Genesis 8:20-11:32
At this point in Genesis, the floodwaters have subsided, and Noah has left the ark along with his family. After 377 days, they finally come to dry land.
God Starts Fresh With Noah (8:20-9:17)
God's Worshippers (8:20-22)
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Noah Worshipped
The first thing Noah did once on dry land was to offer sacrifices to the Lord. God had told him to bring seven pairs of each kind of clean animal and clean bird onto the ark (20). Now, at least in part, we see the reason why. The clean animals were to be part of a sacrifice of worship to God. And ancient Israel, when first reading the book of Genesis, would've seen the roots of their own sacrificial system in Noah's altar and burnt offerings (20).
For us, the sacrificial system has now been fulfilled. All these sacrifices pointed forward to the great sacrifice of Jesus. His blood became the final blood. No other is needed. The shadow of animal sacrifices is no longer because the true sacrifice of Jesus has become visible.
But it is fascinating to see Noah's first move. After God's wrath and judgment were poured out on the earth, Noah worshipped. The Bible teaches the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 9:10). And, at this point, Noah's reverence for God must've been off the charts. So, with respect in his heart for God, he worshipped God with these sacrifices.
This was instructive for Israel and is instructive for us. We learn that God's people are a worshipping people, centering their lives around him. And we learn that part of worship is to give God some of the best of what is already his. These clean animals were his. Their lives were precious, especially at that moment in history, when animal life was so uncommon but worthy of offering to God.
He deserves the best. Even if we wonder if our depleted resources can handle the hit of sacrificing or giving to God, Noah shows us we should not worry. Instead, we ought to worship, no matter the cost.
21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
God's Pleasure
The aroma of Noah's sacrifice was pleasing to the Lord (21). This gives us a glimpse into the fact he loves our worship and sacrifice. One can recall the pleasure of Jesus when he saw the widow giving her two small coins to the temple treasury:
“And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”” (Luke 21:3–4, ESV)
Noah had done something similar as he gave out of poverty. And God loved it. It pleased him.
God's Resolve
He then said in his heart that he would never again curse the ground because of man (21). Nor would he strike down every living creature in the same way he had just done (21). While the earth remains, God committed himself to the perpetuation of the seasons, so that seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winder and summer, and day and night would all serve as a testimony to his faithfulness.
The ground had been cursed after Adam's fall (cf. Genesis 3:17). But God had cursed the ground in a different and more severe way through the flood. The idea is that he had treated the ground, for a time, as if it had no value. He would not do that again.
God's point was not to say that natural disasters would not occur, but that the normal balance of nature would not be completely disrupted through them. He would be faithful.
Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas Chisholm
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
A New Community
The idea of this movement is simple: God was willing to cleanse the earth of the wicked in order to start over with a new worshipping community. He wanted a people for himself. He craves the same today:
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9–10, ESV)
We are a new community with Jesus. We are his people. It seems that, one day, God will again cleanse the earth and start over with a perfected worshipping community, forever with him.
God's Commission (9:1-7)
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Renewed Commission
God then renewed his commission to Noah. He had told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28). Now he tells Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (1).
This is where there is some sort of shift. God had told Adam and Eve to subdue and have dominion over the animal kingdom. To Noah, God said:
2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
A Shift
Where Adam and Eve were to subdue and rule over the animal kingdom, Adam even naming the animals in the garden of Eden, Noah, and his descendants would be feared and dreaded by the animals (2). Our passage today does not say the responsibility to rule and domesticate was taken away, but now a new component is introduced. Fear and dread would be the normal animal response to human life (2).
Eating Meat
But the passage does not stop with the dread of the animal kingdom. God tells Noah that every moving thing that lives shall be food for the human race (3). He had, at least, eaten green plants before, but now God gave him everything to eat (3).
The only prohibition was that he could not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood (4). In ancient times the blood was considered the life force of living beings (Deuteronomy 12:23). The idea here is that animal life must be drained of its blood before being consumed by human life. In a ritualistic way, it was symbolic of returning the life back to God. Some even see it as the modern equivalent of praying thanksgiving before our modern meals.
So God began, after the flood, allowing animal life to be used to sustain human life. I should say, some scholars think this was God's way of permitting Noah to begin eating the meat of wild animals that travel in herds. The word for moving things is not usually used of predatory animals (like lions) or domesticated animals (like cows). Nor is it used as a catch-all category for any moving animal. Because of this, some wonder if God is referring now to animals like wild cattle, antelope, deer, gazelle, or even rabbits. If this is the case, God is now allowing humanity to continue in a pre-flood act of eating meat they raised, but the now also the meat they would hunt.
Many, though, take a straightforward reading of the text to mean humanity did not eat meat until the days of Noah. The implication, then, is that before the flood, humanity was basically vegetarian.
But, before we run off declaring vegetarianism to be closer to God's ideal, we must remember it is God who prescribed this to Noah. He said, "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you" (3). His interest is never presented as making a concession to the way were are. No, he is presented as sustaining human life. Meat would help us live. And, don't forget, many of the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament law required a person to eat the meat of the sacrifice. In short, to be an Israelite who worshipped God meant you ate meat. For sacrifices, he didn't just tolerate it but mandated it.
And the idea of those sacrifices and the permission God gave Noah is simple: death begets life. Even in vegetarianism, a living organism must die to sustain human life. In God's mind, lesser life forms like animals or plants could be used to sustain the higher life of humanity.
Which is why it is so shocking when Jesus dies on the cross for our sins. He is life of the highest order. He is divine. But he died so that we might live.
Note
As a side note, I don't think the text demands we eat meat. We can. It is allowed. But I think there is room to refrain from it if we'd like. I just don't think we can refrain for religious or even moral reasons. Remember, some modern forms of vegetarianism or veganism have their roots in Hinduism or Buddhism. Even some modern Seventh-Day Adventists follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, based on their interpretations of Old Testament prophecies meant to indicate a day is coming when the animal kingdom will be fundamentally changed to be at peace with itself and with humanity (Isaiah 11:6-9, Isaiah 65:25). But Christians who decide not to eat meat shouldn't do so for religious reasons.
Now, take this for what you will, but I also urge you to use discernment when you come across literature or documentaries or health experts who promote a vegan or vegetarian diet. Read, listen to, or watch rebuttals to their arguments. And please use extra caution whenever this is presented as a moral issue. Humans are made in the image of God; animals aren't. There is a fundamental difference between us. Often, the best course will be to take a middle and moderate path between the extremes.
That said, if you decide not to eat meat, or if you decide to eat meat, as a believer you should not be disruptive about it. It is behavior firmly fixed in the personal conviction category. Heed Paul's words:
“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.” (Romans 14:1–3, ESV)
5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
Value Of Human Life
Speaking of the blood of animals, God then went out of his way to say the blood of man is of great value (5). Anyone who sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed (6). The guilty murderer, God said, would be punished with the shedding of his own blood. It is on thing to take the life of an animal in order to sustain your own life, God says, but it is another thing to take the life of a human. Why? God made man in his own image (6).
It was important for God to reiterate this at this point, lest we interpret the flood as God's disregard for human life. No, he values it highest of all his creation. To take it was a sober and grievous process for God.
And he wants humanity to value human life as well. This is one reason Christians reject the idea some forms of human life are more valuable than others. The aged person, growing sicker by the day, is made in the image of God. They are not to be despised. They have value. So does the infant in her mother's womb. Not just because of who they might become, but because God places value upon them. Made in God's image, every human being, no matter their life stage and no matter their potential for utility, is valuable.
Human Justice System
Here, though, God does not merely speak of his esteem for human life. He says those who murder others must be judged by the community. By man shall his blood be shed (6).
Now, capital punishment is a volatile issue in our society. Some believers see it as necessitated by Scriptures like this one or Paul's statements concerning government in Romans 13 --
“(The governing authority) is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13:4, ESV)
Others see the practice of capital punishment as archaic and ineffective, though they should be careful lest they accuse God of a lack of wisdom.
And some Christians take the Bible seriously, but believe the New Testament overrides this system, making way for grace, forgiveness, and love.
What are we to do with this question? First, we must recognize that nothing God commands can be called barbaric. Second, if God commands it, it must be a deterrent of some kind. Third, this law goes back to Noah, not Israel's Mosaic law, so it is not abolished when Jesus comes along. Fourth, love and forgiveness do not remove other forms of discipline, so why should they remove capital punishment? In short, it is hard to argue against capital punishment from the Scriptures.
That said, societies are fallible, and often make mistakes when it comes to capital punishment. Mistaken convictions, the mishandling of celebrity cases, the systematic imprisonment of black men, violence, prison gangs, institutionalization, inhumane conditions, recidivism rates, drug abuse inside prisons, and overcrowded prisons are just some of the obstacles our own judicial system faces.
All this leads me to cry out, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus!" We are in way over our heads. And, as much as human government is a way to cope with the decay and insanity left by the fall, it is always so far from the ideal. When Jesus comes, we will see justice and righteousness roll down like waters (Amos 5:24). For now, we are to do the best we can.
After all that, God recapped his commission for Noah and Noah's family:
7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
God's Promise (9:8-17)
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
God's Covenant
This is sometimes referred to as the Noahic Covenant. The word "covenant" is often thought of as similar to a contract. But we should not think Noah had much weight on his shoulders with this covenant (8-9). Like many of God's agreements with humanity, God would bear most of the responsibility of this covenant.
The basic promise of this covenant was that God would never again destroy the earth by flood (11). The promise is cosmic and universal, which is why God refers to Noah's offspring, every living creature, and every beast of the earth (9-10). Never again would all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood (11). It is slightly ominous, in that it leaves room for God's judgment to come in other forms.
For his part, Peter alludes to this when he details how people deliberately overlook the fact of the flood (2 Peter 3:5-7). He goes on:
“But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.” (2 Peter 3:10, NLT)
But God's guarantee, here, is that he will never again judge the whole world by means of a flood.
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
The Sign
What would the sign of the covenant God made between man and himself be? (12). He set his bow in the cloud, and every time his bow is seen in the clouds, he would remember his covenant (14-15). As I stated in a previous study, some think the flood marked the first time rain had broken out on the earth. If this is the case, it's possible rainbows had never before appeared on the earth. At the very least, rainbows had never been used as a sign of God's covenant with humanity.
But why was the rainbow God's sign? Well, the idea is fairly simple. God is pictured as a warrior who takes his war bow and hangs it up in a ceremony of peace. God's battle bow is hung in the clouds. It is meant to signify that he is leaning into his longsuffering nature. The battle of Noah's flood is over. God is ready to work with humanity again.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, this does not mean God is forever done judging humanity. The prophets spoke of a coming day when "the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.” (Zechariah 14:3, ESV). And we think of Jesus as the one who will fight against all his enemies, winning ultimate victory for his kingdom.
“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 19:15, ESV)
But that future war is all with a specific goal in mind: the permanent setting aside of God's war bow. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, will bring in everlasting righteousness, and of his rule there will be no end (Isaiah 9:7).
OK, all that said, I'm sure many of you are thinking about the irony. Today's modern use of the rainbow is hardly what it meant for the Noahic Covenant. All I really care to say regarding this is I am not surprised. If the rainbow was meant as a symbol of God withholding his judgment, of course lost humanity would seek to repoint its meaning elsewhere.
Noah's Family (9:18-29)
The Entire Earth's Population Came From Noah's Sons (9:18-19)
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
The Population
Noah's sons were named Shem, Ham, and Japheth (18). We have seen them already -- they survived the flood with Noah -- but we know little about them. More light is shed on their character in the passage that follows, but here we learn from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed (19). This is a preparatory statement. In a few moments, we will read a table of the nations in Moses' day (Genesis 10). Each nation will be tied to either Shem, Ham, or Japheth.
Canaan's Special Mention
Remember, though, the initial readers of Genesis were the Israelites who came out of Egypt. God delivered them from their captivity to take them to the long-awaited promised land. And who currently inhabited the land? The Canaanites, descendants of Canaan (18). They had to be driven out of the land.
And why did they need to be driven out? Partly because the land was promised to Abraham's seed, but also as a judgment from God. The Canaanite people were exceedingly wicked and had been given many years and generations to repent and amend their ways. But, since they hadn't, God's judgment was going to come upon them. Israel would drive them from the land.
And in our passage, we are going to observe the roots of their wickedness. This is why Ham, and his son Canaan, are mentioned here (18).
An Irreverent Act (9:20-23)
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.
Noah's Vineyard
It is improbable that wine was unknown before this episode (20-21). It is likely because Noah knew about vineyards and wine that he cultivated one at some point after the flood. And this was a turn for Noah, because it's here he began to be a man of the soil (20). It seems one of his crops was grapes.
I imagine Noah took time while constructing the ark to learn agriculture or horticulture. He likely interviewed various farmers and growers to learn about their practices. Perhaps his sons even engaged in this process.
Eventually, Noah's vineyard produced wine. Again, though it's possible, I do not see this as the invention of wine. One day, Noah drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent (21). Even modern readers know this is a negative development. But, as I've said before, nakedness was a big deal to ancient Israelites, so this movement would've been even more abhorrent to them.
Noah's Drunkenness
Now, the Bible says that just as bread strengthens a man, and oil makes his face shine, wine gladdens the heart of man (Psalm 104:15). The Proverbs say it is a gift to those in bitter distress (Proverbs 31:6). It is one of God's gracious gifts to humanity, something to enjoy in an often unenjoyable world. It is even connected to the ministry of Jesus. His first miracle was to produce exceedingly good wine at a wedding feast in Cana (John 2). He implemented wine into the communion table he gave to the church (Matthew 26:27-29). And he drank sour wine after crying out I thirst while on the cross (John 19:28-29).
But, as humans often do, Noah went beyond using wine as a gift, and instead used it to sin. He became drunk (21). And, if the Bible describes wine in positive terms, it much more intensely gives us warnings about its negative effects. All through Scripture, intoxication is held out as a gateway to massive folly. In the narratives of the Bible, characters who get drunk do stupid things. In the wisdom literature of the Bible, drunkenness leads to other sins. And in the New Testament letters, impairment is something disciples leave behind.
“You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen like to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and the disgusting worship of idols.” (1 Peter 4:3, GNB)
By the way, the Bible's prohibitions of intoxication through drink can be applied to other substances. For instance, we would not expect the Bible to ever mention the word “marijuana.” But the Bible doesn’t have to mention it directly to say something about it. Basically, the concept is this: if subject A has a forbidden characteristic, and subject B shares that characteristic, then B is also forbidden. To state this plainly, since the Bible rebukes alcohol intoxication, we rightly conclude it forbids all forms of intoxication.
But there are better reasons to abstain from intoxication that God says don't do that. For serious believers, a better reason to avoid mind-altering substances is that our bodies and minds belong to God. Part of me that belongs to God is my mind. It must be clean and sober. If I am going to help people, if I am going to serve as Jesus served, I must have a sharp mind. I must be able to think and reason and communicate. I need lucidity. It is my friend. Intoxication does not help me with this.
Paul said it this way:
“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,” (Ephesians 5:18, NLT)
The desire to put one's self in an altered mental state is not the Christian way. Like Jesus before us, we embrace all God has for us. He would not allow his senses to be dulled when on the cross, rejecting the drink that could’ve taken the edge off (Matthew 27:34). No, He embraced that edge.
Life is hard, but our response to that difficulty isn’t to become dulled, less alive. No, this doesn’t actually produce anything. We want, instead, to become more alive. More alive to the realm of the Spirit. More alive to the things of God. When life is hard, we don’t seek to become dulled but sharpened in our fellowship with Christ.
https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/83
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
Ham's Sin
The major question of this movement is simple: what was Ham's sin?
As you might imagine, many wild ideas have been proposed over the years. Ancient rabbis said Ham castrated Noah, which is why he had no more sons. Others claim he slept with his own mother or sexually abused his own father. But it says what it means: Ham saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside (22). This is how Shem and Japheth understood the crime, which is why they walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father (23). So the sin was seeing, and then perhaps broadcasting that he'd seen, his dad's nakedness.
But what does this mean? As much as modern readers might have unpleasant memories of their dad walking around in his tighty-whities, there is likely much more at play. Whatever his sin was, it's likely the original Israelite readers knew.
Do we have any recourse for figuring this one out? Well, we can go to other passages in Scripture to observe prohibitions against nakedness. In places like Leviticus 18 and 20, the nakedness of a father can include his wife. So it is possible Ham saw his mother and father lying naked and passed out after a drunken sexual encounter, and somehow reveled in what he saw. Of course, the text really does not tell us, so I will speculate no further.
Nakedness
One thing I will add, however, is the sensitivity the Bible places on the exposure of nakedness. In our contemporary world, pornography has systematically corrupted the societal respect for human nakedness. It has truly been a Pandora's box that has introduced thousands of evils.
Even secular researchers are growing concerned about the disastrous effects pornography produces. The best selling pornographic material contains forms of physical aggression, and most of the victims are women. The average age of exposure for boys is nine years old. By adult age, if viewing has continued, many of them are unable to experience sexual response with a real live woman. Sex has become totally depersonalized for them. Porn is addictive, destroys relationships, and leads to sex trafficking and prostitution. Yet many in our modern age think it is worse to not recycle or eat fast-food than it is to engage with pornography.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures. (Galatians 5:19, NLT).
The word for sexual immorality in this passage is porneia, the root word for pornography. It is treating another human being as a thing, an object for pleasure. Ancient Rome and Greece were steeped in porneia, using male and female servants and children from lower classes as sex-slaves. Our modern world is steeped in porneia also, in many of the forms Rome and Greece engaged in, but also in a new digital space. It is harmful and damaging, something every Christian should make every effort to avoid. The stakes are too high.
Noah's Oracle (9:24-29)
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”
Noah awoke from his drunken stupor, and knew what Ham had done to him (24). In response, Noah made a declaration regarding his offspring. He pronounced a curse on Canaan, who was Ham's son (25). Then he blessed Shem by making Canaan his servant in the future (26). He gave a more moderate blessing to Japheth (27). He would be less than Shem, dwelling in his tents, but above Canaan who would be his servant (27).
This prediction from Noah that the Canaanites would live in servitude to the Shemites and Japhethites is meant to be seen in moral terms. The Canaanite peoples, descendants of Ham, would follow Ham's degrading ways. They are not cursed because of what Ham did, but because they continued in Ham's ways. And by the time Israel came to the promised land out of Egypt, the Canaanites' sin was ripe for judgment. All that time, they had not removed themselves from Ham's ways but had instead persisted in grotesque forms of sin. They had become entrenched in their sin. Depravity had run its full course. They became a cancer to the human race.
And so much of the Torah will be written against the backdrop of this curse. Land will be promised to Abraham's descendants, but the Canaanites will take it first. They will then pollute the land with abhorrent practices, many of which were directly condemned in the law Israel received after they came out of Egypt. The Bible presents their sexual perversion as grave as bestiality, worship as twisted as child sacrifice, and rampant idolatry, which brought them into the demonic realm. Israel then, as descendants of Shem, will go into the land, drive out, and judge the Canaanite people.
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
The New Cosmos
Before moving on, we should note a comparison between Genesis 1-3 and 6-9, the original creation and the new creation after the flood. Both begin with a nonfunctional, chaotic cosmos that is turned into something functional. In the original creation, it happened through the six days of creation, and in Noah's day through the receding of the waters. Both were then blessed, with God telling the inhabitants to be fruitful and multiply. Adam and Eve were naked and unaware, in a sinless sense, while Noah was naked and unaware in a sinful sense. After sin, a curse was pronounced in both passages. All this to say, it seems were are to see this as a reboot of creation.
From Noah To Nations (10:1-32)
1 These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
Table Of The Nations
What follows in Genesis 10 has often been referred to as the table of the nations. In it, seventy descendants of Noah's sons are listed. 14 from Japheth, 30 from Ham, and 26 from Shem, all arranged by a specific pattern. It does not exist as a way to trace ancestry, but to "show the political, geographical, and ethnic affiliations among tribes" (Allen P. Ross). It depicts the world as ancient Israel knew it, showing seventy nations who came from Noah. It is "a panoramic view of the nations as a backdrop for the rest of the book and beyond" (Barker, Kohlenberger III). Eventually, Moses will narrow his scope to the seed of Abraham, but first, he details the nations.
This is seen in the way the chapter ends:
"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.” (Genesis 10:32, ESV).
My plan is to read through the passage while making light comments on some of the nations mentioned. That said, we must acknowledge this list meant more to Israel than it does to us. They lived among these people groups, while we are merely studying them from afar.
Japheth (10:2-5)
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer (Cimmerians, Scythians), Magog (land of God, between Armenia and Cappodicea), 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.
The descendants of Japheth, fourteen tribes or nations, were northern people, far from Israel (2). They were considered the coastland peoples spread in their lands, meaning they were on the horizon, far from Israel (5). Later in the Bible, the Scythians, people of Gog, the Medes, the armies of Tubal and Meshech, citizens of Cypress and Tarshish, and even Greece will appear. All of them come from these nations.
Ham (10:6-14)
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.
The descendants of Ham are recorded next (6). They comprised the portion of the world Israel more directly interacted with, nations to their east and south. The people of Cush are especially detailed here, and they settled in modern-day Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
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, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
Nimrod, The Mighty Man
In the middle of the record of the sons of Ham, we get this parenthesis about a man named Nimrod (8). He is presented as a mighty man and a mighty hunter (8, 9). The description "before the Lord" is widely regarded as a negative statement, sarcasm describing the way he felt about himself, as better than God. Though some regard it as a neutral statement meaning something along the lines of "and God saw Nimrod," no one regards it as a positive statement.
It is hard to say too much about Nimrod without getting into speculation, but it seems clear he became a famous man and revered leader at some point in the time period Genesis 10 recounts. He was a warrior or hunter, and his fame spread far and wide, which is why people spoke of him (9).
Ninevah, The Great City
Nimrod became the founder of the earliest imperial world powers of Babylon (connect to Babel) and Assyria (with their capital city, Ninevah). The prophet Micah would eventually speak of Assyria as the land of Nimrod (Micah 5:6). He and his cities figure in as an opposite to God's chosen people and the city they would establish. Nimrod runs counter to God's plans, as we'll see in the following chapter.
13 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.
The record here describes tribes and nations from North Africa all the way to Crete.
Next, we continue reading of the offspring of Ham, but this time the particular descendants of Canaan, the one Noah specifically cursed.
Ham's Son Canaan (10:15-20)
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.
As I mentioned earlier, the Canaanites were of special interest to Israel (15, 18, 19). Noah had cursed them. They had not turned from Ham's ways but had instead become severely entrenched in abominable rituals, practices, and sins. And the list here mentions many of the nations who plagued Israel. The Jebusites were in the promised land until David banished them from Jebus, which became Jerusalem (16). The people of Sidon lived up the coast from Israel (19). But these Canaanite tribes settled in the promised land, and on up into Lebanon.
They would become the foes of Israel. They lived in the territory God wanted to ultimately give to his people (19).
After detailing Japheth and Ham's descendants, Moses turns to Noah's final son, Shem.
Shem (10:21-31)
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.
Eber
The descendants of Shem give particular focus to a descendent of Shem named Eber (21, 25). He was not the actual son of Shem. Shem had at least five sons, Elam, Ashur, Arpachsad, Lud, and Aram (22). After mentioning the sons of Aram, the focus turns exclusively to the Arpachsad (23). He had a son named Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber (25). Again, Eber is the focus of this record.
Eber then went on to have two sons. The first, named Peleg, we don't know much about (25). His descendants aren't mentioned. What is said is that in his days the earth was divided (25). This is likely a reference to the division we will read of at the tower of Babel in Genesis 11.
The second son of Eber was named Joktan (25, 26). It is his line the author follows, listing off thirteen sons of Joktan (26-29). Their territory is mentioned as extending from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east (30). This is a reference to the Arabian Peninsula. This is all detailed because Abraham, and eventually Israel's, ancestry and bloodline would have a connection to these thirteen Joktanite tribes.
The Tower Of Babel (11:1-9)
Humanity's Endeavor (11:1-4)
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
A Tower
Humanity is presented in those days as having an intense unity: the whole earth had one language and the same words (1). With their united vocabulary, they migrated from the east and found a plain in Shinar to settle in (2). It was an area associated in the Old Testament with Babylon, a place which positioned itself against God and his kingdom.
They then kickstarted a massive kiln-fired brick making campaign (3). The supplies for building these bricks were plentiful in that region. With their bricks and mortar, they said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth" (4).
God had told humanity to fill the earth (Genesis 1:28, 9:1). Both Adam and Noah received this commission, and it was to become the standard by which humanity lived. But this group did not want to be dispersed over the face of the whole earth (4). Instead, they felt it would be better to make a name for themselves, a reputation for themselves, by building a city and a tower (4).
We should not think of this as an innocent construction project on man's part. Instead, it seems we should view it as an open rebellion against God, an attempt at independence, living without God. At that time, people didn't live in the cities. Instead, they were places the official buildings existed -- administration, granaries, and a temple. In fact, most of the buildings in the city centered around the religious site, making the city a temple-complex, a religious center.
That is the meaning of the tower they attempted to build, with its top in the heavens (4). It would have been an expensive building. We know this because they used the most advanced and costly technology they had at their disposal. To them, it was an important tower. More than likely, this is the first iteration of the ancient ziggurat, a religious tower meant to indicate man could climb to the gods. These towers were shaped similarly to pyramids but had no inner chamber like the pyramids. Instead, their main feature was a stairway leading to the top, where a small room was prepared for various deities. This seemed to be their way of seeing a connection between heaven and earth, a link, gateway, or portal from the unseen and heavenly dimension to the visible, earthly one. They hoped the divine would stop by, come down the stairs, and interact with them. Their gifts, their tower, their little room for the gods, and their stairway were all meant to get the favor of the gods.
The Lord's Response (11:5-9)
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
God Came To See The City And The Tower
Moses used an anthropomorphism to describe in human terms what God did at that moment. He came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built (5). He was displeased with their accomplishment.
One People, One Language
Because of sin within humanity, God saw it as a negative that we would be one people with one language (6). Nothing that generation of people proposed would be impossible for them (6). God thought of this in negative terms. If sinful humanity can speak one language, they can operate in unison, but unity towards an evil cause is not helpful, so God wanted to combat it. What does this say about our modern times, where more and more we are becoming one people with one language?
God intervened, and confused their language (7). This is an act of God's mercy. Without it, the depravity of the pre-flood world might have repeated itself. Once people could not understand one another, they dispersed from there over the face of all the earth (8). The implication is that they found others who spoke like them and went off with them to new lands. As a result, they left off building the city (8).
9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
Babel
This city of Babel, which would develop later into Babylon, becomes the great anti-city of Scripture. It is emblematic of man-made religion, views which believe man can attain to the divine. Babel, and every religion that has followed its model, is an anti-cross, anti-gospel, anti-Jesus message. The gospel says we cannot attain to the divine by our works, but that God had to come to save us. God would, and did, come down. Jesus came. The Babel-religions of the world, however, teach man can attain the favor of God without grace, but by works. I see this as an ongoing battle throughout Scripture, one which will culminate in Jesus' destruction of Babylon.
Revelation 18:2–3 (ESV) — 2 And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. 3 For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”
When Jesus comes, civilization which postures itself against God and religions which try to attain God by works will be destroyed. God's city will come. And God's people will be established.
Israel, The New Unified People With A Common Language
This table of the nations was a way for Moses to point towards Israel as a theocracy of God. Though humanity tried to create a society and religion, Israel would be a new society with God's religion. They would speak the unified language of Scripture. They would center themselves around the tabernacle. God would interact with them through blood sacrifice. And, if they obeyed God, their kingdom (and God's) would spread through the world. Righteousness would flow.
From Shem To Abraham (11:10-26)
10 These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood.
What follows is a more standard genealogical family tree, from Shem to Abraham.