Rivers of men

In the table of nations in Genesis 10, we’re told that from the descendants of Japheth, the “coastlands of the nations were divided from their lands” (v. 5).  The chapter ends on a similar note: “These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood” (v. 32).

The verb “divide” has been used only once before in Genesis, describing division of the river that flowed out of Eden into four (2:10).  After the flood, Ararat is set up as the new Mount Eden, Noah as the new Adam, but from this Eden “divide” not rivers but people, to the four corners of the earth.