WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:09.039 We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel, and it's my great delight to be leading us through Genesis chapter 10. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:13.679 We're about to study what is typically called the Table of Nations. 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:25.600 And I was doing a little bit of research on the population of the world and trying to figure out, you know, how many people are there now and how many might there have been back then and all that sort of thing. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:33.439 And one of the things that I noticed was it wasn't until 1804 that the world population was estimated to be about one billion. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:43.359 But if you take all of the people, you know, all of the years before that, you you wouldn't have come up with one billion on the planet at the same time until 1804. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:57.200 Well, just to 1927, it doubled from one uh billion to two billion, 1960 to 3 billion, and here in 2020, just last year, 7.8 billion. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.399 So you can see the the growth curve is really sharp. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:03.119 The G forces are intense. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:09.840 By 2050, it's projected that we'll have 9 to 10 billion people on the planet. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:17.359 And so if you, my friend, are an introvert, the trajectory is not very promising. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:19.840 Uh, where did all these people come from? 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:27.359 Uh, are we all distant cousins from some founding couple many, many, many, many, many eons ago? 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:34.239 Or did our ancestors arrive on a planet Earth in a giant spaceship from some distant solar system? 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.760 Uh, what is the origin of all things? 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:39.200 These are great questions. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:44.640 Genesis is awesome about helping us begin to answer some of those questions. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:55.200 We've come through chapters one through nine, and we just finished up the narrative of the great flood, and God has instructed Noah and his family to repopulate the earth. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:09.360 But while there was rising hope for a fresh start for humanity, chapter nine ended with a very sobering reminder that uh humanity's sin problem still existed. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:23.840 As we read there, Noah was portrayed as a drunken and very self-indulgent man who ends up passing out in his tent, and then he's disrespected by one of his sons and uh even mocked, if you will. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:32.159 And it's just not a very good start when they'd be given such a great opportunity for uh, you know, a completely new beginning. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:37.439 So, what will happen to the human race is the question you're left with at the end of chapter nine. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:41.280 What will happen as they begin again or start over? 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:45.919 Will they have learned anything from God's righteous judgment through that great flood? 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:51.439 Will they pass on the spiritual lessons to their families, to their descendants in the years to come? 00:02:51.599 --> 00:03:07.759 Or will they turn their back on God and continue down the same path of worshiping at the altar of autonomy that seems to be our proclivity and the kind of thing that we we all drift toward. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.639 And then more importantly, how does God respond to them? 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:17.199 And this is the this is the amazing story of the entire Bible. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:23.280 Uh let's let's read the text, and here we'll see, as I say, another genial uh genealogy. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:36.400 Um and and call me crazy, but I love the genealogies, um, partly because I love wrestling with the pronunciation of the names, and and some of you probably enjoy uh watching me struggle with that. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:40.319 But I'm gonna and I'm gonna challenge you to open your Bible and look with me. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:46.400 And as I pronounce them, perhaps you'll uh ask yourself the question how would you have pronounced that yourself? 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:53.759 All right, now these are the records or the generations of uh Shem Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:58.000 Uh and sons were born to them after the flood. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:05.919 And so the author of Genesis is very um intentional about contextualizing the record we're about to read. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:08.000 It is post-flood. 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:14.080 Uh, he wants us to know that, and this is sort of uh the phrase that we read throughout Genesis. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:22.639 These are the generations, is sort of a marker, if you will, that there's a new story or kind of a new part of the story that's gonna be told. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:26.240 And so this is uh the table of nations, and it goes like this. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:34.720 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, and Medai, and Javon and Tubal, and Meshach and Tirus. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:47.279 All right, so these are uh Hebrew names, and there's no uh they're typically going to be called the the sons of, and there's you must understand there's no uh Hebrew word for grandfather. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:55.839 Sometimes the generations that are listed are literal and and sequential, and and you're supposed to read them that way. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:02.079 Other times in genealogical records in the Old Testament, we find that there'll be generations that are skipped. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:07.839 Later we find that out by reading it in another uh like first chronicles or some other book. 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:11.759 But uh the idea is that these are the descendants of, okay. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:17.360 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Medai, uh, Javon, Tubal, Meshech, and Tyrus. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:20.720 I'm doing okay on the names so far, and I assume you would too. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:25.680 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:30.959 The sons of Javan were Elisha, Tarshish, Ketim, and Dodanim. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:39.600 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations. 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:53.040 And the sons of Ham were Cush and Mizrem and Put and Canaan, and the sons of Cush were Sebah, Havalah, the Sabtah, and Re'mah, and Sabteca and the sons of Re'amah were Sheba and Didan. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:53.600 How are we doing? 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:54.959 You doing hanging in there with me? 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:55.680 I hope you are. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:08.480 What's interesting about this record and these this set of genealogies, unlike chapter 5, is instead of getting the number of years that a person lived, and then that that sort of pattern was, and then they died. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:09.920 Here's what we're getting more. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:18.240 The emphasis is not so much on um uh just the genealogy as it is also on the geography that we see here. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.279 And so verse 8, now Cush became the father of Nimrod. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:26.959 He was a mighty one on the earth, he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:34.079 Um if you look it up, and I'm no Hebrew expert, I just know how to use the tools. 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:40.319 Um, if you look it up, though, the the word before the Lord, before could also be translated against. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:43.839 And of course, in English that would have a completely different meaning, wouldn't it? 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:49.759 But given what we read later about Nimrod, it's at least interesting to know that, okay? 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:55.839 Um Cush became the father of Nimrod, he became a mighty one on the earth, he was a mighty hunter before or against the Lord. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:00.480 Therefore, it is said like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before or against the Lord. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:14.399 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and that's where the music goes, dun dun dun dun, okay, because Baba will become the tower of Babel in the next chapter, and much, much later, even in the book of Revelation, we'll read about Babylon. 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:28.720 And of course, in uh 586 BC, we know that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, comes and overruns uh half of, you know, or the southern half of Israel and captures all of them. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:33.040 Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, those guys are all dragged into Babylon. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:41.839 And it becomes a uh sort of a symbol Babylon does, as you especially in Revelation, for all that is set itself against God. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:48.079 And it's interesting that uh that word could be translated against as well as before. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:08:01.680 And he becomes the one who sets up or establishes Babel and Erech and Akkad and Kalnah in the land of Shinar, basically Mesopotamia over in that general direction. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:02.079 Okay. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:10.720 So from that land he went forth into Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth, Eir, and Kela and Rezin between Nineveh and Kalah. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:12.000 That is the great city. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:20.959 And so what we have here is not only the names of some of the descendants, but the names of some of the cities, the names of some of the countries or nations that are formed in people groups as well. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:34.080 Verse 13, Mizraim became the father of Ludim and Anamim and Lahabim and Naphtim and Pathrusim and Kazluhim, from which came the Philistines. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:36.480 Oh, that one was a lot easier to pronounce, wasn't it? 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:37.759 And Kaftorim. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:41.759 And Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:56.559 And the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Gergeshite and the Hivite and the Architec and the Sinite, and I always like to say, and the termite and the flashlight, because these are all the people, these are the names that like the Jebusites will become. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:02.240 Jebus is the ancient name before Jerusalem was called Jerusalem, it was called Jebus. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:11.840 And so it's you start to see that these names of places correspond to names that we know later. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:18.320 And so you kind of do a little triangulating and you find out these are, hey, this record is actually talking about real places and real people. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:25.919 And the Arvadite and the Zemerite and the Hamathite, and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:32.799 Verse 19, and the territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon, and that's a coastland city, Tyre and Sidon. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:35.360 We'll read about those even in the gospel records with Jesus. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:44.399 As you go toward Garar, as far as Gaza, as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Adma and Zebuim and as far as Lasha. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:47.840 And so again, names we know, Sodom and Gomorrah, we'll read about later. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:59.200 And uh just want to remind us that all of this as a record anyway is not just fable and myth, it's actually uh real names, real people, the whole thing. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:05.440 The sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:11.279 And notice that because again, the the record here is not just of people, but it's of progress. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:21.039 It's of the the migration of people, it's of the of the uh uh generating not only people, but generating culture as well. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:30.639 Verse 21 also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber and the or Eber, the older brother of Japheth, children were born. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:32.799 And this is just fascinating, right? 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:42.799 This is the early roots of Israel, because Shem, uh uh Abram and Abraham, known as both, uh, will descend from Shem. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:11:00.480 So, verse 22, the sons of Shem were Elam and Ashur and Arpakshad and Lud and Aram, and the sons of Aram were Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash, and Arkpashad became the father of Shelah, and Shela became the father of Eber. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:02.399 And two sons were born to Eber. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:08.720 The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Jochtan. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:11.840 And so again, you get this little insert of something about history. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.000 In those days, the earth was divided. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:15.519 In what way was it divided? 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:22.879 Perhaps it's a reference to what happens in the next chapter with the Tower of Babel and how God scatters the people. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:26.879 Um, we certainly know what it's like to live in a land divided, don't we? 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:35.759 Um, but there is this indication here again that we're talking about space-time history, which I think is so important for us to at least notice that. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:40.480 And as we read through these genealogies, we don't want to miss those kinds of things, do we? 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:44.879 So then you have uh verse 26. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:12:01.600 And Jochtan became the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmah, Veth, and Jerah, and Hadaram, and Uzal and Dikla, and Obal and Abimael and Sheba, and Ofer and Havilah and Jobab. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:04.240 All these were the sons of Jochdan. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:10.879 Now their settlement extended from Mesha as ye go towards Sephar, the hill country of the east. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:19.200 These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:34.720 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood, and thus ends the reading of chapter 10. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:35.679 Wow. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:41.440 Now, I don't know about you, but again, I read something like that, and I'm fascinated by the names. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:48.639 I mean, you know, if you guys are, if you guys, any of you are pregnant out there and you're gonna look for a name, Genesis chapter 10, you can find all kinds of great names. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:54.480 Um, sometimes people choose names for their children for all kinds of different reasons. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:13:04.000 Um back in the day, in the times that we read about, anyway, in biblical times, a lot of times people would would, their name might be changed along the way. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:07.279 So Simon in the New Testament might become Peter. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:19.759 And uh and we find that there's some event or some character trait that surfaces, and so it just seems that we should call that person by that name because it tells us more about who they are. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:34.559 Well, Genesis has been classified by uh as myth by some who claim that it's all a fantastic fairy tale, thought up by an ancient dreamer, and there's no way anyone could ever know with specificity or with certainty all of these kinds of things. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:42.480 Others, like the ancient Near East uh historian Thorkild Jakobson, have called it mytho history. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:58.480 It's a combination of history and mythological pre-scientific knowledge, if you will, but st uh weightier and more credible, if you will, more historic than something that's mere myth, while others take a more literal approach to the interpretation. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:03.600 And when it says God created everything in seven days, that means exactly one earth week. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:05.039 So which is it? 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:07.919 How should we interpret Genesis? 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:15.200 Well, the answer probably depends on how one understands and interprets terms like history and myth. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:22.960 Terms like myth, for instance, uh is sometimes conflated with fairy tale, with folklore, with legend. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:37.600 So if we're trying to decide if Genesis describes history, actual history, real history, or fictional mythology, we must at least first ask the question of the text, how does Genesis present itself? 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:43.600 And when you read what I just read in Genesis chapter 10, ask yourself that question. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.360 How does it present itself? 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:46.559 What does it actually say? 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:50.399 What can we determine about what the author intended to convey there? 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:51.759 What is it apparent? 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:56.399 I mean, as you read it, you ought to be able to say, well, I think this guy's trying to communicate something. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.320 What is it, you know, or this person. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:02.000 And um, so is it historical record? 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:06.000 Does it sound like there are real places, real names of real people? 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:13.519 Um, uh, whether we have any ability to corroborate it or triangulate and check it against something else or whatever. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:14.399 That's not what I'm talking about. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:17.919 I'm talking about how does it present itself? 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:23.120 And I think that's worth asking as you go to your Bible and you read it. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:27.120 For instance, Star Wars and the Mandalorian, these are fiction. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:27.840 All right? 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:37.919 The Babylonian Enuma Elish and the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, they might be mytho-historical. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:46.240 Um, they might be the mixing elements of historical reality with a pre-scientific understanding of what lies behind it all. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:49.279 But what then is Genesis, you might ask? 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:52.799 Well, here we do find 70 names. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:16:05.360 Real people, real names, who lived in real places, and those places even had real names, some of which we can indeed cross-reference with extra-biblical sources. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.679 Many of these individuals raised families, they developed into real nations. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:16.000 We're told they even developed their own languages or tongues and made real culture. 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:25.039 So this is a great chapter to call What Is In or What's In a Name, and that's what we're going to call it. 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:37.519 Uh, the storyline moves, I think, toward uh not only giving us data, but also toward giving us an idea of the progress of redemption history. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:53.120 And uh, even though we've come from that end of chapter nine where things were kind of dark in the sense that Noah looks a bit like a fool and a drunken fool at that, um, after being told, you know, much earlier in chapter six that he was a righteous man, they walked with the Lord. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:17:05.599 And uh, we can't look down our noses as we sort of sit, you know, in in so many years later and and say, oh, the guy was a hypocrite, without also pointing the finger at ourselves. 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:08.640 Uh I've been a hypocrite, I'm a hypocrite. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:12.319 I if you if you're trying to get away from hypocrites, you gotta leave the planet. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:15.920 There's just nobody, and then you'd be with you, and that's the problem. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:20.720 See, hypocrisy is everywhere, it's universal in that regard. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:26.160 But here, the storyline does indeed move in a certain direction. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:38.640 And as we see, uh, and as we will even continue to see throughout Genesis, it moves in the direction of God's redeeming power and God being in pursuit of a people, he can call his own. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:40.720 But we're gonna call this study What's in a name? 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:43.039 I think it's a great title for this particular chapter. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:44.319 Uh, what's in a name? 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.960 Do individuals, for instance, even matter? 00:17:47.039 --> 00:18:04.559 Uh if I'm just one of eight billion people on this dust ball-sized planet right now in a massive universe, uh, can my little human life have any significance, any meaning, and can I find purpose uh to get out of bed tomorrow morning and and and have a mission in life at all? 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:06.640 Uh what is in a name? 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:08.000 We're small, fragile. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:13.759 We live in a massive, complex, beautiful, but sometimes dangerous universe. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:18.880 Uh, in many ways, we feel insignificant, often, most of us do. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:21.519 Um, and we are highly vulnerable. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:31.680 I mean, just look at how humanity has been not only threatened, but ravaged by a virus so small it's invisible to the naked eye. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:38.480 But in spite of this, you know, you think, what's in the name? 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:43.920 Genesis tells me that we aren't here by accident. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.839 Genesis tells me we are not alone. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:54.079 Genesis tells me we were made in the image of God. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:58.000 You were made in the image of God. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:08.079 Your roommates, your household, you know, family, whoever they may be, they were made, every single human person made in the image of God. 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:18.640 And so you see that from the Bible, anyway, what we get is that human life has intrinsic value simply because it's made in the image of God. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:24.880 Male and female made he us, we're told, uh, in this first chapter of Genesis. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:41.440 And it's our great joy to lean into and to re and to rest in this divine uh design of our creator God uh who's who's made us all in his image. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:52.480 How well does Genesis comport with what we've learned from modern science, uh cosmology, uh astrophysics, and archaeology? 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:55.119 Well, there's lots of material to explore if you're curious. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:00.960 I suggest online videos, books, and articles, and here's a list of some of my favorites to read. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:01.519 C. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:09.599 John or Jack Collins reading Genesis Well, Professor John Lennox, Seven Days That Divide the World, Dr. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:21.920 John Salhammer, Genesis Unbound, Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses, Derek Kidner, one of the best commentaries you can buy, just simply called Genesis. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:23.519 And that's all just a name, a few. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:31.039 I'll I'll in the months to come, weeks and months to come as we study through on to the rest of it, I'll I'll post some more choices for you. 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:48.319 But for our purposes today, Genesis 10 focuses on the dispersion of humanity after the great flood and the development of a variety of ancient nations and kingdoms, these all descending from the three sons of Noah, Japheth, Ham and Shem. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:21:05.279 While the genealogy, as I say, that we read in chapter 5 focused on the progeny, this chapter, chapter 10, uh, focuses more on the geography, the dispersion of humanity and the establishment of nations and ethnicities, which we celebrate. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:07.839 It's a wonderful thing in so many ways, isn't it? 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:23.839 And all the way, that same theme, uh God's people coming from every nation, every tribe, every tongue, that runs all the way through, not just it doesn't stop in Genesis, runs all the way through the Bible, all the way to the book of Revelation, see. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:32.240 And there you you catch the the glimpse of the throne room in heaven and the worship of God in heaven, and it's just beautiful. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:37.039 And it's people from every tribe and tongue and nation. 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:46.319 And that's why Christian um the the Christian gospel is to me the most inclusive of all world religions. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:49.599 Um this is the this is an amazing offer. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:58.240 And it doesn't matter where you're from, doesn't matter what color your skin is, doesn't it doesn't matter whether you're you know wealthy, poor, rich, whatever your background, it doesn't, none of that matters. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:03.200 What matters is That there is an offer on the table for you from God. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:04.240 See? 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:08.799 He's done everything necessary for you and me to be reconciled to him. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:12.160 And this is beautiful and powerful. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:15.119 The question is: will we repent and believe? 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:17.680 Will we turn to him and believe? 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:26.240 As I said, Genesis 10 lists 70 descendants, 14 from Japheth, 30 from Ham, and 26 from Shem. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:38.720 It is at least a little interesting to me that the sons of Noah are mentioned in a reverse order from when we first learned about them at the end of Genesis chapter 5. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:47.279 And by the way, God is often doing things in ways that disrupt my penchant for predictability. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:51.359 I have a, I have a, I'm sort of drawn to predictability. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:53.200 I like to know what's around the corner. 00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:54.000 Are you that way? 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:58.400 I like to know why something's happening or why it's not happening. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:02.240 I like to know what God is up to and what his plans are. 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:08.000 And I often advise him on the timing and the process, and you probably do too. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:42.400 And when I stop and think about that, though, I just start to see how ridiculous it would be that a little tiny ant such as myself would ever need to advise Almighty God, who created everything out of nothing, and who's shaped and influenced human history down through the ages, so that we could be here on this day studying this storyline that is so old, but just continues to drive home so many great timeless truths from God's word. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:49.200 Well, these are lists of real persons, as I said, real cities, nation names, and all of that. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:51.839 The progression of migration. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:59.440 And all of that to me anchors Genesis, the narrative of Genesis in history. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:05.200 There are sections of Genesis, though, that are poetry or songs. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:16.000 There will be sections of Genesis that we'll read that I think are meant to not be taken with literalism in mind. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:19.119 And the problem, of course, is it the ism part of that. 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:32.559 Where it presents, though, as naming real names and real people and all that sort of thing, I have great confidence that this is God's word to us, and it's credible. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:39.039 Here is a map I want to throw up on the screen that shows the development of some of the ancient kingdoms. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:50.319 And just to help orient you, uh where it says domain there, this is that's just an ancient name for you know that that section there, that uh the Mediterranean Sea section there. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:25:05.440 And um, but you see north of that the Hittite Empire, uh, you see the Assyria, the Empire of the Assyrians, the Babylonian Empire, and that's over in the land that was mentioned there, Shinar. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:07.200 You see the Egyptian Empire there. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:13.839 And what you don't see, but you might be able to see if you look real carefully there, is Jerusalem, which is what will become later. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:17.440 Um it's Jebus, but it will become Jerusalem later. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:19.039 And you see that in the background. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:25.279 So that gives you a little idea that that is the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, and that's Jerusalem. 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:34.000 That's where the southern kingdom of the two kingdoms of Israel, the northern kingdom, the southern kingdom, will be, and in that region. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:47.119 But that's the relationship, and what's happening is um uh humanity is spreading out and beginning to sort of disperse and and and occupy different parts of the world. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.200 What's in a name? 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:52.640 What do we really learn here? 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:58.880 Well, let me quote uh one of those books that I just mentioned from Robert Alter, brilliant uh scholar. 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:09.519 Uh his book, The Five Books of Moses, is not only uh uh his own translation of the first five books, but also some running commentary by this excellent scholar. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:22.480 He says it should be observed that representing the origins of nations as a genealogical scheme preserves a thematic continuity with the divine injunction after creation to be fruitful and multiply. 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:32.160 And it sets the stage for the history of the one people whose propagation is repeatedly promised, but continually threatened. 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:37.920 He said that really well, summarizes it so beautifully and eloquently. 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:54.240 And so when we look at this genealogical record, please understand it's starting out really wide, but it's kind of starting to focus, and the lens is zooming in and slowly, you know, it's just like turning it real slow, and and you're it's becoming more narrow. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:27:06.880 And we're gonna get to, in a while, we'll get to the story of Abram, who becomes Abraham, and uh the stories of Isaac and Jacob, Jacob who becomes renamed Israel by God. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:12.319 And of course, the story of Joseph uh closes out uh our book of Genesis. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:14.480 What's in a name, though, Genesis 10? 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:15.680 What is in a name? 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:19.920 And what about this whole table of nations? 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:29.599 Well, my first point of the uh this maybe three or four that I want to make anyway is that God's providence and sovereignty encompass all nations. 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:35.759 And you've got to look at that, and you've got to actually see that, I think, when you look at at chapter 10 here. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:43.839 God is providentially leading and guiding human history, and he is sovereign over it all as well. 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:52.400 It's his sovereign prerogative as the creator, since everything belongs to him, including people. 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:54.480 Uh, we, I belong to him. 00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:55.920 I don't belong to me, I belong to him. 00:27:56.079 --> 00:28:00.480 You belong to him, whether you know it or whether you're even not willing to admit it, doesn't matter. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:04.079 You belong not to yourself, you belong to God. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:07.279 And that's why all of us are chronically longing. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:15.599 There we're all we're all we're always longing for something that we can't see, taste, touch, smell, or hear. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:18.400 Because we're longing for eternity. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:20.079 God has put that in our hearts. 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:23.359 We're longing for God Himself. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:31.440 And I'm so glad to be able to tell you that he's done everything necessary for you to be reconciled to him in the person and work of Jesus. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:40.160 So he's providential, or he's his providence and his sovereignty are over and they encompass all around all nations, which is great. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:29:04.160 That's why he can offer salvation to anyone from any nation, any tribe, any tongue, any background, no matter how far they've run away from God, no matter if they're a drunk lying in a tent like Noah was, uh, no matter if they are Nimrod and known as a mighty hunter, even against the Lord. 00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:07.680 Um, he goes on to establish Nineveh, for instance. 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:13.599 God sends uh Jonah, the prophet, the reluctant prophet, to go and preach in Nineveh. 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:19.119 And so many years later, after Nimrod, uh, Nineveh will repent. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:34.720 Isn't that amazing that God would be so kind as to send the message of salvation through the prophet Jonah to the people of Nineveh, the descendants of Nimrod, um, even though he's been against the Lord in all these ways. 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:36.240 So, what am I saying here? 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:45.440 What I'm saying is the Lord is in pursuit of a people he can call his own, including you, including me. 00:29:46.799 --> 00:30:01.279 No matter how far we've run, no matter what the disposition of our disposition of our heart currently is, he's after you, and he's after me in a great way, because he's coming with rescue in his hand. 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:06.240 He's coming with redemption as a gift for you and for me. 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:10.160 Genesis 10, the table of nations, reminds us of at least these five things. 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:14.880 Real quick, this is under point one, but the Bible set in space-time history. 00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:19.279 Uh, humankind is united with all its diversity under one creator. 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:23.279 In other words, it traces back to an original founding couple and their progeny. 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:28.240 Three, the significance of every human life from the womb to the tomb. 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:37.039 You see the table of nations, each of these names are mentioned, and that the inference there, of course, is that each name is so important to God. 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:38.720 You, your name. 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:40.720 He knows your name, he knows my name. 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:42.240 All of you. 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:44.480 He knows our name, see? 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:51.359 And that suggests, as he knows us, that suggests that each one of us have intrinsic value. 00:30:51.599 --> 00:30:56.640 So the significance of every human life, uh, from womb to the tomb. 00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:06.319 Verse uh number four, rather, the divine oversight of redemption history, and and again, the the reordering, the focus of the line of Shem, through whom will come Abraham, all of that. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:16.480 It just continues to narrow the focus of the of the lens of the camera, if you will, of history uh through Genesis toward the line of redemption. 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:19.759 And then five, God's sovereign grace in all his choices. 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:21.759 I mean, Noah and Nimrod. 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:29.359 Noah, again, the you know, the just these two guys, they're kind of inconsistent at best. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:30.079 And you know what? 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:32.720 That's me, and that's you as well. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:35.359 So thank God for his grace and his mercy. 00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:47.759 Nimrod um is where we leave here in uh chapter 10, and this will move then into the story of Babel, which we'll study next week. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:53.920 But for now, I want to go back to the overall what's in a name theme of Genesis chapter 10. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:57.920 And the second point is that God's in pursuit of a people he can call his own, as we've said. 00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:02.319 Some of the people listed in these genealogies will indeed turn their backs on the Lord. 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:05.920 But look at the way the prophet Isaiah says this. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:11.119 But now says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, formed you, O Israel. 00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:17.839 Fear not, I've redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:19.519 I love this. 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:22.000 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. 00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:23.119 Think of Noah, okay? 00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:25.519 And through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you. 00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:30.720 When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:33.200 Think about Daniel, think about all of us too. 00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:59.200 Think about any kind of natural disaster or tragedy or just the pressures of the fallen world around us, the despair of it all, the dark cloud of despair, and and the division of the land and the acrimony and the uh uh just the difficulties of living in a world where people can't get on, get along well, and people are just canceling each other left and right. 00:32:59.519 --> 00:33:02.160 Um, how are we going to survive all of that? 00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:04.880 Well, we don't belong to ourselves, we belong to him. 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:17.839 And he's called us by name, and when we pass through all of those things, I, the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, he becomes our Savior, as it says right there in Isaiah 43. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:19.200 We can trust him. 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.000 And I love the way Brendan Manning said this. 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:30.400 We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that he should call us by name, our mouths wide open at his love. 00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:34.960 And I'll tell you right now, brothers and sisters, mine is just duh. 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:38.160 I can't, you know, it's it's just hard to believe, honestly. 00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:56.400 Uh, knowing how in if we're all honest, if we if we could just for a minute set aside our pride and acknowledge our need, um and we can see ourselves in so many of these characters uh because they're all faulty and frail as well, vulnerable. 00:33:56.720 --> 00:33:59.200 Uh they can be tempted so easily. 00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:05.359 They they they get angry so quickly, they get frustrated just like we do. 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:16.320 Um and and they make bad choices just like we do and just like others do, and sometimes it costs them, but sometimes it costs us as well, and the world is broken in so many ways. 00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:19.280 We need the salvation of God. 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:22.480 So, thirdly, um you're not alone, I'm not alone. 00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:22.800 Why? 00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:23.679 How do I know that? 00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:27.519 Well, because we're fully known and truly loved. 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:33.440 As Tim Keller has beautifully pointed out, to be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. 00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:37.039 To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. 00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:42.400 Um, we don't want anybody finding out the truth about us because we're afraid we won't be loved. 00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:47.760 But to be fully known and truly loved is well, it's a lot like being loved by God. 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:50.400 It is what we need more than anything. 00:34:50.559 --> 00:35:00.880 It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us. 00:35:01.199 --> 00:35:03.360 I know it's so true in our culture. 00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:04.800 I feel it myself. 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:07.360 We we drift toward self-righteousness. 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:10.719 It's so easy to be self-righteous in social media. 00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:13.360 It's and self-righteousness is everywhere. 00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:17.440 It isn't just them, it's you, it's me. 00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:19.039 We we all fall to it. 00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:22.079 There's no repugnant other out there. 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:25.199 We are the ones that are guilty. 00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:27.360 We're the ones that need to repent. 00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:36.400 Um, we're the ones that need to repent before we hit it and send it, uh, post it, whatever you want to call it. 00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:44.559 But the good news is we're fully known by God and we're truly loved by God. 00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:58.800 And he's proven that in the person and work of Jesus, who, in spite of the fact that the entire world had gone nuts during the time of Jesus, in spite of the fact that darkness was so dark, Jesus came. 00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:05.599 Jesus, the greater one than Noah, much greater than Nimrod, much greater than anybody else we'll read about. 00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:13.760 Um, because he comes, and he's the, when you talk about the question, what's in a name, he's the only one that has ever lived up to his name. 00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:15.199 And we'll talk about that in just a minute. 00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:20.960 But fourthly, God's been planning your redemption for a long time, mine as well. 00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:24.960 Um, John Stott says it this way: you can never take God by surprise. 00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:27.119 You can never anticipate him. 00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:29.519 He always makes the first move. 00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:31.519 He's always there in the beginning. 00:36:31.679 --> 00:36:34.079 Before man existed, God acted. 00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:38.400 Before man stirs himself to seek God, God has sought man. 00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:41.360 In the Bible, we do not see man groping after God. 00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:43.679 We see God reaching after man. 00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:49.599 So I ask you again, folks, what's in a name? 00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:59.920 The name Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua, or its longer form Yehoshua. 00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:02.480 Joshua, if you will. 00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:04.159 It's the same name, right? 00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:09.519 And Jesus, uh, the shorter version means God saves. 00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:14.639 The longer version, Yehoshua, means God is salvation. 00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:29.119 And this is such a wonderful thing as we study and and look through Genesis chapter 10 and and as even then calling this what's in a name, and all these names being important like they are. 00:37:29.840 --> 00:37:38.239 But to be able to point all the way forward to the New Testament to Jesus, to know what's in his name. 00:37:38.559 --> 00:37:41.440 God's salvation is in his name. 00:37:41.519 --> 00:37:46.559 That's where we find salvation, is in the name of Jesus. 00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:53.199 And no one has ever lived up to their name like Jesus, folks. 00:37:53.519 --> 00:37:54.559 What's in a name? 00:37:55.119 --> 00:37:55.760 Jesus. 00:37:56.320 --> 00:38:01.840 And we want to sing of his name and we want to praise his name forever. 00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:03.119 How about you? 00:38:03.519 --> 00:38:04.159 Join us.