Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth and he lived 350 years after it was over, so he died when he was 950. Chapter 10 lists the sons of Noah plus his grandsons and great grandsons and then after each group (Shem, Ham, or Japheth) it tells us where they settled when the land was divided according to their nations and clans—and languages. The chapter concludes with the statement that “these were the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations. And from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.” So we know that Noah and his descendants down to his great grandchildren all spoke the same language—but then something happened to change that and make them spread out. Elohim had told them to fill up the earth but at least some of them wanted to stick close to home. Noah’s great grandson Nimrod, one of Ham’s grandchildren, did something about that. Let’s finish with the genealogy first and then talk about Nimrod’s Tower of Babel which caused the division of languages.

When was the land divided? Shem’s genealogy tells us it was when his great great grandson Peleg was born (named thus because “in his days the earth was divided”). Looks like Noah’s great great grandchildren were up to no good and Peleg inherited a very confusing world indeed. Let’s focus a bit more on Shem’s descendants, because they are very important. Verses 21-25 say, “Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber...and to Eber were born two sons....” referring to Peleg and his brother Yoqtan. If you follow the genealogy through carefully you will see that Abraham was a descendant of Shem through Peleg through Eber. We are told this because Elohim called Shem’s descendant Abraham to work counter to the great damage done in the world by Ham’s descendants. Moreover, we believe that the children of Abraham are called, even to this day and into the future, specifically to work counter to the horrendous damage done by Nimrod and his children and followers! Abraham and his descendants are thereby to bless all the people of earth.

Let’s look at Abraham’s genealogy. He is not named in chapter 10, where Shem’s genealogy is first listed but he is mentioned in chapter 11 which goes into greater detail after telling us about the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar. We pick up the genealogy in verse 10 where we are given information about men’s ages in reference to the relevant line through Shem’s son Arpakshad. Did you know that Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arpakshad two years after the flood? He would have been 390 years old when Abraham was born. We are not given a similar timeline here for Ham and Nimrod, but we know Abraham was born just a few generations after Nimrod. How fitting!

Elohim raised Abraham up for a very important task so we are given a lot of information about him and his family. Genesis 11:22-32 tells us that Shem’s descendant Serug brought forth Nahor, who brought forth Terah, who brought forth Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran brought forth Lot (which makes Lot Abram’s nephew) and died in Ur. Abram and Nahor took wives, Sarai and Milkah respectively. Terah left Ur with his grandson Lot, Abram and Sarai and went to Canaan where they took up residence in Haran, which is where Terah died. Now the stage is set for the next parashah, Lech Lecha.

So what happened in the land of Shinar? The first verse of chapter 11 tells us that there was only one language and one speech in all the earth and “they set out from the east and found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there.” It could be that Noah’s entire family was living in Shinar, which was tolerated for a time, at least until Peleg was born. But Elohim had instructed Noah and his sons to fill up the earth and it was time to get a move on. Some of them didn’t want to be “scattered over all the face of the earth” so they had a meeting and decided to build a city with a tower tall enough to reach into the heavens and “make a name for ourselves.” One theory suggests they had been working on their project around 43 years before Elohim came down to see what they had accomplished and concluded that if mankind could do this, they could do anything. He put a stop to it by confusing their language and making it impossible for them to communicate and keep working together. Elohim thus scattered the people over the face of the earth. We know from the genealogical information how they were split up and where they went.

The city was called Babel (noisy confusion) and we often hear about the Tower of Babel. Nimrod, Ham’s grandson through Kush, was the guy who provoked the people to build the tower and it appears most of the people went for it. Genesis 10:8-12 tells us more about him. “And Kush brought forth Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, therefore it is said, ‘Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.’ And the beginning of his reign was Babel, and Erek, and Akkad, and Kalneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Ashshur and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth Ir, and Kelah, and Resen between Nineveh and Kelah, the great city.” The term “mighty one” often refers to Nephilim and there is a theory that Nimrod did something to himself and became a Nephilim! (Or maybe he inherited and enhanced Nephilim genes from his grandmother.) We are told the beginning of Nimrod’s reign was Babel. If we think about Nimrod being the founder of Babel and think of Babel as a forerunner or the first city of Babylon, we can consider his kingdom to be that which Elohim opposes utterly throughout all of Scripture! Babylon even becomes His tool to discipline His people when they sin. We can then propose that Nimrod is the first anti-messiah figure, and might even be the one who Yeshua defeats at the end of time. That’s a lot to digest, to be sure.