Geographist

Ham Key Scripture: Genesis 10:6-20 Figures: Cush, Egypt, Put, Canaan, and Nimrod The second son of Noah that we will study this week is Ham, and Jewish tradition maintains that he was the middle child of the three.  Compared to his brother, Japheth, Ham is the subject of much more written detail in Scripture.  His descendants were numerous and significant to the Biblical narrative because they occupied much of the territory that becomes the setting of the story of Israel.  Genesis 10 lists four of Ham's sons, each of which became recognized with areas south and southwest of Mount Ararat where the ark came to rest after the Flood.  They settled at various locations along the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, occupying portions of the Middle East and crossing over into the continent of Africa. As for the man himself, Ham was singled out for dishonoring his father in Genesis 9 when he came across Noah drunk and naked in his tent soon after the family had left the ark....

Japheth Key Scripture: Genesis 10:2-5 Figures: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras The Bible tells us that all nations descended from the family of Noah, who was of the line of Adam and Eve's third son, Seth.  Whether the wives of Noah and his three sons came from other lineages can't be determined from what Scripture has to say, but after the Flood recorded in Genesis it is clear that each of the three families expanded away from Mount Ararat in generally three directions.  This week we will look at Japheth, who is the last listed of the three sons.  From the names of his seven sons, we can determine that most of the people groups to the north and northwest of the Fertile Crescent came from his family, representing much of western Asia and Europe.  Genesis 10 also informs us that they populated the coasts and islands, so we can safely include the original inhabitants from several locations across the Mediterranean among his descendants. What do we ...

Israel Key Scripture: Genesis 12:1-3 Figures: Abram and the patriarchs, Moses, David and Solomon, Jesus Any conversation about the peoples and nations of the Bible must begin with an understanding of Israel.  Called to leave his family and home, Abram became the founder of a new nation despite having no heir until very late in life.  Given the name Abraham, he was succeeded by Isaac, Jacob, and twelve great grandsons who became the namesakes of the tribes of Israel.  After living for four generations as nomadic herdsmen, his descendants settled and thrived in Egypt under the protection of Pharaoh, ca. 2000 BC.  Unfortunately they were eventually enslaved by a future ruler, but left that nation under the leadership of Moses after 430 years and headed back towards the land where their forefathers had lived.  This time, however, the children of Israel (as Abram's grandson had become known late in his life) battled for control of their Promised Land, driving out the...

We've come to the end of our study of the amazing individuals who made America's independence from British possible, and I hope many of you enjoyed it.  Whether you were introduced to a new person along the way or just found out an interesting fact about someone you've known since your first elementary school history class, my goal was to shed some light on a courageous collection of patriots who sacrificed a great deal on our behalf.  There's a mural in the town where my wife works that honors those who serve in America's armed forces with a message that I believe can be applied to the 56 incredible names we find on the Declaration of Independence: "We may not know them all, but we owe them all." And now it's time to embark on something new.  As I've said before, this blog covers various topics that interest me and most of the time there's very little in the way of advanced planning.  Hopefully the subject matter at any given moment catches th...