Genesis 10

Why is this chapter even here?  Ever feel that way?  From a spiritual growth perspective there's another question that remains.  How does this help me to follow Jesus?  This episode lays out differently than most.  Rather than me doing my best to be brilliant and/or clever, I invite you to peek inside my own process whenever I come to a passage that is kind of a data deposit like this one. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Why is this even here? Bro, why is Genesis 10 in Scripture? You ever feel that way? When you take a look at a particular passage and it's a part of your reading plan, like Genesis 10 is for us, and you're like, man, what what do I do with this? Why is it here? And maybe more importantly, how does it help us follow Jesus? When we have data dumps like this, it can be a challenge for us to not just skip ahead to the next part. And if you've ever done one of those read the Bible in a year reading plans, you've felt this way. I'm sure that you felt this way. I know that it hasn't just been me. So again, what do we do with all of this? Hey, welcome to Meet Me in the Word. Uh, my name is Timothy Stobey. Once again, I'm so glad that you're here with me, with us, uh, enjoying the Word of God together. And today is going to feel a little different uh because of the nature of chapter 10, the just the way that it lays out. So I'm gonna let you peek into a bit more of how I process passages like this, what do I what I do with them, and my hope in doing so is that it will help you kind of be able to move through these. They're not difficult because they're like because they chafe at us necessarily, but they're difficult because like they they can feel a little dry. And uh, and and so how do we handle that? And how do we continue to grow uh in the Lord through this process? So go ahead and open up your scriptures to Genesis chapter 10. I'm gonna pray for us and then we're just gonna work our way through the text. I'm not gonna read it all for you. You can do that on your own, but while I'll share with you the the different things that that I worked through earlier this morning. Jesus, thank you for today. God, thank you for every good thing. Lord, we know that these good things are from you, including passages that we um don't always find to be enriching. But God, we know that you are the one who speaks words of life into us, and so we ask for that to happen even today, and that you would show us what it looks like to follow you and to draw near to you. We love you. Amen. Alright, let's look at this together. Genesis ten. And I'm going to start with asking, not asking this question, but just stating what this text is. And we actually find out uh in verse one and in verse thirty-two, the book ends of chapter ten. It says, This is the account of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah's sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. And then in verse thirty-two, it says, These are the clans of Noah's sons according to their lines of descent within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood. By the way, this is just a little bit of a tidbit. Whenever we see sons, particularly in this passage, and we gain this idea, I think contextually, um, I only know enough Hebrew to be dangerous, so I want to be careful with this. But um at the bottom of my physical Bible it had a little note, and I I followed that up and kind of checked out with uh with the concordance uh that it really is a legitimate thing. That part of the reason that little caption at the top there it says table of nations, not table of sons, or like a direct descendants kind of an idea, is for that reason that that word uh for son can legitimate legitimately be understood as as nations or descendants in in that context. So just food for thought as you as you jump into this, and that can kind of help us to understand it a little bit better. So what this text is, it's an account of what happened, and I like to think about it this way it's the epilogue, it's the rest of the story, it's the part of the movie that after the the climax has happened um and the story has settled, and it might even be that postscript thing that that comes up on the screen uh, you know, when they're like based on true life stories, or they want you to feel like it's based on true life, and they kind of tell you what happens to the different characters, you know, kind of after the story is told. This is that. And uh and in that context, we can uh learn a little bit more about what is taking place. So what this text is, it's that. Now, what about what this text does? There are actually a few things that this text does for us. Number one, it makes introductions. We, the readers, learn about the nations and the territories that we'll encounter in later parts of the Old Testament. If you took a moment to read this already, or you can do that now if you'd like, you read through and you'll be like, oh, I've heard of that place, I've heard of that name, I've heard like there's some recognition that happens there. So it does that for us. It helps us to uh to understand what that's what's going on there. And for the people of Moses' time, remember, this was at least penned down by Moses. Uh, it helped them to understand the world that they were living in. Uh, how did all these nations come to be? What's the story? We've heard about the flood, how was everything else restored? You know, what did what did all of that look like? And chapter 10 kind of fills in uh those gaps, both for them in their context, but also for us as we as we look back. So it makes those introductions. Let me just give you a quick snippet here, verses 17 through 20. It says later the Canaanite clans scattered and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon towards Garar as far as Gaza, and then towards Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma, and Zeboyam as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages in their territories and nations. By the way, just another fun little thing, whenever you come across these lists of names that we all get to like stumble over, I want you to know that you have permission. When you get to a list like that, you can just say the first one, and then you just say, and all the rest of them. It's fine. That's a legitimate way uh to approach that, especially when you're in a group setting. And if somebody calls you out on it, you just say, Hey, that guy with the podcast, he said this is okay. All right. Uh so the the next bit is that I think it it it does pique our curiosity, and it's funny because you know what people usually talk about when they talk about chapter 10? They talk about a guy named Peleg. That's what grabs our attention. Why? I'll read it to you. Verse 25. Two sons were born to Eber. One was named Peleg because in his time the earth was divided. His brother was named Jochton. And we read that phrase, in his time the earth was divided, and we're like, what was that about? And does it mean that the like the globe was split? And people have postulated all kinds of different ideas along the way. You know, like this might have been a time when when the continents were were formed in the way that we understand them today, and and just a variety of different things that it could have just simply meant there was an earthquake. It could have meant some other other thing, but it it piques our curiosity. What this text does, uh just last couple of things. One, it connects the dots to future chapters, and so when we read in verses 21 through 31, we learn about the Semites and their genealogies revisited in chapter 11. And why is that important? Well, it's out of their descendants that God would call a man to leave his home and enter into the covenant that would shape the Hebrew people. So we're connecting that dot. And then finally, this chapter and all genealogies, I would say, they serve as a reference for us. We may not soak up in the same way that we would in the Psalms or even in the Gospels or other parts of scriptures and just find ourselves feeling almost naturally like connected with the Lord in that way. But this does help us to gain understanding and it serves as that function for us. Now, coming back to maybe the most important question for us as Jesus followers, how does this help us follow Jesus? And I came away with three reminders as I just took some time to process this text. The first is that I'm reminded that a reset doesn't equal lasting devotion to God. If we look at the flood and the story of Noah as kind of this collective reset, that the thing that had led to that, all of that that had taken place, that there was this sense of like not a total do-over, but but a little bit, you know, this reset that that took place, it doesn't necessarily automatically mean that everybody going forward is just going to follow God with all that they are and and love him in the best possible way. And I think that bears out in our own lives, doesn't it? We can go through moments where we reset our lives, we might say recommit our lives or rededicate our lives. And those are really good choices for us to make, but they don't automatically mean that the rest of our life is just this upward trajectory of goodness and holiness, and and so we just need to be mindful of that. The second thing is I'm reminded that God sees and cares about the nations. He actually does care. And even though there are a lot of awful things that happen throughout the rest of the pages of the Old Testament and and in history in general, I think it is important for us to recognize that that God does care. He cares about the people in those nations, he cares about how those nations conduct themselves, all of that stuff does matter to him, and they're a part of the text. They're included as a part of the sacred text, a part of the scriptures. And lastly, I'm reminded that even in a city renowned for its wickedness, like Nineveh, you may not have thought I was gonna go there. Some of you thought I was gonna say Sodom, but no, in Nineveh, and we find that in verse 11, revival can still happen. And we read about that much later on in the text, but it reminds me that even in my society, even in my own heart, in my own home, that even when things get kind of crazy, that when rebellion takes root, that it's not necessary or not necessarily all is lost, there is hope. And whenever we find ourselves in that kind of a situation, we can call out to God and be reminded that that He will enter back in. And when we respond to Him, He's there with forgiveness and mercy and grace and new life. And that encourages me. I hope it encourages you. And I hope that the next time you come to a passage like this that's a little bit kind of challenging, because it's just information, that you're able to kind of slow yourself down and take in what the Lord has for you. Let's go ahead and pray. Jesus, thank you for today. God thank you for these passages that inform us and uh can help us to understand just the different things in the context of Scripture. We love you, Lord Jesus. Would you continue to lead us and just show us that faithfulness that is uh so characteristic of you? We love you, Lord. Amen.