Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Genesis 10 And 11

That's a lot of sons. Gomer sticks out, but only because of that "Well surprise surprise surprise!" guy. Tarshish sticks out because of where Jonah ran off too. Cush, Egypt, and Canaan stand out because of the same named land areas. Havilah sticks out because of some bars we sold in the Jewish style deli. Nimrod sticks out, but the connotation I am used to doesn't mean "mighty man". :-)

I never really noticed 10:5 before -- "From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations." The part that got me was "each with his own language", and it got me because of the account in chapter 11 where God confused the language and disperses the people. At first it seems to be conflicting and out of place, but that's because I incorrectly expect the Bible to read chronologically as I go through. Much of chapter 10 and 11 are in parallel, talking about the same time period. We have a more general account of the people and division in 10, and then we zoom into God's hand in it and the line leading to Abraham in 11.

I think that's pretty cool that God's sovereignty in dividing the people and the path to Abram are grouped together. That probably means something more significant than I get.

"In his days the earth was divided" (10:25) also sticks out. If you go with the whole Pangaea theory, then this could refer to the time there was some massive continental movement. That's bringing extra stuff back into the text though; really, I just don't know. I don't think we can be sure on what that means, but that's okay.

Since my first reading of it after being pulled in and flipped around by Jesus Christ, the account of the Tower of Babel was, and still is, the weirdest part of the Bible for me. It's surely no coincidence that it is one of the stories my dear brother I turned to with questions mentioned this one off the cuff when I was a baby Christian like it was nothing strange at all. And that's absolutely true -- God working in miraculous ways is not strange or abnormal -- it is the norm of the day, and, really, everything is a miracle. It just strikes me as odd anyway, much more so than pillars of salt or fire, big fish, floating axe heads, talking animals, and so on. It's God's creation; he can operate in and on it however he wants!

I had to look up some commentary for 11:6 because I just didn't get it. But then again I wasn't paying attention to the context (a common, but bad, mistake). The people have just had a taste of the product of pride and ambition, and they liked it -- thus preparing them for all kinds of crazy selfish sin. God in his wisdom and mercy stepped in to save people from themselves, as he so often does -- like in my own life!

And now we're caught up to the father of many!