Some Ancient Biblical History

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders and they will tell thee (Deuteronomy 32:7).

I enjoy studying biblical history. I guess it's the history buff in me and the fact that my undergraduate major is in history. Recently, I came across some interesting facts I would like to share with you. Some of it I knew, some of it I had forgotten, and some of it, I had never heard before.

I knew the Edomites had descended from Esau, Jacob's twin brother who married two Hittite women, Judith and Basemath. A third wife, Mahalath, was the daughter of Ishmael (Abraham's son by Hagar). Their descendants became known as Edomites, and they have a history of conflict with Israel.

Nineveh

The Canaanites came from Canaan, the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah. They were also enemies of the Israelites. The Amorites, another contentious group, also descended from Canaan and are a branch of the larger Canaanite group. Rahab, who aided the Hebrew spies in Jericho was a Canaanite. Nimrod, Noah's great-grandson and Ham's grandson through Cush, established the two great cities of Babylon and Nineveh, part of Assyria. 

The Moabites were descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew. The lineage can be traced back to when Lot and his two daughters escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and hid in a cave. The women, thinking they were the only three people left in the world, got their father drunk and slept with him. The older daughter had a son named Moab, and the Moabites descended from him (see Genesis 19:30-36). The younger daughter had Ammon, and the Ammonites descended from him. 

If you remember, Ruth was a Moabite who left Moab with her mother-in-law, Naomi, to travel back to Bethlehem where she met Boaz. Ruth is in the earthly genealogy of  Jesus and probably Rahab, the Canaanite, also. These accounts are reminders that poor choices can have far-reaching effects. However, God can bring some good out of even them, like with Rahab and Ruth. Can't ancient biblical history be interesting? It's just one more reason to read and study the Bible.

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