Here we go again—another list of fathers and sons. Noah’s story has come to an end, but God sees that it’s important for the children of Israel to know their ancestors. They need to know their heritage, and that means they need to know who came from whom.
Our gem for today is the amazing reality that all the peoples of this world descend from one man who found favor in God’s eyes and lived a life of obedience. This man, Noah, had three sons.
These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
Genesis 10:1 ESV
These three men went into the ark after years of hard labor with their father. They went into the ark without fruit from their marriages, but on the other side of the flood came life.
From Japheth come fourteen nations.
We know, as we’ve seen in other genealogies, that there were obviously many more children than those listed, but in this account, for the purpose of memorization and posterity, Japheth’s are limited to fourteen.
From Ham, we learn of thirty nations.
The descendants of Ham would be a rebellious bunch and certain enemies of the Israelites over the centuries. Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. From these would come the wickedness of Babylon.
From Shem comes twenty-six nations.
Through Shem would come one named Eber, the ancestor of the Hebrews, from whom would come the father of faith, Abraham.
Seventy nations are mentioned by name. Seven and ten are both numbers signifying completeness and greatness. What do we learn from this chapter? The people were once again multiplying—making up for those lost in the flood, the generations wiped out by sin. We are beginning again.
Sin has yet to run its course.
Even with a fresh start and growing families, Satan continued his quest to destroy that which God intended for good. Yet, as we watch these nations expand across the earth; even when we know their sorted histories and violent endeavors, we also know God has a plan for the nations.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.
Isaiah 11:10-12
As nations rise and fall, a day is coming when Jesus Christ, the Root of Jesse, will stand as a banner for the nations and every knee will bow in worship of our Glorious King.
Grace and Peace