God has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth (Acts
17:26). So therefore, if all are descended from Noah and his three sons, why are there so
many different races on the earth?
Shem Ham and Japheth are the three sons of Noah: "and of them was the whole earth
overspread" (Genesis 9:19). God repeated to Noah his command to Adam "Be fruitful and
multiply and replenish the earth" (Genesis 1:28; 9:1). Homo Sapiens is one species: but a
polymorphic species. Differences or mutations in the genes in the chromosomes cause
perceived racial characteristics. Genesis 10 gives lists of the descendants of Japhet Ham and
Shem. The Japhetic tribes seem to be Caucasian˜ Javan is Greece; Ashkenaz is Armenia and
eastern Europe; Tarshish is Gibraltar and Spain. The Hamitic tribes seem to be African and
Mesopotamian˜ Cush is Ethiopia; Mizraim is Egypt. Nimrod founded Babylon and built
towns in Mesopotamia. Asshur founded Assyria and built Nineveh. Their Ziggurat (Tower of
Babel) culture (Genesis 11:1-9) spread into Egypt, where the first pyramid (Cheops, the
stepped pyramid) was modelled on the Mesopotamian Ziggurats. Canaan founded the
Canaanite tribes of Palestine. The Semitic tribes include Eber the first Hebrew and Aram the
first Aramaean. Abraham was descended from Eber, and was the father of Ishmael and Isaac,
forefathers of the Arabs and of the Jews. Jacob (Israel) was a "wandering Aramaean"
(Deuteronomy 26:5, RSV) who migrated to Egypt before his descendant Joshua returned to
conquer Canaan after the Exodus.
In 1963 Sforza and Edwards published a study of human origins in the Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Society. By analysing blood group gene frequencies they noted three main
divisions of human races. (1) the Turkish, Caucasian and Scandinavian group; (2) the
Ethiopian, Bantu and Ghanaian group; (3) a complex group including Asian, Amerindian,
Eskimo and Oceanian peoples. Differences in genes arise from spontaneous mutations. Some
had survival value in different climatic zones; therefore such strains became fixed in local
populations.
The earth was only slowly repopulated after the Flood had killed all but the eight safe in the
Ark at the end of the Chalcolithic (copper stone) Age in the 6th millennium BC. There is then
a hiatus or gap in the archaeological record lasting from 1,000 to 1,500 years until we get to
the Early Bronze Age circa 4,000 BC. It was during the upheaval of the Flood (circa 5000
BC) that Britain was cut off from Europe by the English Channel and the North Sea. The
Flood was worldwide, not just a local Middle Eastern affair. The "Great Hiatus" or
"Yawning Gap" as some archaeologists call it is worldwide. Archaeological observations
tend to confirm the Bible account in Genesis 10, 11 and 12. So also do the scientific findings
of Sforza and Edwards noted above. Writing was invented about 4300 BC; and the Wheel
was another Bronze Age invention.
Archaeology shows that people migrated in all directions outwards from Ararat where the
Ark came to rest. Some went up the Danube river into Europe (the Second Danubians,
following the same route as the First Danubians after the Fall), and some along the
Mediterranean coast. Others went northeast past the Caspian Sea into Asia and beyond to
India, China, across the Bering Straits into Alaska and down the continent of America as far
as Tierra del Fuego. Others went southeast into Mesopotamia, and southwest into Egypt,
Ethiopia, and the rest of Africa. It took all of 1000 to 1500 years, depending on the physical
distance from Ararat, for the burgeoning human tribes to spread out and refill the newly
empty earth. As they spread, they took their seed corn (wheat) and their domestic animals
(cattle sheep and dogs) with them. In central Asia rice was found to be an alternative staple
for a wet climate; in America local maize did better than wheat (compare the Hiawatha
legend). In America there were no European fauna like horses, donkeys, and cattle. When the
Spanish conquistadores invaded America, riding on horseback, the Aztecs and Incas, who
had never seen a horse before, fled panic-stricken. Yet archaeologists have found mass
graves of animal bones, all impacted together in a broken brecchia, including those of horses
and Eurasian cattle. America was repopulated with native fauna that had somehow survived
the Flood. Likewise in Australia the marsupials survived. It seems that Australia alone
remained high and dry throughout the Deluge. Incidentally the Flood was not caused by
excessive rain falling. It was caused by the great masses of oceanic water slopping violently
up and over the continents. Hence the damage to the animal remains in their mass "graves" as
the waters receded.
Sunday school lessons on Noah's Ark need to be changed to prevent false ideas of the Flood
being perpetuated. We need to study these things as adults, and not dismiss them as children's
fairy tales. Have you ever seriously considered the book of Genesis since you were a child?