Sponsored by Vicky Wu in Memory of JJ Greenberg z”l
In Parshat Haazinu, Dvarim 32:8-9, we come across a perplexing idea:
When the Supreme One gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided humankind, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of B’nai Yisrael. For the Lord’s own share is His people, Yaakov his allotted place.
Rashi explains that after the flood, when the Tower of Bavel was being built, God decided to scatter the people. He chose not to destroy them since eventually the Jewish nation would descend from Noach’s son, Shem. God therefore divided them into 70 separate nations and languages, corresponding to the future number of B’nai Yisrael that would go down to Egypt at the time of the famine.
In Breisheet, Chapter 10, we read about the descendants of Noach’s sons, Shem, Cham and Yafet who became the 70 nations. Verse 5 states: “From these seagoing nations spread out to their territories, each with its own language, by their clans and their nations.”
Rashbam points out that in Breisheet 10:19 we see the borders of C’naan (Cham’s son), “And the Canaanite boundary extended from Zidon, going toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; Going toward Sdom and Amora, Admah and Zebolim as far as Lasha.”
C’naan’s borders are the only territories that are mentioned here. There are no regions listed for Noach’s other children. The reason for this is because C’naan’s twelve children correspond to Ya’akov’s 12 future sons and the Land of C’naan was destined to become the Land of Israel.
According to Sforno, the nation of Israel is God’s main focus. Therefore, He saved Noach’s descendants early on so that eventually the Jewish nation would be born.
