The Table of Nations

Genesis 10 (ESV)

1 These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5 From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.
6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
13 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.
15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. 19 And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
21 To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. 25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan.
26 Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
32 These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

I've recently been rereading The Lord of the Rings and I have to admit that one of the things that I find really difficult about that particular book is the songs that are written by Tolkien and that are part of the story. And often I would simply skip whatever song or poem was presented on the page. And to be honest with you, this chapter, chapter 10 in Genesis, is basically a long list of ancient names that are virtually impossible to pronounce. I've had to re-record that section several times. But stick with me, because actually there is some incredible stuff that happens here in what is called the Table of Nations.

So we've just come out of the flood story, and Noah and his family are the only humans left on earth, and now we get a genealogy that reads a little bit like a phone book from a few thousand years ago. And you might be wondering, why does the Bible give us all of these names? What is the point?

Now what's happening here is that this chapter is showing us that God is being faithful to his original plan to fill the earth and to subdue it. Remember way back in Genesis when he told the humans to be fruitful and multiply in the land and fill the earth. Well, this is what's happening here. Humanity is kind of bouncing back after the flood. Every single nation on Earth today can trace its roots back to this post-flood family. And that's pretty remarkable when you think about it.

There's a guy here called Nimrod who gets a bit of extra special attention. And the text says he's a mighty hunter before the Lord. He founded cities like Babel and Nineveh. And so here we see one of the first great leaders of the ancient world. Nimrod is something we see right throughout history, that there are these humans that can gather power together, can build impressive cities, can make a name for themselves. He's skilled, he's influential, he's really an empire builder. But notice he's still operating before the Lord. God is still the one who is in charge, even of Nimrod's story.

Now Nimrod's story sets us up for what comes next in Genesis chapter 12, the Tower of Babel. He is, after all, the founder of the city. So his fame and his city-building ambitions are just kind of a preview of humanity's tendency towards this sense of pride and self-promotion. In our world, we don't have to look far to see people who are promoting themselves or who are showing the world that they are themselves so great.

Then we get to Shem's family line and there's a guy named Peleg. The text mentions that in his days the earth was divided. Again, it's kind of hinting at the division that is coming at the Tower of Babel. Peleg literally means division or split. And this is why Shem's family line matters so much. It is a pointer. It's really a kind of genealogical highway that leads to Abraham and eventually to Jesus himself. So this genealogy is more than just kind of record keeping. It's showing us that God is being faithful to his promise of redemption throughout all of history. And we can trace back Jesus's own genealogy right back to this point.

Now, why should we care? What does this matter to us? Well, first off, I think this completely demolishes the idea of a kind of ethnic superiority. We are all, in a sense, genetic cousins. Every person you meet, no matter what they look like or where they come from, shares a post-flood ancestry. We come from the same family tree. And this changes how we think about the person who bags our groceries, the politicians we disagree with, the refugee family down the street. The gospel saves not just people, it saves entire families. It reunites the human family that sin has split apart and divided.

This chapter also shows us that God is sovereign over all nations. Whether we're talking about ancient Assyria or modern day America, a small island or a global superpower, every boundary and every map is ultimately drawn by God's provision and his providence. Notice then that nations are part of God's idea. It is part of the way in which he structured the world, even from these very, very early ages in the world. Different nations and different people groups are part of God's plan.

You know, we live in a society that seems to suggest that the way in which we should deal with issues of race and class division is to make everyone the same. But actually what we see here is that differences in people groups actually exist and they actually matter. They are something to celebrate rather than something to divide us. And so that's really important for us to wrestle with. Because ultimately we are all part of the same family, but that doesn't mean that every family is ultimately the same. And I think that's kind of part of the beauty of Genesis chapter 10.

It actually isn't a boring list of ancient names, even though it is a boring list of ancient names. But it's also the story of how God kept his promise to fill the earth with people and how he's been working throughout human history to bring about the redemption of the world. It is a story about how all of us, no matter where we come from, fit into God's grand design. It is no accident that we are born in the countries where we are born in to the people groups we are born in. It is something to be celebrated, something that we can, I guess, be proud of.

It's a pretty amazing chapter, but it's such an easy one to skip, right? And so next time we see a world map or we meet someone from a different culture, I think it's good for us to remember that we're all part of the same family, but that God has been writing this story through that family for a very long time.

The final thing we need to remember is that this entire family is also fallen, also in need of redemption. Every person from every family line and from every history needs salvation through Jesus Christ. And when we come to Christ in faith and choose to follow him and accept the free gift of salvation, we are transferred from this earthly family into God's family. We are adopted as heirs of the promise. We are grafted in to God's family. And so yes, families on earth and people groups on earth are important, but it is far more important for us to be grafted into the family of God.

Let me pray.

Dear Lord, thank you that we can be part of your family through Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Thank you that you have adopted us as sons and daughters of the King and that you have grafted us into your family through the work of Jesus on the cross. Help us to live out of that reality and in the new identity we have in you. Amen.