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How the Earth Was Divided by Lot at the End of Noah's Life

In year 1569 after creation, Noah's sons each drew a slip from their father's robe before an angel. The world was divided and given away forever.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Year the World Was Parceled Out
  2. What Each Portion Contained
  3. Ham and Japheth and the Edges of the World
  4. What Noah Did After

The Year the World Was Parceled Out

In the year 1569 after the creation of the world, Noah gathered his three sons and told them the time had come to divide the earth. Not by his preference. Not by negotiation. By lot, in the presence of an angel who had come to witness it.

Each son reached into his father's bosom and drew out a slip of parchment. The slips had been inscribed before the drawing began. What came to each son came by something larger than Noah's wishes, and Noah knew it. The angel standing in the tent knew it. The sons who drew their portions knew it. The earth was not being parceled out by a patriarch exercising his authority. It was being assigned by a process that left no room for dispute because it left no room for preference.

What Each Portion Contained

Shem's portion was the middle of the earth. Not the largest. Not the richest in material resources. But the middle, the temperate center, and within it every place that would ever be called holy. Three sacred sites fell within Shem's inheritance: the Holy of Holies at the heart of the Temple, Mount Sinai at the center of the desert, and Mount Zion at what the tradition calls the navel of the earth. The Garden of Eden, the original dwelling of God with humanity, also fell within Shem's portion.

Noah did not hide his response when he saw what Shem had drawn. He rejoiced. Not because Shem's portion was the largest or the most materially advantageous, but because Noah understood what the holy sites meant. His son had drawn the part of the earth that God would return to, the part that contained the places where heaven and earth touched. He knew that Shem's descendants would be the people around whom the central story of the world would turn.

Ham and Japheth and the Edges of the World

Ham drew the south. Hot, fertile, ancient Africa, the lands where the Nile floods and the sun is directly overhead and nothing is temperate. His portion was large and warm and already old when he received it. Japheth drew the north: cold, vast, forested, the lands that extended toward the edges of the known world. Each portion reflected something about the nature of the inheritance each son was receiving, though the tradition does not say the reflection was punishment or reward. The lots fell where they fell.

The borders were drawn by the angel. Three languages were assigned: Shem's family would speak one tongue, Ham's another, Japheth's a third. The linguistic division of humanity that the Tower of Babel would later produce was already prefigured in the division Noah oversaw at the end of his life.

What Noah Did After

Noah planted a vineyard, as the Torah says. He tasted his wine and was overcome by it, lying uncovered in his tent, the consequences of that afternoon rippling through the blessing and curse he issued when he woke. But the division of the earth had already been accomplished. The parchment slips had been drawn, the angel had witnessed it, and the shape of the post-flood world had been fixed in the year 1569 before any of the events that followed.

The tradition preserves the year with the same precision it preserves the dates of the flood. Time in the rabbinic imagination is not a vague sequence of events. It is a calendar with entries, each significant action located at a specific point, the world running according to a schedule that was written before any of the participants could read it.

NoahShemHamJaphethDivisionInheritanceAngelsJubilees
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From the tradition

Sources

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Legends of the Jews 4:83Legends of the Jews

In the year 1569 after creation, Noah himself, guided by an angel, divided the world among his three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Imagine the scene – a world freshly cleansed, a family gathered, and the fate of nations hanging in the balance.

The method? A lottery, of sorts. Each son reached into Noah's bosom (a somewhat archaic but evocative image!) and drew a slip. And the slip Shem drew? Well, that was something special.

It was inscribed with the "middle of the earth." The middle of the earth! This, the story tells us, became the eternal inheritance of Shem's descendants. It’s a powerful image, isn't it? The very heart of the world belonging to one lineage.

Noah, upon seeing the result, rejoiced. Why? Because, as the story goes, this fulfilled his blessing upon Shem: "And God in the habitation of Shem." (Genesis 9:26). The idea is that God's presence would dwell most strongly within Shem's territory.

But what made this particular patch of land so significant? What made it the "middle of the earth?"

Well, three supremely holy places fell within Shem's designated area. Firstly, there's the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem – the innermost sanctuary, the dwelling place of the Divine Presence. Then, there’s Mount Sinai, located at the middle point of the desert, where Moses received the Torah. And finally, Mount Zion, considered the navel – the very center – of the earth. Think of it as an umbilical cord connecting humanity to the divine.

These weren't just arbitrary locations. According to this tradition, they were points of immense spiritual power, all located within the territory of Shem. It’s a powerful assertion about the spiritual centrality of that land and the destiny of Shem’s line.

So next time you think about maps, about borders, about the division of land, remember this ancient story. It's not just about geography; it’s about destiny, blessing, and the enduring quest to find the center – the axis mundi – of our world. A quest that, perhaps, begins within ourselves.

Full source
Legends of the Jews 4:85Legends of the Jews

Legends of the Jews tells us that the south fell to the lot of Ham. Think scorching deserts, sweltering jungles... that kind of heat. The north? That became the inheritance of Japheth, a land of biting winds and icy landscapes.

What about Shem? He got something a little different. The land of Shem, it's said, was neither overwhelmingly hot nor intensely cold. It was a mixture, a balance. A place where you could experience both the warmth of the sun and the refreshing chill of the wind.

This division, this monumental carving up of the world, it didn't just happen at any old time. It happened towards the end of the life of Peleg. Peleg... that's an interesting name, isn't it? His father, Eber, gave him that name. And Eber, being a prophet, well, he knew something big was coming. He knew that the division of the earth, the pelagah (פְּלָגָה), would take place during his son's lifetime. It's like naming your kid "Earthquake" because you have a feeling something's about to shake!

Then there's Joktan, Peleg's brother. His name? It's tied to another change, a less geographical one. Joktan, from the Hebrew root qatan (קטן), meaning "small" or "shortened," was named so because the duration of human life was shortened in his time.

So, what does it all mean? Is it just an old story about land distribution and some peculiar names? Maybe. But I think there's something deeper here. It's a reminder that the world, and our lives, are constantly changing. Boundaries are drawn, lifespans fluctuate, and we, like Noah's sons, are left to work through the world we inherit. Maybe the real question isn't who got the best piece of land, but what we do with the land we’re given.

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