There are pockets of people in genealogical scholarship and those among the lay who believe that the Oriental people of the world have roots traced to Shem and are thus Semitic peoples as opposed to the Hamitic origins that have been popularly ascribed to them and formally delineated in the Table of Nations. Thus belies the belief that Orientals have a deeply-rooted sense of camaraderie with and respect for the Jewish people.
According to the Biblical record, Shem is the original forefather of both the West Asian people and East Asian people. In the Genesis account, the ancestry of all the East Asian people can be traced to Shem.
Shem means honourable name, which fits well with East Asian cultural values. In the Hebrew Bible, God is referred to as ‘The Honourable Name’ (HA-SHÈM), thus associating God with the people of Shem. In Genesis 10:21, Shem is called “the father of all the children of Eber,” meaning the Hebrew people. The word Hebrew means ‘of Eber,’ or ‘descended from Eber.’ Gen. 10:25, 'To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. 'The Hebrew race has thus descended from Eber in two branches: Peleg and Joktan. The name Peleg is division (a prophecy that humanity would be divided after the Great Flood, Gen. 11:7-9), and the name Joktan is diminish (a prophecy that human longevity would be diminished after the Great Flood, Gen. 6:3).
Shem means honourable name, which fits well with East Asian cultural values. In the Hebrew Bible, God is referred to as ‘The Honourable Name’ (HA-SHÈM), thus associating God with the people of Shem. In Genesis 10:21, Shem is called “the father of all the children of Eber,” meaning the Hebrew people. The word Hebrew means ‘of Eber,’ or ‘descended from Eber.’ Gen. 10:25, 'To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. 'The Hebrew race has thus descended from Eber in two branches: Peleg and Joktan. The name Peleg is division (a prophecy that humanity would be divided after the Great Flood, Gen. 11:7-9), and the name Joktan is diminish (a prophecy that human longevity would be diminished after the Great Flood, Gen. 6:3).
Joktan’s family of thirteen sons is the largest family of early Bible times. Only Joktan’s first-generation lineage was recorded: Gen. 10:26-29; I Chron. 1:19-23. (Even this much is unusual because Joktan’s descendants are not mentioned in later Bible history.) All later Bible history is based on Peleg’s lineage (Gen. 11), so readers have traditionally thought Peleg’s descendants are the only existing Hebrews. Peleg’s lineage has more visibility in the Bible because it led up to Abraham—and God took Abraham’s people to lead the Bible narrative. But the descendants of Joktan made another even larger branch of Hebrews. The total disappearance of Joktan’s people from the Bible narrative means that his family left west Asia entirely and migrated to another land far away.
For over a century Noah and the Flood survivors were migrating in the east (eastwards of the Euphrates River plain, which is Shinar). Gen. 11:2, 'And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there'.
The plain of Shinar was later renamed Babylon (see Gen. 11:9). The Hebrew phrase ‘from the east’ is MI-KÈDEM. A literal translation of MI is ‘coming from’ or ‘from’ (and it cannot be translated otherwise). KÈDEM is ‘the front of the east’ or ‘the orient.’ The root meaning of KÈDEM is ‘front’ —in the geographic sense referring to the east Asian coastlands facing sunrise. In a time sense it can also be ‘ancient beginnings’ (the front of time) and could sometimes be translated as ‘ancient orient.’ In Gen. 11:2, the word KÈDEM means that the Flood survivors had migrated from someplace farther east before entering the land of Babylon. (Many Bible versions have poor translations of KÈDEM.)
The earliest sojourn of the Flood survivors was eastwards of Babylon, across the Iranian plateau, requiring more than a century, according to Gen. 11:10-16. It could even have taken well beyond a century before Peleg entered Babylon.
We know that Peleg migrated to Babylon because his descendants dwelt there (including Abraham, Gen. 11); but Joktan did not go with Peleg into Babylon.
This pre-Babylonian sojourn is an important factor for it helps us to know the location of Joktan’s migration route. He must have separated from the caravan before they came to Babylon because he chose to go east. Gen. 10:30, 'The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar, the hill country of the east'.The caravan migrating westward towards Babylon was already in the east, so Joktan’s decision to go eastward means that he separated from the caravan and turned towards the orient (we have our own translation of Gen. 10:30 later on).
Some Bible scholars have offered an opinion that Joktan migrated into Arabia because two of his sons, Sheba and Havilah, have the same names as two tribes in Arabia. But those Arabian tribes are of Cushite descent in the lineage of Ham and are not in the lineage of Shem at all (see Gen. 10:6-7). Arabia is part of the migration route to Africa, the land of Cush; therefore, the first peoples in Arabia were Cushite. Many Bible names appear multiple times in various genealogies but that does not imply genealogical kinship; only the context can indicate that.
The separation of Peleg’s clan and Joktan’s clan made two Hebrew peoples, the Western Hebrews of western Asia and the Eastern Hebrews of eastern Asia. Most nations of eastern Asia have Hebrew ancestry.
Noah’s Flood erased pre-Flood place names but new names were given after the Flood. Biblical name meaning is important. In Genesis 10:30, Mesha means ‘departure,’ indicating Joktan’s place of departure from the caravan. His group took their departure from someplace on the Iranian plateau or central Asia and that place of departure (MÈSHA) was the starting point of Joktanite settlement.
Joktan’s clan must have been the first to scout the ancient Silk Road that later became the main road of migration into east Asia. Mesha (the departure point) was the start of the ancient Silk Road. The Silk Road had its start near the city of Mashhad, in north-eastern Iran. This name Mashhad may have originated from the ancient Hebrew name Mesha.
The phrase “in the direction of Sephar” is from the Hebrew word SEPHARÀH, and literally means ‘towards a numerous population.’ Instead of a name, if we take word meaning, this word is prophetic of the numerous population in China and throughout the orient.
The phrase “the hill country of the east” is from HAR HA-KÈDEM, and a literal translation is ‘the mountain of the orient.’ This is our own literal translation of Gen. 10:30, And their dwelling place shall be from the departure point, as you go towards a numerous population, the mountain of the orient (translation mine).
“The mountain of the orient” could be just a symbolic term for the numerous East Asian populations, or it may be a special mountain marking the far-eastern extent of the Joktanite populace; but either way it certainly means that Orientals are Joktan’s descendants. (Joktan is indicated from the context of Gen. 10:30.)
Chinese history says that the first migrations came into China’s eastern plains from the west, along the Silk Road. This verifies the accepted dating of the first settlements in China’s Yellow River valley. Hebrew Text Bible chronology puts this migration about 2200 BCE. Tribal diversity in the orient began with Joktan’s thirteen sons and their families. It may also come from the Patriarchal families.
East Asia was gradually populated by the descendants of these Semitic settlers. We conclude that East Asian mainland peoples are entirely Semitic and may be identified in Bible terms as Eastern Hebrews. Other west Asian tribes came to China later—such as Assyrians, the ten northern Israeli tribes and Persian Jews. These all were Semitic and eventually assimilated into China.
East Asian languages are apparently unrelated to the languages of west Asia such as Aramaic and Canaanite Hebrew; this apparent dissimilarity has caused many to conclude that the Orientals are not Semitic. But East Asian languages are unlinked to Hamitic languages and Japhetic Indo-European languages also.
This means that East Asian languages might not necessarily identify ancestry in easily recognisable ways. The Bible nowhere says that all Semitic people have related languages. This opinion of the past may need to be reviewed in light of continuing discovery.
The language that Noah brought over from the pre-Flood world apparently continued in this world for over two centuries and was a unifying influence until the speech of the Babylonians became confused; Gen. 11:1. The Bible does not say what happened to the original language. The only reason given us for the speech confusion is that God wanted the Babylonian people to disperse abroad (Gen. 11:8-9). Therefore God did not change the language of people that were not in Babylon because they were not part of the problem! The people that had earlier removed from the Babylon crowd and had chosen their migration routes would have continued speaking the language brought over by Noah.
This means that Joktan’s clan remained unaffected by the Babylon chaos, and kept the ancient original language brought over by Noah. Joktan went to China, which explains why Chinese is not related to languages that began in Babylon.
This also explains why China’s language does not identify ancestry in an easily recognisable way. Chinese legends indicate a great antiquity for the language and the findings of archaeology support this conclusion. Various non-Chinese peoples of east Asia have national languages that seem unrelated to Chinese, and unrelated to all other Babylon-originated languages.
God may have done a miracle in China, as in Babylon, to get people moving to other lands. The miracle of languages may have happened again, which could explain how the non-Chinese languages of east Asia came to be. Bible readers may be interested to read Zephaniah 3:9. It says that God will restore a pure language for people when He establishes His kingdom on earth.
The language from Eden probably continued until Noah, with no large changes. It was brought to China by Joktan and has remained China’s spoken language. It has gone through changes in the passing of time but much honour surrounds the Chinese language, because of its ancient origin.
Adapted from Paul Phelps' site.