Earliest Civilizations and the Post-Flood World Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering pre-Flood and post-Flood civilizations, key biblical figures, early government, geography, and concepts from Genesis.

Civilization

A human society whose name comes from a Latin word meaning 'citizen of a city,' characterized by organized cities and government, social classes, job specialization, arts, sciences, written language, and religion.

Monarchy

A form of government with one ruler.

Job Specialization

Occurs when a person devotes his time and talent to a specific type of work that becomes his occupation.

Religion

A system of basic values, beliefs, and behaviors that are directed in worship toward God and lived out in community with other people.

Atheism

A belief that there is no God, which is not the natural response of humans.

False Religion

A system of beliefs formed when people reject God and His Word, using parts of God's truth they like to create false gods from sinful human imaginations.

Universal Flood

A flood in which water covers the entire earth; often used to refer to the flood of Noah's time.

Descendant

A person whose family line can be traced to a certain person or group.

Enoch (City)

The settlement built by Cain in the land of Nod, east of Eden, named after his son Enoch, which demonstrated early features of a civilization.

Plain of Shinar

The location where the descendants of Noah's sons gathered after the Flood to build a city and the Tower of Babel.

Babel

The city where people tried to build a great tower reaching unto heaven; God stopped construction by causing the people to speak multiple languages and scattering them.

Ham

A son of Noah who received a curse for his wickedness; his descendants founded nations in the Far East, Africa, and along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Shem

A son of Noah whose descendants formed nations along the Persian Gulf and in the Middle East.

Japheth

A son of Noah whose descendants migrated to what is now Turkey and Eastern Europe.

Table of Nations

The title often given to Genesis 10, which details the descendants of Ham, Shem, and Japheth and where they relocated after the Flood.

Nimrod

A ruler described in Genesis 10:10 as having a kingdom, demonstrating that a monarchy was an early form of government.

Tubal-cain

A descendant of Cain mentioned in Genesis 4:22 as a forger of bronze and iron.

Jubal

A descendant of Cain mentioned in Genesis 4:21 as the father of those who played the lyre and pipe.

Lamech

A descendant of Cain who married two women, committed murder in self-defense, and expressed his boast in poetry.

Noah

A shipbuilder who lived ca. 3998 BC–3048 BC, instructed by God at age 480 to build an ark, which took 120 years to construct.

Pishon

A river flowing out of Eden that ran through the land of Havilah.

Gihon

A river flowing out of Eden that ran through the region of Kush.

Tigris and Euphrates

Rivers that flowed out of Eden through Assyria in ancient Mesopotamia, whose names were later reused by Noah's descendants for rivers after the Flood.

Glossopteris

An extinct seed fern whose fossils have been found in Asia, South America, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica, offering evidence that the continents were once joined.

Continental Plates

The plates of the earth's crust that form the continents.

Oceanic Plates

The plates of the earth's crust that form the ocean floor.