Native Americans And The Bible
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, July 30, 2025 (Donate)
For those who know me—I’m a mutt! What I mean by that is
that I’m mixture of hosts of people groups. I have German, Portuguese (Madeira
Island), Irish, Scottish, English, Norman (hence Norse), and so much more (I
have one
genealogy that goes back to Adam) when you look back at certain details.
But I also have some Native American on my grandpa’s side
(dad’s, dad’s side) in Kentucky. The farm I grew up on was adjacent to an
archaeological village of natives and burial ground. And I highly value all this
by the way. So when it comes to Native American history from a biblical viewpoint,
I definitely have immense interest here.
Holding my Atlatl (Native Spear Thrower that throws 6 foot spears!); Photo by Bodie Hodge
Historically though, the origin begins with other people
groups at the Tower of Babel. Genesis 10:32, NKJV, says:
These were the families of
the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from
these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.
Ultimately, we have our origin to Noah and prior to the
Flood back to Adam; which means we are a one big family but it also means we
are all sinners and all in need of Jesus Christ. See the Table of Nations graphically
in this article.
But after the Tower of Babel, things get more and more
difficult to ascertain where everyone went. In a general trend, from the Middle
East in the land of Shinar (modern day Iraq where Babel was), Japheth’s
descendant went toward Europe and North Asia, Ham’s went toward Africa, and
Shem’s were in the Middle East and the surrounding area.
Of course, there were exceptions to this. For example, Ham’s
descendant through Cush (Nimrod) remained in the land of Shinar (Genesis
10:8-12). Some of Japheth’s descendants remained in the Middle East (Madai who
descendants became known as the Medes were often associated with the Elamites
or otherwise known as the Persians). I been trying to trace some routes of
initial travels based on a number of factors for various descendants of Noah
who left Babel.
Names Of Places, Rivers, Etc.
First, names of places and people groups tend to be
concentrated in various places, which is a strong indication that that people
group was occupying that area early on. For example, the region known as Ararat
by the Hebrew tongue or Armenia by the Greek tongue also has the Araxes/Aras
River flows and the ancient Urartu people also encompasses a portion of this
land area. This name goes back to a common people group with these variations.
There are some that are easy to place such as Noah’s
grandson Javan—which is still the Hebrew name for Greece or Noah’s grandson
Mizraim which is still the Hebrew name for Egypt.
However, when it comes to North America or even portions of South America, European settlers have usurped many names and places and provided new names. Though some native names still exist [e.g. Nebraska (Sioux word for flat river, which they called the Platte River), Illinois (the French variant of the Illini tribe, etc.], the bulk have been lost and forgotten—but this is still where correlations could help.
But another issue here is that many names of places or
rivers and so on, may be named for leaders of various descendants well beyond
the names given in Genesis 10. In other
words, these places may be named for great grandsons of Noah’s great grandsons!
If this were the case, there is no direct tie to a family unit leaving Babel
without more information.
Logically, the farther away from Babel people traveled the
more likely that there were more descendants to “pick up the torch” and
continue moving about and filling the earth as per Genesis 9:1. Certain
descendants of Noah, perhaps those listed in Genesis 10, would travel only so
far, but their descendants were the ones to pick up tent and keep moving so
some names that do not appear in the Babel account become harder to correlate
unless it is written down and documented, which sadly many American tribes failed
to do.
Language Family Correlations
A second factor is based on language families. Of course,
due to wars and migrations of people this can often change or intermingle with
previous languages. For example, when Rome conquered most nations within their
grasp, the language of Latin dominated many of these countries or mixed with
their previous language and so Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese, French and
modern-day Italian all belong to the same language family—even English has some
extensive Latin influence (these are called Romance Languages).
Even nations outside of that kind of linguistic influence
still have aspects of Rome’s influence such as Germanic based languages and
Scottish using mostly Latin letters. So, looking at this factor may or may not
be a good so other discernments may be necessary but it can help group various
people to give us an indication of their closer kin.
Nations well beyond Rome’s grasp could be a different history
and we can learn a bit about people by languages. In India, a whole host of
languages exist and a number of language families—which is a strong indication
that numerous descendants from Babel likely ended up in that area. And this
makes sense considering that the lay of the land funnels people toward India on
their way to Asia, Australia, or the Americas. It is simply an easier route
than crossing mountains. Of course, a far northern route through Russia/Siberia
could have been taken—which is possible but the Ice Age may have caused some
problems early on to keep the migration pace much slower.
With regards to Native North Americans, a handful of
language families seem to dominate and this can give us clues (see map off-site
to major North American language families here). A language family consists of
a number of languages that are all similar and have a common origin—ultimately back
to Babel. Of course, languages are always changing and see variations.
One road block with determining Native Americans heritage is
the lack of a written language. So, it
based primarily on oral traditions and their analysis and can be changed in a
matter of hundreds of years. For example, English 1,000 years ago is hardly
recognizable and consider that the Australian English did not even exist 200
years ago!
Although language family may help divide the various tribes
and nations, it still may not be enough to tie these language families directly
back to an ancestor from Babel. Please take some time to search for a map that
show a distribution of the native language families of North America.
Some rare cases may have a connection to Babel though. The
Olmec, who may have been the precursors to the Mayans (or possibly conquered by
them), did have an ancient written language that had not been entirely
deciphered yet until recent times. And there is controversy at this stage
whether this language is of African descent, specifically West Africa. This is
because some West African ancient linguists are claim that they can largely
read the Olmec language! This would not be a problem for biblical creationists
who have openly taught that as people traveled to various parts of the world
from Babel, they could have used boats (recall, Noah and his sons were master
shipbuilders!)
But if this claim is verified it has a correlation. Many in
West Africa are descendants of Phut, Noah’s grandson through Ham who settled
along the Northwest of the African continent and spread around the coast (for
example, the Moors of old and modern Mauritania, Morocco, etc. came from Phut).
Others of Ham’s descendants also inhabited Africa, such as Cush (Ethiopia) and
Mizraim (Egypt and Libya) and their descendants also settled other parts of
Africa too.
Based on the oceanic currents, if you go out too far from
Africa in the ocean, you could get swept right over to Middle America, if you
survive the trip of course.
But what we can learn is that there were several language
families—which means that there were likely several various family groups (or
at least their descendants) that made it from Babel to North America. But
without much written history it may be difficult to ascertain various wars and
migration over the past 4,000 years or so. Although this is helpful, we may
need other angles.
Histories And Mythologies
From here, it may be good to evaluate a third point. This is
the one that would really take some discernment. It is to evaluate the various oral histories
of Native tribes and nations. Sometimes there is a nugget of truth waiting to
be rediscovered sitting behind the accounts as well as some truth in some of
the mythologies.
For example, in Norse and Germanic mythologies, there is a
person named Oden (Woden) and he happens to be found in post-Flood genealogies
to lead to many royal houses throughout Europe.[1]
In Greek and Roman mythologies there are a few correlations to the biblical
Table of Nations such as Chronos (or Saturn in Roman) being Noah or sometimes
confused into Kittim/Cethimus under Javan. So mythologies often have a remnant
of truth in them, but the stories may well be embellished.
This would be an exciting area of study for Natives such to
evaluate their historical traditions and try to pick out the nuggets of truth
in them and see where they lie in a post-Flood world – especially see if there
are any connections back to Genesis 10. Many are already known with Creation
legends, Flood Legends, and Tower of Babel/language split legends.
Keep in mind language variations and the possibility of some
of these traditions being people farther removed from Babel, as well as places
and events farther removed from Babel. Naturally of course, the stories have
deviated over several thousand years. This is where discernment is needed.
And since God, the true Creator, was kind enough to provide
a revelation to mankind as to what really happened when He created (the Bible,
specifically Genesis), this helps invariably. The great thing about Genesis, is
that there is an absolute framework by which we can look at these accounts and interpret
them.
Genetic Testing
A modern means of trying to determine family ancestry is by
genetic testing. Hosts of Native Americans have been genetically tested and
some correlate with Asian populations. Of course, this makes sense if a number
of people migrated from the Asian continent to the Americans via Alaska and the
Bering Strait during the Ice Age that followed the Flood. Even many common
physical features can be found among Native Americans, e.g., similarities in
eye shape in some tribes.
According to Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson, three different
prominent genetic groups (based on Y-chromosome haplogroups) made it to the
Americas in separate migration waves. He identifies these groups as:
- Haplogroup
Q1a2a1 (Q-M3) – The earliest group, which he dates to a migration between AD
200–400.
- Haplogroup
Q1a2a2 (Q-Z780) – A second wave, arriving around AD 800–1000.
- Haplogroup
C (C-M130) – A third group, arriving slightly later, possibly around AD
1200 or later.
Jeanson argues that these three paternal lineages originated
from Central Asia and migrated to the Americas within the last ~2,000 years,
aligning with a biblical timeline of post-Babel human dispersal (~4,500 years
ago). He claims earlier male lineages were entirely replaced, though he
acknowledges that female mitochondrial lineages may show longer continuity.
His model stands in contrast to the Secular Humanistic religious
view that most Native American Y-DNA diversity stems from a single founding
population ~15,000–20,000 years ago. I highly recommend Jeanson’s books Traced, Replacing
Darwin, and They Had
Names.
Bear in mind that certain other groups that arrived in the Americas
like the Vikings, Minoans[2],
West African Olmec, and other may have come and intermixed and been replaced
genetically.
Conclusion
So, the short answer is Native Americans originally came as
a result of the scatter at the Tower of Babel—many of the people groups arrived
much later and this makes sense—it is farther away. They also likely came in
waves as unrest in a home country, (e.g., war, famines, disease, and on) cause
people to migrate.
But to connect the dots, will require a bit more research.
Which I want to encourage more research. I think Dr. Jeanson’s research is leading
the pack on this.
Originally on Answers in Genesis (https://answersingenesis.org/tower-of-babel/native-americans-and-the-bible/); Edited and Updated; Republished by permission.
