Old and New Beginnings

Genesis 10:21-32

21 And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber. 25 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. 26 Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 30 And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. 31 These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.

32 These were the families 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.

The sons of Shem are numerous, and we see familiar names which come up later, most notably Uz, Arphaxad, Ophir, and Havilah (where gold was found, Genesis 2:11 and 1 Chronicles 1:23).  These accounts allow us to retrace history to show theses are historical accounts and not imaginative stories, as well as to set the stage for future history recorded in the Old Testament.  Nations continued to be formed from the families and descendants of Noah, spawned and dividing the land of the earth after the flood caused the men of continuously wicked thoughts to be judged and taken away, and a new beginning by Noah’s line to replace Cain’s.  The account in Genesis is of both old and new beginnings.