Brother Rushmore, I am looking for some information concerning the son’s of Noah (Shem, Ham & Japheth) as being the “Father” of the Asian, African, and Caucasian races. Also, the Tower of Babel and the different languages may have been discussed. I’m not sure where I read this article or how valid it may be. My question is: did this article come from your website . . . Thanks for continuing the fine articles on your Website. I look forward to reading them each month. It is good thing that you do. Sincerely & Yours in the Faith, Ted Janney
At this time, two articles in the Gospel Gazette Online archives pertain to race as it affects matrimony. They are:
https://www.gospelgazette.com/gazette/2000/may/page13.shtml
https://www.gospelgazette.com/gazette/2000/aug/page20.htm#interracial
The first of the two mentions the Tower of Babel and notes that though the biblical text says nothing about race there, that would have been an opportune time for God to assign variations of skin pigments to accompany the confusion of speech. Both would have served the same purpose and complemented each other. One, though, cannot pose an argument based on what the Scriptures do not say. The second article referenced above supposes that the races and differences in skin pigments occurred slowly and naturally through intermarriage and the corresponding differences evidenced and combined in offspring. Therefore, the stark contrasts apparent today between some races (including skin color) may have been less remarkable, for instance, in Moses’ day. At least, today one can easily discern the results of intermarriage between people within races and between races that materially affect the way offspring appear (facial features, makeup of the hair, physique, skin color, etc.). Therefore, it is quite possible that the development of the various races is solely attributable to the gene pool available amongst those in the various regions of the planet respectively who intermarried prior to contemporary mobility.
According to the Book of Genesis, following the universal flood of Noah’s day, his sons and their wives repopulated the earth.
After the Flood the earth was re-peopled by the descendants of Noah, “the sons of Japheth” (Gen. 10:2), “the sons of Ham” (6), and “the sons of Shem” (22). It is important to notice that modern ethnological science, reasoning from a careful analysis of facts, has arrived at the conclusion that there is a three-fold division of the human family, corresponding in a remarkable way with the great ethnological chapter of the book of Genesis (10). [Easton, M. G., M. A. D. D., Easton’s Bible Dictionary, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1996.]
From biblical references and extra-biblical information, it appears that Japheth’s descendants populated Europe and Asia. “He was the progenitor of many tribes inhabiting the east of Europe and the north of Asia (Gen. 10:25).” [Ibid.] Ham’s descendants inhabited Africa, Arabia and the Fertile Crescent (including Palestine, Assyria and Babylon). Shem’s descendants populated the Fertile Crescent and Asia Minor (including Mesopotamia and Syria) surrounded by Ham’s Descendants on the south, east and west and Japheth’s descendants on the north. Ham’s descendants initially spread more quickly and further than the other two sons’ posterity did, followed by Japheth’s descendants.
