Genesis 19
[Read Genesis 10:1.]
Whenever you hear an introductory verse like that it’s almost like a call to be ready to be bored. Oh no, here we go. One of those passages where you read about all the begats and begottens and becames and becomes through the family line of certain persons. Important stuff, but potentially uninspiring.
An older sister was sitting next to her younger brother in Church one Sunday morning unsuccessfully trying to keep him still and quiet. Finally she said, “I wish you would calm down.” “I can’t”, he said, “it’s just so boring.” With that his sister turned and said, “It’s supposed to be boring, now be still!”
[History teacher in college story.]
At first glance historical narratives can be a little methodical and mundane. But when we understand the significance of the events they become more than just names and dates – they become the providential hand of God taking man from point a to point b to point c and so on.
Chapter 10 of Genesis is a record of how mankind fanned out over all the earth, like spokes in a wheel radiating from a center. Both secular science and Scripture place this center in the Middle East. The Middle East has been called, "the cradle of civilization," or "the cradle of mankind." We are now dealing with the days immediately following the Flood, when the sons of Noah became the heads of three major divisions or families of mankind. In this chapter we learn how they spread throughout the earth.
The first son that we’re going to look at is Japeth from whom most of the Indo-European civilizations came from. Let’s read through the beginnings of his family line.
I. Japeth
[Read Genesis 10:2-5.]
Now when people, much smarter and thorough than I, trace back all of these names and cross reference them with dates and events, they come up with a lineage that led to the
Indo-European family of nations. (Which is probably most of us here tonight.) Early in the history of the world, the Japhethites split into two groups. One settled in India and the other settled in Europe. Together they form what is known as the "Indo-European" family of nations.
[Refer to Frank Alling’s chart.]
Now while most major schools of science can trace the roots of the Indo-European nations back to the Japhethites, some deviate a little bit with the details.
For instance, many Greeks say that their ancestor was a man named Japetos, (you can see in that the resemblance to Japheth). They regarded him as not only the father of their race, but the father of all humanity.
The Indians, on the other hand, have an account of the flood similar in many respects to the Biblical account of the flood. The name of their hero is not Noah, but Satyaurata, and he had three sons. The name of the oldest was Iyapeti (very much like Japheth), and the other two were Sharma, and C’harma (much like Shem and Ham). The interesting thing about the Indian account is that C’harma was cursed by his father because he laughed at him when he got drunk. Sound familiar?
Of course, they don’t have the perfect, inspired Word of God to get the facts straight. Their legends of origin came through their generations of people as they got farther and farther away from the Lord. Therefore, their accounts of origin are skewed.
But the fact remains, the Indo-Europeans, a huge family of nations, came from the line of Japeth just as prophesied by Noah.
[Read Genesis 9:27.]
Well that Canaan referred to here would bring nations that would live in servitude to the nations of Japeth. And they all came through the line of Ham. Now I’m going to divide the descendants of Ham into two groups for discussion sake. The groups of people that came through Nimrod and the groups of people that came through Canaan.
II. Ham
1. Nimrod
[Read Genesis 10:6-14.]
The great leader Nimrod is highlighted in this passage as a “mighty one” on the earth. He was obviously one of the most if not the most powerful man on the earth at that time. The Bible calls Him "a mighty hunter before the LORD." Now it was the work of kings in those ancient days to be hunters. This was a time when civilization was sparse and wild animals were a constant threat to the peoples. Kings, having nothing much else to do, organized hunting parties and acted as the protectors of their people by killing wild animals. Nimrod gained a great reputation as such a hunter, and became a powerful leader of people and nations.
But listen to the nations that came from him. The most notable ones were Babel or Babylon, Ninevah and the Philistines. All of which were known for their immorality, ruthlessness and false religions.
a. Babel, (Babylon)
Babylon is known especially for their pagan religions that might have even been started
by Nimrod himself. There’s connections between himself and his wife and the ancient Babylonian worship of their gods Marduke and Semiramis.
Babylon is also referred to in the book of Revelation as “the great harlot” who deceives the world with her immorality and false religions. An obvious reference to a powerful nation that would resemble the ungodliness of ancient Babylon.
b. Ninevah
Ninevah eventually became the capitol city of the Assyrian empire – one of the most
vicious and pagan empires in history. I was going to read an excerpt from one of their rulers depicting a usual day of war for them. But their bragging of the way they tortured and mutilated their captives was just too disturbing to read aloud. Of course, some of their warring was with Israel and they spared them no mercy.
c. Philistines
Another group of people that we’ll be seeing often in Scripture as an enemy of God and
Israel are the Philistines. The trend is clear. The nations from Nimrod, ultimately from Ham, are pagan enemies of the Lord.
Another group of peoples that came from Ham are the Canaanites.
2. Canaan
[Read Genesis 10:15-20.]
This a listing of not only the people that would come through Canaan, but where they were located. This is very significant since the Canaanites would be occupying the land that was reserved for Israel.
[Read Genesis 9:25-26.]
This prophecy would come true as the Jews would eventually occupy the promised land that the pagan Canaanites called home. And where did those Jews come from? Well from Shem of course.
III. Shem
[Read Genesis 10:21-31.]
Now later in chapter eleven Moses goes into greater detail about the Shemites and how Abraham came though Shem’s family line.
But notice something here. Shem was the father of the children of Eber. Actually, Eber was a great-grandson of Shem, but from Eber comes the word Hebrew. Abraham, who was really the founder of the Hebrew nation, was six generations beyond Eber. Yet Eber is of such note that Abraham is identified as an Eberite, or a Hebrew.
Another prominent person in the line of Shem was Peleg, whose name comes from the Hebrew words for streams of water and earthquake. Now there’s a lot of speculation upon what the Bible means when it says “in his, Peleg’s, days the earth was divided.”
Some say this earth division was a description of the continental drift that’s separated the once unified supercontinent into the separate continents we have today.
When you look at a globe its obvious that the continents could fit together like pieces of a puzzle if you could just move them closer to each other. When God created the earth the Bible says He created the “dry land” not lands upon the earth. As we studied before, part of the source of water for the flood came from the fountains of the deep that were opened up. These kinds of dramatic riffs in the earth’s crust would have separated the continents and caused them to steadily drift apart. The earth was being divided in Peleg’s day.
But also, the earth was going to be divided into distinct people groups because of different languages originating from the Lord Himself. The next chapter we’ll be looking at in Genesis, chapter eleven, talks about the infamous tower of Babel. The earth at that time had only one language and the Lord scattered the people at the tower all over the earth changing their languages from one into many. This event predates chapter ten in it’s chronology.
Chapter ten talks about the different nations upon the face of the earth. Chapter eleven talks about how that came to be. At times the book of Genesis orders itself according to themes instead of chronology. And the next time we study Genesis we’ll see just why the Lord confused the languages and spread everybody all over the globe.
So when we see Peleg mentioned because the earth was being divided in his days I actually think it was a combination of the continents drifting apart as people groups as well drifted apart because of language differences.
Three sons, and three distinct lines of nations that came from them.
[Read Genesis 10:32.]
From Japeth came the family of Indo-European nations that span the globe and number in the billions of people. And Noah’s prophecy concerning him was may God enlarge Japeth.
From Ham came many godless nations. Some of which are no longer in existence, and some of which are still around but as pagan as ever. And Noah’s prophecy concerning Him was cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.
From Shem came the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. A nation that God would for thousands of years and even today use to show the world that He is real. A nation that would produce the savior of mankind. And Noah’s prophecy concerning him was blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem.
God will accomplish what He wants to accomplish. His providential hand is unstoppable. As we’ll see throughout the rest of Genesis, many people have indirectly, or maybe unknowingly, tried to get in God’s way. But that’s like trying to stop the sun from shining. It just can’t be done.
Bobby Scobey tells the following story:
Several years ago a submarine was being tested and had to remain submerged for many hours. When it returned to the harbor, the captain was asked, "How did the terrible storm last night affect you?" The officer looked at him in surprise and exclaimed, "Storm? We didn’t even know there was one" The sub had been so far beneath the surface that it had reached the area known to sailors as "the cushion of the sea." Although the ocean may be whipped into huge waves by high winds, the waters below are never stirred. The Christian’s mind will be protected against the distracting waves of worry if it is resting completely in the good providence of God. There, sheltered by His grace and encouraged by His Holy Spirit, the believer can find the perfect tranquility that only Christ can provide.
Our providential God will accomplish His will with or without us. We can rest in that and go along for the ride of our lives, or we can fight it and miss the bus.
