The Table of Nations

Genealogies are one of the most encouraging sections of Scripture. The reason why that sounds like a funny statement is because we don't read them. We don't think about them. We assume that what we are looking at is a dull list of names that have nothing to do with me or very little to do with the Bible. Sure, names like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob show up, but how often are the Jebusites showing up, and even if it is a lot, what difference does it make? How does knowing Nimrod built Nineveh make a difference to my life? Well, if you aren't paying close attention to all of Scripture, yeah, this won't make a difference to you. But I can tell you that's true of all the Scripture. We come to this gold mine of the Bible with nothing but a pan. We will find riches even that way, but oh how blessed is the man who meditates, who brings the pick axe to open up the ground. We are going to need to do some work, but there is gold even here. 

We have covered genealogies before in our series through Genesis, most recently in chapter 5. There we saw that God was faithful to His promises and His judgments and that walking close with God brings blessing. God promised Eve that she would have children, and sure enough, Eve had children! Adam and Eve were even able to see it come to pass! 

We've just seen some invocations made to God from Noah last week for Shem and Japheth to be blessed and Canaan to be cursed. Well, when we get to chapter 10, it is starting to look like it is going to be a while before we see this. The sons of Ham (including Canaan) are doing pretty well for themselves, while it seems like Shem is taking a minute to get started. 

I can imagine that this is really hitting home with the original audience. The descendants of Shem have just left 4 centuries of servitude to Egypt. While they haven't been serving Canaan, it's not like they've been enjoying power in Egypt. Ham's kids are oppressing Shem's kids. Now, the tables have turned recently, but right now the descendants of Shem are sitting in the wilderness. They've just finished complaining about their food situation, longing to go back to Egypt. They are about to face the sons of Canaan, and they are scared to death to face these people. From their perspective, this is a losing battle, always has been, always will be. But you and I, with the benefit of the rest of history, can learn a lesson here. Let's learn some family history as we discover our two points: God's people don't look like much, but God is faithful to His promises in time.

God's people don't look like much 

First, a quick word on our characters. I know these names are difficult and unfamiliar, but these are going to be the names that are going to come up time and time again. I don't know if you've had the experience of listening to someone passionately explaining a fantasy world to you, but after the third or fourth major character with a name that sounds like someone fell asleep on their keyboard, you just switch into nodding your head as you drop into half-listen territory. It is really hard to dedicate the attention needed to understand a fantasy world that we are probably never going to read in or enjoy. The difference with these names is that this is actually your world. We all came from either Shem, Ham, and Japheth, all ultimately descending from Noah. Further, the Bible is going to make reference to these people throughout the rest of the Old Testament, and we will trace some of them here today. There will be a lot more OT prophecy and history that is going to make much more sense to you if you have these names, or the major ones at least, in your head as you go. God hasn't given you this list as optional reading. This list is just as inspired Scripture as John 3:16, and, while at a different level, profitable for you, too. 

To help keep everyone straight, there is a little bit of structure worth noticing here. This list will go back and forth between using the word "son" and the word "fathered." The names in the "sons" are point to the heads of the lines we are about to talk about, and whenever it says, "so and so fathered" we are then about to read about the development of that son's line (Ross, 226). You are also going to see names ending in "im" or "ites," and this is referring to tribes or cities rather than individuals (Ross, 223).  

Next, quick word on historical context. Near as we can tell, we are sitting around 2,000 years Before Christ comes (Matthews, 455) and about 2000 years after the world was created, give or take. We are making the switch between the history of the whole world before narrowing down to focus on the family of Abraham, which will take us from chapter 12 forward through the rest of, well, the Bible. It is also worth pointing out that chapter 10 is actually going to take place *after* the Tower of Babel (Matthews, 428). We are being introduced to all of these nations and where they are going, and then we will find out in chapter 11 why they all end up heading in different directions and become different nations with different languages in the first place. The Bible is taking it in this order because we are going to go over the non-elect line first, saving the holy line for the end as a more natural way to transition to telling their story. We will watch things narrow in focus as we draw closer to Christ, the point of the Bible. 

Let's dive in starting with Japheth. These families simply aren't going to have the same impact on the line of Shem (read: Israel) that Ham's line will, so we go through them quickly. Remember from chapter 9 that Japheth is going to be dwelling in the tents of Shem later on, so we won't see nearly as much the negative impact on Israel. The people in this line go on to places like Asia Minor, Europe, and some small islands in the Mediterranean sea. You will see some of these names show up in other places in the Bible as people known for their ships and sailing. 

Next, we go onto the line of Ham, and here is where we are going to see the names pop up again and again. These people are going to be fairly well spread out over North Africa, along the Nile River, and along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea where modern Israel currently is, with a few tribes heading into places like modern day Arabia. It should not be lost on us with this geography to what an advantage it would be for these people. Access to water meant access to trade, transportation, and irrigation for crops. The sons of Egypt eventually settle the country of Egypt (how providential is that?) which, by the time the Israelites are reading this, is one of the most powerful countries in existence. 

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's look at one figure in particular, Nimrod. Nimrod is described as the first to become a "mighty man," or a warrior (Matthews, 450). He is also described as a great hunter. In short, he is a man with a fearsome reputation, and has some pretty impressive things to dot his resume. He becomes quite the builder of cities which become major problems of Israel later on. One of those cities is Nineveh, which will become Assyria. This is important to remember, because about 1300 years later, in 722 BC, Assyria is going to become a fearsome empire and sack Israel to take them away into exile. Nimrod also founds the city of Babel (although we will see what happens to his Tower, later) which later becomes Babylon. Once again, this will be trouble for Judah later, as Babylon is going to conquer Judah in 586 BC and carry them off into exile as well. And those are just two of the cities that the man founded! 

Let's move on to Egypt. Aside from eventually being the country that enslaved the Israelites for 400 years, this is also the line of the Philistines. This group of people was SUCH a pain in Israel's neck throughout the book of Judges on through the early kings of Israel. If there was a fight coming during that time, it was usually from the Philistines. These were no mere inconveniences. This was the group of people who ended up beating king Saul in battle and pinned his body to the wall. This was the group that stole the Ark of the Covenant. 

God is Faithful to His Promise in Time
And we haven't even mentioned the cursed Canaanites, yet! While there are a lot of names there, I am just going to mention one of them, the Jebusites. They follow in a list of these other Canaanites names in Exodus 3:17 and 13:5 as who will be driven out of the land by God. However, when we get to Numbers 13:29, we see the people scared to death to face them! This doesn't sound like the promise is going to be fulfilled! In fact, it gets worse! In Joshua 9:7, one of the groups (the Hivites, Gen. 10:17) tricks Israel, but they end up as servants. Ah, progress on that promise! But, when we get in Joshua 15:63, the Jebusites are mentioned as still being in the land! They are still there until David the king comes along! This is nearly 1000 later from Genesis 10, and God fulfills this promise and gives them the city of Jerusalem where the Temple is going to be built! And guess who is going to help build that temple? The Canaanites. 1 Kings 9:15, 20-21. Not only does God fulfill His promise that the Canaanites would serve Shem, but in that service they help prepare a place where not only the Jews but the rest of the world could meet in the presence of God, a privilege not enjoyed since Eden. 

That's how God fulfills a promise. Yes, it takes a minute. But was that not worth the wait? And here's the thing: these are real people, I just read to you their names. These are real tribes with real weapons taking stands on real places that you can get on a plane and go tour right now that God really defeated and really did all that I've just said He did. This is not airy-fairy fantasy; this is history—your history—your family history. After all, you ultimately descended from one of the sons Shem, Ham, or Japheth. This is what God has done for you His family! 

But what about the Canaanites? Does their story end with that? No, I have one more place to take you. Matthew 15:21. In the book of Mark, this same story is told, but Mark calls her  the Syrophonecian woman. Listen to Matthew help us know where that is. In this story, we see this Canaanite woman address Jesus directly for help, and He ignores her. She keeps at it, He tells her something harsh. Calling someone a dog was not a compliment. But remember, this is a Canaanite! Jesus knows this, but He isn't doing this to be mean. He pushes this woman to display her tremendous faith. He could see that, but for our benefit, He has her say that famous line about the crumbs falling from the master's table. She knew she didn't deserve it. She wasn't asking for much in her mind. Just a crumb. Jesus gave her that crumb. Jesus, the ultimate descendant of Shem, serves Canaan. 

But then He gave so much more. Instead of the Master giving crumbs to the wild dogs, He gave Himself. The Bread of Life's body was broken, and His blood was poured out for the sins of the world. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, the Suffering Servant for the descendants of Shem, Japheth, and yes, Ham. 

God's plan has been for the world, and here it is fulfilled in Jesus. So what do we take away from this? 

One, know that this is the God you serve. He is the God Who works out all things for all nations for our good and His glory. Remember what He has done in and through even the Amorites, the Hivites, and Jebusites. He can do the same with California, Alabama, and D.C. He can work through the Republicans and Democrats. This doesn't mean that we just say, "Well, nothing we do matters, so might as well do whatever makes me popular." No, no. In fact, in Ezra 9, we find an account of the priests of God intermarrying with the Canaanite women, something they were absolutely not supposed to do. They had to repent of that. It wasn't just, "Well, God will work it out!" No, it was, "That was a sin, and we need to deal with that." In the same way, we are called to do what is right.

Two, know that God is in control.  But if even after doing what is right things go haywire, we can rest in the storm. God is directing the boat. So relax this election year. I'm not saying don't vote, or don't champion a candidate. I am saying, do those things, and then relax. Yes, it might mean that there is hardship coming our way. Conflict with the Jebusites wasn't pretty or pleasant. But God got His way, and He always will. 

And this works at the level of your life day to day. God isn't just in control of Outlaws in High Office, but in-laws in your living room. If God can make the Canaanites be the ones to help build the Temple to get the world closer to God, He can cause whoever is in your life that's driving you nuts to draw you to Him in a way that nothing else could. God has promised to make you more like His Son, and He is going to use even the people and things you can't stand to do it. Of course you can't see that right now. The Israelites couldn't see it either, pre-King David. But God has a way of using that which we are the most confused about and often angry about, to work out His plans for us. 

If we can praise God for Jebusites from the past, we can praise Him for our trials from the present. The thing that is causing you tears of anger and sadness about your life today will be the things that cause you tears of gratitude to God, because He used those things to bring you closer to Himself. He is equally involved in both. 

History shows us that. Genealogies show us that.