WHERE DID THEY GO?

“Here is the genealogy of the sons of Noach – Shem, Ham and Yefet; sons were born to them after the flood.”
Genesis 10:1

If I had to think as to where all my living relatives live, it would be as so. My grandmother lives in Arizona, my uncles and aunts live in California and Colorado. My cousins live in California, Colorado, and South Carolina. And then my mom, brothers, and sister live in Texas now. Lastly, my kids and I live in Tennessee. It is hard to imagine that at one time back in my younger days, we all lived within a two hour radius of each other. Yet as we grew up, we also spread out.
In reading the Parashah portion today we see the same thing. Following the flood, Noach’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Yefet all had their own families. Their families had families who had families who had families and over time they too spread out. The Torah doesn’t tell us exactly where they went, well not all of them, but I was curious to know. Leave it to me, however, to do a little digging and find the approximate details as to where each clan landed. From best we can tell, Shem’s descendants traveled east to make up a majority of Asia. Ham’s family line found its way south to the area of Africa. Yefet’s lineage moved into Europe.
While I do realize that many will be un-phased by this, I find it interesting. Following the destruction and overpowering of Israel years later, Jews from all over were dispersed. It is only recently that Jews are discovering their true roots and coming back into the knowledge of who they are. And it is not just Jews from the Middle East, but from Asia, North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia. The families are coming back together, back from a season of hiding and being dispersed, and back into relationship with the Messiah. Wherever we went, we are now heading back to our roots.

Genesis 9:18 – 10:32