Editing Generations of Noah (section)

==Table of Nations==
On the family pedigrees contained in the biblical [[pericope]] of Noah, [[Saadia Gaon]] (882‒942) wrote: 
<blockquote>The Scriptures have traced the patronymic lineage of the seventy nations to the three sons of Noah, as also the lineage of Abraham and Ishmael, and of Jacob and Esau. The blessed Creator knew that men would find solace at knowing these family pedigrees, since our soul demands of us to know them, so that [all of] mankind will be held in fondness by us, as a tree that has been planted by God in the earth, whose branches have spread out and dispersed eastward and westward, northward and southward, in the habitable part of the earth. It also has the dual function of allowing us to see the multitude as a single individual, and the single individual as a multitude. Along with this, man ought to contemplate also on the names of the countries and of the cities [wherein they settled]."{{sfn|Saadia Gaon|1984b|p=180}}</blockquote>

[[Moses Maimonides]], echoing the same sentiments, wrote that the genealogy of the nations contained in the Law has the unique function of establishing a principle of faith, how that, although from Adam to Moses there was no more than a span of two-thousand five hundred years, and the human race was already spread over all parts of the earth in different families and with different languages, they were still people having a common ancestor and place of beginning.{{sfn|Ben Maimon|1956|p=381 (part 3, ch. 50)}}

Other Bible commentators observe that the Table of Nations is unique compared to other genealogies since it depicts a "broad network of cousins", with a "shallow chain of brotherly relationships". Meanwhile, the other genealogies focus on "narrow chains of father-son relationships".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Genesis chapter 10 ESV Commentary |url=https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/10/Genesis-chapter-10.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119223720/https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/10/Genesis-chapter-10.html |archive-date=January 19, 2024 |website=BibleRef.com}}</ref>

===Book of Genesis===
[[File:Noah (Grigoriants' coll.).jpg|thumb|Noah dividing the world between his sons. Anonymous painter; [[Russian Empire]], 18th century.]]

Chapters 1–11 of the [[Book of Genesis]] are structured around five ''[[toledot]]'' statements ("these are the generations of..."), of which the "generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth" is the fourth. Events before the [[Genesis flood narrative]], the central toledot, correspond to those after: the post-Flood world is a new creation corresponding to the [[Genesis creation narrative]], and Noah had three sons who populated the world. The correspondences extend forward as well: there are 70 names in the Table, corresponding to the 70 Israelites who go down into Egypt at the end of Genesis and to the 70 elders of Israel who go up the mountain at Sinai to meet with God in Exodus. The symbolic force of these numbers is underscored by the way the names are frequently arranged in groups of seven, suggesting that the Table is a symbolic means of implying universal moral obligation.{{sfn|Blenkinsopp|2011|pp=4 and 155–156}} The number 70 also parallels Canaanite mythology, where 70 represents the number of gods in the divine clan who are each assigned a subject people, and where the supreme god [[El (deity)|El]] and his consort, [[Asherah]], has the title "Mother/Father of 70 gods", which, due to the coming of monotheism, had to be changed, but its symbolism lived on in the new religion.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

The overall structure of the Table is:
*1. Introductory formula, v.1
*2. Japheth, vv.2–5
*3. Ham, vv.6–20
*4. Shem, vv.21–31
*5. Concluding formula, v.32.{{sfn|Towner|2001|p=102}}

The overall principle governing the assignment of various peoples within the Table is difficult to discern: it purports to describe all humankind, but in reality restricts itself to the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian lands]] of the south, [[Mesopotamia]], [[Asia Minor]], and the [[Ionian Greeks]], and in addition, the "sons of Noah" are not organized by geography, [[language family]] or [[ethnic groups]] within these regions.{{sfn|Gmirkin|2006|p=140–141}} The Table contains several difficulties: for example, the names Sheba and Havilah are listed twice, first as descendants of Cush the son of Ham (verse 7), and then as sons of Joktan, the great-grandsons of Shem, and while the Cushites are North African in verses 6–7 they are unrelated Mesopotamians in verses 10–14.{{sfn|Towner|2001|p=101–102}}

The date of composition of Genesis 1–11 cannot be fixed with any precision, although it seems likely that an early brief nucleus was later expanded with extra data.{{sfn|Blenkinsopp|2011|p=156–157}} Portions of the Table itself 'may' derive from the 10th century BCE, while others reflect the 7th century BCE and [[Priestly source|priestly]] revisions in the 5th century BCE.{{sfn|Rogers|2000|p=1271}} Its combination of world review, myth and genealogy corresponds to the work of the Greek historian [[Hecataeus of Miletus]], active {{circa|520&nbsp;BCE}}.{{sfn|Brodie|2001|p=186}}

===Book of Chronicles===
I Chronicles 1 includes a version of the Table of Nations from Genesis, but edited to make clearer that the intention is to establish the background for Israel. This is done by condensing various branches to focus on the story of Abraham and his offspring. Most notably, it omits Genesis 10:9–14, in which Nimrod, a son of Cush, is linked to various cities in Mesopotamia, thus removing from Cush any Mesopotamian connection. In addition, Nimrod does not appear in any of the numerous Mesopotamian King Lists.{{sfn|Sadler|2009|p=123}}

===Book of Jubilees===
[[File:Herodotus world map-en.svg|thumb|Ionian world map]]
{{expand section|date=February 2015}}

The Table of Nations is expanded upon in detail in chapters 8–9 of the [[Book of Jubilees]], sometimes known as the "Lesser Genesis," a work from the early [[Second Temple period]].{{sfn|Scott|2005|p=4}} Jubilees is considered [[Pseudepigrapha|pseudepigraphical]] by most Christian and Jewish denominations but thought to have been held in regard by many of the [[Church Fathers]].{{sfn|Ruiten|2000|p=1}} Its division of the descendants throughout the world are thought to have been heavily influenced by the "Ionian world map" described in ''the [[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' of [[Herodotus]],{{sfn|Machiela|2009|pp=87–89}} and the anomalous treatment of Canaan and Madai are thought to have been "propaganda for the territorial expansion of the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean state]]".{{sfn|Alexander|1988|p=102–103}}

===Septuagint version===
The Hebrew bible was translated into Greek in Alexandria at the request of [[Ptolemy II]], who reigned over Egypt 285–246 BCE.{{sfn|Pietersma|Wright|2005|p=xiii}} Its version of the Table of Nations is substantially the same as that in the Hebrew text, but with the following differences:
* It lists Elisa as an extra son of Japheth, giving him eight instead of seven, while continuing to list him also as a son of Javan, as in the Masoretic text. 
* Whereas the Hebrew text lists Shelah as the son of Arpachshad in the line of Shem, the Septuagint has a [[Cainan]] as the son of Arpachshad and father of Shelah – the Book of Jubilees gives considerable scope to this figure. Cainan appears again at the end of the list of the sons of Shem.
* Obal, Joktan's eighth son in the Masoretic text, does not appear.{{sfn|Scott|2005|p=25}}

=== 1 Peter ===
In the [[First Epistle of Peter]], 3:20, the author says that eight righteous persons were saved from the Great Flood, referring to the four named males, and their [[wives aboard Noah's Ark]] not enumerated elsewhere in the Bible.