Yesterday we returned to Genesis and to a chapter most of us skim in our yearly Bible reading—the strange, hard-to-pronounce names of Genesis 10. But we saw that this is no mere filler between Noah and Abraham; it may be one of the most missions-oriented texts in all of Scripture. Marked off by the toledot of verse 1, Genesis 10 (together with the first nine verses of chapter 11) forms the fourth book of Genesis, framed by a matching superscript and postscript—an inclusio—signaling a single unit of thought. It is less a genealogy than an ethnology, a selective and theological account of the peoples of the earth, held in tension throughout between the unity of mankind and its dispersion. Its three sections, tracing Noah’s three sons, can be summarized as replenished mankind, rebellious mankind, and redeemed mankind.
In Japheth’s line, we see mankind replenished—the coastland peoples spreading out, the beginning of Noah’s prophecy that God would “enlarge Japheth,” and the line from which most of us in the room descend. In Ham’s line, rebellion is stressed. Here are Israel’s historic enemies—Egypt, Canaan, Babel, Assyria, the Philistines, the Amorites—and here is Nimrod, remembered as a “mighty hunter before the Lord.” That is no compliment: Nimrod was a tyrant who hunted men and flaunted his rebellion in God’s face, building cities to make a name for himself, just as Cain did. The contrast is striking. The heroes of the seed of the serpent are always mighty hunters and city-builders; the heroes of the seed of the woman—Abraham, Moses, David, and at last the Lord Jesus himself—are shepherds. True greatness is not building your own name but building God’s. And even in Ham’s cursed line we glimpse God’s patient grace: He gave the Amorites four hundred years to repent before judgment, for His kindness is meant to lead to repentance. Then in Shem’s line we return to the line of promise, the seed of the woman, traced quietly through Eber—from whom we get the word “Hebrew”—and Peleg, who stands in the genealogy of Christ.
Two truths can be learned from this text. First, the unity of mankind: every nation, tribe, and tongue descends from Noah, and ultimately from Adam, so that any notion of racial superiority is excluded as evil and rubbish—there is one human family. Second, the seventy nations. Fourteen from Japheth, thirty from Ham, twenty-six from Shem—seventy in all, a number of completion that echoes across Scripture: the seventy who went down to Egypt, the seventy elders, the boundaries of the peoples set “according to the number of the sons of God,” and the seventy Jesus sent out two by two. That last sending is the key. In Psalm 2, which Pastor Ben opened last week, the Father tells the Son, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage.” Did the Son ever ask? He did—in the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Go get the nations. Go get Christ’s inheritance. When Jesus ascended, and the disciples stood staring into the sky, the angels’ question was almost an astonished rebuke: he has given you your commission—what are you waiting for? The Father has promised the nations to the Son, and so missions cannot fail. Genesis 10 is no dusty ancestral list; it is the reminder that God has always wanted the nations.
- Replenished mankind (10:1–5) — Japheth’s line spreads across the coastlands, fulfilling Noah’s prophecy of enlargement and God’s mandate to fill the earth after the flood.
- Rebellious mankind (10:6–20) — Ham’s line gives us Israel’s historic enemies and Nimrod the rebel-tyrant, setting the serpent’s mighty hunters against the woman’s humble shepherds, and displaying God’s patience even toward the cursed.
- Redeemed mankind (10:21–32) — Shem’s line quietly carries the seed of the woman through Eber and Peleg toward the promised Christ.
- One family, seventy nations — All mankind is one family descended from Noah, and the seventy nations anticipate Christ’s inheritance and the Great Commission to disciple them all.
Key line to remember: God has always wanted the nations.
Reflection and Preparation
Day 1 — Replenished Mankind: The Mandate Fulfilled
Read: Genesis 10:1–5; Acts 17:24–28
Adults:
- After the flood left only eight souls, Genesis 10 shows the earth filling again with peoples, lands, and languages. How does watching God’s mandate come to pass strengthen your confidence that his purposes cannot be thwarted?
- Noah’s prophecy—”may God enlarge Japheth”—begins to be fulfilled right here. What does it do for your faith to see God keeping even his quieter promises across generations?
- Acts 17 says God made every nation from one man and set the times and boundaries of each. How should God’s sovereignty over the nations shape the way you view world events?
Children:
- After the flood, there were only eight people left. What did God tell them to do? Did it happen?
- Did God make just one kind of people, or all the different families and nations in the world?
Day 2 — Rebellious Mankind: Two Kinds of Hero
Read: Genesis 10:6–12; John 10:11–18
Adults:
- Nimrod is remembered as a “mighty hunter”—not a compliment, but a tyrant flaunting rebellion before God. Where are you tempted to measure greatness by power, conquest, or reputation?
- The heroes of the seed of the serpent build cities to make a name for themselves; the heroes of the seed of the woman—Abraham, Moses, David, and ultimately Christ—are shepherds. What does this reveal about the greatness God honors?
- Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for rebellious sheep. How does his kind of greatness reshape your own ambitions?
Children:
- Nimrod wanted to be famous and powerful. Is that the kind of “great” that pleases God?
- Jesus is called the Good Shepherd. What does a good shepherd do for his sheep?
Day 3 — The Patient Grace of God
Read: Genesis 10:15–20; Romans 2:1–5
Adults:
- Though Canaan was cursed, his descendants flourished for centuries—God gave the Amorites four hundred years before judgment. Where have you seen God’s patience giving time for repentance?
- Romans 2 warns against presuming on God’s kindness. How do you guard against mistaking his patience for his approval?
- God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. Whom are you praying God’s patience will draw to himself?
Children:
- God waited a very long time before judging the Amorites. Why did he wait?
- When God is patient with us, what does he want us to do?
Day 4 — Redeemed Mankind: The Line of Promise
Read: Genesis 10:21–32; Luke 3:34–38
Adults:
- In Shem’s line, the godly seed is quietly traced—through Eber (from whom we get “Hebrew”) and Peleg, in the line of Christ. Why is it important to keep looking for the thread of the seed of the woman as you read the Old Testament?
- How does knowing that Gen. 3:15 is the storyline of the whole Bible change the way you read even a genealogy?
- Not all of Shem’s descendants were redeemed, and some of Ham’s and Japheth’s were. What does that teach us about who truly belongs to God’s people?
Children:
- God promised a special Rescuer would come through one of Noah’s sons. Which son’s family did the promise follow?
- Can people from every family and nation belong to Jesus, or only one kind of people?
Day 5 — Preparing for the Lord’s Day: The Genesis of Diversity
Read: Genesis 11:1–9; Acts 2:1–11 Adults:
- Genesis 10 listed the scattered nations; this week, we will learn how the scattering happened at Babel. As you read Genesis 11, what do you notice about why mankind wanted to build a tower and “make a name” for themselves?
- At Babel God confused the languages and scattered the people; at Pentecost he gathered people of every language to hear one gospel. How does Pentecost answer and reverse Babel?
Children:
- At the Tower of Babel, why did the people want to build a tower all the way up to the sky?
- When God gave people different languages, did that stop his plan to save people from every nation? What happened later at Pentecost?
Next Lord’s Day Preview
The Genesis of Diversity — Genesis 11:1–9
Last Lord’s Day, we walked among the seventy nations of Genesis 10, scattered across the earth “each with his own language.” This week, we go back to learn how that scattering came about. Genesis 11:1–9—the Tower of Babel—is where the diversity of tongues and peoples originates. Here mankind, united in one language and one purpose, refuses God’s command to fill the earth and instead gathers on the plain of Shinar to build a city and a tower “with its top in the heavens,” determined to make a name for itself. God’s response is both judgment and mercy: He comes down, confuses their language, and scatters them abroad—and in that very scattering, His mandate to fill the earth is fulfilled after all. What looks like fracture and confusion is not God’s final word, for the tongues divided at Babel will one day be gathered at Pentecost and, at last, around the throne.
Come ready to consider:
- What drove mankind to build at Babel, and how the desire to “make a name” exposes the human heart
- How God’s judgment at Babel also served his purpose to fill the earth
- How Pentecost and the gospel begin to reverse the confusion of Babel
Hymns for Next Lord’s Day
- 3 — Holy, Holy, Holy
- 462 — Be Thou My Vision
- 535 — No, Not Despairingly
- 342 — When This Passing World Is Done
Blessings,
Pastor Mike