The sixteen grandsons of Noah

Secular history gives much evidence to show that the survivors of Noah’s Flood were real historical figures, whose names were indelibly carved on much of the ancient world …

by Harold Hunt with Russell Grigg

Ruins in Turkey. There is evidence suggesting that this country’s name is derived from that of Noah’s descendant Togarmah (see text).

When Noah and his family stepped out of the Ark, they were the only people on Earth. It fell to Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives, to repopulate the Earth through the children that were born to them after the Flood. Of Noah’s grandchildren, 16 grandsons are named in Genesis chapter 10.

God has left us ample evidence to confirm that these 16 grandsons of Noah really lived, that the names the Bible gives were their exact names, and that after the Babel dispersion (Genesis 11) their descendants fanned out over the earth and established the various nations of the ancient world.

The first generations after the Flood lived to be very old, with some men outliving their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. This set them apart. The 16 grandsons of Noah were the heads of their family clans, which became large populations in their respective areas. Several things happened:

1. People in various areas called themselves by the name of the man who was their common ancestor.

2. They called their land, and often their major city and major river, by his name.

3. Sometimes the various nations fell off into ancestor worship. When this happened, it was natural for them to name their god after the man who was ancestor of all of them, or to claim their long-living ancestor as their god.

All of this means that the evidence has been preserved in a way that can never be lost, and all the ingenuity of man cannot erase. We will now examine it.

The seven sons of Japheth

Genesis 10:1–2 reads:

‘Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.’

The first of Noah’s grandsons mentioned is Gomer. Ezekiel locates the early descendants of Gomer, along with Togarmah (a son of Gomer), in the north quarters (Ezekiel 38:6). In modern Turkey is an area which in New Testament times was called Galatia. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus records that the people who were called Galatians or Gauls in his day (c. AD 93) were previously called Gomerites.¹

They migrated westward to what are now called France and Spain. For many centuries France was called Gaul, after the descendants of Gomer. North-west Spain is called Galicia to this day.

Great empires of the past: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia all have strong historical links to the Biblical figures connected with the sons of Noah. Most, if not all, tribes and nations can be traced to these men through their descendants. A huge carved statue of the great pharaoh Ramesses II of Egypt (left). Ruins from the ancient Nabatean city of Petra (right).

Some of the Gomerites migrated further to what is now called Wales. The Welsh historian, Davis, records a traditional Welsh belief that the descendants of Gomer ‘landed on the Isle of Britain from France, about three hundred years after the flood’.² He also records that the Welsh language is called Gomeraeg (after their ancestor Gomer).

Other members of their clan settled along the way, including in Armenia. The sons of Gomer were ‘Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah’ (Genesis 10:3). Encyclopaedia Britannica says that the Armenians traditionally claim to be descended from Togarmah and Ashkenaz.³ Ancient Armenia reached into Turkey. The name Turkey probably comes from Togarmah. Others of them migrated to Germany. Ashkenaz is the Hebrew word for Germany.

The next grandson mentioned is Magog. According to Ezekiel, Magog lived in the north parts (Ezekiel 38:15, 39:2). Josephus records that those whom he called Magogites, the Greeks called Scythians.¹ According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the ancient name for the region which now includes part of Romania and the Ukraine was Scythia.⁴

The next grandson is Madai. Along with Shem’s son Elam, Madai is the ancestor of our modern-day Iranians. Josephus says that the descendants of Madai were called Medes by the Greeks.¹ Every time the Medes are mentioned in the Old Testament, the word used is the Hebrew word Madai (maday). After the time of Cyrus, the Medes are always (with one exception) mentioned along with the Persians. They became one kingdom with one law—‘the law of the Medes and Persians’ (Daniel 6:8, 12, 15). Later they were simply called Persians. Since 1935 they have called their country Iran. The Medes also ‘settled India’.⁵

The name of the next grandson, Javan, is the Hebrew word for Greece. Greece, Grecia, or Grecians appears five times in the Old Testament, and is always the Hebrew word Javan. Daniel refers to ‘the king of Grecia’ (Daniel 8:21), literally ‘the king of Javan’. Javan’s sons were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim (Genesis 10:4), all of whom have connections with the Greek people. The Elysians (an ancient Greek people) obviously received their name from Elishah. Tarshish or Tarsus was located in the region of Cilicia (modern Turkey).

Encyclopaedia Britannica says that Kittim is the biblical name for Cyprus.⁶ The people who initially settled around the area of Troy worshipped Jupiter under the name of Jupiter Dodonaeus, possibly a reference to the fourth son of Javan, with Jupiter a derivative of Japheth. His oracle was at Dodena. The Greeks worshipped this god but called him Zeus.

Next is Tubal. Ezekiel mentions him along with Gog and Meshech (Ezekiel 39:1). Tiglath-pileser I, king of Assyria in about 1100 BC, refers to the descendants of Tubal as the Tabali. Josephus recorded their name as the Thobelites, who were later known as Iberes.¹

‘Their land, in Josephus’ day, was called by the Romans Iberia, and covered what is now (the former Soviet State of) Georgia whose capital to this day bears the name Tubal as Tbilisi. From here, having crossed the Caucasus mountains, this people migrated due north-east, giving their tribal name to the river Tobol, and hence to the famous city of Tobolsk.’⁷

Meshech, the name of the next grandson, is the ancient name for Moscow. Moscow is both the capital of Russia, and the region that surrounds the city. To this day, one section, the Meschera Lowland, still carries the name of Meshech, virtually unchanged by the ages.

According to Josephus, the descendants of grandson Tiras were called Thirasians. The Greeks changed their name to Thracians.¹ Thrace reached from Macedonia on the south to the Danube River on the north to the Black Sea on the east. It took in much of what became Yugoslavia. World Book Encyclopaedia says: ‘The people of Thrace were savage Indo-Europeans, who liked warfare and looting.’⁸ Tiras was worshipped by his descendants as Thuras, or Thor, the god of thunder.

The four sons of Ham

Next we come to the sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan (Genesis 10:6).

The descendants of Ham live mainly in south-west Asia and Africa. The Bible often refers to Africa as the land of Ham (Psalms 105:23,27; 106:22). The name of Noah’s grandson Cush is the Hebrew word for old Ethiopia (from Aswan south to Khartoum). Without exception, the word Ethiopia in the English Bible is always a translation of the Hebrew word Cush. Josephus rendered the name as Chus, and says that the Ethiopians ‘are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Chusites’.⁹

Noah’s next grandson mentioned was Mizraim. Mizraim is the Hebrew word for Egypt. The name Egypt appears hundreds of times in the Old Testament and (with one exception) is always a translation of the word Mizraim. E.g. at the burial of Jacob, the Canaanites observed the mourning of the Egyptians and so called the place Abel Mizraim (Genesis 50:11).

Phut, the name of Noah’s next grandson is the Hebrew name for Libya. It is so translated three times in the Old Testament. The ancient river Phut was in Libya. By Daniel’s day, the name had been changed to Libya (Daniel 11:43). Josephus says, ‘Phut also was the founder of Libia [sic], and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself’.⁹

Canaan, the name of Noah’s next grandson, is the Hebrew name for the general region later called by the Romans Palestine, i.e. modern Israel and Jordan. Here we should look briefly at a few of the descendants of Ham (Genesis 10:14–18). There is Philistim, obviously the ancestor of the Philistines (clearly giving rise to the name Palestine [ed. note: but see Origins of the word “Palestine”, 2011]), and Sidon, the founder of the ancient city that bears his name, and Heth, the patriarch of the ancient Hittite empire. Also, this descendant is listed in Genesis 10:15–18 as being the ancestor of the Jebusites (Jebus was the ancient name for Jerusalem—Judges 19:10), the Amorites, the Girgasites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites, ancient peoples who lived in the land of Canaan.

The most prominent descendant of Ham was Nimrod, the founder of Babel (Babylon), as well as of Erech, Accad and Calneh in Shinar (Babylonia).

The five sons of Shem

Last we come to the sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram (Genesis 10:22).

Elam is the ancient name for Persia, which is itself the ancient name for Iran. Until the time of Cyrus the people here were called Elamites, and they were still often called that even in New Testament times. In Acts 2:9, the Jews from Persia who were present at Pentecost were called Elamites. The Persians are thus descended from both Elam, the son of Shem, and from Madai, the son of Japheth (see above). Since the 1930s they have called their country Iran.

It is interesting to note that the word ‘Aryan’, which so fascinated Adolf Hitler, is a form of the word ‘Iran’. Hitler wanted to produce a pure Aryan ‘race’ of supermen. But the very term ‘Aryan’ signifies a mixed line of Semites and Japhethites!

Asshur is the Hebrew word for Assyria. Assyria was one of the great ancient empires. Every time the words Assyria or Assyrian appear in the Old Testament, they are translated from the word Asshur. He was worshipped by his descendants.

‘Indeed, as long as Assyria lasted, that is until 612 BC, accounts of battles, diplomatic affairs and foreign bulletins were daily read out to his image; and every Assyrian king held that he wore the crown only with the express permission of Asshur’s deified ghost.’¹⁰

Arphaxad was the progenitor of the Chaldeans. This ‘is confirmed by the Hurrian (Nuzi) tablets, which render the name as Arip-hurra—the founder of Chaldea.’¹¹ His descendant, Eber, gave his name to the Hebrew people via the line of Eber-Peleg-Reu-Serug-Nahor-Terah-Abram (Genesis 11:16–26). Eber’s other son, Joktan, had 13 sons (Genesis 10:26–30), all of whom appear to have settled in Arabia.¹²

Lud was the ancestor of the Lydians. Lydia was in what is now Western Turkey. Their capital was Sardis—one of the seven churches of Asia was at Sardis (Revelation 3:1).

Aram is the Hebrew word for Syria. Whenever the word Syria appears in the Old Testament it is a translation of the word Aram. The Syrians call themselves Arameans, and their language is called Aramaic. Before the spread of the Greek Empire, Aramaic was the international language (2 Kings 18:26 ff). On the cross, when Jesus cried out, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani’ (Mark 15:34),¹³ He was speaking Aramaic, the language of the common people.

Conclusion

We have only taken the briefest glance at Noah’s sixteen grandsons,¹⁴ but enough has been said to show that they really did live, that they were who the Bible says they were, and that their descendants are identifiable on the pages of history. Not only is the Bible not a collection of myths and legends, but it stands alone as the key to the history of the earliest ages of the world.

Readers’ comments: David G., Australia, 20 April 2011 Thanks for this article. Against such information, it must be hard for those who claim that Genesis before chapter 12 is not history. One or two names lining up might be understandable, but this article shows that the lineage of all the grandsons' names is well established and locked in history that we all have access to. Such information is invaluable in showing that the Bible gives us the history of our world. M. W., United States, 21 April 2011 These articles are so needed as most Christians do not read books about Bible history much less the Bible itself. With all the atheist college professors, if our children are not grounded in the Word of God all faith in God is wiped out when they graduate. Thank you so much!

Related articles

• The original ‘unknown’ god of China
• The origin of languages: a synthesis
• Biblical chronogenealogies

References

1. Josephus: Complete Works, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan, ‘Antiquities of the Jews’, 1:6:1 (i.e. book 1, chapter 6, section 1). Return to text.
2. J. Davis, History of the Welsh Baptists from the Year Sixty-three to the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy, D.M. Hogan, Pittsburgh, 1835, republished by The Baptist, Aberdeen, Mississippi, p. 1, 1976. Return to text.
3. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2:422, 1967. Return to text.
4. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 20:116, 1967. Return to text.
5. A.C. Custance, Noah’s Three Sons, Vol.1, ‘The Doorway Papers’, Zondervan, Michigan, p. 92, 1975. Return to text.
6. Encyclopaedia Britannica 3:332, 1992. Return to text.
7. Bill Cooper, After the Flood, New Wine Press, Chichester, England, p. 203, 1995. Return to text.
8. World Book Encyclopaedia, Vol. 18, p. 207, 1968. Return to text.
9. Ref. 1, 1:6:2. Return to text
10. Ref. 7, p. 170. Return to text.
11. Ref. 7, p. 172. Return to text.
12. Ref. 5, p. 117. Return to text.
13. Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 quote the Aramaic form of Psalm 22:1, but Matthew reconverted Eloi to the Hebrew Eli. Return to text.
14. For example, we made no attempt here to trace the origins of the Chinese. For evidence on this subject see ‘The original, “unknown" God of China’, Creation 20(3):50–54, 1998. See also how ancient Chinese Characters show that the ancient Chinese knew the Gospel message found in the book of Genesis. Return to text.

(Article available in Russian)

Was the Dispersion at Babel a Real Event?

Chapter 28: Was the Dispersion at Babel a Real Event?

by Bodie Hodge

August 19, 2010

Layman

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When did the events at the Tower of Babel happen? What did the tower look like? Are there any records of Noah’s descendants found throughout the world after they left Babel? What about different languages? Are Noah and his sons found in any ancient genealogies? In this chapter, we’ll examine the fascinating answers to questions about what happened on the plain of Shinar. For background to this chapter, please read Genesis 10–11.

When Did the Event at Babel Occur?

Renowned chronologist Archbishop James Ussher¹ placed the time of Babel at 106 years after the Flood, when Peleg was born.²

To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan (Genesis 10:25).

Although this may not be the exact date, it is in range because Peleg was in the fourth generation after the Flood.

Some have suggested that this division refers to a geophysical splitting of the continents; however, this is associated with the flood of Noah’s time—not the events at Babel. The massive amounts of water and the crustal breakup indicated in Genesis 7:11 (the fountains of the great deep burst forth) were substantial enough to cause catastrophic movements of plates. Continental collision formations, such as high mountains, were already in place prior to Peleg’s day. For example, we know the mountains of Ararat had formed by the end of the Flood because the ark landed there. These mountains are caused by a collision with the Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate. So these would have already moved by the time the Flood had ended.

Continental splitting during the day of Peleg would have caused another global flood! Instead, the division mentioned here refers to the linguistic division that happened when God confused the language at Babel. Even the Jewish historian Josephus (who lived near the time of Christ) stated:

He was called Peleg, because he was born at the dispersion of the nations to their various countries. . . .³

Prominent modern theologians such as John Whitcomb reaffirm this as well.⁴ According to Archbishop Ussher, the date of Babel would have been near 2242 B.C.⁵ See table 1 for a comparison to other events according to Ussher.

Table 1. Major Dates According to Ussher

Major event	Date (According to Ussher)
Creation	4004 B.C.
Global Flood	2348 B.C.
Tower of Babel	2242 B.C.
Call of Abraham	1921 B.C.
Time of the Judges (Moses was first)	1491 B.C. (God appeared to Moses in the burning bush)
Time of the Kings (Saul was the first)	1095 B.C.
Split Kingdom	975 B.C.
Christ Was Born	5 B.C.

It was during the days of Peleg that the family groups left the plain of Shinar and traveled to different parts of the world, taking with them their own language that other families couldn’t understand. Not long after this, Babylon (2234 B.C.), Egypt (2188 B.C.), and Greece (2089 B.C.) began.⁶ Civilizations that were closer to Babel (e.g., those in the Middle East) were established prior to civilizations farther from Babel (e.g., those in Australia or the Americas).

Even more fascinating is that as people went around the world, they left evidence of this event! Let’s take a look.

Ziggurats throughout the World

The Tower of Babel has traditionally been depicted as a type of ziggurat, although the Bible doesn’t give specific dimensions. The Hebrew word for tower used in Genesis 11, referring to the Tower of Babel, is migdal: a tower; by analogy, a rostrum; figuratively, a (pyramidal) bed of flowers.

Interestingly, this word means tower but figuratively reflects a flowerbed that yields a pyramidal shape. This gives a little support to the idea that the Tower of Babel may have been pyramidal or ziggurat shaped.

In what is now Iraq, Robert Koldewey excavated a structure some think to be the foundation of the original Tower of Babel. It underlays a later ziggurat that was thought to be built by Hammurabi in the 19th century B.C.⁷

When people were scattered from the Tower of Babel in the time of Peleg, they likely took this building concept with them to places all over the world. It makes sense that many of the families that were scattered from Babel took varying ideas of the tower to their new lands and began building projects of their own.

Ziggurats, pyramids, mounds, and the like have been found in many parts of the world—from Mesopotamia to Egypt to South America. The ancient Chinese built pyramids and the Mississippian culture built mounds. Pyramids are classed slightly differently from ziggurats, as are mounds, but the similarities are striking.

Why did the people at Shinar build a tower? Some suspect that they were afraid of another flood, similar to the one that Noah and his sons had informed them about. However, Dr. John Gill casts doubt on this idea.

It is generally thought what led them to it was to secure them from another flood, they might be in fear of; but this seems not likely, since they had the covenant and oath of God, that the earth should never be destroyed by water any more; and besides, had this been the thing in view, they would not have chosen a plain to build on, a plain that lay between two of the greatest rivers, Tigris, and Euphrates, but rather one of the highest mountains and hills they could have found: nor could a building of brick be a sufficient defense against such a force of water, as the waters of the flood were; and besides, but few at most could be preserved at the top of the tower, to which, in such a case, they would have betook themselves.⁸

The Bible records that the people said among themselves:

Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:4)

It seems that the tower was to be a special place to keep people together, rather than filling the earth as God had commanded them to (Genesis 9:1). It is possible that the tower was built under the guise that it was a place for sacrifice unto God. This would have prevented people from going too far since they would have to come back to offer sacrifices at Babel.

A recurring theme in Scripture is that people seek to do things they think will honor God but end up disobeying God. One example is when Saul offered a sacrifice when he wasn’t supposed to (1 Samuel 13:8–13). It is better to obey than sacrifice. In fact, many ziggurats and pyramids around the world were used for sacrifice or other sacred religious events, such as burying people (e.g., pharaohs of Egypt). Perhaps the concept of sacred sacrifice and religious festivities with ziggurats was a carryover from Babel.

Regardless, ziggurats and pyramids all over the world are an excellent confirmation of the original recorded in God’s Word—the Tower of Babel.

Noah in Royal Genealogies of Europe

Table 2. Biblical Table of Nations

The Bible in Genesis 10 gives an outline of family groups that left Babel (see table 2).

These people moved throughout the world and populated virtually every continent. (Was Antarctica ever settled in the past? At this point I am unaware.) Historians have commented on genealogical records in the past and other ancient documents on the origins of various peoples.⁹

Table 3. Irish Genealogies
Permission for use granted by New Wine Press

These genealogies seem to connect prominent modern houses and royal lines with the Table of Nations listed in the Bible. In these genealogies, Noah is found on the top of the lists on many of these documents, some of which feature variant spellings such as Noe, Noa, and Noah.

One historian discovered a relationship between the ancient name of Sceaf (Seskef, Scef) and the biblical Japheth.¹⁰ This seems reasonable, as Japheth has traditionally been seen as the ancestor of the European nations. Most of the European genealogies researched have a variant of Sceaf with the exception of Irish genealogies, which still used the name Japheth. The Irish genealogical chart is reprinted in table 3.¹¹

Table 4. Nennius’s Table of Nations
Permission for use granted by New Wine Press

Anglo-Saxon chronologies feature six royal houses.¹² An eighth century Roman historian, Nennius, developed a table of nations of the lineages of many of the European people groups from Noah’s son Japheth: Gauls, Goths, Bavarians, Saxons, and Romans. Nennius’s table of nations is reproduced in table 4.¹³

Though it repeats the Goths in two different areas, Nennius’s chart bears strong similarities to the history that Josephus recorded,¹⁴ as well as the Bible’s Table of Nations. However, there are clearly enough differences to show that it was neither a copy from the biblical text nor from the Jewish historian Josephus.¹⁵

Chinese records also describe Nuah with three sons, Lo Han, Lo Shen, and Jahphu, according to the Miautso people of China.¹⁶ Although original documents of ancient sources sometimes no longer exist and one has to rely on quotes from other ancient books, it is interesting how in many places we find similarities to the Table of Nations given in the Bible.

Noah’s Grandsons’ Names Are Everywhere!

History abounds with names that are reused. Names of places become names of people; names of people become names of places. After the Flood, several of Noah’s descendants were named for places prior to the Flood. See table 5 for a list.

Table 5. A Few Pre-Flood and Post-Flood References

Name	Bible Reference Pre-Flood	Bible Reference Post-Flood	Person
Havilah	Genesis 2:11	Genesis 10:7, Genesis 10:29	Noah’s grandson through Ham; Noah’s great, great, great, great grandson through Shem.
Cush	Genesis 2:13	Genesis 10:6	Noah’s grandson through Ham
Asshur	Genesis 2:14	Genesis 10:22	Noah’s grandson through Shem

Names may vary throughout history. For example, Pennsylvania was named for William Penn; St. Petersburg in Russia was named for Peter the Great, who was ultimately named for Peter who penned two books of the Bible. Names can undergo many changes such as variations in spelling, differences in symbols, and alterations in pronunciation.

Despite any changes, however, the names of post-Flood regions, cities, rivers, or languages should bear similarity to the names of those leaving Babel. One would be surprised how often these names appear. Table 6 lists some of these.

Table 6. Noah’s Descendants’ Names Reflected Around the World¹⁷

Name	Descendant of Noah	What Is It?
Aramaic	Aram	Language that came out of Babel and still survives, likely with changes down the ages. Some short parts of the Bible are written in Aramaic. Jesus spoke it on the cross when He said: “ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” (Mark 15:34).
Cush	Cush	Ancient name of Ethiopia. In fact, people of Ethiopia still call themselves Cushites.
Medes	Madai	People group often associated with the Persians.
Ashkenaz	Ashkenaz	Still the Hebrew name for Germany. The French name for Germany has similarities to this too: Allemagne.
Galacia, Gaul, and Galicia	Gomer	These regions are the old names for an area in modern Turkey, France, and Northwestern Spain, respectively, where Gomer was said to have lived. His family lines continued to spread across southern Europe. The Book of Galatians by Paul was written to the church at Galatia.
Gomeraeg	Gomer	This is the old name for the Welsh language on the British Isles from their ancestor, Gomer, whose ancestors began to populate the Isle from the mainland.
Javan	Javan	This is still the Hebrew name for Greece. His sons, Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim (Chittim), and Dodanim still have reference to places in Greece. For example, Paul, the author who penned much of the New Testament, was from the region of Tarshish (Acts 21:39) and a city called Tarsus. Jeremiah mentions Kittim in Jeremiah 2:10 and is modern-day Cyprus (and other nearby ancient regions that now had varied names such as Cethim, Citius, Cethima, Cilicia). The Greeks worshiped Jupiter Dodanaeus from Japheth/Dodanim. The Elysians, were ancient Greek people.
Meshech/ Moscow	Mechech	Mechech is the old name for Moscow, Russia, and one region called the Mechech Lowland still holds the original name today.
Canaan	Canaan	The region of Palestine that God removed from the Canaanites for their sin and gave as an inheritance to the Israelites beginning with the conquest of Joshua. It is often termed the Holy Land and is where modern-day Israel resides.
Elamites	Elam	This was the old name for the Persians prior to Cyrus.
Assyria	Asshur	Asshur is still the Hebrew name for Assyria.
Hebrew	Eber	This people group and language was named for Eber. Abraham was a Hebrew, and the bulk of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew.
Taurus/ Toros	Tarshish	A mountain range in Turkey. Tanais is the old name of the Don River flowing into the Black Sea.
Mizraim	Mizraim	This is still the Hebrew name for Egypt.

We Don’t Speak the Same Language Anymore!

The Tower of Babel explains why everyone doesn’t speak the same language today.

There are over 6,900 spoken languages in the world today.¹⁸ Yet the number of languages emerging from Babel at the time of the dispersion would have been much less than this—likely less than 100 different original language families.

So where did all these languages come from? Linguists recognize that most languages have similarities to other languages. Related languages belong to what are called language families. These original language families (probably less than 100) resulted from God’s confusion of the language at Babel. Since that time, the original language families have grown and changed into the abundant number of languages today.

Noah’s great-great-grandson Eber fathered Peleg when the events at Babel took place. The modern language of Hebrew is named after Eber. Noah’s grandson Aram was the progenitor of Aramaic. The Bible lists Noah’s grandsons, great-grandsons, great-great-grandsons, and great-great-great-grandsons who received a language at Babel in Genesis 10. Eber and Aram were but two!

From Japheth (Genesis 10:2–5) came at least 14 language families; from Ham (Genesis 10:6–20), 39; from Shem (Genesis 10:22–31), at least 25 (excluding Peleg and other children who may have just been born). The total number of languages that may have come out of Babel according to Genesis 10 may have been at least 78, assuming Noah, Ham, Shem, Japheth, and Peleg didn’t receive a new language. This excludes some descendants of Shem who are given slight mention in Genesis 11:11–17; they may have also received a language.

Both Vistawide World Languages and Cultures¹⁹ and Ethnologue,²⁰ companies that provide statistics on language, agree that only 94 languages families have been so far ascertained. With further study in years to come, this may change, but this figure is well within the range of families that dispersed from Babel (Genesis 10).

Is it feasible for 7,000 languages to develop from less than 100 in 4,000 years? The languages that came out of the confusion at Babel were “root languages” or language families. Over time, those root languages have varied by borrowing from other languages, developing new terms and phrases, and losing previous words and phrases.

Let’s look at changes in the English language, as an example. English has changed so much over the course of 1,000 years that early speakers would hardly recognize it today. Table 7 provides a look at the changes in Matthew 6:9.

Table 7.²¹

Beginning of Matthew 6:9	Date
Our Father who art in heaven and/or Our Father who is in heaven	Late Modern English (1700s)
Our father which art in heauen	Early Modern English (1500–1700) (KJV 1611)
Oure fader that art in heuenis	Middle English (1100–1500)
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum	Old English (c. A.D. 1000)

Just as English has changed significantly over the past 1,000 years, it becomes easy to see how the original languages at Babel could have rapidly changed in the 4,000 years since that time, whether spoken or written.

In conclusion, there exist a great many confirmations of the Bible’s account of the Tower of Babel and what happened as a result. Even stories about a tower and sudden language changes appear in ancient histories from Sumerian, Grecian, Polynesian, Mexican, and Native American sources.²² This is what we would expect since the Tower of Babel was a real event. Language changes, ziggurats, names of Noah found throughout the world, and tower legends are excellent confirmations of the events at Babel.

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Footnotes

1. James Ussher, The Annals of the World, trans. Larry and Marion Pierce (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003), p. 22. Back
2. The use of Ussher’s dates are not an across-the-board endorsement of his work. We recognize that any human work contains errors; however, Ussher meticulously researched biblical and ancient history, and we are comfortable with using many of the dates he proposed. Back
3. William Whiston, The Works of Josephus Complete and Unabridged (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987), p. 37. Back
4. John Whitcomb, “Babel,” Creation, June 2002, p. 31–33, online at www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v24/i3/babel.asp. Back
5. Ussher, The Annals of the World, p. 22. Back
6. Larry Pierce, “In the Days of Peleg,” Creation, December 1999, p. 46–49. Back
7. David Down, “Ziggurats in the News,” Archaeological Diggings, March–April 2007, p. 3–7. Back
8. Note on Genesis 11:4 in: John Gill, D.D., An Exposition of the Old and New Testament; The Whole Illustrated with Notes, Taken from the Most Ancient Jewish Writings (London: printed for Mathews and Leigh, 18 Strand, by W. Clowes, Northumberland-Court, 1809). Edited, revised, and updated by Larry Pierce, 1994–1995 for The Word CD-ROM. Back
9. Nennius, Historia Brittonum, edited in the 10th century by Mark the Hermit, with English version by the Rev. W. Gunn, rector of Irstead, Norfolk, printed in London, 1819; Flavius Josephus, The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus the Jewish Historian (~100 A.D.), translated by William Whiston (~1850 A.D.) (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2008). Back
10. Bill Cooper, After the Flood (Chichester, England: New Wine Press, 1995), p. 92–96. Back
11. Ibid., p. 108. Back
12. Ibid., p. 84–86. Back
13. Ibid., p. 49. Back
14. Whiston, The Works of Josephus Complete and Unabridged, p. 36–37. Back
15. Cooper, After the Flood, chapter 3. Back
16. Edgar Traux, “Genesis According to the Miao People,” Impact, April 1991, online at www.icr.org/article/341/. Back
17. Information in this table comes from the following sources: Whiston, The Works of Josephus Complete and Unabridged, p. 36–37; Cooper, After the Flood, p. 170–208; Harold Hunt, “The Sixteen Grandsons of Noah,” Creation, September 1998, p. 22–25, online at www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i4/noah.asp. Back
18. Vistawide, “World Language Families,” www.vistawide.com/languages/language_families_statistics1.htm. Back
19. Ibid. Back
20. Ethnologue, “Statistical Summaries,” www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=family. Back
21. Comparison of Matthew 6:9, Mansfield University, faculty.mansfield.edu/bholtman/holtman/101/GmcVaterunser.pdf. Back
22. Pam Sheppard, “Tongue-Twisting Tales,” Answers, April–June 2008, p.56–57. Back

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