem. The Hamites were known for their
physical endurance. The Four Hamitic Nations are:

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