Reading for May 11th

 Read Genesis 10.1-14. In 10.1-32: A list of nations descended from Noah's three sons. This genealogy traces the family line of all the known peoples of the earth back to the three sons of Noah: Japheth, Ham, and Shem. Each of the peoples or groups listed have their own families, their languages, their lands, and their nations. This refrain is repeated three times (10.5, 20, 31). In verses 2-5: The descendants of Japheth include peoples to the north and west of Canaan in Greece and Asia Minor and the coastland peoples of the Mediterranean Sea such as the Philistines. In verses 6-20: The descendants of Ham represent the nations under Egypt's influence at the time in Africa and Mesopotamia, including the land in and around Canaan itself (vv. 20). The list of nations contains an old legend about a great warrior named Nimrod. Nimrod conquered the land of Shinar or Babylon (see Babel in v. 10) and the land of Assyria with the great city of Nineveh (vv. 11-12; see Mic 5.5-6). The story of the the tower of Babel will be set in the land of Shinar (11.2). Comments or Questions..