From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume I, Table of Nations - Noah's descendants
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © 1995, all rights reserved "Excerpts from the Table of Nations - Noah's descendants"

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        The following is an excerpt from Volume I, page 219, regarding Gen. 10:6 descendants of Ham, specifically here Canaan.
(continued Gen. 10:6 descendants of Ham).
{and} Canaan [(Final Nun Ayin Nun Caph Vau) Kh(uh)N(aw)A(ah)N, Canaan - Heb. Kena’an, ken-ah’-an, from root Heb. kana’, to bend the knee, humiliate, vanquish, bring down low, subjection, under, humble, subdue, thus humiliated; Kenaan, a son of Ham, also the country inhabited by him, Canaan, merchant, traffic.  Found also in Gen. 9:18, 22-26; 10:6; 12:6; 24:3.   Canaan denotes the descendants of Ham (Gen. 9:18, 22) who settled in the land later known as Palestine and from whom the country took its original name.   At an early date they succumbed to the pressure of racial and linguistic intermixture with Semites to the loss of their own ethnic predominance.   The evidence of the excavation shows the Canaanites were predominantly of Semitic rather than Hamitic strain.   The etymology of the name is unknown, as is also the earliest history of the name; but Egyptian inscriptions of c. 1800 B.C. use it for the coastland between Egypt and Asia Minor.   In the Amarna letters of c. 1400 B.C. the name is applied to the Phoenician coast.   The Canaanites were of Semitic stock and were part of a large migration of Semites (Phoenicians, Amorites, Canaanites) from NE Arabia in the third millennium B.C.
    Hamitic origin of Canaan (Gen. 9:22-27), the Hebrew name, probably derived from Hurrian, meaning "belonging to the land of red purple," as early as the late fourteenth century B.C. the Phoenician traders exchanged the red purple, derived from murex shells on the sea shore.
    North Western Semites occupied the Levant - Syria and ancient Palestine, the region often referred to in the Bible as Canaan.
    Recent archaeological finds indicate that the inhabitants of the region themselves referred to the land as 'ca-na-na-um' as early as the mid-third millennium B.C. (Aubet p. 9).   Variations on that name in reference to the country and its inhabitants continue through the first millennium B.C.
    The word appears to have two etymologies.
    On one end, represented by the Hebrew "cana'ani" the word meant merchant, an occupation for which the Canaanites were well known.
    On the other end, as represented by the Akkadian kinahhu, the word referred to the red-colored wool which was a key export of the region.
    When the Greeks encountered the Canaanites, it may have been this aspect of the term which they latched onto as they renamed the Canaanites the Phoenikes (Phoenicia, Phenicia - Gr. Phoinike, means dark red) or Phoenicians, which may derive from a word meaning red or purple, and descriptive of the cloth for which the Greeks too traded.   The Romans in turn transcribed the Greek phoinix to poenus, thus calling the descendants of the Canaanite émigrés to Carthage 'Punic'.   Phenice - see Phoenix - Gr. Phoinix, a town and harbor on the south coast of Crete (Acts 27:12), identified with Loutro.   However, while both Phoenician and Canaanite refer to approximately the same culture, archaeologists and historians commonly refer to the pre-1200 or 1000 BC Levantines as Canaanites and their descendants, who left the bronze age for the iron, as Phoenicians.
    As we will see later in Gen. 10:15, Canaan’s first son was Sidon, resulting in the oldest Phoenician city, by the same name and was located on the Mediterranean seacoast, twenty-two miles north of Tyre, and between Berytus (Beirut).   The Phoenicians were called Sidonians from the eleventh to the eighth century B.C.
    Then in Gen. 10:17 is the mention of the "Arkite" descendants of Canaan which is the present-day Tell Arka (Arka, a Phoenician town), about eighty miles north of Sidon at the foot of Lebanon (few miles NE of Tripoli).   Arkantu mentioned by Thutmose III (fifteenth century B.C. ) may be the same place.   It was called Irkata in the Amarna Tablets and was captured by Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria in 738 B.C.   Some scholars believe the Arkites were the Phoenicians.   Also mentioned is the "Sinite" as possibly connected to the city of Sin in northern Phoenicia (Assyrian Siannu) which was mentioned by Tiglath-Pileser III as a city on the seacoast.
    Continuing to Gen. 10:18 we find the "Arvadite" denoting the inhabitants of Arvad about twenty-five miles north of Arka, the most northerly of the great Phoenician towns.   It occurs as Arwada (Arvada) in the Amarna Letters, and is also mentioned in the annals of the Assyrian kings.   A small island with a city of the same name, off the coast of Syria about forty miles north of Tripoli.   Its people are mentioned with Sidonians as rowers of Tyre (Ezek. 27:8, 11).   The names seems to mean "a place of fugitives," and it is said to have been first built by fugitives from Sidon.   It was later called "Ruad," from the same root.].
To return to Ebla (Tell Mardikh) and the descendants of Ham.
Also see Ten Canaanite Tribes in Gen. 15:21.

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Begins page 222-223
Begins page 222

Ham descendants - under Cush     Genesis 10:8 "And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth."
    Gen. 10:8 And Cush begat (became the father)
Nimrod [(Daleth Resh Mem Nun - Tau Aleph) N(ih)M(uh) R(oh)Dh, Heb. Nimrowd, nim-rode’, or Nimrod, probably of foreign origin.   Nimrod (Heb. nimrodh) (Gen. 10:6-10) "And the sons of Ham: Cush…and Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.   He was a mighty hunter (his royal character) before Jehovah (Yahweh)…And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar."  A true king behaves like that of a shepherd.   Religiously Genesis 10:8-10 portrays the character in which earthly imperial power first appears in human history.   Nimrod is likewise said to be the son of Cush, but the word "son" probably means "descendant."  In the "Table of the Nations" many names seem to be those of cities, e.g., Sidon (10:15), countries, e.g., Canaan (10:6, 15); or tribes, e.g., "Heth and the Jebusites" (10:15-18); but Nimrod stands out clearly as an individual man and a very interesting character.   Nimrod (rebel against God) is the founder of the kingdom of Babylon (Gen. 10:8, 9) as the evil system.   The name Nimrod has been plausibly explained as Sumerian (early non-Semitic Babylonian) Nin-Maradda, "Lord of Marad," a town southwest of Kish.  If the Babylonian Cush is to be traced to the city of Kish, founded about 3200-3000 B.C. from where the Babylonian emperors of the third millennium B.C. took their royal titles as kings of the world.
    In Assyro-Babylonian Mythology, Ninurta (shares some characteristics with Ningirsu) and also gained one of many names, as one being Lugal-Marada, a patron god of Marad.
    Some believe that the biblical Nimrod (Heb. nimrodh) is the Babylonian Ninus.
    In the Bronze Age, contemporary with Sargon, was a very important text corpus of the clay cylinders of Gudea, known as cylinder A and B.   They have been found as foundation deposits in the temple Eninus devoted to the god Ningirsu.  These cylinders contain texts devoted to the achievements of Gudea.  The long texts with about 1300 lines are the most ancient complete Sumerian literary composition and are an important source for understanding Sumerian.   The language is called New Sumerian, most of the knowledge about Sumerian is derived from texts in an era in which Sumerian as a spoken language was already extinct.
    The Sumerian King List names the dynasty of Kish with twenty-three kings first in the enumeration of Mesopotamian dynasties which reigned after the Flood.]:
he began (was the first) [(Lamed (C)Heth He) H(uh)Ch(uh)L, root Lamed Lamed (C)Heth, Ch(aw)L(ah)L, Heb. chalal, khaw-lal’, to begin, in the sense of opening, a commencement, original, first time.]
to be a mighty {one} (man) [(Resh Beth Gimel) G(ih)BB(oh)R, Heb. gibbowr, ghib-bore’, or (shortened) gibbor, intensified from the same as Heb. geber, gheh’-ber, from Heb. gabar, gaw-bar’, to be strong, thus powerful, by implication warrior, tyrant, champion, chief, giant, man, mighty (man, one), strong (man), valiant man.]
{in} (on) the earth .

Begins page 223
(continued "The kingdom of Nimrod" descendant of Cush, descendant of Ham).

    Genesis 10:9 "He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD."
    Gen. 10:9 He was a mighty hunter [(Daleth Yod Tzaddi - Resh Beth Gimel) Tz(ah)Y(ih)Dh, Heb. tsayid, tsah’-yid, from a form of Heb. tsuwd, tsood, to lie alongside, hunt, take in, and meaning the same, the chase, also game, hunter; G(ih)BB(oh)R, Heb. gibbowr, ghib-bore’, or (shortened) gibbor, intensified from the same as Heb. geber, gheh’-ber, from Heb. gabar, gaw-bar’, to be strong, thus powerful, by implication warrior, tyrant, champion, chief, giant, man, mighty (man, one), strong (man), valiant man.]
before [(Yod Nun Pe - Lamed) P(uh)N(ay)Y, Heb. paniym, paw-neem’, plural paneh, paw-neh’, from Heb. panah, paw-naw’ to turn, to face, appear, thus meaning the face, but here seen as before.]
the LORD (Yahweh) [(He Vau He Yod) YHVH, Y(uh)H(oh)V(aw)H, Heb. Yehovah, see Gen. 6:3.]: wherefore (therefore) it is said , {Even as} (like) Nimrod {the} (a) mighty hunter before the LORD (Yahweh) .


MESOPOTAMIAN CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

Ubaid	5000-3500 B.C.
Uruk	3500-3100 B.C.
Jemdet Nasr	3100-2900 B.C.
Early Dynastic I-III	2900-2350 B.C.
Akkadian	2350-2100 B.C.
Ur III	2100-2000 B.C.
Isin-Larsa	2000-1800 B.C.
Old Babylonian	1800-1600 B.C.
Kassite	1600-1150 B.C.
Post Kassite	1150-1000 B.C.
Early Neo-Babylonian	1000-625 B.C.
Neo-Babylonian	625-539 B.C.
Achaemenid	539-331 B.C.
Seleucid	331-125 B.C.
Parthian	125 B.C. - A.D. 226
Sasanian	226-637 A.D.
Islamic	637-1500 A.D.
Ottoman	1500-1918 A.D.

Dates are approximate and have been rounded

On page 228
Dynasty of Ur-III (2100-2000 BCE) Neo-Sumerian Domination

Ur-Nammu	2112	2095	17 years	Establishes the Third Dynasty of Ur
Shulgi	2094	2047	47 years	Extends father's empire to all of Assyria
Amar-Sin	2048	2038	8 years
Shu-Sin	2037	2029	8 years
Ibbi-Sin	2028	2004	24 years	Amorites weaken Sumerian power

Begin page 230
(continued Gen. 10:10, the land of Shinar, "The cities of Nimrod" descendant of Cush, descendant of Ham).
Pre-Sumerians 5000-3500
    5000 B.C. - Ubaidians (U(r)baidians) develop first divisions of labor, mud brick villages, first religious shrines.   Also a small temple at Eridu shows the earliest example of an offering table and niche for cult object.
    4500 B.C. -
    4000 B.C. - Semitic nomads from Syria and Arabian peninsula invade southern Mesopotamia, intermingle with Ubaidian population.   The temple at Tepe Gawra was built, which set the style for later examples.
    In Mesopotamia during the U(r)baid period the material culture was distinguished by the use of tools of baked clay and distinctive tripartite architecture.   Painted U(r)baid pottery gradually disappeared.
Sumerians 3500-1900
    3500 B.C. - Sumerians settle on banks of Euphrates.   The temple at Eridu was a ziggurat prototype.
    3000 B.C. - Democratic assemblies give way to kingships, evolve into hereditary monarchies.
    Kish became a leading Sumerian city.
    Here began the introduction of pictographs to keep administrative records.
    Statues such as the Warka head are founded.
    The White Temple becomes the traditional ziggurat design.
    The temple at Tell Uqair includes mosaic decorations.
    Also seen are cuneiform land sales formal contracts.
    Both Eridu and Kish are simple palaces.
    On Sumerian clay tablets dated around 2900-2800 B.C. found in Fara, Semitic (Akkadian) names are attested for the first time.   It concerns the names of kings in the city Kish.   Kish is in the north of Babylonia where according to the Sumerian King Lists ‘kingship descended again from heaven' after the great Flood.   The proper names often contain animal names like zuqiqïpum ‘scorpion' and kalbum ‘dog'.   Kings with Semitic names are the first postdiluvial kings to rule Kish.   They started the first historical period called the Early Dynastic-III Period, the cities of Ur and Lagash (2500-2350 B.C. ) which is outside protohistory.   Many archives are known, such as the archeological stratus of Uruk-IVa with archaic pictographical texts, thus found in š urruppak (Shuruppak) (near to or at modern Fara).  
    Another site is only known by its modern name, the village Abu Salabih, with Old Sumerian texts.   The majority of these texts have an economical/administrative nature.   The Sumerians of Abu Salabikh gave us the first poetry.
    "Standard of Ur" - war-peace plaque, religious statues, gold and silver artifacts buried in tombs of Ur.].

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