One of the most ancient and valuable accounts of the races of mankind is found in the tenth chapter of Genesis. It states the location and, in large degree, the relationship of the various families upon the earth, as they were known to the descendants of Abraham.

In the interpretation of this "Table of Nations" certain facts and principles are to be borne in mind. 1. It is incomplete; not undertaking to name all the races of mankind, but only those in the Hebrew, Egyptian, and Assyrian sphere of interest. Neither the yellow, the brown, or the black races are represented upon it, and only a portion of the ruddy or white race. 2. It is popular and not scientific. The Orientals never wrote with the precision of modern students. Hence find in this document terms employed in a general and indefinite manner. 3. It is, in reality, geographical rather than racial. For example, when it says "the sons of Canaan," we are not always to infer a literal descent, but a location in the land of Canaan. The names upon this table are generally not those of individuals, but of tribes. In some instances relationship may be indicated; but generally propinquity of settlement is all that can positively be affirmed. 4. It arranges the nations according to zones, in a general direction from northwest to southeast; not by continents, as was formerly supposed. The nations of the Japhetic family are found in Asia and Europe; the Shemites, or Semites, in Asia; the so-called Hamitic races, in Asia and Africa. After the deluge an instinct of migration took possession of the human family. From the original home (long supposed to be near the Caspian Sea, but now uncertain as to locality) clans moved in all directions, and nations arose, occupying different lands.

I. THE JAPHETIC NATIONS.

These belonged to seven families, who are called "sons of Japheth" in Gen. 10:2; and seven others, who are spoken of as his grandsons in Gen. 10:3, 4. These statements are not necessarily to be understood literally. There may have been other sons and grandsons of Japheth; but these were the ones whose names are remembered as the founders of nations. The peoples descended from Japheth belong to what is called the Aryan or Indo-European race.

1. Gomer is named, in Ezek. 38:2-6, as a race opposed to Israel after the captivity. They were probably the people whom the Assyrians called Gimirrai, and the Greeks Kimmerioi. Their name is perpetuated in the Crimea, their early home. A branch of this race moving westward became the Cimbri, who were formidable enemies of Rome; and probably another, the Cymry, settled in the British Isles, and were the ancestors of the Welsh and the Irish. The Celtic races, to which the French partly belong, are descended from this family.

Three of the families descended from Gomer formed separate tribes, named, in the table of nations in Gen. 10:3, after Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. All of these had homes around or near the Black Sea.

(1.) Ashkenaz is the name of a people spread out of Mysia and Phrygia in Asia Minor. "Ascanios," a Greek form of the word, occurs in Homer as the name of a Mysian and Phrygian prince. It is, however, true that, in Jer. 51:27, Ashkenaz is located in Western Armenia, whither this people had later migrated. Here, also, the Assyrians located them.

(2.) Riphath was formerly supposed to point to the RiphÆn Mountains, north of the Danube and west of the Black Sea, but this is very doubtful.

(3.) Togarmah (Ezek. 27:14; 38:6) is identified with the land of Armenia, whose people have a tradition that they are descended from Targom.

2. Magog (called, in Ezek. 38 and 39, Gog, the prefix Ma being thought to signify "land") is generally understood to designate the Scythians.

3. Madai is everywhere in Scripture the word translated Medes, whose early home was south of the Caspian Sea, whence they marched westward, and conquered the lands as far as the Mediterranean.

4. Javan is the Hebrew term for the Greeks, as is indicated by various references in the Old Testament. It is especially applied to the Ionians (originally called Iafon-es, the descendants of Iafon, or Javan), who were the Grecian people, with whom the Israelites were brought into commercial relations.

Five lands and races are named as subdivisions of the family of Javan in Gen. 10:4, all of which were situated near each other.

(1.) Elishah (or, as in Ezek. 27:7, "the isles of Elishah,") is supposed to refer to the Æolians, inhabiting the isles of the Ægean Sea, from which came the purple dye mentioned in Ezekiel's reference.

(2.) Tarshish was formerly supposed to refer to Tarsus in Cilicia of Asia Minor, on the authority of Josephus, but is now identified with Tartessus in Spain, embracing the coast land from Gibraltar to the Guadalquiver.

(3.) Kittim, or Chittim, was the name applied to the island of Cyprus, of which one of the cities was called Kitium. The name Chittim was also loosely given by the Hebrews to the shores and isles of the Mediterranean.

(4.) Dodanim (or, as in some copies of 1 Chron. 1:7, Rodanim). If the reading Dodanim be preferred, this may point to the Dardanians, a name often applied in the classics to the people of Troy, the famous city of Homer. The other reading, Rodanim, which is preferred by some critics, is supposed to point to the isle of Rhodes, in the Ægean Sea, a home of the ancient Greeks. Thus both Javan and all his sons who founded families were connected with the Greek race.

(5.) The Isles of the Gentiles (Gen. 10:5) in Hebrew refers not only to islands, but all lands bordering upon the sea. Here it refers to the Japhetic colonies on the coasts of the Mediterranean, the Black and the Caspian Seas.

5. Tubal, and 6. Meshech, are generally associated in Scripture. (Ezek. 27:13; 32:26; 38:2, 3; 39:1.) From their associations, they are to be sought near the Caspian and Black Seas, where Herodotus mentions the Tibareni and the Moschi.

7. Tiras (1. Chron. 1:5) was believed by the Jews to refer to the Thracians, southwest of the Black Sea. There is nothing to oppose this view, but no evidence except the similarity of name in its favor.

II. THE HAMITIC RACES.

These are named with greater particularity, because they were those which rose to prominence early in the history, and those with which the Hebrews were brought into closer relations, either as enemies or as friends. Four principal races are given, some of which were greatly subdivided. The homes of these races were in Africa, Eastern Arabia, with a fringe of sea-coast along the eastern Mediterranean, and the great Mesopotamian valley, in which arose the earliest world empires. They have been sometimes called Turanians. It is by no means probable that all these nations should be regarded as the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah. In this list are evidently grouped together some races whose territory was contiguous, but whose physical appearance and language show no relationship.

1. Cush is, throughout the Bible, the word translated Ethiopia. Generally this refers to the region south of Egypt, now known as Abyssinia; but in Gen. 2:13, Isa. 11:11, and Ezek. 38:5, the reference must be to an Asiatic Cush, in Mesopotamia. The subdivisions of the Cushite tribes in Gen. 10:7-12, show that the earliest great Oriental monarchies were of this race. These subdivisions are as follows:

(1.) Seba. These were, probably, the Ethiopians of MeroË, on the Nile, anciently called Saba; in Isa. 43:3 and 45:14, connected with the Egyptians.

(2.) Havilah. This is supposed to refer to Arabia, or at least a part of it.

(3.) Sabtah. This may refer to the Sabbatha, or Sabota, of Pliny and Ptolemy, on the southern shore of Arabia.

(4.) Raamah, with whom are associated his sons or descendants, Sheba and Dedan, occupied the eastern shore of Arabia, near the Persian Gulf.

(5.) Sabtechah. This is unknown, but, from the relation of the previous names, may have been in the southeastern portion of Arabia.

(6.) Nimrod is named as a descendant of Cush (perhaps the only name of an individual in the list), and the founder of the early Babylonian empire.

2. Mizraim is the name everywhere used for Egypt in the Hebrew. The word is in the dual form, representing the two divisions of the country, and corresponding to the two crowns on all the royal effigies. Several branches of this race are especially mentioned.

(1.) Ludim. Not the same with the Lud of verse 22, but from its associations plainly in Africa. The location has been given as Nubia, but is very doubtful.

(2.) Anamim. An unknown people, whose identity was early lost in some other race.

(3.) Lehabim. These are elsewhere in Scripture called Lubim, and were the Libyans, or people of Libya, west of Egypt, on the southern shore of the Mediterranean.

(4.) Naphtuhim. Probably the Na-Ptah of the Egyptian monuments, having their home at Memphis, south of the Delta.

(5.) Pathrusim. Often referred to in the prophets as Pathros, or Upper Egypt.

(6.) Casluhim. An unknown people, perhaps in the vicinity of Goshen.

(7.) Caphtorim. Generally supposed to refer to the people on the island of Crete. With these, and not with the Casluhim, should the Philistim be connected. (See Deut. 2:23, Jer. 47:4, Amos 9:7.)

3. Phut. The word is several times translated Libya, and, from its association with other tribes, should probably be referred to that section in Northern Africa. (See Jer. 46:9; Ezek. 27:10; 30:5; 38:5; Nah. 3:9.) Some of these passages would indicate that there was also an Asiatic branch of this same family.

4. Canaan. The ancient inhabitants of Palestine and Lower Syria, from Gaza to Hamath. In their most flourishing period, just before the conquest by Joshua, they embraced six subdivisions or clans. (See map on page 36, and explanations.)

III. THE SEMITIC RACES. (Gen. 10:21-31.)

The descendants of Shem are placed last in the list of the table of nations, not because their founder was the youngest, but because out of their lines one family is chosen as the especial theme of the history, which thus receives a fitting introduction. Shem was the founder of five great races, and of many subordinate tribes.

1. Elam everywhere is recognized as the name of a province east of the Tigris and north of the Persian Gulf, called by the Greeks Elymais. The name was often applied, in later times, to the whole of Persia, whose capital stood within its territory.

2. Asshur is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. It was located on the Tigris, having Nineveh as its capital, and its people at one time were rulers of all the lands westward to the Mediterranean.

3. Arphaxad, or Arpachshad (as in the margin of Gen. 11:10), has been supposed to be the ancestor of the Chaldeans, whose home was at the head of the Persian Gulf. The patriarch Abraham belonged to his race, and was born in "Ur of the Chaldees." Another of Arphaxad's descendants was Joktan, from whom arose thirteen tribes, named after Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba (the most important of all in after history, absorbing most of the rest), Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these occupied the southeastern and southern sections of the great Arabian peninsula. The fact that some of these names have already been mentioned in the Hamite genealogies may indicate that the two races became mingled.

4. Lud. This is believed by most scholars to refer to the Lydians, who dwelt on the southwestern border of Asia Minor, and under their king, Croesus, became a powerful nation. Their history was short, as their empire was conquered by Cyrus the Great.

5. Aram. This is the word uniformly rendered Syria throughout the Bible. The Arameans, or Syrians, occupied the region between Canaan and Phoenicia, on the east, the Euphrates on the north, and the great desert on the west and south. Four branches of this race formed separate tribes. Uz, the race of the ancient Job, was settled in the middle of North Arabia, near Nejd. Hul and Gether are supposed (but with slight evidences) to have occupied the country near Lake Merom, where the Geshurites were afterward found. Mash, or, as called in 1 Chron. 1:17, Meshech, may have merged with the Meshech of the Japhetic line.

OUTLINE FOR TEACHING.

1. The principal authorities for the map on page 24, and its explanations, are: "Ethnic Affinities," by Canon George Rawlinson; E. H. Browne, in "The Speaker's Commentary"; J. G. Murphy's "Notes on Genesis"; Dillmann, "Commentary on Genesis"; and "The Races of the Old Testament," by A. H. Sayce. To these the student is referred for more thorough discussion of the subject.

2. In teaching, draw on the blackboard a sketch map (no matter how roughly) of the outlines of the coast, as given above, and then write on each place the name of the people occupying it. Take, first, the great divisions of Noah's family; then, the subdivisions; then, the minor tribes. Review the locations as each family is finished. Write on the board only the first syllable of each name, as an aid to memory, as Ar for Arphaxad, Cu for Cush, etc. If the names of each of the three great races are written in chalk of a different color, it will make the distinctions more readily understood.

3. If practicable, by means of a duplicating process, print a sufficient number of copies of the sketch map to supply the class or audience, and let each person, with pencil, place on the map the names of the tribes as they are located. This will greatly add to the interest of the lesson.

REVIEW CHART—THE TABLE OF NATIONS.