Seder Olam: C15- After the Flood
- Albert Benhamou
- Mar 6
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 20
BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY
Generation 15: Hebrew years 1680 to 1800 (2080-1960 BCE)
Introduction
After the Flood, the sons of Noah and their descendants populated the earth again.
The sons of Noah
Cham took responsibility for the curse upon his son Canaan.
In their history, Cham's descendants will be subjected to slavery as stated:
A slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers. (Genesis 9:25)
Yafeth was the ancestor of the European people and Western civilization. They will be the ones who would contribute the most to the progress of humanities (secular knowledge, arts, etc.). Their drive and faith, Christianity for most of them, will take roots from the Jewish traditions. In other words:
He [Yafeth] will dwell in the tents of Sem. (Genesis 9:27)
Overall, Yafeth descendants will represent a smaller portion of the global population of the world, as they count today for about one billion people (Europe and North America). The sentence He will dwell in the tents of Sem also refers to Gog and Magog. In Israel, the old city of Jaffa (pronounced Yaffo) is said to have been founded by Yafeth after the Flood (both words, Yafeth and Yaffo, have the same word root). Yafeth's descendants would have built boats and ventured to the expanse of the sea to establish maritime outposts (as Jaffa), populate the Greek islands, and beyond. Their divine blessing has been to receive secular intelligence.
Sem gave birth to the people who populated Asia and to the Native Americans because it is known that those migrated from Asia into America. Also, the DNA of all Native Americans is the same as the DNA of the Asiatic peoples.
The sons of Yafeth
- Gomer: a people associated as the Cimmerians, known as Gimirri from the Assyrian annals; they lived as nomads between the southern part of the Black Sea and Iran, and probably gave root to some of the Indo-European people
- Magog: known as Mat Gugu by the Assyrians; the 1st century Jewish historian Josephus considered they were the people who lived north from the Black Sea; they may have given root later to the Hungarian people and to some of the Central European people; essentially Magog gave birth to the Goths people who will invade Europe and destroy the Western Roman Empire; in later generations, they represent the Western civilization who will be involved in the difficult times preceding the venue of the Messiah with the war between Gog and Magog.
- Madai: this name is associated with the people who lived in Media (the Medes); Madai was allowed to dwell among Sem descendants because he had married a daughter of Sem (by being the sister of Arpachshad)
And Yapheth and his sons went towards the sea and dwelt in the land of their portion, and Madai saw the land of the sea and it did not please him, and he begged a (portion) from Cham and Asshur and Arpachshad, his wife's brother, and he dwelt in the land of Media, near to his wife's brother until this day. And he called his dwelling-place, and the dwelling-place of his sons, Media, after the name of their father Madai. (Book of Jubilees 10:35-36)
- Yavan: he was the ancestor of the Greek people, and those who lived in the Greek islands and in the shores of the Aegean Sea (incl. cities on the side of Asia Minor); the early civilizations of the Greek world were the Minoans (Crete Island) and later the Mycenaeans (Mycenae, inland Greece). It is after the Flood that mankind started to master the seas, probably by fear of any future divine punishment and anticipation to eventually emulate the Ark which floated on the seas for many months.
- Tubal: he could be the ancestor of some of the Mediterranean people, or related to the region of Bithynia in Asia Minor
- Meshech: ancestor of the Georgians and Russians
- Tiras: ancestor of the Etruscan people or of the Thracian people
Gog and Magog
Meshech and Tubal, sons of Yafeth, are associated with what is known as "Gog and Magog". Gog is a name given as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal (Ezekiel 38:2). And Gog is also described as one who will lead a coalition against Israel coming from the North:
And you shall come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many people with you, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army. (Ezekiel 38:15)
What was the sin of Gog and Magog? Meshech and Tubal, together with Yavan, enslaved other people:
Yavan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for your merchandise. (Ezekiel 27:13)
The full understanding of Gog and Magog will become clear in the Messianic times.
The sons of Cham
- Cush: ancestor of people around the African horn as well as Kish in Mesopotamia- Mitzrayim: ancestor of the people who re-populated the Nile Valley after the Flood; the previous dynasties of Egypt formed what was called the Old Kingdom; but although this kingdom was prosperous and mighty, and during which the great pyramids were built, it came to an end before 2000 BCE, like all other early kingdoms, caused by climate changes or by the biblical Flood; then came what was called the First Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt, which is described by historians as the "dark period"; this period probably corresponded to the return of people into the Nile Valley after the Flood, and it took about 100 years before Egypt would witness another period of prosperity with the so-called Middle Kingdom; Egypt at this time was named km.t in hieroglyphic language which is translated as “black land”. Archaeologists believe they named it as such because of the nature of the Nile flood sediments that turn the land into a cultivable region and the soil into dark (black?) fertile color. However, there may be another explanation. The "km" in the name km.t is identical to Hebrew חָם, pronounced Cham. The word "km" could also have been pronounced cham, as vowels were not counted in these early languages. So kam.t would have simply meant the land of Cham, as Cham was the son of Noah who settled south from his brothers, went down to the African continent, and gave giving birth to the Egyptian and the African people.
- Puth: he is associated with the Land of Punt which is an unknown place, assumed to have been south from Ancient Egypt, in Nubia
- Canaan: the son of Cham who caused the curse on his father and his descendants; he established himself in the land of the future Israel, but his descendants also populated the entire Levant region, at the crossing routes between Africa, Asia and Europe; the Talmud states the following about Canaan, who diverted from the Noachite laws:
Five things did Canaan charge his sons: Love one another, love robbery, love lewdness, hate your masters and do not speak the truth. (Talmud, Pesachim, 113b)
The sons of Sem
Concerning Sem, the Biblical text states:
He was the ancestor of the people of Heber. (Genesis 10:21)
Heber was the ancestor of the Hebrew people. But his Hebrew name, written עֵבֶר, also means "to cross over" (לעבור) or "the past" (עבר). So, the text can also be read as saying Heber was the ancestor of those who crossed over the rivers of Mesopotamia, as we will see later in the texts regarding Abraham, the first patriarch.
The sons of Sem were:
- Elam: he was the ancestor of the Elamites, in northern Iran
- Ashur: he settled in the northern part of Mesopotamia and was the ancestor of the Assyrians
- Arpachshad (also written Arphaxad): he settled in the southern part of Mesopotamia, and has been the founder of the city of Ur, and was the ancestor of the Hebrews; for more information, click here
- Lud: he was the ancestor of the Anatolian people
- Aram: he was the ancestor of the Arameans; his name is confirmed by archaeology as it is mentioned as Arame in the inscriptions of Naram-Sin of Akkad dated 2300 BCE
In the following map are indicated the early settlements of the sons and grandsons of Noah, despite some possible mistakes: Yafeth is in red, Cham in blue, and Sem in green.
To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.
Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Adar 5785 - March 2025