Who is…
Ham

also known as: Kham

Hebrew: חָם —transliteration: Cham —original meaning unknown / The name eventually came to be associated with warm and hot, and hence the south; also with an Egyptian word meaning “black.”

Ham is the youngest known son of Noah (Genesis 5:32; compare Gen. 9:22; 9:24). He lived in both the prediluvian world and postdiluvian, having survived the Flood on the ark. His descendants are called Hamites or Hamitic.

Hamites, descendants of Ham

In the early times of the post-Flood world, the people groups that developed from the children of Ham were the most energetic of all Noah’s descendants.

One of the most important facts recorded in Genesis 10 is the foundation of the earliest monarchy in Babylonia by Nimrod the grandson of Ham.

The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. —Gen. 10:6 NASB

Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. —Gen. 10:8

The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. —Gen. 10:10 NASB

SEE: Who is NIMROD? Was he godly or evil?

The early Babylonian empire was thus Hamitic, and a related race with the early inhabitants of Arabia and of Ethiopia. (See: Accad.)

• Cush
    Ethiopans

• Mizraim (Genesis 10:6)
    Egyptians

• Put (Phut)
    Lybians
    Mauritanians

• Canaan
    Canaanites
    Phoenicians

The land of Ham

This is a poetic name for Egypt and is used in Psalm 105:23; 105:27; 106:22.

A place called Ham in Genesis 14

“In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim and the Zuzim in Ham and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,” —Genesis 14:5 NASB

It is east of the Jordan River between Ashteroth-karnaim and Shaveh-kiriathaim.

More information

Article Version: December 16, 2024