As you may recall from a world history class, in the 1700s, the "Age of Enlightenment" began. "Enlightenment thinkers argued that reason could free humankind from superstition and religious authoritarianism that had brought suffering and death to millions in religious wars. Enlightenment thinkers reduced religion to those essentials which could only be "rationally" defended, i.e., certain basic moral principles and a few universally held beliefs about God. Aside from these universal principles and beliefs, religions in their particularity were largely banished from the public square." (https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Age_of_Enlightenment.html)
What the Enlightenment brought about still affects our modern world today. The growth of secular humanism, political and economic liberalism, and the belief in progress and development of science were produced. This is the framework that the American Revolutionary war and the French Revolution would eventually be based on.
There were two schools of thinking. The rationalists believed that all knowledge can be gained by the power of reason alone and took mathematics as their model. The empiricists believed that all knowledge has to come through the senses from experience and took physical sciences as their model.
Now there's nothing wrong with math or science, but when you make them into a religion common sense falls by the wayside. Math and science are great for inventions and designing technology, but they don't address spirituality. They are totally based on the senses. Science is also constantly being revised to accommodate new evidence.
For example, there is abundant evidence for Noah's worldwide flood. This comes as no surprise, as being underwater for almost a year would affect all the planet. Yet God deniers ignore all the geological features all over the world that are stark evidence of the flood just to cling to their evolution over billions of years model.
So, beginning a few centuries back, much aspersion has been cast on the book of Genesis, particularly chapters 1-11. The great flood would've had a devastating effect on the entire planet. Everything would've been destroyed. Vegetation would've been gone, soils would've been redistributed, and great seismic events would have happened underwater. Great volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other Earth changing events would have occurred at this time and also well after the waters receded.
As the land began to reemerge and the water started draining off the earth, plant life would begin to re-landscape the earth. The earth's crust would still have been in motion creating the continents and islands we know so well today. Pretty soon the animals coming off the ark would begin to multiply and scatter across the face of the planet.
Mount Krakatoa is a famous volcano. One of it's historic eruptions is rumored to have happened in 532 A.D. That date is supposed to be the worst year in history. The ash from the volcano so clouded the atmosphere of the entire planet that there was no summer and it was all winter all year. In fact, not only were there famines all over the world because of that, but the world actually languished for an entire decade. The reason that the bubonic plague was so devastating when it happened was that the populations were still weak from these famines.
If this is the effect of one big volcano eruption, you can imagine how scary the New World could have been as Noah and his family were getting off the ark? Certainly they would have enjoyed God's protection. Could there have been an Ice Age? There was vegetation where Noah was, obviously. Noah's family and the animals would still need to eat.
Also, the geography of planet Earth would've been different in those early years after the flood there was a lot more geologic activity. At the peak of the ice age a lot of the water would've been frozen so there might have been a single landmass connecting England and Ireland to mainland Europe for instance. You might also have been able to walk across land from Asia to North America across what is now the Bering Strait; Ocean levels were calculated to have dropped as much as 350 feet. Even evolutionists agree with that. So there would been less ocean, more ice, and there would've been land bridges in various places. Maybe that's how America was originally settled. Japan would've been connected to the mainland and possibly Australia too.
Noah knew how to build a ship, so if his progeny lived on the sea coast, traveling by water would not have been a problem. God's command to fill the earth and multiply could have been seen as a daunting task and it probably occurred gradually. We don't know anything of the time between Noah leaving the ark and the Tower of Babel. What separates Noah's flood narrative from the Tower of Babel is chapter 10 in Genesis which gives us the genealogy of Noah's sons and their descendants.
Another reason that the people would have hesitated to scatter is that Noah knew everything. He knew how to farm, he knew how to fish, he knew how to build, he knew about all the animals. If you wanted to know something you could ask Noah. Noah and his kids were the Google of their day and time. And Noah probably asked God if he didn't know. Noah lived 300 years after the flood. His sons lived a good 100 years longer. They could have been thought to be immortal because they outlived many of their progeny. Ancestor worship is still a thing in many parts of the world. We can see that what was once a procrastination to scatter abroad became reluctance and eventually disobedience to God.
As I stated in the last article, Nimrod rose up, a tyrannical leader. He led the people to the Valley of Shinar. There, he began to build the city of Babel about 100 -130 years after the flood. It is interesting to note that the city of Babel is located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Are they the original Tigris and Euphrates rivers? Probably not. They don't fit the description given in Genesis. Obviously this is not the actual location of the Garden of Eden either since that was likely destroyed in the great flood, too. But Babel's location was most likely symbolic because it is there that they built the tower "unto the heavens".
The descendants of Noah disobeyed God and said "let us not be scattered". They defied God so he confused their language and they were scattered of upon the face of the earth. Eight people survived the flood: Noah and his sons and their wives.
Genesis 10 gives us the lineage of Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their descendants. Certain people groups came out of these people.
Japheth is considered to be the father of the European nations, some of the north Asian nations, and a little bit of the Middle East. Shem is credited to father descendents in India, the Middle East, and the far Eastern nations. Ham is considered to be the father of descendents in China, Africa, southeastern Asia, and that vicinity. Lets see what we can learn from Genesis 10.
(REV)Genesis 10:1-5 1Now this is the history of the descendants of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. 2The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their clans, in their nations.
From the name Shem, we get the word Semite. (You might have heard somebody called an antisemitic.) Ham is a name often given for the Egyptians. His descendants settled in Africa and Canaan. Japheth lived "in the tents of Shem" but his name means "expansion."
The name Gomer means "to end" but he ends up in Turkey. Magog means "the land of Gog" and history places Russian ancestry with him. Madai is translated "Mede" in other places. You remember the references to the Medes and the Persians in scripture. Javan is the Hebrew word for Greece. For Tubal, there is a footnote about Cappadocia. Ezekiel speaks of the hordes of Tubal, but there's more than one Tubal. Meshek is mentioned in a commentary. In Assyrian times his family group dwelt in west (or northwest) Armenia.
Askenaz reminds us of Askenazi Jews from the despora. They "moved from Germany and France into Northern Europe and Eastern Europe." Askenazi in the concordance merely says"a northern people." We find out that Togamar settled southwest Armenia. Elishah settled in Italy and Sicily. Tarshish was the apostle Paul's home.
So Japheth's line is pretty scattered. Ham's line is predominantly in Africa and the middle east.
Genesis 10:6 - 8, 13-20 6sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8Cush fathered Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. 13Mizraim fathered the Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), and Caphtorim. 15Canaan fathered Sidon (his firstborn), Heth, 16the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, 17the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, 18the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites were spread abroad. 19The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar to Gaza; as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, to Lasha. 20These are the sons of Ham, according to their clans, according to their languages, in their lands, in their nations.
Cush has ties with the Australian aborigines through Seba and Southeast Asia, but his name is associated with upper Egypt. Mizraim is the Hebrew word for Egypt. Put means Libya. Havilah means land of sand. There's a pretty big desert in Africa. Sabtah fathered the Sabeans. We see them mentioned raiding Job's herds. We are told the Philistines descended from Casluhim. We remember the Queen of Sheba being awed by Solomon. The sons mentioned in verse 13 Josephus chronicles that they were overthrown in the early Ethopic wars. All the tribes of Canaan should be familiar to you as you have read the record of Israel's conquest of the promised land.
I will let you to work the Shem line, the Christ line, for yourself. It's fun. There are many gems in this genealogy.
To put a perspective on all this, when the famine of Joseph happened there is only about 17 million people on earth. There were only 3 cradles of civilization active at that time: India, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. They were fairly close to each other and could get relief from the 7 years of famine by going to Egypt. I know this is different from what we were taught in school, but Nathaniel Jeanson of Answers in Genesis demonstrates how to interpret archaeological dates from the mainstream scientists who use a millions of years model. It took time to populate the world, but it really starts to expand after this time.
John Osgood in his book Over The Face Of All The Earth, (2015), states that ancient history and geography that confirm biblical history in our culture are passed over in favor of "a fake, brand-new, make-believe mythological story imposed on millions." Our culture has ignored most historical accounts from all over the world to promote an evolution theology. Why? It contradicts what they believe. The word of God is true and it has all the answers you need. I hope you enjoyed this.