Genesis 10 & 11 • The lineage of Noah and the Tower of Babel

We're going to look at 2 chapters today.

The line of Christ - from Noah to Abram • click the pic to see larger

The lineage of Noah spans both chapters and we'll be focusing in on just some specific aspects of it, rather than dealing with each verse. Also, in the middle of the exhaustingly long list of names (mostly unpronounceable), we'll look at the historic event of the Tower of Babel, where God not only created and assigned multiple languages, but with that, sent people groups, based on those languages, all over the world. Guess he was serious about "subduing the earth." (Gen 1:28)

• Genesis 10:1-32 - a breakdown of Noah and his sons, with independent sections for each son.

(click on the highlighted links to see the entirety of the referenced passage)

The genealogy of Noah • click to see larger version

This section in chapter 10 opens with Gen 10:1 which says "1Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood." It closes with Gen 10:32 which says "32These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood."

Then chapter 11, after the Tower of Babel which we'll look at in a moment, focuses on the line of Christ in Gen 11:10-32, from Shem to Abram, who we will start to focus on in chapter 12.

• Genesis 10:2-5 - the line of Japheth

• Genesis 10:6-20 - the line of Ham

• Genesis 10:21-31 - the line of Shem to Peleg

• Genesis 11:10-32 - the line of Shem... this list focuses on the line of Christ, repeating some names from Shem to Peleg, then additional names from Peleg to Abram

The tower of Babel

Smack in the middle of all of these lists of names is an event, one of such magnitude, as it changes the course of history. While not destructive towards human life, it is destructive towards human endeavor, in that God creates distinctive differences within mankind to eliminate the idea that men have, that they can accomplish anything they want to through the exertion of human will.

Burj Khalifa - currently the tallest building in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa

Gen 11:1-9 → 1Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

• It's kind of weird for me to think of everyone on earth speaking the same language. Of course, in these early days they were obviously speaking English! ☺

• In the beginnings of their spreading out, they actually accomplished just the opposite - they just moved everyone to a new spot.

3They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

• The fact that they were going to make bricks kind of indicates that they've moved as far as they were going to and now it's time to stop and dig in for the long haul.

4They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

• They are not only totally fighting being scattered, but also want to build an edifice that will be so tall you almost can't see the top of it. Purely a testament to their own creative abilities. Sounds like a pride issue to me.

5The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.

• God, coming down to view first hand the progress of mankind with their tower, understanding that at least from a human perspective, there is nothing they can not accomplish.

7Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

• God's solution is to disrupt the progress by confusing all their communication, by dividing them up into specific groups that speak different languages.

• I'm assuming that from the perspective of all humans, that they are fully fluent in the new language (miracle), but can no longer understand the old one, or any of the other new ones.

8So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.

• The net effect is twofold - 1st, (really 2nd) they stopped construction. How can you continue to work when you can't understand one another? 2nd (really 1st) they scattered. This might also be when God allowed the DNA in people to start showing specific nuances to our physical features that also coincide with some of the distinct languages they were now uttering. I'm just speculating, but this would be a logical time for those distinctions in our looks to begin becoming dominant.

9Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

• "Babel" in Hebrew is the root for the name "Babylon", so at least we know where this was - in central Iraq.

• God's plan still won out - they were "scattered... abroad over the face of the whole earth."

• God demonstrated clearly that even though He still has to deal with the selfishness of mankind, always thinking of only doing what we want to do, He won't be thwarted in His endeavors. And I don't believe His workings like this always have to be related to His response to sin.

• And I don't think that God is opposed to us using our minds and growing in our capabilities, it's just in this specific situation, what they were doing here was contrary to what He had told them to do.

• I think sometimes He just gives a nudge in our lives to help us get to we He wants us to be, but just can't seem to find the way on our own. How many times in our lives has something played out that w never could have dreamed of?

• While I currently live in Oklahoma, I'm a born and bred Southern Californian in my heart. So how in the world did I end up meeting and marrying a girl from Kansas, and then years later getting transferred to Oklahoma. Mutual friends, leading to meeting one another, and eventually marriage. Job and housing issues in SoCal leading to a move to Kansas in hopes of a more economically reasonable lifestyle. Leading to a promotion and transfer to Oklahoma. My sister recommended a church in Tulsa, pastored by a former associate from her church in CA, which I determined to attend once so she'd quit pestering me about it, and now we're still there 30 years later. Then the loss of a job, an extended time with only temp work, then a new job in Claremore, OK, which I just retired from after 20 years.

• Let us all look back on where we've been, and determine to seek to follow where God wants us to go, moving forward, within whatever plan He has for us!

Photo • of Burj Khalifa courtesy of Wikipedia.

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by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org”