Monday, April 29, 2013

WORLD HISTORY BIBLE CRONOLOY PART VIII THE DISPERSAL OF MANKIND



Good afternoon to all of my fine friends out there!

Another beautiful week has gone by! Did everyone see that gorgeous full moon! Our God is so amazing! And it doesn’t matter if you are in the northern hemisphere or the southern, or if you are in China or Canada, we all can view this closest of celestial objects no matter the phase it is in!

Which brings us to our question of the week…can we connect the people groups of today with the dispersal at the tower of Babel? Very interestingly, the answer is yes! As a matter of fact, you might be surprised at how many names are still present from those ancient of times. Let us take a look…

The three sons of Noah who came with him from the former world on the ark, in order of birth, were Japheth, Shem and Ham. From these three came many descendents but we will follow just a few. I encourage you to see if you can find your lineage in these maps:

Japheth had a son, Gomer and a grandson (from Gomer), Riphath.  Their descendants inhabited much of France, Wales and beyond. The ancient name for France is Gaul or Galla which is a slight variation of Gomer. Even Portugal is translated as Port of Gaul. More diversity of Gomer can is reflected in Galatia, Galicia and Celts (originally Gelts). Gomeraega/Gymraeg and its variant Cymraeg, is what the Old Welsh language is known as.  The map below gives a vivid picture of where Gomer’s descendants dispersed to:

 
Japheth had another son, Tubal (who is mention 8 times in the bible). Many of Tubal’s descendants inhabited the far north in the region surrounding Tobolsk. Even today in this area many places and towns have names that reflect their ancestry from Tubal (whose Greek name is Iberia [Siberia]). There is even a river still called the Tobol river in Russia!


We will only follow one more line of Japheth; Tiras. Tiras was the one who originally founded Thrace (segments of today’s Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey). Numerous people of in the southeastern portions of Europe are his descendants:



Shem, Noah’s middle son, had many sons of his own but here is just the line of Lud (Laud). Not much is known of him, but his name lingers on. The people of Lydian include the Luvians and Lycians and of course the city of Laodicea.
 


And my final example if from the line of Ham, Noah’s youngest son on the ark. Ham begot Cush and Cush inhabited northern Africa. As a matter of fact the Ethiopians still today call themselves Cushites. And the Hebrew the word for Egypt (a Greek term) is actually Mizraim. A term still used today by the Jewish people.


It is not a mystery, for the most part, of how and why people groups are where they are today. It is actually a fascinating part of human history. If we would just follow and believe the Bible, we would never be misled.

Until next time, God bless and take care!
Willow Dressel

This week in the night skies: Last-quarter Moon rises close to the middle of the night and gets later from there until new moon on May 9/10th.

References:
Maps and informatin from:
Hodge, Bodie, Tower Of Babel, The Cultural History Of Our Ancestors, Master Books, March, 2013, Green Forest, AR, pp124-175.


2 comments: