Have you ever done something that you regretted? I mean really felt stupid about? You know those construction workers who direct traffic around road projects? Well when I was 5, 6, of 7 years old - somehow I got it into my head that I wanted to be one.
Instead of just playing in my backyard, though, I made up a STOP sign, put it on a broomstick and went out to the head of my street and starting showing it to cars. Now this was all well and good until one of those cars actually started to stop.
I dropped that sign and ran as fast as my little legs would carry me back home!
Sometimes we do things that make us feel so self important - like we can accomplish the world - and we don’t need anyone’s help. Mankind is kind of in that mindset these days - that we know where we came from and we determine where we are going - that science and rationalism and the good hearts of men are all that’s needed - that technology will supply all the answers we need - and we certainly don’t need some ancient God to order us around.
We forget who made us and what we were designed for - fellowship with God. So we go our own way thinking we can actually affect things - and God must just laugh.
That’s the situation we find in Genesis Chapters 10 and 11 - as man repopulates the earth he decides that rather than obey God he will serve and worship himself. God puts a quick end to that and continues on focusing down to one who could restore the fellowship lost in the Garden of Eden.
There is a lot left out of these accounts - again because it is not a complete account - but it is God’s story. He leaves things out we want to know - and gives us things we don’t want to know - like all the names in Chapter 10!
We are reading it wrong if we demand to know all the answers to our questions - we need to let God set the agenda of what we need to know. There is a God - that is assumed. Maybe we don’t know what we do need if we come to the Scriptures from a critical viewpoint. Come to Him instead of come at Him.
God keeps starting over: Seth (only 1 family left), Noah, through Shem - all (almost) eventually turn away.
He divides their unity by inhibiting their ability to communicate.
Then he takes hold of one human and creates a whole nation so that God can bless the whole world through Abraham’s descendent: Jesus Christ.
The genealogies mentioned here are not a complete listing of all Noah’s descendents. Instead, Moses - the author - is showing how Noah’s sons re-colonized earth after the flood - and how some of those people eventually became nations around the land of Canaan which they were about to inherit.
It also shows how God began immediately to drill down - from Noah, then from all the sons to one son’s family - Shem - and from that son he continues to draw a line directly to Abram, from whom will come the Savior.
Was God really thinking this far in advance - is there really a tie from Noah to Jesus? Yes!
Isaiah 54:8-10
I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," says the LORD your Redeemer.
9 "To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. 10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
God is planning permanent redemption - not just for one man and his family, but for everyone who will get on the ark of salvation in Jesus Christ.
The Table of Nations
Japheth (not the oldest)
Went north and west - furthest away - (verses 2 - 5)
Ham
Nearer Israel - and almost all enemies - (verses 6 - 20)
Shem
Included the Hebrew nations (verses 22 - 31)
God wants us to focus on Israel. It doesn’t say where all peoples came from - it doesn’t matter because God wants us to ask - what is the most important nation? Israel.
Verses 1- 5
Japheth’s descendants
Verse 6 - 10
Nimrod: legendary hunter
In his time he was a famous leader - in his time he started Babylon (very important in Chapter 11)
Verse 11
Shinar - Iraq Iran and Jordan. Babel - becomes Babylon (Greek for Babel) 20 miles south of Baghdad. Rebuilt by Sadam Hussein. One of the oldest cities in the world.
Verse 12
He built Nineveh - famous city
Verse 13
Philistines mentioned here
Ham: Canaanites, Assyrians, Philistines, Egyptians, Babylonians - all enemies of Israel. Written from Mt. Sinai to tell Israel who they were. He wants them to know what they are going to be up against.
Verse 24
Eber: Probably where the term Hebrew came from (Abraham came from him)
Verse 25
Peleg means: Division. Probably where division of languages occurs.
Brother: Joktan. Joktan’s line goes along with Nimrod and they end up in Babylon.
Peleg’s line goes in another direction - this is the dividing point. One of the lines goes to Babylon, the other line it goes to Abraham.
Notice two lines emerging from Shem - one creates a name for themselves in Babylon, the other let’s God create a name for them in Abraham.
Chapter 11
These events probably took place verse 25 of chapter 10 - the time of Eber.
1 - Babylon the Great and 2) Abraham the Faithful
Verse 1 - 3
Used the same "lip" and the same words.
God wanted them to expand throughout the earth - but they wanted to do it their way - congregate, build a city and build a monument to self.
God took specific notice of it. Not out of the realm of possibility that God visited and walked around Himself (remember Sodom and Gomorrah - angel was present before)
Verse 5 - 7
God wasn’t worried about a human hostile takeover. But its like saying that the same thing that happened before the flood would occur if left untouched - "no end of trouble."
The people were proud of them - we can do things that impress people. Pride was the underlying motive - "let us make a name for ourselves."
Verse 8 - 9
The word "confuse" or "confound" is the Hebrew word for "mix" or "mingle" - it literally means to overflow with oil. It’s like God mixed up their words so that one morning they woke up and it was like they were speaking another language - perhaps you have experienced this yourself in the morning!
If they couldn’t communicate they would congregate into groups who could - and it eventually led them to move away from each other and abandon the project.
God will sometimes use interesting means to get His will accomplished - it’s a pretty creative approach, don’t you think? God could have just moved them - teleported them.
Verse 10 - 26
So God now refocuses on Shem’s line as he moves towards Abraham - we’ve heard these names before in Chapter 10.
Verse 28
Ur is located in Southern Iraq - not far from the border with Kuwait. Although that presents some problems - mainly because Haran is way way out of the way if one is setting out for Canaan. There are some historical references to cities by the name of Ur to the north - and it may be that this is the real location of Ur of the Chaldeans.
Verse 27
Now we’re getting into some real familiar names - Lot, for instance.
Verse 29
It appears that Nahor married his cousin Milcah. She’ll become important later as Jacob wants a wife.
Verse 30
Here we see that Sarai is barren - that becomes important later - but the audience reading this would have already known what happened.
Verse 31
Haran is located in northern Mesopetamia - northeast of Damascus and northwest of Nineveh in Assyria. It is located in modern day Turkey.
Verse 32
Tera lived only a couple hundred years - slowly the human race began living shorter lives. They thought 200 was young! When God wanted to populate the earth quickly He let them live longer.
Conclusions
" Which side are you on - Babylon or Abraham (faith in humanity or faith in God)
It represents everything that is anti God. When Israel rebelled God took them to Babylon to punish them. In Revelation it represents a world system opposed to God, replacing God.
Mentioned in Revelation 17:1-7 Babylon was the ultimate anti-God. It was ultimately destroyed. It was birthed here. It’s a lot of human pride and "I can do it myself" mentality.
But if we follow Abraham - he was the archetype of the faithful man - from whom came Jesus.
The world system is essentially Babylon. Do we choose to live in simple faith instead?
Babylon=confusion, Abraham=clarity
" Does God sometimes move you through circumstances when you won’t move through obedience?
It’s a lot harder that way. Remember the man in 1st Corinthians who would not repent - Paul told them to "hand this man over to Satan so that the sinful nature may be destroyed." (1 Cor 5:5).
The lesson is to listen and obey - and ask God’s Spirit to guide the way. If circumstances are hard it doesn’t mean you’ve been disobedient - but if you’ve been disobedient and know it - then watch for God’s hand to move you anyway - and work His will out of it.
" You’re here in this list.
You may not think that genealogies here are very important - but take note - you are in two of these lists if you are a believer. One of these guys was your physical ancestor - and if you belong to Jesus Christ then Shem and his descendant Abraham is your spiritual descendant - you have been "grafted" into his family.
And while man’s language was confused because of disobedience - in Jesus we now all speak the same language - the language of love and salvation in Christ - isn’t that great? We can now come together once again and build another temple -
Ephesians 2:20-22 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
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