SHEM
(Ancestor of all the sons of Eber)
Elam-Asshur-ARPACHSHAD-Lud-Aram
ARAM- Uz-Hul-Gether-Mash (Genesis 10: 23)
ARPACHSHAD- Shelah
SHELAH-*Eber*
EBER- PELEG-Joktan
JOKTAN- Almodad-Sheleph-Hazarmaveth-Jerah Hadoram-Uzal-Diklah-Obal-Abimael-
Sheba-Ophir-Havilah-Jobab (Genesis 10: 26-28)
PELEG- Reu
REU- Serug
SERUG- Nahor
NAHOR- Terah
TERAH- Abram-Nahor-Haran (died in Haran)
HARAN- Lot, Milcah-Iscah
LOT- Moabites, Ammonites
ABRAM- Ishmael (Sarai’s Egyptian slave Hagar- Genesis 16: 1-4).
ABRAM- Isaac (Sarai)
ISHMAEL- Nebaioth-Kedar-Adbeel-Mibsam-Mishma-Dumah-Massa-Hadad-Tema-Jetur-
Naphish-Kedemah (Genesis 25: 12-16)
ABRAHAM- Zimran-Jokshan-Meda-Midian-Ishbak-Shuah (Abraham’s second wife,
Keturah-Genesis 25: 1-6).
JOKSHAN- SHEBA-Dedan (Genesis 25: 3)
DEDAN- Assyrians-Letushites-Leummites
MIDIAN- Ephah-Epher-Hanoch-Abida-Eldaah
ISAAC- Jacob-Esau
ESAU- Eliphaz-Reuel-Jeush-Jalam-Korah
NOTE: Esau married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite. No listing of their offspring is recorded in Genesis. 1 Chronicles mentions Esau’s sons but not who their mothers were (1 Chronicles 1: 35). Esau is called the father of the Edomites (Genesis 36: 43b).
ELIPHAZ- Teman and Omar-Zephi and Gatam, Kenaz and Amalek (son of “Timna”)
NOTE: Timna was a female tribal leader of the Edomites (1 Chronicles 1: 52). She is also identified as Lotan’s sister and from the Horites who were the people living in Edom at that time (Genesis 36: 20-21). Interestingly, the tribal leaders in Edom are listed differently (Cp. Genesis 36: 20 and 1 Chronicles 1: 51b-54).
REUEL- Nahath-Zerah-Shammah-Mizzah
NAHOR- Uz-Buz-Kemuel (father of Aram)- Kesed- Hazo-Pildash-Jidlaph-Bethuel
NAHOR- Tebah-Gaham-Tahash-Maacah (through concubine Reumah-Genesis 22: 24)
BETHUEL- Laban-Rebekah (Genesis 24: 29; 29: 5)
HARAN- Lot-Milcah-Iscah (Genesis 11: 27-29)
ABRAHAM- Zimran-Jokshan-Medan-MIDIAN-Ishbak-Shuah (sons from Abraham’s second wife Keturah-Genesis 25: 1-4).
NOTE: According to 1 Chronicles 1: 32, Keturah was Abraham’s concubine. However, in Genesis 25: 1-6, she was his wife but Abraham had concubines, and unnamed sons from them, whom he gave gifts to all and sent them away from his son Isaac.
Genesis 10: 30
The region where they lived extended from Mesha toward Sephar in the eastern mountains.
NOTE: Mesha is taken from “Mash” youngest son of Aram, original ancestor of the Syrian tribal group, possibly from Mount Masius (Tur Abdin) in Northern Mesopotamia or the Mashu mountains of the Gilgamesh epic; also possibly the Lebanon or Anti-Lebanon Mountains. Mesha or ‘Masha’ is thought to be located between the Gulf of Aqaba and the Persian Gulf. Sephar is most likely in Saudi Arabia, perhaps the coastal town of Tsaphar in Oman or Itsphar, south of Hadramaut. This territory is associated with the Joktanites. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 2003, Holman Bible Publishers.
Genesis 25: 20
Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Padan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.
Genesis 28: 1-2, 10
Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, “You are not to marry any of the Canaanite women. Quick! Go to Padan Aram. Go to the home of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and get yourself a wife from there from the daughters of your uncle Laban.” Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran.
Genesis 29: 1, 4
Jacob continued on his trip and came to the land of the east. Jacob asked some people, “My friends, where are you from?” “We’re from Haran,” they replied.
Deuteronomy 26: 5a
You will make this formal statement in the presence of the LORD your God: “My ancestors were wandering Arameans.”
NOTE: Padan Aram has the possible meaning of “Place, way or plow of Syria” and one of the principal cities of this region or territory was Haran. Although originally, Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans, an ancient city in lower Mesopotamia. The site of this place has been located in present-day Iraq, in the lower eastern portion of the Fertile Crescent (350km/220 miles east of Baghdad). Haran was Abraham’s hometown where he lived until God told him to leave there at age 75 (Genesis 11: 31-32; 12: 4). Chaldea was situated in central and southeastern Mesopotamia, the land between the lower stretches of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Today, Chaldea is located in the country of Iraq, very close to its border with Iran, touching upon the head of the Persian Gulf. In OT times different peoples occupied southeastern Mesopotamia at various times, an one such group was the Chaldeans. The term “Chaldeans” is derived from the root ‘Kaldai’ which refers to several Aramean tribes who moved into the region between 1000 and 900 BC. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 2003, Holman Bible Publishers
COMMENTARY: The history of Abraham and other Semitic tribes is a lot more complicated than it might appear at a first glance. Considering all the tensions and religious as well as political unrest in the Middle East, it is strange that most, if not all the countries bordering Israel on either side are distant cousins through the descendants of Shem; and most importantly, through the patriarch Abraham. Abram marries his half-sister Sarai (Genesis11: 29-30; 21: 1-2) and his brother Nahor marries his and Abram’s brother Haran’s daughter, Milcah (Genesis11: 29). When Terah (Abram’s father) leaves Haran he takes his grandson Lot, Abram and Sarai, but none of the other family, such as, Nahor and his wife Milcah, or Haran’sother daughter, Iscah. In the entire genealogy from Shem onward, after the main patriarchal father begets certain ancestors it says that he beget “other sons and daughters” but when it arrives to Terah, the trend stops there. When a statement is included in parenthesis, this is additional information that the editor, narrator or redactor chose to insert that is not part of the original oral history; like: Shem (ancestor of all the sons of Eber). What was so special about Eber? If anything, Peleg (Eber’s son) should have been mentioned because Abraham’s descendants come directly through his lineage.
The Queen of Sheba who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon (1 Kings 10: 1) could be a descendant from Joktan, a son of Eber and brother of Peleg (Genesis 10: 26-28), or from Jokshan (Genesis 25: 3), a son of Abraham through his second wife [concubine??] Keturah. Aram, a son of Shem is the progenitor of the Arameans (Genesis 10: 23), but Kemuel (father of Aram), who is a son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother might also be the ancestor of the Arameans (Genesis 22: 20-21); at least this is what the editor/redactor implies. The Amalekites are descended from Amalek (son of Timna) and Elphaz, son of Esau (1 Chronicles 1: 35). Timna was also an Edomite tribal chief as well as a Horite living in Edom (1 Chronicles 1: 52; Genesis 36: 20-21). The Midianites are descendants of Abraham through Keturah, as well as the Assyrians, the genetic stock of Dedan, Abraham’s grandson through Keturah, also (Genesis 25: 1-6). One more thing about the Assyrians which is quite ironic: These same people who are related to the Israelites are the very ones who took them into captivity in resettled them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes [Iraq]. In the capitol of Samaria were relocated the people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim who settled there since that time (2 Kings 15: 29; 17: 24; 18: 9-12). This explains the animosity between Jews and Samaritans during Jesus’ earthly ministry (Matthew 10: 5; John 4: 7-9; 8: 48). Lastly, the Arabs trace their lineage through Ishmael, who was the son of Sarah’s Egyptian handmaiden Hagar, but Hagar also found a wife for her son from Egypt (Genesis 21: 8-9, 17-21). This means that the Arabs are part African or Hamitic [Black] ancestry.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
July 1, 2012
robertrandle51@yahoo.com
