BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY
Generation 16: Hebrew years 1800 to 1920 (1960-1840 BCE)
Introduction
After the Flood, the sons of Noah populated the earth again.
The descendants from Noah
The Biblical text mentions the following descendants of Noah from the sons of Gomer, Yavan and Cush on Yafeth's side, from Mitzrahim and Canaan on Cham's side, and Aram and Arpachshad for Sem's side (Genesis 10).
- Gomer, son of Yafeth, had the following sons who initially populated the Caucasus region before some of them moved north into Central and Eastern Europe:
Ashkenaz (אַשְׁכְּנַז): the ancestor of some people of Central Europe, the Scythians, who then gave root to the Slavic people; his name, decomposed as Esh-Ke-Naz (אש-כ-נז), would mean “Fire like Naz”, whatever Naz may have meant; or it could have meant Esh-Kanaz where KeNaH (כִּנָּה) is an old form for “named”: in such case, Ashkenaz may have meant “fire-named”; maybe he was red-haired at birth
Rifath (רִיפַת): he may be the ancestor to the Eurasian people in Asia Minor; in Hebrew, his name contains the name of his grandfather Yafeth (יפת)
Togarmah (תֹגַרְמָה): the ancestor of Caucasian people such as the Georgians; his name is using the Hebrew root TGR (תגר) which means challenge, provoke
- Yavan (יָוָן), son of Yafeth, had the following sons who populated the Greek region and the Mediterranean islands in general:
Elishah (אֱלִישָׁה): the ancestor of some of the Greek and Cyprus people; in the times of Ancient Egypt, Cyprus was called Alashiya; the name Elishah may have also been the origin of the word Hellas which designates Greece
Tarshish: according to Josephus, he was the ancestor of some people in Asia Minor, about the Taurus mountains; Tarshish will later be the name of a harbor in Antiquity, assumed to have been located in Asia Minor, but other theories assume it was located in the very remote part of the known world, so probably as far as the Spanish coast; it is mentioned as Tartassus in Herodotus' map of the ancient world
Kittim (כִּתִּים): he is assumed to be the ancestor of the people from Cyprus because the ancient name of Larnaca was Kition
Dodanim (דֹדָנִים): probably the ancestor of people from Rhodes because their name has later been mentioned as Rodanim (רוֹדָנִים) in the Bible (I Chronicles 1:7)
- Cush (כּוּשׁ), son of Cham, had the following sons who mostly populated the regions South from Egypt and in Eastern Africa, before spreading to the rest of the African continent, with the notable exception of Nimrod as explained below:
Seba (סְבָא): his name means grand-father; he is believed to be the ancestor of people from Yemen and Ethiopia
Havilah (חֲוִילָה): associated with the people who populated the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula
Savtah (סַבְתָּה): his name means grand-mother; he is associated with the people of Yemen
Raamah (רַעְמָה): also associated with the Yemen and the southern part of Arabian regions; the Bible also mentions his two sons: Sheba (שְׁבָא) and Dedan (דְדָן)
Savteca (סַבְתְּכָא): he established himself in Eritrea
Nimrod (נִמְרֹד) was the first mighty man who ruled over a vast region in Mesopotamia called Shinaar in the Bible, although he was originally from the land of his father, Cush; his main city was Babel, the future Babylon; his name Nimrod means “rebel” to point that he rebelled against the divine authority
- Mitzrayim (מִצְרַיִם), son of Cham, established himself in the Nile valley where, before the Flood, two different settlements had been established: Lower Egypt in the north and Upper Egypt in the south; the name Mitzrayim may have been adopted based on the fact that, when he came to the region, he united both the northern and southern parts under one rule; his name may have been Mizri son of Cham before becoming Mitzrayim, which means a dual Mizr-ayim (the suffix -ayim means two in Hebrew, probably to refer to the two parts of Egypt that he unified); the sons of Mitzrayim were:
Ludim (לוּדִים): he was the ancestor of a people who left the Nile valley, crossed the sea and established themselves in Asia Minor, in a region called Lydia
Anamim (עֲנָמִים): he was the ancestor of people who established in Lybia; they were referenced in Assyrian records as Anami
Lehavim (לְהָבִים): possibly the ancestor of the Lubim, who populated Lybia
Naftukhim (נַפְתֻּחִים): possibly the ancestor who established himself in Memphis who was called Na-Ptah
Patrussim (פַּתְרֻסִים): they went to southern Egypt and established himself in Thebes region; his name means Pa-To-Ris, meaning southerner in Ancient Egypt
Caslukhim (כַּסְלֻחִים): they established himself in southern Egypt, in a region called Kalushet, some distance north from Assouan, and also was the ancestor of the Philistines (Genesis 10:14) who were a people from the lineage of Cham who moved north from Egypt to the south of Canaan, at some point in the time
Caftorim (כַּפְתֹּרִים): they first settled in the island of Crete, and then conquered the coastal cities in the Levant and mixed with the Philistine people in the south; the Caftorim were part of were called the historical "Sea People"
- Canaan (כְּנַעַן), son of Cham, established himself in the Levant and had the following sons:
Sidon (צִידֹן): he gave birth to the city-state and gave root to the Phoenician people; the name Phoenician was given by Greek historians; but they considered themselves as Canaanites
Heth (חֵת): ancestor of the Hittites, a people who established themselves in Anatolia and Canaan mountains, and who became a regional power during Biblical times
Jebusite (יְבוּסִי): a people who lived in the hill on the southern side of the present-day city of Jerusalem (in the archaeological site called the City of David)
Amorite (אֱמֹרִי): a people who established themselves in what became Judea, hence the Judean Lowlands and the Mounts of Judea
Girgashite (גִּרְגָּשִׁי): a people known by the Egyptians as the Kirkash; they left Canaan by the sea just at the time of the conquest by Joshua and re-located in present-day Libya
Hivite (חִוִּי): they lived in the mountainous region of Canaan and of the Levant
Arkite (עַרְקִי): they established the city-state of Arka in northern Phoenicia, which will be mentioned in one of the Amarna letters dated 1350 BCE (for more details, click on the Wikipedia page)
Sinite (סִּינִי): they were desert dwellers, and gave the name to the desert of Sinai (סִינַי)
Arvadite (אַרְוָדִי): they founded the city-state of Arwad in northern Phoenicia (now in coastal Syria)
Zemarite (צְּמָרִי): they founded the city-state of Zemar in Phoenicia, mentioned as Zumur in the Amarna letters
Hamathite (חֲמָתִי): they founded the city-state of Hamath in the north of Phoenicia (in Syria today)
The people of Ancient Mesopotamia
The Biblical text also mentions Noah’s descendants from his son Sem (שֵׁם) who gave root to all the peoples who returned to Mesopotamia and established there after the Flood:
And unto Sem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of elder Yafeth, children were born also to him. The sons of Sem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram. And the sons of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. And Arpachshad begot Shelah; and Shelah begot Eber. (Genesis 10:21-24)
The descendance of Sem was:
- Elam (עֵילָם): a people who established themselves between Lower Mesopotamia and present-day Iran (Persia)
- Assur (אַשּׁוּר): a people known as the Assyrians, in northern Mesopotamia
- Arpachshad (אַרְפַּכְשַׁד): founder of the city of Ur in Lower Mesopotamia, and ancestor of the Hebrews by his son Shelah’ (שָׁלַח) whose name means “send” in Hebrew
- Lud (לוּד): he was called Luddu in Assyrian language, that is known as Lydia: they were some people established in Asia Minor
- Aram (אֲרָם): ancestor of the Aramaeans, in present-day Northern Syria and part of Southern Turkey; his sons were:
Utz (עוּץ): who may have been the founder of the city-state Damascus
H’ul (חוּל): ancestor of Armenian people
Gether (גֶתֶר): ancestor of people living east from Iran
Mash (מַשׁ): also called Meshech (מֶשֶׁךְ) (I Chronicles 1:17); there have been several hypotheses about his descendants, one of them may have been located near the Black Sea; there is also a Meshech son of Yafeth, whereas the present Meshech is a grandson of Sem; it may be that the latter was a son of Meshech son of Yafeth and took his name after being "pulled" (written משך in Hebrew) from Yafeth and adopted by Aram son of Sem with a change of name to Mash.
The human lifetime started to reduce after the Flood, as God had wished it. Presumably it translated into DNA mutations for humankind that exposed them to elements, diseases or else, so their expected life started to shorten. It is at this time that many physical mutations also occurred such as the red-haired people in the lineage of Yafeth. These mutations gave root to multiple genetic changes in the human population which affected physical traits: skin color, form of eye, texture of hair, and so on, and gave root to multiple DNA types.
The origin of the Hebrews
Sem was 98 years old at the time of the Flood and he begot Arpachshad when he was 100 years old:
Sem was a hundred years old, and begot Arpachshad two years after the flood. (Genesis 11:10)
So Sem was born in 1558, as the Flood occurred in Hebrew year 1656, and Arpachshad was born in 1658. Sem died in 2158, at the age of 600 years old (Genesis 11:11).
Arpachshad founded the dynasty of Ur. The name of this city may be derived from the prefix of his name Ar-Ur, as founder of such dynasty which was named after him. He is probably the historical king Ur-Nammu, who the historical figure who founded the Ur dynasty in the times after the Flood from around 2100 BCE. In the depictions of these times, the kings and officials are all represented with long beards, which shows that these people still lived long years compared to their successors.
Ur is also known as Ur-Kasdim which means “Ur of the Chaldeans”. There is a similarity in written Hebrew between the names of Arpachshad (אַרְפַּכְשַׁד) and Ur-Kasdim (אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים) that doesn't transpire in English translations, because the following letters are in the same sequence: א ר כ ש ד if we remove the plural of Kasdim (Chaldeans) and some later deviation of the name Ur which was not in the original name; the name Chaldea is directly taken from the name Arpachshad.
Arpachshad was 35 years old when he begot Shelah’, in the Hebrew year 1693. He then lived 403 years and died in 2096 (Genesis 11:12-13).
Shelah’ was 30 years old when he begot Eber, in the Hebrew year 1723. He then lived 403 years and died in year 2126 (Genesis 11:14-15).
Eber was 34 years when he begot Peleg, in the Hebrew year 1757. He then lived 430 years and died in year 2187 (Genesis 11:16-17). At the time of his death, Sem had already died, in Hebrew year 2158, 29 years earlier. But this overlap of life durations enabled Sem, the righteous son of Noah, to instruct Eber in the knowledge of God. The name Eber (עבר) means to cross over in Hebrew. He is the direct ancestor of the Hebrews (עברים) whose name derived from Eber.
And to Eber were two sons. The name of the one was Peleg (פֶּלֶג), because in his days the earth was divided (נִפְלְגָה), and the name of his brother was Yoktan. (Genesis 10:25)
Presumably, Eber’s first son, Peleg, was a name that was given to him when the division "Piloug" in Hebrew (פילוג), and dispersion, happened on earth. This will be the division of the human population by different languages after the construction of the Tower of Babel in Hebrew year 1997 (see next page, C17).
Eber also represented the 14th human generation since the Creation: 1-Adam > 2-Seth > 3-Enosh > 4-Kenan > 5-Mahalalel > 6-Jared > 7-Hanoch > 8- Methuselah > 9- Lemech > 10- Noach > 11- Sem > 12- Arpachshad > 13- Shelah > 14- Eber.
Already at the 7th human generation since Adam, with Hanoch who walked in the path of God (to read document C09, click here), we witnessed God's attempt to awaken His essence in humanity. Eber represented His 2nd attempt (14 is twice 7), and from him will be issued the people, the Hebrews, that God has wished to choose to carry His message.
The second son of Eber was Yoktan (יָקְטָן), whose name means small (קטן), who had the following 13 sons:
Almodad: it is assumed that he was ancestor to some of the Arabian tribes
Shelef
Chatsarmaveth (חֲצַרְמָוֶת): his name means the “courtyard of death” (חֲצַר מָוֶת); it is assumed that he was ancestor to some Yemenite tribe
Yerah’
Hadoram (הֲדוֹרָם): his name means the south (הדרום)
Uzal: he settled in what will become Sana, Yemen
Diklah (דִּקְלָה): his name means palm-tree (דקל), thus denoting a life in desert
O’val
Avimael
Sheva (שְׁבָא): he is the ancestor of the Queen of Sheba (מלכת שבא), who lived during the reign of King Solomon
Ophir: he is the ancestor of sea people somewhere in Africa, who extracted and traded their gold in ancient times
‘Havilah (חֲוִילָה): the land where he dwelt had gold (Genesis 2:11); it is believed that this place is in the Hijaz mountains in Western Arabia
Yovav
Peleg was 30 years when he begot Reu’, in Hebrew year 1787. He then lived 209 years and died in year 1996 (Genesis 11:18-19). Peleg was the first person to have lived a short life compared to his ancestors (Noah, Shem, Arpachshad. Shelah’ and Eber) who were all still alive at the time of his death. It was them who probably renamed him (or nicknamed) Peleg because he died at the time of the so-called “division” (Piloug):
The name of the one was Peleg, because in his days the earth was dispersed. (Genesis 10:25)
Reu’ was 32 years when he begot Sherug, in Hebrew year 1819. He then lived 207 years and died in year 2026 (Genesis 11:20-21).
Sherug was 30 years when he begot Nachor, in Hebrew year 1849. He then lived 200 years and died in year 2049 (Genesis 11:22-23).
Nachor was 29 years when he begot Terach, in Hebrew year 1878. It is assumed that Nachor lived in the city of Ur and started to worship idols. He then lived 119 years and died in year 1997 (Genesis 11:24-25). Nachor lived a very short life of 148 years.
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Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Adar 5785 - March 2025