Day 4: From the Flood to the Patriarchs

We make the transition from pre-history to history today – from myth to date-able historical events. Was there a flood? There are many legends that suggest such a catastrophic event did take place, but we cannot know for certain. But from now on, we are dealing with real people.

Noah's Descendants
Genesis 9:18-19, 10:1-32, 1 Chronicles 1:5-27
Noah's vineyard and drunkenness
Genesis 9:20-21
Curse of Ham
Genesis 9:22-27
Death of Noah
Genesis 9:28-9
The Tower of Babel
Genesis 11:1-9
Shem to Abram
Genesis 11:10-26
Abram's family
Genesis 11:27-30

As I plough through my first proper genealogy, I realise that it has been annotated to suit later readers – where the Philistines come from is made clear. They're notorious, of course, and a familiar name amidst a list of strangers. I've been reading the Bible for nearly 30 years, and only about half of these names sound even slightly familiar. But I guess this was true for those readers for whom the footnote was added. Again the significance of the story of Noah's drunkenness appears to place it at a time when Israel was in the Promised Land: it's an anti-Canaan polemic perhaps to dissuade worship of Canaanite gods.
The final legend is that of the Tower of Babel, which really does read as one of those legends designed to explain something: “Dad, why do people speak different languages?”
“Well, son...”
The moral of the story would seem to have to do with hubris – an earlier echo is God throwing Adam and Eve our of Eden, lest they eat of the fruit of the tree of life and become like gods.
An interesting point: Peleg's name means division, and in the genealogies it is mentioned that during his time the earth was divided. Does this suggest that the events of Babel took place during his lifetime?