Oh no, it's one of those genealogy chapters, one of those places in the Bible where I suspected the going might get tough on this looking-for-God's-heart blogging adventure.
At first glance, chapter 10 just looked like a list of the sons of Noah ... and their sons ... and their sons. Mostly names that are hard to pronounce and easy to forget.
I wondered what I could possibly learn here about who God is, very aware that if I don't learn something, I can't write anything. And if I don't write anything, then well, the wheels are coming off my blog just 10 chapters in.
So I read and reread chapter 10. And about the third time through, I saw something rather important woven through the verses -- one world becoming many nations.
Noah's descendants obviously did multiply and fill the earth, because, well, here we are today, with people just about everywhere. The "coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations" (verse 5).
It's not exactly a picture of a close-knit family living up on Walton's Mountain together, is it?
This chapter seems a little sad to me, even though all this going of separate ways was necessary. Maybe because I'm a South Carolina mama with one of my sons and his family living in California. I know how it feels to have a piece of my heart carried a whole continent away.
So I wonder how our future-knowing God felt about all of this family break-up business among Noah's descendants? Yes, it was His idea, but as I read the names of Noah's descendants and the places they settled, I tripped over several who later became thorns in the side of God and His people. I couldn't help but wonder how God can stand to be God, knowing the future -- especially the painful, evil, dysfunctional things?
This listing of Noah's descendants and their locales included names like Babel, Assyria, Nineveh, Sodom, and Gomorrah. And all those evil "-ites" -- those people who later dogged the Hebrew nation as God's chosen people tried to settle into their inheritance in the Promised Land. (Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, and so on.)
All these folks started out as one family -- Noah's family. But here in chapter 10, we read how that family "separated," "went forth," "was spread abroad," and "divided." And God knew that thousands of bloody years would pass before the people He created would ever happily and peacefully reunite again as one family -- His family. He knew He'd have to watch countless murders, wars, atrocities and injustices before His righteousness finally prevails.
Watching Noah's family disperse, God knew what was coming, and I'm thinking the only way He could stand to watch it all was because He knew He had a perfect plan. Before the foundation of the world, God formed His master plan of redemption, a plan that required the separation of people, beginning here with Noah's clan, into different nations and languages. All so that He could ultimately bring His children together again, perfectly and forever, in His new heaven and earth.
The "-ites," Egyptians, Assyrians and other ancient enemies of God couldn't thwart God's plan ... and neither can His enemies today, though they be many.
So, yes, Genesis 10 is more than a tedious genealogy. It's yet another example of the incredibly patient heart and matchless brilliance of our sovereign God.
He has a plan, He works His plan, and thankfully, He always, always prevails.
No comments:
Post a Comment