Genesis 10 Mysteries of Genesis

Genesis 10 Mysteries of Genesis

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Chapter IV: The Reaction to Sense Living

Genesis 10 Spiritually Interpreted

To what is the 10th chapter of Genesis devoted?

We find the 10th chapter of Genesis to be devoted to genealogy. It gives an account of the descendents of Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Gen. 10:1-32. Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, namely, of Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, and Kittim, and Dodanim. Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba, and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah: wherefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Jehovah. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city). And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and Pathrusim, and Casluhim (whence went forth the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

And Canaan begat Sidon his first-born, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanite spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanite was from Sidon, as thou goest toward Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, unto Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.

And unto Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born. The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram. And the sons of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. And Arpachshad begat Shelah; and Shelah

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begat Eber. And unto Eber was born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

The name Shem means "upright," "renowned," "splendor," "name." Metaphysically Shem represents the spiritual in man.

The name Ham means "oblique," "curved," "inferior," "hot," "blackened." Metaphysically Ham represents the physical in man, given over to sensuality.

The name Japheth means "extended and wide," "increase," "expansion," "unfoldment," "extends without limitation." Metaphysically Japheth represents the intellect or reason, the mental realm. To "extend without limitation" this realm would have to extend into the spiritual.

Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, represent the spiritual, the physical, and the mental in man.

The names of the "sons of Japheth" follow:

The name Gomer means "organic accumulation," "finished or perfected," "ended." Gomer represents human reason in its greatest perfection and completion; but by reasoning alone man cannot reach spiritual wisdom

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and Truth or come in conscious touch with God, Spirit.

The name Magog means "region of God," "from the upper, i.e., north," "extreme extension." Symbolically Magog represents the satanic or selfish thought force in human consciousness warring against the true thought force that springs from the ideas that Jesus taught and demonstrated.

The name Madai means "sufficiency," "indefinite capacity," "middle portion." Madai represents the phase of being in man that lies between the outer or conscious thinking mind and the superconscious mind or Spirit; the psychic realm.

The name Javan means "the East," "the dove," "warmth," "fertility," "mire," "deception." Javan symbolizes the human or personal intellect in man and one of its governing characteristics, the deceptive, error belief that understanding is gained through the impressions of the senses in contact with the outer world and through books, teachers, and experience rather than through the Spirit of God within the soul of man. In the broadest sense Javan also represents the spiritual phase of intelligence or illumined and inspired intellect, hence the idea of the East, of fertility and productiveness.

The name Tubal signifies "diffusive motion," "welling," "triumphal song." Tubal represents the expanding possibilities of the consciousness of man, with the joy and the good that result from increased understanding.

The name Meshech means "perceptibility," "drawing out," "deducing." Meshech stands for perception through the senses, judgment according to appearances,

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and the work of the mind in conceiving ideas and in drawing conclusions.

The name Tiras means "determination of forms," "thought," "imagination," "desire." Metaphysically Tiras represents the imagination or formative faculty of man made active in the mind of the individual by the inner longing of the soul (desire), whichever leads to unfoldment Godward. As the seventh son of Japheth, Tiras represents a certain fullness or completeness of that which Japheth symbolizes, the mental phase of man's being. The power to think, to image in the mind, is the formative power in man.

The names of "the sons of Gomer," with their meaning, follow:

The name Ashkenaz means "fire that spreads," "latent fire," "hidden fire." Ashkenaz represents the life thought formed in Spirit, the "fire that spreads" to assist in doing away with the confused state of mind represented by Babylon. When the life thought is taken up consciously by man it extends quickly to the whole consciousness, overthrowing sense confusion and its inharmonies. Fire stands for cleansing and purification and is generally used in the Bible as a symbol of the destruction of evil and error.

The name Riphath signifies "centrifugal force," "spoken word," "pardon," "healing." Riphath symbolizes the power actively expressing itself through the will and the word. This power, though more mental than spiritual, is refining and healing.

The name Togarmah means "centralizing energy," "gravitation," "hard," "strong." Togarmah represents strength and a drawing, centralizing force or energy; a force or energy of the intellect rather than of the inner

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spiritual understanding and therefore characterized by very great hardness and selfishness.

The names of "the sons of Javan" are given here:

The name Elishah means "God firmly establishes," "uprightness of God," "God saves." Even the human reason acknowledges that God is the saving power of His people. The intellectual powers of man are human and they are deceptive. Yet they are productive on their own plane; and Elishah represents the power back of the intellect that knows God to be the one true helping, sustaining, saving power in man.

The name Tarshish means "precipitating force," "hard," "severity." Tarshish symbolizes the hard, unyielding, argumentative tendency that is characteristic of the purely intellectual and reasoning nature in man when unmixed with divine love and the softening influence of spiritual wisdom.

The name Kittim signifies "the cut off," "the rejected," "outsiders." Kittim represents a phase of the outer, sense-reasoning mind in man, as opposed to the inner, true spiritual understanding. This phase of thought must be cut off, rejected, by the individual who would progress spiritually, since it is an "outsider," uncivilized and reprobate as far as Truth is concerned.

The name Dodanim means "confederates," "the elect," "lovable," "pleasing." Dodanim represents unifying thoughts of a very excellent character belonging to the intellect in man.

These are the names of "the sons of Ham":

The name Cush means "burned," "blackened," "firelike." Cush represents the darkened thought in which man has held his body and its activities, the seemingly mortal, physical part of himself. But this

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all changes as he perceives the Truth and holds in mind the perfect-body idea.

The name Mizraim means "limitation," "bondage," "tribulation." Mizraim is symbolical of the sense belief that the life as well as the organism of man is bound in materiality and that man is subject to sorrows and to all forms of error that hinder him from receiving good.

The name Put signifies "state of being stifled," "asphyxiation or suffocation." Put represents the darkened, sorrowful, and very material dying state of mind and body that results from a lack of spiritual inspiration, of the inbreathing and understanding of Spirit.

The name Canaan means "material existence," "realized nothingness," "lowland," "inferior." Canaan thus represents the body consciousness; the fleshly organism and tendencies of man; the physical rather than the spiritual. We also think of Canaan as denoting the subconsciousness.

Here are the names of "the sons of Cush," with their meaning:

The name Seba signifies "radical mixture," "vital fluid," "intoxicated." Seba represents intemperate desire expressing itself in the body consciousness. The Seba thought or state of thought is not poised, moderate, or well balanced as regards anything; it goes to extremes, especially in the indulgence of the appetites and desires of the flesh.

The name Havilah means "struggle of elementary life," "virtue born of trial." Havilah symbolizes the effort, the travail, the trials that are necessary to bring into manifestation the inner spiritual possibilities that lie back of and are wrapped up in the seemingly material organism.

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The name Sabtah means "determining motion," "a trun," "orbit." Sabtah represents the general cyclical trend of the activity of the sensual in man. Led away by outer seeming, man has through the exercise of his personal will set up a course of action in sense consciousness that falls short of the divine ideal and is contentious and destructive.

The name Raamah signifies "moved with agitation," "trembling," "quaking." Raamah represents the result or fruit of the ignorant thought of the sense man regarding his body. This result takes the shape of the nameless fears, inner trembling, and un-Godlike emotions that the sense man experiences.

The significance of the name Sabteca is the same as that of Sabtah but greatly intensified.

The following are the names of "the sons of Raamah":

The name Sheba means "rest or repose," "stability," "restoration." Sheba represents a thought of wholeness or fullness on some plane of existence. Whether this thought belongs to the inner man or the outer man depends on who the person in the Bible name Sheba is and on his descent, history, or activities. If the activities are constructive or if he owns descent from Shem he represents higher and more spiritual thoughts than if the activities are not constructive and he is descended from Ham.

The name Dedan means "mutual attraction," "selective affinity," "physical love." Dedan refers to a phase of physical or animal attraction and affection.

The names of the children of Cush, with their meaning, are given here:

The name Nimrod means "self-ruling will," "rebellion."

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Nimrod denotes the rule of the personal will in the animal forces of the organism; also a material belief in courage and might.

The name Babel signifies "court of Baal," "confusion," "chaos," "vanity." When man thinks that he can comprehend and contract the divine in outer or purely mental or psychic ways the result is always confusion.

The name Erech means "long," "extended," "slack"; in a good sense, "prolonged," "lasting." Erech represents a state of consciousness in which, because of long and extended material thinking the natural, inherent wholeness and goodness of man is conceived by him entirely in terms of the material, bringing about the disastrous results of error in body and affairs.

The name Accad signifies "castle," "fortress," "highland." Accad represents a fixed state of belief that protection, great strength, exalted position, and superiority are to be attained through the intellectual and the physical alone.

The name Calneh signifies "complete concentration," "centralized ambition." Calneh represents selfishness, a centering in self; also confidence in material conditions rather than trust in God.

The name Shinar signifies "two rivers," "divided stream," "divided mind." Shinar represents a belief in two powers, an evil as well as a good one, and the error results.

Assyria represents the reasonings, philosophical as well as physical, that do not recognize a spiritual head of the universe but are based on sense observation.

The name Nineveh means "exterior growth," "coordination,"

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"education of youth." Nineveh represents the seat of the natural animal forces in man's body consciousness. The people of Nineveh were not willfully wicked; they were only awaiting spiritual instruction that would turn their attention away from the outer and material to God.

Rehoboth-Ir ("broad places," "enlargements," "forums") symbolizes thoughts of a broadening, increasing nature, principally on the intellectual or mental plane in the individual.

The name Calah signifies "completed," "integrity," "an ancient." Calah represents a state of consciousness built about the belief that age (in terms of years) and experience bring balanced judgment and fullness or perfection.

The name Resen means "executive power," "control from above," "restraint." Resen indicates recognition by the natural man that there is a higher guiding, ruling, judging, restraining power in his life than that of the purely human and material.

The name Ludim signifies "travails," "conception," "nativity or physical birth." Ludim represents man's material beliefs regarding the origin and continuation of the race; also the expression of these beliefs.

The name Anamim means "statues," "rockmen," "fountains." Anamim represents hard, material thoughts about life ("fountains"). Such thoughts aid in building a corruptible body, a mere statue in so far as its being truly alive through union with the divine source of all life is concerned.

The name Lehabim means "inflamed uprisings," "passionate." Lehabim represents the life of the seemingly material and physical organism activated wholly

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by the tendencies and desires of the outer animal man.

Naphtuhim ("the opened," "the hollow," "the empty ones") represent empty thoughts of lack, thoughts that the physical man is wholly material.

The name Pathrusim signifies "region of the south," "broken into fragments," "dust." The Pathrusim represent thoughts belonging to a state of mind that, though there is good in it, is still in darkness so far as the individual is consciously or subconsciously concerned.

The name Casluhim signifies "tried for atonement," "forgiveness of sins," "hopes of life." The thought represented by Casluhim is that man's outer consciousness evolves, unfolds, Godward by means of trials, testings, and experience.

The name Philistines signifies "transitory," "migrating," "wandering." The Philistines represent forces foreign to Spirit. The five great cities of the Philistines ruled by "lords" denote the five senses under the dominion of thoughts foreign to Spirit (strangers, foreigners).

The name Caphtorim means "converts," "converters." Caphtorim represents changing, growing, unfolding thoughts that belong to the seemingly physical in man.

The name Sidon signifies "catching of fish," "providing," "hunter." Sidon symbolizes a great increase of ideas on the animal plane of thought or being in the individual.

The name Heth means "sundered," "broken," "terrified." Heth represents a very active thought of fear, the result of thinking apart from Spirit.

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The name Jebusite signifies "trodden down," "conquered," "profaned." A Jebusite represents the spiritual or peace center in consciousness (Jerusalem) in subjection to purely sense and carnal thoughts, beliefs, and desires.

The name Amorites signifies "mountaineers," "highlanders." The Amorites represent the race thought of the generation of the flesh. Sex and procreation are very strongly rooted in man's consciousness and have been elevated by man in personal thought to the very heights.

The name Girgashite signifies "belonging to that which is dense," "marshy ground." A Girgashite represents the material state of thought that unawakened man holds concerning himself and especially concerning his material organism.

The name Hivite signifies "physical existence," "life born of effort," "wickedness." A Hivite represents the thoughts belonging to the carnal consciousness in man.

The name Arkite means "fugitive," "blind passions." An Arkite represents thoughts pertaining to the carnal consciousness in man.

The name Sinite means "clayey," "muddy," "hateful passions." A Sinite represents thoughts missing the mark, falling short of the divine law.

The name Arvadite means "avarice," "plunder," "pirate's den." An Arvadite represents a retreat or refuge or unstable, erring, destructive thoughts in a mixed, confused, ever-changing consciousness of man.

The name Zemarite signifies "hunger for dominion or thirst for power," "despot." A Zemarite represents rebellious, tyrannical, despotic thoughts and desires belonging to the "mind of the flesh" consciousness in unredeemed man, the outer seeking dominion.

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The name Hamathite means "inclosed," "held together," "fortress." A Hamathite represents confidence in material conditions rather than trust in God.

The name Gerar signifies "a sojourn," "a lodging place," "an encampment." Gerar symbolizes subjective substance and life. In the beginning of man's journey Spiritward this substance and life are in possession of the sense nature (Philistines), and the ruling ego of the sense nature lives in the region of this place.

The name Gaza means "strength," "power," "stronghold," Gaza represents strength on a purely physical or sense plane.

The name Sodom signifies "consumed with fire," "hidden wiles," "covered conspiracies." Sodom represents an obscure or concealed thought or habit in man.

The name Gomorrah means "overbearing," "tyranny," "oppression." Gomorrah represents a state of mind in man that is submerged in sense and is very tyrannical in its nature.

The name Admah means "silent," "unrelenting," "a tomb," "a fortress." Admah represents the seeming strength and merciless sureness of the death thought and condition that enters into man's experience as the result of his carnal, material, adverse thoughts and activities.

The name Zeboiim signifies "wars," "plunderings," "rendings with the teeth." Zeboiim refers to ravenous appetites, sensual passions, the wild-beast nature holding sway deep in the subconsciousness of many.

The name Lasha signifies "bursting forth," "fountains," "for looking upon." The cities that are mentioned in the text with Lasha as being on the southern border of Canaan are representative of the subconscious

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substance and life in man ruled over and actuated by various phases of the subjective carnal, sense mind. Lasha symbolizes the bursting forth of this inner substance and life into greater activity in consciousness. Lasha also refers to the penetration by higher ideals, truer understanding, of a seemingly mortal and material state of the subjective substance and life in unawakened man.

The names of the children of Shem, with their meaning, are listed here:

The name Eber signifies "passed over," "overcome," "a shoot." Eber represents the germination in man's consciousness of the spiritual phase of his being.

The name Elam signifies "eternal or everlasting," "fully developed." Elam symbolizes thoughts of the abidingness, resourcefulness, and creative power of Truth, of that which is of God, Spirit.

The name Asshur signifies "a step," "level ongoing," "observance of laws," "harmonious." Asshur typifies mental recognition that the entire man, spirit, soul, and body, is free, is of spiritual origin, and is not bound by any limitation of matter.

The name Arpachshad signifies "providential regeneration," "realm of astrology." Arpachshad represents the belief in man that his good depends wholly on something outside of himself--his ruling star, fate, providence--instead of depending on the power of his own thoughts to establish within himself and his world what he wills.

The name Lud signifies "desire to bring forth," "conception," "creation." Lud represents man's earliest conception of the truth that he is the offspring of God.

The name Aram means "highland," "high or exalted."

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Aram symbolizes the intellect, which has its foundation in Spirit; but in unawakened man it is linked up entirely with the outer or material realm so that it reasons from the basis of the senses instead of acknowledging Divine Mind as the source of all intelligence.

The names of "the sons of Aram," with their meaning, follow:

The name Uz means "growing might," "formative power," "plan." Uz denotes the process of thought by which man arrives at a conclusion (be it true or erroneous) and establishes it in consciousness.

The name Hul means "circle," "ecstasy," "travail," "fear." Hul stands for that in the intellect of man which seeks to conform to both the spiritual and outer-sense ideas of wisdom and understanding.

The name Gether means "abundance," "pressed out," "vale of trial." Gether represents man's belief that much physical effort is needed to make a living and to acquire abundance; thus he experiences hard labor and many inharmonies.

The name Mash signifies "pressing out by contractile force," "harvest of fruits." In Mash we see the intellect in the role of obtaining knowledge. The intellect is not naturally receptive to spiritual understanding. It is aggressive in its nature and it works very hard in the outer seeking to obtain by force, by personal determination, and by much persistent study and research the knowledge that it desires. The very pressure of its outer seeking does open to it something of the inner light and intelligence of Spirit, though in its ignorance it usually takes to itself the honor of having worked out the ideas that come to it from Spirit.

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However fruit is realized in increased knowledge.

The name Shelah means "security," "peace," "demand," "prayer." Shelah represents a sense of peace, harmony, and security that has come about by prayer, affirmation, and desire centered in that which is good and true.

The names of the children of Eber, with their meaning, are given here:

The name Peleg means "separation through grace," "cleaving," "dividing." Peleg represents man's first realization of the difference and seeming separation between his apparently material organism and his inner spiritual ideals. Thus was the "earth divided," and the individual began to recognize his higher nature.

The name Joktan signifies "that which is diminished," "lessened," "of little concern." Joktan represents the lessening to the vanishing point of error in the consciousness and life of the unfolding individual.

The following are the names, with their meaning, of the children of Joktan:

The name Almodad signifies "measure of God," "the agitator." Almodad represents a certain discernment of the boundless possibilities that are open to man if he makes practical application of Truth. This understanding however proves to be a disturbing element ("agitator") in consciousness because it is not definite enough to bring about the real change of mind that is needed to establish peace and order and to bring forth spiritual fruit.

The name Sheleph means "reaction," "refraction," "drawing out." Sheleph represents a working out from

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within of the spiritual in man; or at least a striving of Spirit within man for greater expression in and through the individual.

The name Hazarmaveth means "village of death," "court of death." Hazarmaveth symbolizes a central thought or group of thoughts belonging to the sense mind of man and having as its ruling idea a strong belief in death. Its conception of justice ("court") is always active on the negative, condemnatory, and destructive side.

The name Jerah signifies "he will breathe," "he will become inspired," "moon." Jerah represents the light (understanding) of the inspired intellect, or to the capacity of the intellect of man for being illumined by Spirit and for radiating the light of Spirit, divine understanding.

The name Hadoram signifies "powerful," "pompous," "majestic." Hadoram represents the lifting up of the outer, sense mind of man, and the attributing of power and might to it as though it were man's highest source of light and good.

The name Uzal signifies "continual going forth," "divine spark." Uzal represents the continual unfoldment that takes place in the progressively inclined individual because of his natural tendency to conform to the divine ideal or divine spark within him, which is ever urging him on to higher light, new understanding, purer thoughts and ways.

The name Diklah means "palm tree," "palm grove," "ethereal lightness." Diklah denotes the inherent belief of man's inner, spiritual, or true self that complete victory over all error and complete triumph in understanding and life are his heritage.

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The name Obal signifies "extreme attenuation of matter," "stripped," "barren." Obal denotes the barrenness, nakedness, and nothingness of all that is not founded in Truth.

The name Abimael means "a father from God," "father of abundance." Abimael stands for the thought of man as being descended from God; also for the thought of abundance as coming from God. At a certain stage of man's unfoldment however the thought represented by Abimael is not established in consciousness with enough positiveness to produce spiritual results.

The name Ophir signifies "a final state," "purity," "ashes." Ophir symbolizes that which remains after the deeper purification by fire has taken place. Through purification by the Christ Spirit, by the baptism of fire, all that is true is refined, purified, and elevated to its rightful place in the kingdom, while the dross or error of the carnal, adverse mind is reduced to dust and ashes.

The name Jobab signifies "fullness of joy," "trumpet call of victory," "desert," "wail of tribulation." Here Jobab represents a certain fulfillment of the seeming mortal and an entrance into that which the positive, spiritual meanings of the name denotes: a realization of dominion over error and a rejoicing in Truth.

The name Mesha means "harvest of spiritual fruits," "heaped-up fullness of being," "refuge," "freedom." Mesha symbolizes a place in consciousness wherein the inner life forces of the organism are freed from the dominion of carnal thought, thus raising them to higher and more spiritual expression.

The name Sephar means "remembering," "engraving,"

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"book." The east always represents the within, and a mountain denotes a high plane of thought. In the consciousness of the individual, Sephar represents that high place within the spiritual realm of his being where a record is kept of all the thoughts, ideals, tendencies, desires, and activities to which he has given attention, even to those that belong to the seemingly changeable and unestablished phase of his consciousness (the Arabian tribes that were descended from Joktan).