Genesis 10 & 11 Say What?
Noah’s three sons are repopulating the earth. But trouble comes when, together, they try and reach God. He confounds their language and scatters them abroad.
Before the flood, I’m assuming that all people were of one language but not all of them lived in the same area. Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife there. It was east of where his family was. This means that there was at least some separation between the people. But we don’t hear anything about a language barrier until after the flood.
In Genesis 10 we see several generations of descendants of Noah’s sons listed for us. We also see the phrase “by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations” at the end of the genealogy lists for each son. This tells us that, by the time the last generation was born, man had been dispersed in groups. Those groups were created by a confounding of language. Those who could understand one another grouped together and established cities and settlements all over the earth.
Today we will look at the reason and method by which the people were dispersed. We aren’t told how long it took to get to this place or precisely how many generations it took either. It was before ALL the generations of Noah were established in our list from this chapter.
There are a few people who were singled out for closer attention in the genealogy list. Nimrod is one of them. ‘Tradition’ says that he was the one who instigated the Tower of Babel. This is possibly due to the fact that we are told “The beginning of [Nimrod’s] kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar” (Genesis 11:10). He was from the line of Ham; Noah’s youngest.
One thing I’m wondering is how many generations in was Nimrod? We see the sons of Ham listed; “Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan” (verse 6). Then we see the sons of Cush. Nimrod is NOT listed here. Cush’s son Raamah is then listed with his sons. Finally, we jump back to Cush and are told that “Cush fathered Nimrod” (verse 8a). So was Nimrod left out of the list of Cush’s sons so he could be dealt with later or was he simply a descendant of Cush? And if he was simply a descendant, who was his father? If Cush was Nimrod’s father, then the confusion of languages would have happened two generations after the end of the flood. If not, I can’t reliably place him in time.
Another name we have that ‘places’ the time of the discernment of people is Peleg. His name means division and we see that “in his days the earth was divided” (Genesis 11:25b). The earth was divided by the language barrier that happened at Babel. Peleg is a descendent of Shem; Noah’s oldest.
So, let’s take a peek into history in the time of that great division of man.
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It has been years since the ark came to rest on the peak of a mountain. It was the first place to become dry. But it wasn’t a place where Noah and his family wanted to make their permanent home. As the waters receded further and further, the families followed it down the mountain and into a fertile valley.
“This place is BEAUTIFUL! Let’s make a house here” Noah’s wife suggests.
“It is beautiful. It will also be a great place to plant some of the seeds we brought with us. I would like to try my had at farming” replies Noah.
“I suppose a new world demands a new career. Keep with your old ‘career’ as a carpenter until our home is built, please.”
Noah smiles and gives his wife an affectionate kiss on the cheek. “As always my love, your comfort is my priority; after the Lord of course.”
“As it should be my husband.”
Noah turns out to be a very good gardener. His vineyard produces quite well and his skill as a winemaker exceeds even his expectations. He gets into a little trouble when he gets too free with his own finished products.
Noah’s youngest finds him passed out drunk, in an unbecoming state. Instead of politely covering his father and sparing him humiliation, Ham goes to his brothers.
“You won’t believe what I just saw”, Ham says with disgust dripping off every word.
“What?”
“Our father! Passed out drunk; displaying himself for all the world to see!”
“Where was he”, asks Shem.
“In his tent with the door standing wide open.”
“If he is in his tent they you had no business looking.”
“I couldn’t help it! He is in plain sight of the door. My son Canaan could have walked by and seen him!”
“We will take care of him. DON’T go spreading this around.”
Shem and Japheth quickly go to the tent their father set up in the vineyard, only stopping long enough to grab a blanket from the clean wash. As they get close to the tent, they turn around and drape the blanket between their shoulders on the back side. They carefully walk backwards until they can see Noah’s feet. They gently bend down and release the blanket over their father’s body. After dropping the blanket, Shem turns around enough to ensure his father is well covered. Then the two of them quietly left.
Noah woke up a few hours later and noticed the blanket. When he moved under it, he felt his skin against the underside of the blanket. His face burned with humiliation, KNOWING that someone had seen him and covered him. It wasn’t long before he learned who had done what. It’s not easy to keep a secret in a small camp.
Noah was angry with Ham for spreading the ‘news’ of his nakedness around. He was also extremely grateful for the actions of his two older sons. And he was going to tell them ALL so.
Noah called his three sons together. He stood in front of Ham and shook his head. Anger burned in his eyes, along with disappointment. “Why Ham? Why couldn’t you just have taken care of the matter yourself?”
“It was disgusting seeing you like that! I didn’t want my son Canaan to see you in such a state. I had to protect him from your drunkenness!!!”
“Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers” (verse 25) Noah spat.
Ham was shocked at his father’s words. How could he pronounce a curse on his SON! If Noah had cursed him, he could have borne it. But his own actions brought judgment on his son. His cheeks burned bright with shame.
Noah turned his attention to his eldest; Shem. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant…”. Turning his eyes to Japheth, his middle son, he continued with his blessing. “…May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant” (verses 26-27).
This wouldn’t be the last time Noah imbibed a little too much of his own wine, but it was the LAST time Ham felt welcome in his father’s presence. Little by little, as the families each grew, they began to move away from the mountain God had brought them safely to rest on as the waters of the flood receded. Ham was the first to leave. His journey was as that of a ‘trail blazer’ for his brothers.
The three brothers and their father had long since left this life when the three families ‘joined up’ with one another in the plains of Shinar. Together, they would build a city. And in that city would be a place where NO floodwaters could wipe them out. The name of this city would be Babel.
Nimrod met with the leaders of the tribes of Shem and Japeth. Together, they planned out a great city. It would be something that man could look on and SEE the greatness he had achieved!
Work began on the city a few days later. Bricks were baked, mortar was mixed, trees were chopped, and ground was measured out. The town itself went together fairly quickly. Many were looking forward to having a centralized place for trade and marketing. That was the first space completed. EVERY man wanted a happy home life and giving the wife a place to shop was a BIG step in the right direction.
Nimrod wanted work to begin on the temple so it would to be the next project finished. Everything is moving smoothly; for a while.
God had been watching the activities going on in the plain of Shinar. He knew what the people were intending to do. They had made great strides together on rebuilding and repopulating the earth. God had allowed them this time together so their knowledge could increase. But it was time to step in. What they had proposed to do was to ‘save themselves’ instead of relying on God. Their buildings would indeed be great and would foster future advances.
“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. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speck” (verse 7).
God sent His Spirit out to confuse the people’s language. Instead of making everyone speak their own unique language, He dispersed several dialects among the people. Those working right beside one another had no idea what their neighbor was saying. Work stopped as the people became more and more frustrated with this predicament.
While heated efforts to communicate took place, some of the people noticed that they could understand at least part of the conversation. They began to group up according to language spoken. Work stopped on the tower, as no one could understand a thing the other groups were saying.
The good part about this language confusion is that it didn’t cross ‘family’ lines. Those who were descendants of Shem had languages of their own. The same with the descendants of Japheth and Ham. There were several dialects within the families but none from the other brother’s groups shared in the languages.
The confusion in the city was too great, so groups started migrating outward. Nimrod and his family continued on in Babel but he would not complete the building project of the tower. They took it as a sign from God and feared angering Him any further. Nimrod would continue on as a great leader and a “mighty hurter before the Lord” (Genesis 10:9). He made for himself a kingdom and many of the cities that he constructed in that kingdom would continue on for centuries to come.
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God knew just when to step in and ‘stir the pot’. I wonder what ‘technological advances’ would have come had the language divide not been introduced. Today, man has made MANY technological advances. Some of them have certainly ‘pushed the envelope’. One example is cloning. This is man believing he can create life on his own. I believe God is watching us closely and will step in again, when the time is right, and put a ‘roadblock’ in the way when we get too far out of line.
We are told that in the end times that knowledge will abound. That is certainly the case right now! But how much farther do we have to go before God ‘stirs the pot’ again? Will it be the rapture this time that puts a halt to man’s progress? Or will it be the return of Jesus? I don’t know what the Antichrist will do, technologically, but it will all come through manipulation and deceit. I’ll be MORE than happy to skip that portion of history! I will go with those who speak His language. The ‘language divide’ will continue to exist and won’t cross ‘family lines’ any more now than it did in the days of Nimrod.
Father God, I certainly appreciate the technology You have allowed to develop in our world. I LIKE my running water and consistent heating! But I will take being part of YOUR family over ANY advancement there is. I hadn’t thought about the ‘language divide’ between those who follow You and those who don’t. We DO have a different ‘language’. We also have the language of the Holy Spirit that might as well be gibberish to those who are not part of Your family. I don’t understand what He is saying through my prayer language, but I KNOW that HE is speaking YOUR language and YOU DO understand it. My heart understands it as truth and nourishment and that is enough for me. Thank You for that language.
