Alice C. Linsley
Genesis 10, sometimes called the “Table of Nations”, does not provide a scientific account of how the earth was populated, but rather a picture of how the descendents of Noah were one people with a sophisticated network of familial units governed by great chiefs. These peoples spoke proto-Semitic languages, but today all the peoples mentioned in chapter 10 would be classified in the Afro-Asiatic language family, one of 17 distinct language groups identified by linguists.
Noah’s descendents have three groups: descendents of Shem, descendents of Ham and descendents of Japheth. The number three is significant because it represents a tribal unity or a caste. We are told that all the peoples of Genesis 10 were one and spoke “the same language, with the same vocabulary.” (Gen.11:1) Most of the languages are in the Afro-Asiatic group.
Within the groups are smaller tribal affiliations, suggested by familial phonemes, similar to the way families are identified today among speakers of Chadic, Amharic and Hahm/Jaba. We are given our first clue about 3 brother alliances in Genesis 4 where we read about Jubal, Jabal and Tubal. “Bal’ is the phoneme that tells us these 3 brothers form a unit. Similarly, we find a familial unit consisting of the Kenites, Kenizzites and Kadmonites (Gen. 15:19).
In an earlier essay on Og, Gog and Magog (posted April 27, 2007) we noted that only Magog is listed in Genesis 10, but Magog’s familial allies are mentioned in Numbers 21, where we are told of King Og, and in Ezekiel 38 where we are told of Gog, King of Magog. Again we have evidence that the heads of the familial units are high-ranking individuals. Genesis provides more detail about some of these chiefs than others.
Here are other familial units that do not follow the pattern of a common phoneme:
Cain, Abel, Seth (Gen. 4-5)
Ham, Japeth, Shem (Gen. 5-9)
Haran, Nahor, Abraham (Gen. 11-12)
Ishmael, Jokshan, Isaac (Gen. 16, 21, and 25)
Jeush, Jalam, Korah (Gen. 36: 4-18)
In Genesis 10 we find other names of peoples that suggest familial units. Consider these:
Sabtah and Sabteca
Arkites and Arvadites
Lehab and Lesha
Knowing that the number 3 signifies a unit, we wonder why there are only two families. When this occurs, the reader should seek the hidden third. This is part of the mystical structure of Genesis. The book itself is organized according to 3 part units. Consider the following:
First Unit:
2 creation stories
Explanatory material concerning sin and the effects of sin
Descendents of Nok, father-in-law of Cain and Seth
Second Unit:
2 flood stories
Explanation concerning the Afro-Asiatic peoples and their languages
Descendents of Shem, Ham and Japheth
So we must look for a third familial phoneme to help us identify units. So to Lehab and Lesha we add Letushim (Gen. 25:3). But wait! There is a fourth: Leummim (Gen. 25:3). Rather than one unit of 4, it appears that there are two units of 2: Lehab-Lesha and Letushim-Leummim. Here we discover another element of the mystical structure of Genesis: a back and forth interplay between the numbers 2 and 3. As we have already seen, there are two creation stories within a unit of 3 and two flood stories within a unit of 3.
What is the significance of this interplay between the numbers 2 and 3? It represents the character of the languages in the Afro-Asiatic Group. Let us turn now to a brief description of that language group.
The Afro-Asiatic Group (sometimes called “Hamito-Semitic”) includes Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, Amharic, Babylonia, Chadic, Ethiopic, Hahm/Jaba, Hausa, Hebrew, Phoenician, Sumerian and Ugartic. The diversity of this group is amazing! Chadic alone has 600 dialects spoken in Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon.
Afro-Asiatic languages have grammars based on two and three consonant clusters. The Arabic and Hebrew triconsonantal root for Hanock is HNK, but in the Chadic languages a biconsonantal root is more common, thus Hanock would be Nok or NK.
My hypothesis is that Abraham’s ancestor Noah came out of the region of Africa that prefers two consonants. Bornu (Land of Noah), near Lake Chad, is the only place on earth that claims to be Noah’s homeland. Knowing that Hebrew prefers three consonants, we are able to reconstruct the earlier form of the names. Enoch is then Nok and Kayin is then Kano.
Since the men remembered are all chiefs, we find that the places where they ruled often carry their names. That being so, we are able to place Noah’s ancestors, Nok and Kano, in modern day Nigeria. Nok is the oldest site of metal working in Africa and Kano, directly north of Nok, is a major commercial center.
Genesis 10, sometimes called the “Table of Nations”, does not provide a scientific account of how the earth was populated, but rather a picture of how the descendents of Noah were one people with a sophisticated network of familial units governed by great chiefs. These peoples spoke proto-Semitic languages, but today all the peoples mentioned in chapter 10 would be classified in the Afro-Asiatic language family, one of 17 distinct language groups identified by linguists.
Noah’s descendents have three groups: descendents of Shem, descendents of Ham and descendents of Japheth. The number three is significant because it represents a tribal unity or a caste. We are told that all the peoples of Genesis 10 were one and spoke “the same language, with the same vocabulary.” (Gen.11:1) Most of the languages are in the Afro-Asiatic group.
Within the groups are smaller tribal affiliations, suggested by familial phonemes, similar to the way families are identified today among speakers of Chadic, Amharic and Hahm/Jaba. We are given our first clue about 3 brother alliances in Genesis 4 where we read about Jubal, Jabal and Tubal. “Bal’ is the phoneme that tells us these 3 brothers form a unit. Similarly, we find a familial unit consisting of the Kenites, Kenizzites and Kadmonites (Gen. 15:19).
In an earlier essay on Og, Gog and Magog (posted April 27, 2007) we noted that only Magog is listed in Genesis 10, but Magog’s familial allies are mentioned in Numbers 21, where we are told of King Og, and in Ezekiel 38 where we are told of Gog, King of Magog. Again we have evidence that the heads of the familial units are high-ranking individuals. Genesis provides more detail about some of these chiefs than others.
Here are other familial units that do not follow the pattern of a common phoneme:
Cain, Abel, Seth (Gen. 4-5)
Ham, Japeth, Shem (Gen. 5-9)
Haran, Nahor, Abraham (Gen. 11-12)
Ishmael, Jokshan, Isaac (Gen. 16, 21, and 25)
Jeush, Jalam, Korah (Gen. 36: 4-18)
In Genesis 10 we find other names of peoples that suggest familial units. Consider these:
Sabtah and Sabteca
Arkites and Arvadites
Lehab and Lesha
Knowing that the number 3 signifies a unit, we wonder why there are only two families. When this occurs, the reader should seek the hidden third. This is part of the mystical structure of Genesis. The book itself is organized according to 3 part units. Consider the following:
First Unit:
2 creation stories
Explanatory material concerning sin and the effects of sin
Descendents of Nok, father-in-law of Cain and Seth
Second Unit:
2 flood stories
Explanation concerning the Afro-Asiatic peoples and their languages
Descendents of Shem, Ham and Japheth
So we must look for a third familial phoneme to help us identify units. So to Lehab and Lesha we add Letushim (Gen. 25:3). But wait! There is a fourth: Leummim (Gen. 25:3). Rather than one unit of 4, it appears that there are two units of 2: Lehab-Lesha and Letushim-Leummim. Here we discover another element of the mystical structure of Genesis: a back and forth interplay between the numbers 2 and 3. As we have already seen, there are two creation stories within a unit of 3 and two flood stories within a unit of 3.
What is the significance of this interplay between the numbers 2 and 3? It represents the character of the languages in the Afro-Asiatic Group. Let us turn now to a brief description of that language group.
The Afro-Asiatic Group (sometimes called “Hamito-Semitic”) includes Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, Amharic, Babylonia, Chadic, Ethiopic, Hahm/Jaba, Hausa, Hebrew, Phoenician, Sumerian and Ugartic. The diversity of this group is amazing! Chadic alone has 600 dialects spoken in Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon.
Afro-Asiatic languages have grammars based on two and three consonant clusters. The Arabic and Hebrew triconsonantal root for Hanock is HNK, but in the Chadic languages a biconsonantal root is more common, thus Hanock would be Nok or NK.
My hypothesis is that Abraham’s ancestor Noah came out of the region of Africa that prefers two consonants. Bornu (Land of Noah), near Lake Chad, is the only place on earth that claims to be Noah’s homeland. Knowing that Hebrew prefers three consonants, we are able to reconstruct the earlier form of the names. Enoch is then Nok and Kayin is then Kano.
Since the men remembered are all chiefs, we find that the places where they ruled often carry their names. That being so, we are able to place Noah’s ancestors, Nok and Kano, in modern day Nigeria. Nok is the oldest site of metal working in Africa and Kano, directly north of Nok, is a major commercial center.
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3 comments:
It is possible that the Hebrew Hanock (Enoch in English Bibles) can be rendered ha-nock, signifying "the" chief. The name carried down through many generations. Reuben's first born son was named Hanock.
If all the people's listed in Genesis 10 are linguistically Afro-Asiatic, then how does that square with the sons of Japheth, who are traditionally seen as Indo-European speakers?
That is an excellent question. When we consider biblical information about the 3 sons of Noah, the son about whom we have the most information is actually Ham. This is interesting because Shem is the one who is blessed and Ham's descendents are cursed. This suggests that at the time the data was compiled, the Canaanites were regarded as enemies. That would suggest a date earlier than the Davidic monarchy (1000 B.C.) since David had Canaanite blood through Rahab.
The son about whom we have the least data is Japheth. The biblical text doesn't provide adequate information about Japheth's descendents to definitively say that they are the proto-Indo-Europeans. In fact, most of the sons have semitic names. For example, Tubal (Gen. 10:2) is a family name coming from Tubal-Cain. So the text itself doesn't lend credence to this idea that Indo-Europeans came from Japheth.
We must recognize also that within the Afro-Asiaitic group are non-semitic languages: Sumerian and Ugaritic, although scholars are now recognizing some affinity between these and the semitic languages.
Again, thanks for the great question, and please visit again.
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