By Everett Henes
Generally we will learn one thing with out actually studying it. You’ll be able to learn an entire paragraph, or perhaps a chapter, and really feel such as you didn’t get the purpose. Genesis 10 is a kind of chapters within the Bible the place that may occur. Why? It’s a chapter of names. After the Flood, Noah and his spouse and his sons and his sons’ wives all got down to repopulate the world. This was the command given them from God, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” What follows is what they name the “Desk of Nations.” There are such a lot of names, although, that it’s straightforward to overlook the forest for the timber.
This isn’t an exhaustive listing of all of the nations; moderately, these are the nations with which Israel could be acquainted. One argument this desk is making is that each one nations have come from Noah’s sons. That is seen in the truth that the account each begins and ends with a reference to Noah’s sons. However it’s doing greater than that. Keep in mind the background of those descendants. In Genesis 9 we learn the way Ham’s son Canaan was cursed due to what Ham had executed. The best way that these descendants are listed replicate that pronouncement made by Noah. If you take a look at the Desk of Nations, you see a number of multiples of seven, which means blessing, besides in Ham’s line. The creator is displaying that this line doesn’t have the identical blessing because the others.
It’s within the line of Noah’s son, Shem, that we get the fronting of a person named Eber. That is the road from whom the Israelites will come. It’s clear, the Israelites are of the blessed line of Shem. Additionally it is identified, that Shem is the older brother of Japheth. This wanted to be identified since it could be extraordinarily uncommon for the eldest to be listed final (or for the blessed one to be listed final, for that matter). Our narrator is being cautious that he covers all his bases.
Shem is undoubtedly listed final in an effort to make the transition to Abraham extra pure. Shem’s line is the place he leaves off at 10:32 and he’ll decide it up once more in 11:10. We additionally see in verse 25 one other theme that will likely be distinguished in Israel – two sons. One will likely be chosen and the opposite is not going to. On this case, Peleg would be the chosen one. He’s named Peleg as a result of in his days the earth was divided (his identify being intently associated to the phrase for ‘divide’).
The purpose of this Desk of Nations is that this: all of the nations have come from the identical descendants and as such all are accountable to the identical God. It’s God’s goodness that has let all of them survive and develop. There is no such thing as a power that they will declare as their very own, for all their energy is derived from the one who actually has all the ability. That is true whether or not the inhabitants of those nations notice this reality or not.
Actually, whereas chapter 10 speaks of the unfold of those nations, we study in chapter 11 that this isn’t by their unique alternative. The Apostle Paul later says in Acts 17:26, “[God] made out of one man each nation of mankind to dwell on all of the face of the earth, having decided allotted intervals and the boundaries of their dwelling place.” God’s sovereignty extends even to nations and peoples that don’t honor him. It is a consolation to God’s individuals, then and now. We dwell in a world full of individuals that don’t honor and acknowledge God.
If we’re sincere, we regularly consider church and Christians as beneath God’s sovereignty, however the remainder of the world is sort of a desert wilderness the place it’s eat or be eaten. It’s good to speak about God’s sovereignty in church and at Bible research however relating to my job or the competitors on the planet and the lengths to which unbelievers will go to get forward, it’s straightforward to neglect that God is sovereign even within the wilderness. The hymnwriter was right, that is my Father’s world. That signifies that this world will not be filled with random probability however is as a substitute working in the direction of the tip for which God has ready it. “That is my Father’s world: the battle will not be executed; Jesus who died shall be glad, and earth and heaven be one.”
Pastor Everett Henes, the pastor of the Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church, will be reached at pastorhenes@gmail.com.
