Science in the Bible: We know why Ham’s Kids Moved Where They Did!

Question: did people move south and grow dark skins and such to adapt to the heat/sunshine, or did they move south because the already had dark skins/better cooling systems?

For those new to CS4K, you can catch up with my thoughts reading these posts:

Why do we look the way we do?

Mutants R us?

This morning my dear pastor husband preached on the genealogy at the end of the book of Ruth.  Among many excellent points, he brought out the symbolic meanings of each member’s name.  This got me thinking about a few other names, especially our great, great ancestors: Noah’s sons.

Shem’s name means “name” and is used a lot to say, “and his shem was Jared” etc.  But it can also mean “reputation” or “famousness.”  The use of this word that jumped out at me was in Genesis 11:4 where the Babelites said, “let us make a shem for ourselves” with our tower.

Japheth’s (father of us pale faces) name means open, enlarged, or even enticing (as open arms invite a hug).  The only reference that was any help is in Genesis 9:27.  Noah blesses Japheth by saying, “God shall japheth Japheth.”  Cool, but not too enlightening.

Then we come to Ham.  His name means “hot.”  There are only two uses of his name as a general noun.  The first is in Joshua 9:12 talking about hot bread and the second in Job 37:17 where Elihu points out that your clothes feel hot when the south wind blows.

So what’s so special about Ham meaning hot?  Look at where his kids settled.  Basically, if your ancestors don’t come from Northern Asia, Europe or the Middle East, you are a descendant of Ham.  Some of his children did move to the Arctic as the Inuit and far eastern Siberians, as well as to the high mountains of the world.  But most of Ham’s children moved where it is usually what kind of climate?  Hot.

This give Biblical proof to my premise that we do not all look the way we do because we are mutants.  God designed us this way from the time of the Flood!