Table of Nations (Sons of Noah)

The Table of Nations, or the Sons of Noah, is an extensive list of descendents of Noah appearing in Genesis 10 of the Hebrew Bible, representing a traditional ethnology.

    During the Flood, the population of the Earth was completely destroyed, because of the wickedness, and Noah and his family were the sole eight survivors to continue and repopulate the human race.

    All humans on Earth are descended from Noah' family.

The present population of the world was desended from Noah' three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their wives.

    According to Genesis 10, Noah had three sons:

      - Shem, the forefather of the Semitic people.

      - Ham, the forefather of the Hamitic people.

      - Japheth, the forefather of the Japhetic people.

Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

- Genesis 10:1

The Ten Lost Tribes

  When we're talking about the Ten Lost Tribes, we're talking about the Tribes of Ancient Israel that were deported from the Kingdom of Israel after it was conquered by Assyria in about 722 BC. We espouse a millenarian view that the Tribes will return.
  The Hebrew Bible does not use the expression "Ten Lost Tribes", leading some people to question the number of tribes involved. However, the passage in 1 Kings, chapter 11, verse 31 and 35, states that kingdom would be taken from Solomon and that would be given ten tribes to Jeroboam:

1 Kings (Melachim Alef) 11:31
³¹ And he said to Jeroboam (Yarov‘am), Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith Yah Elohei Yisrael (of Israel), Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon (Sh’lomo), and will give ten tribes to thee:

1 Kings (Melachim Alef) 11:35
³⁵ But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.

The Ten Lost Tribes and the New Testament

  Within the New Testament we can verify that exists some evidence of a continuing identification in later centuries of individual Israelites to the Lost Tribes. For example, in Luke 2:36, an individual is identified with the tribe of Asher.

Luke (Lukas) 2:36
³⁶ And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;

The Ten Lost Tribes and the Jewish Tradition

  There are numerous references to the Lost Tribes in biblical writings. In Ezekiel 37:16-17; the prophet is told to write on one stick (an ancient reference to scrolls) "For Judah..." and on the other "For Joseph..." (the main Lost Tribe). The prophet is then told that these two groups shall be someday reunited. See the biblical passage below:

Ezekiel (Yechezkel) 37:16-17
¹⁶ Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah (Yehudah), and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph (Yosef), the stick of Ephraim (Ephrayim) and for all the house of Israel his companions: ¹⁷ And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

  There are also discussions in the Talmud as to whether the ten lost tribes will eventually be reunited with the Tribe of Judah, that is, with the Jewish people.

The Ten Lost Tribes and the Beta Israel of Ethiopia

  The Beta Israel are Ethiopian Jews. Some members of the Beta Israel, as well as several Jewish scholars, believe that they are descended from the lost Tribe of Dan.
  Early DNA studies showed they were descended from Ethiopians, but in the 21^st century, new studies have shown possible connection to a few Jews of the 4^th to 5^th century

The Ten Lost Tribes and the Igbo Jews of Nigeria

  The Igbo Jews of Nigeria claim descent variously from the tribes of Levi, Naphtali, Gad, Zebulun and Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim).

Rastafari History

1930s

HIM Haile Selassie I



Marcus Garvey

  The Ras Tafari began in Jamaica during the 1930s following a prophecy by Marcus Garvey, a political leader. Garvey preached "Look to Africa where a king shall be crowned, he shall be the Redeemer." This statement became the foundation of our Movement. The prophecy was rapidly followed by the crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia. We see this as the fulfilment of Garvey's prophecy. The religion takes its name from the original name of the emperor, Ras (Head, Chief) Tafari Makonnen. Haile Selassie I is therefore regarded as Yah. He is our figure of salvation and we believe He will redeem the downpressed from the downpressor, reuniting them with Afrika "The Cradle of Humanity".

1930s - 1950s

Leonard P. Howell

  The first branch of Rastafari is believed to have been established in Jamaica in 1935 by Leonard P. Howell. He preached the divinity of Haile Selassie. Howell's action encouraged others to help develop and spread the message of Rasta theology, and as E.E. Cashmore explains: "All, in their own ways, added pieces to the jigsaw, and the whole picture came together in the mid 1950s when a series of congregations of rastas appeared at various departure points on Jamaica's shores, awaiting ships bound for Africa". This marked the first uniting of Ras Tafari and it paved the way for the future of our movement, bringing hope of repatriation with Afrika and freedom. 

1960s - 1970s

Bob Marley and Peter Tosh

  In 1966 Haile Selassie I visited Jamaica, where He was greeted with vast enthusiasm. The development of Reggae music during this period made Ras Tafari audible and visible to an international audience. The work of Bob Marley or Peter Tosh (two of the most important figures between our Movement) was starting to be popular with a much wider group than the working class Jamaican culture from which it sprang. In 1974 Haile Selassie I was deposed by a Marxist revolution. He died mysteriously the next year. The removal of a divine figure by an atheist secular political group was initially discouraging to us.

They're saying lies. Yah live, Selassie I will live forever!