The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan. – 1 Chronicles 1:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 21, 2016): 1 Chronicles 1

Ancient Egyptian historians have puzzled over the origin of their land. Some have suggested that the origin of the land goes well into the deep fog of antiquity, possibly existing even before the Great Flood. According to some Egyptian historians –especially Islamic historians - even the pyramids are an artifact of this time that was before the Great Flood. But the people of that day died leaving their land to be reconquered. This then, according to this view, becomes the explanation for all that is left unexplained in Egypt.

Modern day conspiracy theorists lay the origins for these artifacts, such as the number of pyramids that dot the land, on the doorstep of some unknown alien civilizations that visited earth thousands of years ago. And maybe they are right. But we have our own legends that suggest that maybe, at one time, we were more developed than we have believed might be possible. We find the idea in the legend of Atlantis, and in the unexplainable phenomenon that exist throughout the world. If it wasn’t aliens who were responsible for these historical artifacts, maybe we have to entertain the idea that the people who walked this earth before the Great Flood (and Great Flood Stories exist in several of the world’s cultures, not just within the Judeo-Christian-Islamic cycles) were more advanced than we sometimes give them credit for being.

But whatever it is that you believe, the Bible gives us a glimpse into a different history. Sometimes when I am writing about Chronicles I sound like a bit of a broken record, but we have to remember that Chronicles was written very late in the history of Israel and Judah, and the book carries with it a specific purpose. The intention of Chronicles is to attempt to give a framework for the returning Jews after the Babylonian exile to understand the world in which they are living. All discussion about the book has to hold that idea clearly in mind. And it tells the story from the point of view of the lineage of David. But it doesn’t limit itself to just that story. The grand message of the book is aimed at the descendants of Judah understanding that the whole world is God’s creation. Yahweh was not a provincial God over only the Jews. He created the entire world. And in trying to get this point across, this lineage attempts to give an “origin of the nations” lesson.

So we are told in this passage that the sons of Ham, and some of the grandchildren of Noah, are: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The descendants of Canaan inhabited the land of Canaan on the East side of the Mediterranean Sea, Cush would be the father of (most likely) the Ethiopian nation. Put or Puth was the father of the Libyan people, and Egypt the ancestor of all those who claim Egypt as their home. All of these nations were people that Israel had dealt with in the past. But the main message is that they all descended from the same people.

But the story of Egypt holds some surprises for us. The original name in the text is not Egypt, it is Mizraim. And so Israel called Egypt Mizraim for most of it early history. Because we call the nation Egypt now, some translations have helped us by substituting the name Egypt where the original text had Mizraim. And Mizraim was sent down into Egypt to start, or restart depending on what you believe about the ancient origins of Egypt, the culture there. But in the Bible, names mean something. We aren’t give character descriptions very often, most we know about people comes from their name. In this case, Mizraim would seem to mean “two nations.”  Which would seem to be very appropriate for the land of Egypt which for much of its history has been divided between those who live in the fertile plains of the upper Nile Delta and those who eked out a living in the lower Nile region of the country. So what we have in this name of the father of Egypt is either a grand prophecy by God that Mizraim would become the leader of a single nation that was really two, or we have a name change later on in history once the double nature of Egypt was revealed.

But either way, the God of Israel was in control history then, and things have not changed. He is still in control – and he was in control even for those who had been exiled to Babylon, and those who had escaped the exile by running into Egypt.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 2