Read Genesis 10
Questions for Littles: From whom does Genesis 10:1 begin to tell the story of what was begotten from them? Of what major event does this verse remind us? Whose offspring does Genesis 10:2-5 tell us about? How does verse 5 summarize who these descendants ended up being? What four different ways of categorizing them does verse 5 name? Whose offspring do Genesis 10:6-20 tell us about? What names and places do you recognize from these verses? What do you know about these names and places? What does Genesis 10:8 tell us about Nimrod? Before whose face did Nimrod display his mightiness (Genesis 10:9)? Do you think that God was impressed? What was the very first city of Nimrod’s kingdom (Genesis 10:10)? On which son of Ham does Genesis 10:15 focus? What did we learn about him in Genesis 9:24? What four different ways of categorizing Ham’s descendants does Genesis 10:20 name? Whose offspring do Genesis 10:21-31 tell us about? Of all of whose children is he the father (Genesis 10:21)? What happened in Peleg’s days? What four different ways of categorizing Shem’s descendants does Genesis 10:31 name? What three ways of categorizing Noah’s descendants does Genesis 10:32 mention? What came from them, how, and when?Genesis 10 is sometimes referred to as “the table of nations,” and Genesis 10:5, Genesis 10:20, Genesis 10:31, and Genesis 10:32 tell us that these are what are listed here. Verse 32 literally says, “These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to what was begotten from them, in their nations. And from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.” The word “genealogies” is often used to translate the Hebrew word that literally means, “what was begotten from them.”
It’s interesting that the story of the dividing itself comes afterward, in chapter 11. It seems that the Holy Spirit would like for us to see the effect that the sins of Noah and Ham had, just by the familiar names in Ham’s line and especially in Canaan’s. Mizraim (Egypt), Cush (Ethiopia), Nimrod (Babel, Assyria, Nineveh), Canaan (Sidon, Heth, Jebusite, Amorite, Girgashite, Hivite, etc., and then Sodom, Gomorrah, and company). All from one “little” sin! Ah, but don’t we learn here that there is no such thing as a “little” sin?
From the covenant line—the line of Shem—comes a great-grandson through his third-named son named (H)eber… father of the Hebrews. His son Peleg is mentioned, and will come up again later in Genesis 11:16-18. For now, Peleg’s claim to fame is that Babel happened while he was covenant head. A rather unimpressive beginning. But that’s just the point. There’s no reason for the favor of God to be shown to this people, except the freely bestowed love of God: “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8a).
In the end, Genesis 10 makes us say of curse, “Ah, sin is precisely how this happened!” And of blessing, “there is no explanation for how this happened by the unmerited love of God!!”
How did you come to be under God’s curse? How can you come to be under His blessing?Suggested Songs: ARP32A-B “What Blessedness” or TPH265 “In Christ Alone”
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