sons of Noah, or Table peoples - an extensive list of the descendants of Noah, described in the book "Genesis" of the Old Testament and representing traditional ethnology.
According to the Bible, God, saddened by the evil deeds that creates humanity by sending a great flood, known as Flood on the earth to destroy life.But there was one man, distinguished virtue and righteousness that God decided to save with his family, that they continue the human race.It was the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs named Noah.The ark that he had built on the orders of God, to be saved from the flood, was able to accommodate his family and animals of all kinds, who remained on Earth.He had three sons, who were born before the flood.
Once the water is gone, they settled on the lower slopes of Mount Ararat, on the north side.Noah began to cultivate the land, planted a vineyard and wine invented.Once the patriarch drank a lot of wine, got drunk and fell asleep.While he lay drunk and naked in his tent, Noah's son Ham saw this and told his brothers.Shem and Japheth went into the tent, face turned away and covered his father.When Noah woke up and realized what had happened, he cursed Ham's son Canaan.
for two thousand years this Biblical story caused a lot of controversy.What is its meaning?Why Patriarch cursed grandson?Rather, it reflects the fact that at the time when it was recorded, the Canaanites (the descendants of Canaan) were enslaved Israelites.In the Middle Ages, Europeans have interpreted the story as something that Ham is the ancestor of all Africans, pointing to the race, particularly on dark skin.Later, European and American slave traders used the biblical story to justify their activities, allegedly the son of Noah and Ham, and his descendants were cursed as a degenerate race.Of course, this is wrong, especially since the compilers of the Bible did not consider black Africans, neither he nor Canaan.
almost all cases, the names of the Noahide are tribes and countries.Shem, Ham, and Japheth represent the three largest groups of tribes that were known to the authors of the Bible.Ham is called the founder of the southern nations, who lived in that region of Africa, which is adjacent to Asia.The languages in which they said had the name of Hamitic (Coptic, Berber, some Ethiopian).
According to the Bible, Noah's son Shem - the first-born, and he is rewarded with special respect, as is the ancestor of the Semitic peoples, including Jews.They lived in Syria, Palestine, Chaldea, Assyria, Elam, Arabia.For languages in which they said included: Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Assyrian.Two years after the flood he was born the third son of Arphaxad, whose name is mentioned in the family tree of Jesus Christ.
Noah's son Japheth is the forefather of the northern peoples (in Europe and north-west Asia).
Until the mid-nineteenth century, the biblical story of the origin of the peoples is seen by many as a historical fact, and today it continues to believe Orthodox Jews, some Muslims and Christians.While some believe that the peoples of the table refers to the entire population of the Earth, others perceive it as a guide for local ethnic groups.
