Hello!
Before we start I just want to say a word about genealogies. There are a couple big ones in these two chapters. Did you read them? Or did you skim through until you were sure that it was over, and then read from there? If that last one applies to you, I'd challenge you to go back and take a look. There is not a single word in the Bible that is not there for a reason. And even if you don't see yourself as a scholar or a historian, you can still find wisdom and blessing in the genealogies of the Bible--things that are applicable to the very life you are living today. I'll give you an example of that in this post.
Chapter 10 is nothing but a list of Ham's (and Shem's and Japheth's) descendants. We talked about a couple of them yesterday, but there are even more hints of what is to come from Ham's family. Verses 10 and 11 mention Nimrod. It says that he was a mighty hunter before God, but unfortunately that wasn't the extent of his fame. He was also the founder of many cities, two of which are the notorious Babel and Nineveh. And then I read farther to verse 19, and notice that their wealth of land reaches even to Sodom and Gomorrah. If those names don't ring a bell, just wait. We'll be reading about the destruction of those evil cities in the next few days. When I read about a family that has gotten this out-of-control, I have to wonder: Where did they go wrong? The bible only tells us of one particular sin of Ham's life, but I have to assume that it was more of a life-style for him. From and earthly perspective, these guys had it all: Land, wealth, power. But Ham's descendants were missing the one thing that couldn't be taken from them. The legacy of an un-godly father reaches farther than we can imagine.
Chapter 11- The Tower of Babel
Can you imagine how great it would be if the whole world spoke the same language? When I was in Chicago last week I ran into so many people from different countries. France, Pakistan, Spain, Korea--and many more. I didn't have a chance to witness to these people, because they couldn't understand a word I was saying! All I could do was smile, nod, take a picture for them, and send them on their way.
But the people of Babel had this, and instead of harnessing this incredible gift to worship, and bring glory to God, these guys take advantage of their ability to cooperate and build a tower. And was it a chapel? A church? An alter for God? No. They wanted a tower that would reach into heaven and make them famous. For their own glory. They even state their reasoning: "Otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the earth." Funny how God can use the very thing you are trying to avoid to teach you a lesson. When we try to make things happen on our own power, God has a way of reminding us who is really in control. Someone I know and love once said, "God is not going to let me fail." But the thing he was doing was for his own glory and through his own power. Sadly, he didn't learn to rely on God in time, and God did indeed let him fail. Miserably. This life isn't about us, and if we can't get that, God just might have to prove it to us.
I don't want to have to learn that lesson over and over. Do you?
It's interesting how the story of the Tower of Babel is flanked by two genealogies, Ham's and Shem's. Almost like God had a purpose for it, right? We know that Shem was one of the brothers that chose to do what was right back in chapter 9. In this list of descendants, we see at the end a very famous man. Old father Abraham, himself. The beginning of the Israelites. And we know that if we continue down that line we'll see many more like him: Jacob, David, Solomon, Jesus Christ.
I don't know about you, but I count being in the actual physical lineage of Jesus as an incredible honor, reserved for very few--each with an amazing story. We don't know why God chose Shem to be the beginning of this, but there is a clue as to why he didn't choose Ham.
So often we choose to avoid sin because we are avoiding the consequence. We're taught this from a young age. "If you don't pick up those toys right now, you will not be having ice cream with dinner." This is a valid motivation. Ham's descendants might not have gotten into nearly as much trouble if he had been a righteous man.
But if we change our thinking only slightly, then avoidance of sin changes from being fear-based (I don't want to be punished.) to being love-based. (I want to maintain this relationship with God and all the blessings that come with that.) Shem had no idea that one decision would change his family's history forever. But he probably did understand that it would affect his friendship with God. So often in today's Christianity we don't worry too much about sin, because we know that we live under grace. We know that we are redeemed for past, present and future sin, and we can ask for forgiveness later. But living under grace isn't just freedom from eternal damnation. It's the freedom to have a love affair with the Creator of the universe! The lover of your soul! We have no idea the spiritual blessing that God wants to heap on us, if we will only follow him.
Let's not miss out on that!
Next time: Genesis 12-14
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