Genesis 10-11 - Part B

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Magog was the forefather of the ancient Russians, Slavs, Bulgarians, Bohemians, and Poles. Oh, also the Croatians. That's Magog. According to Josephus, Magog was the father of the Scythian race that became the stock of Russia.

These are in his writings. And then there's the Chinese who have in their country the Great Wall of China. I've been there. It is unbelievable.

I've seen pictures of it, but to stand on it was amazing. The ancient Chinese used to call the Great Wall of China the Wall of Magog because it kept them safe from their long-time historic enemy, the Russians, or the Magogites. Now, I'm bringing some of this up just in case you've been the victim of people saying, you know, these Christians and their prophecy tagging, you know, they like to take these nations and they say this speaks of Russia and that people grew up. And they just make these things up.

No, we don't. You can find some of the ancient writings of Herodotus, 5th century B.C., Josephus, who was a Jewish historian a couple thousand years ago, etc., who bring to bear the mention of these names and their assigned locations and the people who settled in that region. So we have sons of Japheth, Gomer, and Magog. The next one is Madai, and the Madai is the father of the Medes who settled in Persia. The Medes and the Persian Empire will come out of Madai. We'll find that later on when we're in the Book of Daniel. From this individual and his family came the stock that filled up the country of India, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Kurdish people.

Now, let me just throw something in the mix. For years, Iraq and Iran have been mortal enemies. They're neighbors, but they hate each other. And you might think, well, that's because it's divided between those two lines of Islam. Oh, no, it goes back much further than Islam. It goes back to this time because, you see, Iraq was settled by Shemites. Iran was settled by Japhethites. And the Iranians are not sons of Shem. They're not an Arabic people at all.

They have certain culture and custom that might look similar to a Western mind or a Western eye, but Iranians speak an entire different language base known as Farsi. They are Persian. They're from a whole different lineage. And the animosity goes back all the way back from these two settled brothers, Shem and Japheth, who settled in different areas, and they happen to settle next to each other, and the animosity goes that far back, just to throw that in the mix. Next is Javan or Yavan. These are the Greeks and the Macedonians.

And what some believe were the Romans and eventually the Italians came from Javan. Tubal and Meshech. Keep those names in your mind also for Ezekiel 38 and 39.

They'll pop up again. It's believed that this also is the area north and northeast of the Black Sea, which became the area of Russia. In fact, ethnologists and anthropologists will trace these two names, Meshech and Tubal, to two Russian cities, Moscow and Tobolsk.

Tobolsk on the Tobol River and Moscow on the Muskva River. They came from these two sons named Tubal and Meshech. And then we have Tyrus. And according again to Josephus, Tyrus was a father of the Thracian and Etratian races that settled the far coast of the Aegean Sea of Asia Minor. So we have a pretty good handle on two verses.

Verse three. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Rephath, and Togarmah. Within Judaism, well let me back up.

I'm speaking a little bit out of line and some of you know where I'm going with this. Ashkenaz, or the Ashkenazi people, were those that settled north of Israel at first, but then they made their migration westward to Eastern Europe and especially Germany. So that you have a line of Jews known as Ashkenazi Jews who will trace their lineage back all the way to the area of Poland, Eastern Europe, or Germany.

Now within Judaism, that's the thought I started to get into a little too quick. Within Judaism, there has been a little bit of historic tension between Ashkenazi Jews, Jews that settled in Germany, and another group called Sephardic Jews that come from Portugal and Spain and some of the other coasts of the Mediterranean. If you go to Israel, you'll notice that you have a wonderful blending of many ethnic peoples who are Jewish from all over the world. And you can spot readily an Ashkenazi Eastern European Jew by their dress, their customs, their manners, their language. And the Sephardic Jew, they're different in the way they look, they're different in their mannerisms, and there had been for years a tension between these two groups, basically because of looks and culture.

Now again, these are sons of Shem who migrated to the European area or the area of Japheth. But there was this tension between these two groups of Jewish people. The tension between these two groups really ceased when in the 1940s, a Japhethite decided that he hated all Shemites and he was anti-Shem-etic. Literally, that's where anti-Semitic comes from. And he was the quintessential anti-Semite, this Japhethite by the name of Adolf Hitler. And his persecution of all who were Jewish and his extermination of six million forced a migration of Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardic Jews back over to Israel, to the Middle East, where they dwell together and because of that, and since then, a lot of those differences have greatly diminished.

They're happy to be alive, happy to be back in the land, and happy to be celebrating Judaism together. The sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz, Rifath, and I'm not going to cover every name here for obvious reasons, will be in this chapter for 12 months, so we've got to go on. Tagarma. Tagarma is ancient Turkey, parts of Asia Minor.

Armenia and that part of Turkey is Tagarma. Keep that also in mind for Ezekiel 38 and 39. The sons of Javan or Javan were Elisha, Tarshish.

Does that ring a bell? What Old Testament prophet decided to flee from the presence of the Lord and was really down in the mouth because of it? Jonah. God told him to go to Nineveh and he decided to go 2,000 miles west off the coast of Israel to Tarshish, which we believe is ancient Spain, even perhaps the Gibraltar area, or England, and we're not quite sure which. We just know it's in that area.

It's the distant coastlands and it is one of those areas. Kitim and Dodanim. From these, the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations. So that is, we're done now with the sons of Japheth and where they originally settled. Now we have the lineage of the middle son of Noah, Ham. The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, or Foot, it is sometimes put in the Bible, no pun intended, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush were Seba, on and on. We're dealing now with a group of people that settled east, west, and southwest Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Africa. The African peoples can trace their lineage back to Ham. For notice verse 6, Cush, that's ancient Ethiopia.

It's the ancient name for Ethiopia. It's all over the Bible as that. Now in two places, one in Jeremiah and one in Isaiah.

Jeremiah 13, 23, and Isaiah 45, 14. It talks about the Cushite as being distinctive in skin color and very tall. So NBA material. That's where the scouting of the NBA would take place in ancient times in that area.

You don't have to write that down. Next, Mizraim is the ancient name for Egypt. Put or Foot, that's ancient Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi now reigns. And then Canaan, now that is very important to us because Canaan becomes the area where tribes settle. Canaanite tribes like Hivites and Hittites and Girgashites and Jebusites.

Maybe a few termites and a couple electrolytes, but a lot of those people settled in Canaan. Now go back to chapter 9 for a moment where we left off last week. And notice in verse 25, the prophecy, Blessed be Canaan, a servant of servants he will be to his brethren. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, understanding Genesis is critical to understanding the rest of Scripture. And in his book, You Can Understand the Book of Genesis, Skip Heitzig helps you discover the meaning and message of this foundational book. Embark on an epic journey to where it all began so you can understand the amazing story of God's love and our redemption in Christ. You Can Understand the Book of Genesis is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copies when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. I have to bring something up that is a tragedy, but it is historic and so it must be told. During the height of the slave trade, a shameful era all over the world and especially in this country. During the height of the slave trade in the 1800s, texts like this were quoted to justify the capturing and selling of slaves because it was a misinterpretation of the text because Ham is the father of the African peoples and a curse is placed here upon Canaan. They extended this curse to all of the children of Ham and they used this as a biblical mandate for slavery.

The Mormon Church adopted that view and until very recently held that the black man was cursed by God. All of this is a misreading and an abuse of the Bible because the curse isn't upon Ham but upon whom? Canaan, one of the offspring of Ham that settled in ancient Israel, Palestine, the Canaanite peoples. This basically became the theological mandate for the children of Israel to leave Egypt, cross the Jordan River and take over the area of the Canaanites. Take it as their land. It was a land that God gave to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his descendants. And so according to God, the land of Israel belongs to that lineage, the Jewish people. It's the Canaanite.

Now the children of Israel were told to exterminate the Gergashite, the Hivite, the Hittite, the Jebusite, all the Canaanite peoples because they became such a vile group of people known especially for child sacrifice and sexual perversion that God said enough is enough. By the way, God gave them 400 years to repent. That's pretty long.

That's a pretty patient deal. Look, if you don't turn, I'm going to come after you guys. Four hundred years. Now keep that in mind because when we get to chapter 15, you're going to read a little phrase where God promises the land of the Canaanite to the offspring of Abraham and here's the text. It's in chapter 15. For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. I'm waiting, God said, for that bucket of sin, so to speak, to get so filled up the Amorite iniquity, the Canaanite tribe iniquity. Amorite was the chief tribe.

So when that bucket gets full, I'm going to judge. Four hundred years later, the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River and took over that land and settled in that land. That was God's patience with the Canaanite, but that goes back to the curse that was pronounced in chapter 9. The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama.

Boy, I'm going to have a tough time on some of these. Sabtecha, the sons of Raama were Sheba and Dedan, which is Saudi Arabia. And you see the name Havilah? That means sand land. Sand land. It's ancient Rio Rancho.

No, I'm just kidding. I had to throw that in. Havilah is where gold was found, but it became a part of Saudi Arabia. Now, you see the name Sheba and Dedan? That's also part of Saudi Arabia. And we're told in Ezekiel that when the people from the northern countries come down at the last days to attack the Middle East, especially Israel, that those in Saudi Arabia, Sheba and Dedan, will protest. And rightly so.

It's like we've got all the oil fields and the Russians are coming down against the Middle East and we're down at the bottom of the Middle East, and so they will protest this invasion. But just keep that in your mind until we get to Ezekiel 38 and 39 and maybe we'll make a reference back to it. Cush begot Nimrod, and he began to be a mighty hunter on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Or, as more modern translations accurately put it, against the Lord. It literally means in the presence of the Lord.

And it could either mean I'm doing this before God as an act of worship, but it probably and more accurately means, in context, against the Lord or in defiance of the Lord. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, therefore it is said, like Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. Now, who is Nimrod? Nimrod, it is believed by some ethnologists and secular scholars to be Sargon I, that is, Sargon Agade, who was the first king of Babylon. And they think that because ancient rulers had more than one name, sometimes two, three, four names. And so it is thought that Nimrod, the Hebrew name, was actually the first ruler of Babylon called Sargon I, and he began to be a mighty one on the earth.

That is, act mightily, do mighty deeds and mighty acts. But Nimrod means rebel in Hebrew. He was a rebel. He was the quintessential rebel.

He was the prototypical rebel. In fact, I see Nimrod as a prototype of the Antichrist rebel who will come in the last days. It's very interesting that in the last days, the Antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 2, will do mighty works on the earth. He will also be in charge of a kingdom known metaphorically as Babylon. Revelation 17 and 18. Nimrod is the first king, perhaps Sargon, of Babylon, a mighty hunter against the Lord, hunting the souls of men, as some people think.

And notice verse 10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, which is Babylon. You'll see the Tower of Babel in chapter 11 someday when we get there.

Erek, Akkad, Kalne, and the land of Shinar. Babel means gateway to God. Babel. That's the name in Babylonian. Gateway to God. But the name in Hebrew means confusion. So, if you're a Babylonian, this is the gateway to God. If you're a follower of God and you know better, no, it's just confusing. I love those two names together because one illustrates the view of man. The other illustrates the view of God. This is how we see our city and ourselves. And the other is how God sees the city and sees them.

It's all confusing, and God will confuse them in chapter 11 with a language change-up. So, Babel, Erek, Akkad, Kalne, and the land of Shinar. That's the Mesopotamian river valley. And from that land, he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Ir, and Kala.

Okay, here's what you should know about Nimrod. He was the first ruler of Babel, or Babylon, and he also was the ruler of Nineveh, the city that he built in Assyria. He was the head of both of those.

Now, why is this important? Because who are the two peoples that will exile the Jews from their land? Assyria and Babylon. And Nimrod becomes the ancient arch enemy of the soon-to-come Jewish people. So, in 722 BC, the Assyrians will come in and take the ten northern tribes away to Assyria. In 605 and 586 BC, the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar will come in and take the two southern tribes and take them into Babylon, and all of the tribes together will be assumed under Babylon.

Both started by Nimrod. If I had the time, and I was thinking of doing it, but I'm always ambitious when it comes to my time and how much I can actually give out in this length of time, I'd love to tell you the story, and perhaps I will as we go on in Genesis, about the wife of Nimrod, whom we know from historical records, was Semiramis. And she had a child named Tammuz, who is mentioned in the Bible, Ezekiel chapter 8. In fact, some Hebrew Jewish women go mourning after Tammuz because of a pagan story. It was believed, and I'm just touching, don't worry, I'm not going to get into it and explain too much, but Tammuz was said to be the child of Semiramis by a virgin birth. And his birth is celebrated on December 25th, and was celebrated by the use of an evergreen tree, the giving of gifts, and it was also said that he rose from the dead. Now all of this is a satanic plot, and I will unravel it more as we go on.

I just don't have the time to digress. But he was believed to have a miraculous resurrection, that's why they placed the yule log, the yule log, which means the infant log in Chaldean or Babylonian language, and they would burn it, and then in the morning miraculously a tree, which represents resurrected life, would be there. And it was celebrated in the springtime of the year too, under the feast of Oshtart, a Babylonian named Oshtart, which got changed later on to Easter. And because the egg was the symbol of fertility, and the bunny rabbit the symbol of fertility, all of those ancient symbols find their place in ancient Babylon with the worship of the boy Tammuz, the son of Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod. I'll go more into depth later on and unravel it for you, perhaps in the Christmas season, especially as people get all hung up about Christmas trees and should you have them or should you not.

So I'll do that later, we just don't have the time tonight. Isn't that fun how I bait you like that? And resin, verse 12, between Nineveh and Cala, that is the principal city, Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lebabim, Nephewtim, Imimim. Verse 14, notice, sorry, Patrusim, Kasluhim, that's the Hebrew pronunciation, the im, and I told you I wouldn't do that, I find myself doing it. From whom came the Philistines and Kaphtorim. Canaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth. The Jebusite, Amorite, Gergashite, all those were tribes of Canaan, eventually, by that name. The Chivite, Arkite, and the Sinai. The Arvadite, Zemarite, Hamathite, don't forget to turn out the light. Afterward, the families of the Canaanites were dispersed and the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza, so I hope that helps. As you go down towards Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, that's down in the lower desert parts of that land as far as LaShaw.

These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, and in their nations. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will take you back to where it all began, so you can understand all of God's Word more clearly. Pastor Skip's book, You Can Understand the Book of Genesis, is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copies when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888, that's 800-922-1888, or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.