Page 14 - Bible Geography and Near East Studies

Here is a map showing how all the families
of Shem, Ham, and Japheth spread out
into Europe, Asia, and Africa after Babel.
(The Etruscans) located wesack Sea.
So, the question is often asked: Where did
all the races come from? The answer is a
bit complicated, but let’s see if we can
understand where they came from in
biology. When God created Adam, he put
within his chromosomes the possibility of
all the various skin colors in recessive and
dominant genes.

Skin shade is governed by multiple genes and is quite complex, but for the sake of simplicity, assume for
a moment that there are only two. Genes come in pairs of pairs. During reproduction, half of the genes
passed on to the offspring come from each parent. Let’s assign the letters “A” and “B” to the genes that
code for large amounts of melanin—the brown-colored pigment in everyone’s skin (this would be a
dominant gene). We’ll also use the letters “a” and “b” to designate the genes for small amounts of
melanin (This would be a recessive gene). In very dark-skinned people groups, individuals
carry AABB genes and only produce dark-skinned offspring. In very light-skinned people groups,
individuals carry aabb genes and only produce light-skinned offspring.

If a male and female from each group mate and produce a child, the
combination of their AABB and aabb genes would give rise to a child
who carries the AaBb genes for melanin and would be “middle
brown” in skin shade. Now, if two people carrying the AaBb genes got
married and reproduced, their children could have a wide range of
skin colors. If Adam and Eve were both middle brown (AaBb), they
would have produced children with a wide range of tones. Suddenly,
all of us being one race doesn’t seem so complicated.
2

In Genesis 11, God confused the languages of all those who were
living together in Shinar. Family groups shared a common language but did not understand others.
Instantly, there were barriers set up among people groups. People would probably not marry someone
they could not understand. As they collected together with a common language, eventually the families
moved away into other areas of the world. The dispersion at Babel broke the large interbreeding group
of humanity into smaller groups with less genetic variability. Each group had different mixes of genes
for various physical features. Factors such as food supply, environmental issues, temperature, water
supplies, and the like modified the frequency of certain combinations of genes, causing a tendency for
specific characteristics to dominate. In other words, the offspring in each area shared the same basic
genes their ancestors took with them from Babel.

Every race is a descendant of Adam and Eve! No matter what people’s skin color or characteristics are,
the human family is really one race when we carry our family tree back to the first parents. Each person,
no matter what their race may be, is precious to God. He loves each one. And because we are all

2 information from Answers in Genesis, https://answersingenesis.org/racism/adam-eve-all-skin-tones/
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