GENESIS 10, or, "The Table of Nations"

Another Biblical genealogy lesson, this one tracing the descendants of Noah.

Noah had three sons: Japeth, Shem, and Ham. Those sons had many more sons, and their sons had many more sons, and their sons... Well, you get the idea.

Descendants of Japeth (The Japethites): Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras, Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah, Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim.

Descendants of Ham (The Hamites): Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan, Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca, Sheba, Dedan, Nimrod, the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, Pathrusites, Casluhites, and Caphtorites. Not to mention Sidon, the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

Descendants of Shem (The Semites): Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, Aram, Uz, Hul, Gether, Meshech, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Joktan, Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah and Jobab.

Some believe that the descendants of the three sons represent and would become three different races. Africans are the sons of Ham, Europeans are the sons of Japeth and Jews and Arabs are the sons of Shem. Interestingly enough "Shem" is where the word "semitic" is derived from.

In another case of the Bible being used to justify racism, Genesis 10 played a supporting role in the Rwanda Genocide. It's a little convoluted, but I'll try to untangle it for you.

First we must understand that the Rwanda Genocide was the 1994 mass extermination of hundred of thousands Tutsis by Hutu militia groups.

"Hamitic" used to be used to describe Africans, and the "curse of Ham" used to justify slavery. So "Hamitic" was a very pejorative term.

But after Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, Europeans became increasingly interested in Africa in general. As European countries explored Africa, it was decided that some Africans were superior to other Africans (the "superior" Africans displaying traits similar to white people). These superior Africans were referred to as "Hamitic", now being used as a positive term.

I believe, though I am not positive, that this has to do with the fact that when Noah cursed Ham, he actually cursed Ham's son Canaan. Ham had four sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. All of Ham's sons are associated with Africa, but only the Canaanites were cursed. Others, such as the Cushites in Sudan were not.

So there's a scramble to colonize Africa in the 1800's and at the Berlin Conference of 1885, Rwanda is given to Germany. Germany decides to rule Rwanda indirectly by appointing an elite class of indigenous inhabitants to act as functionaries. The "Hamitic Theory of Races" (Not all black people are created equal) was used in part to decide that the Tutsis would be appointed as that elite ruling class. This exacerbated tensions between the Tutsis and the Hutus and historians see it as a root cause for the genocide that would occur a century later.