historical · Gen 10:1–32 · ✓ Approved

The nations and their division in early reading

Says “All these are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their generations and nations”, and “From these the nations of the earth spread out after the flood” (Gen 10:32). Peleg was so named “because in his days the earth was divided” (10:25; נִפְלְגָה הָאָרֶץ, niflegah ha'arets).

Keil reports that “According to the Jewish Midrash, there are seventy tribes”, while the fathers count 72, and judges both reckonings “perfectly arbitrary”, since “the number 70 is nowhere given or hinted at”. Augustine counts “seventy-three (or rather, as I shall presently show, seventy-two)”, which “were not individuals, but nations”; his Greek text adds Elisa and Cainan. Jubilees has Noah’s sons divide the earth “into three parts, for Shem and Ham and Japheth”, and names Peleg because then “the children of Noah began to divide the earth”. Josephus has Phaleg “born at the dispersion of the nations”, and his line runs from Arphaxad to Sala with no Cainan. Pseudo-Jonathan closes: “from them are the peoples distinguished in the earth after the deluge”. These are their readings.

Uncertain Whether the list is meant to give a number (70 or 72), whether 10:25 refers to Babel or another division, and whether Gen 10 stands before Gen 11 in time or by theme (Calvin’s editor: “the events here placed first, in the order of narration, were subsequent in the order of time”) are open. No lean is taken, and these readings do not fix the meaning of Gen 10.

Claims

SaysGen 10:32: these are the clans of Noah’s sons by their generations and nations, and from them the nations spread out on the earth after the flood; 10:25: Peleg was so named because in his days the earth was divided.
UncertainWhether the list intends a count (70 in the Midrash count Keil reports, 72 in the fathers’ and Augustine’s), whether 10:25 refers to Babel or another division, and whether Gen 10 precedes Gen 11 in time or by arrangement are open; no lean is taken, and the readings do not fix the meaning.

Citations

BSB public domain Gen 10:25, 10:32
OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 10:25
Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Keil, Pentateuch vol. 1 (Clark, Martin trans., 1868), on the number of the nations, p. 172 (n175); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Augustine, City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2) public domain Civ. 16.3, pp. 311–312 (n334–n335) (trans. Dods, NPNF¹ 2; CCEL npnf102.iv.XVI.3); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
APOT public domain vol. 2 (1913): Jub 8:8, 10, p. 25 (n44); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted
Josephus (Whiston) public domain Ant. 1.6.4 = 1.143–147 (Whiston, 1817, vol. 1), p. 25 (n34); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Etheridge public domain Etheridge, vol. 1 (1862), Targum of Palestine (Pseudo-Jonathan) on Gen 10:32, p. 189 (n201); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted
Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Calvin, Genesis 1 (King, CTS 1847), editor’s note on Gen 10:1, p. 313 (n322); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted

Sources BSB public domain OSHB CC BY 4.0 Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Augustine, City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2) public domain APOT public domain Josephus (Whiston) public domain Etheridge public domain Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Bible Scholarship & Tool CC BY 4.0

2026-11-11

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