Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
The record in Chronicles runs from Adam through Noah's sons and out into the nations, and here it stops on Egypt and four of its families. Why does a history of Israel's kings open with names like Ludim and Anamim, which most readers have never heard?
The line of the flesh comes first
Chronicles is heading toward David and the kingdom, yet it starts with the branches that fall outside the promise. One writer sees a deliberate order in that.
Henri L. RossierChronicles deals with God's purposes and His ways of grace toward man, so it begins with Adam. It then traces the line of man chosen according to God's purposes of grace. This stands in contrast to the line of man according to the flesh... So in these chapters the line of the flesh comes first, and the line of the Spirit second. God does not beget until sinful man has first shown what his nature could produce.
Mizraim is Egypt
The name at the head of this verse is not an obscure ancestor. It is the Hebrew word for a whole country.
Morrish Bible DictionarySon of Ham, and the name of his descendants and also of the country they held. Its meaning is much disputed. The Hebrew word is really Mitzraim. The King James Version leaves it untranslated only in Genesis 10:6, 13 and 1 Chronicles 1:8, 11. Everywhere else that version renders it EGYPT. The word has a dual form. Some have thought this came from the division of that land into Upper and Lower Egypt.
The two names, Mizraim and Ham, carry meaning of their own.
Frederick W GrantThe Scripture name is not Egypt but Mizraim, and Mizraim means "double narrowness."... Mizraim was son of Ham... a very telling name here. Ham means black or sun-burnt — darkened by the light. Ham is the father of Mizraim. So what we call the natural state is not truly natural. It is not the mere absence of light. It is the effect of the light itself. And such is the darkness of the world.
Ludim: two families, one name
The first of the four names belongs to two different families.
William KellyThere was also a Lud among the sons of Shem. He was the ancestor of the well-known Lydian race in western Asia Minor. It is important to keep him separate from those descended from Mitzraim, who spread out west of the Nile. They were archers. We learn this from Isaiah 66:19 and Jeremiah 46:9, where the African peoples appear to be listed and described this way.
Anamim: a name only God preserved
History has kept nothing at all about the second family.
William KellyNext come the Anamim. The Bible says nothing more about them than what stands in the two genealogy lists. Comparing the names that follow, we may perhaps gather that they were a race who settled in the Delta of Egypt. But we must admit that no one has found a reliable trace of them, either in the ancient geographers or in the monuments read so far. Here we have the unfailing record of God. He alone saw the end from the beginning, and He was pleased to tell us truth that would otherwise go unnoticed. A day is coming when God will judge the inhabited earth, and that judgment will prove these races are not extinct.
Lehabim and Naphtuhim: Libya and the last days
The third and fourth names lead straight into prophecy.
William KellyThe Lehabim, also called Lubim in 2 Chronicles 12:3 and 16:8, together with the people called Phut, or Put, correspond to the ancient Libyans... Egypt conquered a group of peoples called "the Bows," or "Nine Bows," Na-Petu. That name seems to connect with the Naphtuhim, who follow the Lehabim at once... Something still future bears on this too. When the last king of the north conquers and plunders Egypt, the Lubim and Cush will be at his steps. Yet Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon will be delivered out of his hands.
Why the list is worth reading
These names do not stay in the past.
Charles BrachotteGenesis 10 is a chapter that few would read with interest. It looks like just a list of generations, of fathers, sons, and so on. What can be interesting about this? But the way God gives us history is not at all the way men give it... You not only find the names of these nations all through the Bible; they also keep the same character through the whole of history, right to the end.
Summary
- Order. Chronicles records the natural line before the spiritual one. Egypt's sons come before Israel's, because God first lets fallen man show what his nature produces.
- Origin. Mizraim is the Hebrew name for Egypt, a son of Ham. Ham's name means darkened by the light — a picture of the world's darkness.
- Distinction. The Ludim here are African, west of the Nile. Do not mix them up with the Shemite Lud, the ancestor of the Lydians.
- Preservation. The Anamim left no trace in any human record. Only God's account keeps them, and a coming judgment will show they are not extinct.
- Destination. Lehabim points to the Libyans, who reappear in the prophets. So this quiet list ends where prophecy ends — with these nations present when God judges the earth.