God scattered them over all the earth [Gen 10-11]

Gen 10-11

Gen 11:7-8 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." ⁸ So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

I.                    Blessing for the son that covers sins [Noah’s three sons ][ 9:18-28]

Noah had three sons. All of them saw the flood and people perishing by the water. Noah gave burnt offering to God. Yet the sin in the depth of men’s heart did not go away. Noah got drunk and sleeping naked.

When Ham saw this, he told this to his brothers. When the two brothers heard this, they took a garment across their shoulder and walked backward to cover their father so that they would not see the nakedness of their father.

When Noah woke up and learned about this, Noah cursed Canaan, the son of ham, and blessed Shem and Japheth, the two brothers who covered their father.

Why was this event so important that lead to curse and blessing of their children? When God determine his blessing or curse, it is not a trivial matter. It deals with the things that are in the depth of our hearts. What did Ham failed to do while the other two brothers did?

One thing we know it is about nakedness. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they felt naked as they heard the voice of God. So they sewed fig leaved and covered themselves. Before God of holiness, their nakedness is a shame and sinfulness.  They were compelled to cover themselves. So covering themselves is to acknowledging that he is a sinner and God is holy. After God brought punishment for Adam and Eve God made a garment of skin to cover them so that they may be able to face God.

So exposing oneself is exposing sinfulness of his being before God. There was one incident on Moses. When his son was not circumcised the angel of God was about to strike down Moses.  Circumcision was a must to stand as God’s people. Among God’s people no one should stand uncircumcised. Likewise, Noah drunk and naked is meant he was vulnerable to God’s judgment.

Ham did not see this. He did not see that he himself is a sinner that needs such covering. He laughed away father’s nakedness. But Shem and Japheth knew they were sinners before God and need covering to face God. So they did not see father’s naked body and covered their father’s nakedness.

We have difficult time to accept that we are born in sin and we are living in sin. But this is what we are before God. Only then we come to know the essence of our being, a sinner inside and out.

Ham failed to know and to accept this. But Shem and Japheth keenly aware of their sins and their need for covering like their father.

When Noah woke up he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham. V25. Canaan came to be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.

But to Shem, he said that God is to be God of Shem and be blessed through Shem.  Among the two brothers that covered their father’s nakedness, Shem’s name comes first. This means that by some reason Shem took initiative and leading role in covering their father’s sin.  God blessed Shem and through his descendant God maintained the line of God’s blessing.

To Japheth, God is to extend his territory. In other word, Japheth’s descendants will increased in number and spread far more than Ham’s or Shem’s descendants.  As for his blessing, Japheth would live in the tents of Shem.  Most like it means that Japheth will be saved through Shem’s descendants.

Here one thing is clear God blesses those who acknowledges one’s sin and is willing to cover the sins of others.  When we talk about sin, it is not sin against men but sin against God’s holiness.

How can one begin? It can begin when we come to know our sin and acknowledge that we need such covering. Then we can show true love and empathy for other sinners.

II.                  The genealogy of the three sons. [10:1-]

This ch describes the genealogies of the three sons.  They are somewhat confusing and difficult understand who is who of these many names. In order to grasp the meaning and significance of these, I like to make a couple of insight.  The genealogy can be focused more on horizontal aspect, a single generation with many children. The other is the genealogy focused on longitudinal or vertical aspect, covering many generations.

Japheth’s genealogy is most prominent in its horizontal aspect. The first generation of Japheth has seven sons and the second generation has seven as well. This means that Japheth’s descendants  spread quickly on wide area. This is what Noah blessed Japheth.

Ham’s descendants have two focuses. Cush, mighty hunter and his son Nimrod work in building kingdoms and cities. This is direct offense against God.   God cursed Ham and his descendants. They became the source of rebellion and ungodliness. Why? As we have seen in Ham, there is no fear of God in him and there is no understanding of his sin and its judgment, failure to acknowledge God’s righteousness and holiness.

The second aspect is long list of Canaanites; they were the people lived in the promised land and God commanded Israel to annihilate them to total destruction. The played opposing power against Godly people Israel later. Most of them were subjugated by Israel during the peak of her kingdom.

Shem’s genealogy has two focus; one they spread wide like children of Japheth. Esp.  there is a long list of the children of Joktan, the brother of Peleg. Again the focus is width of genealogy. The second is the division that happened on Eber’s two sons; Joktan and Peleg. Here it says that the world was divided. Since it is mentioned soon after the two children of Eber, and the only children of Joktan were described here, most likely the division means a division between the linage of godly hope and ordinary people as we see Peleg’s genealogy is described in ch 11 vertically.

So it is very true. As Noah coursed, that’s what happened!  As Noah blessed it happened to Shem and Japheth.

One thing we must be reminded is that the issue of blessing and curse was centered on how one dealt with one’s sin before God.  Am I a sinner that needs forgiveness?  How do I see all others?

III.                Men’s will and God’s purpose [11:1-9]

In ch 10, we saw how the children of Noah spread over the entire earth.  In this passage God explains how that happened.

V1-3. Since they were one family they spoke one language. Also they were brothers and sisters, cousins and nephews. They were all related. So what they were trying to do. Brick is a remarkable invention. In addition, tar makes a great adjunct for building with bricks. So they could build anything they wanted to build.  There is a spirit; we can do it and we can do it all! They can build a city and tower that reaches to heaven.

What is the thing that drove them with such enthusiasm and power?

V4 They wanted to make their own name! They wanted to uphold their name high above. All things that they did was for them for their glory for their power for their wellbeing.  Truly it looked very great. When the empire state building went up, it was a remarkable achievement. It was the symbol of American blessing, success and power. America is the greatest nation on the earth! It is seen in this great building! As we know many other nations built far taller buildings than the empire state building.

God is the king but they want to be free and their own autonomy and power and glory.

What did God think of this?

V5-8. God saw what they were doing and knew that it was only a beginning of ungodly plan. A drive deeply rooted in man’s sin against God. As they build their own power and authority, they will dare to defy God’s authority and his power. So God confused their language so that they may not be able to communicate. As the result they stopped the building the city—the symbol of unity and power. They spread over the entire earth. Here it is not clear what God’s ultimate goal is in doing this. But it is well revealed in Acts 17:

²⁶ From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. ²⁷ God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸ 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Instead of seeking answers of life within ourselves, we may seek God and we may become God’s children. As long as men seek their own power authority and honor, they cannot find the answers for life and they will oppose God and His will for the world. Seeking everything within our selves is denying God and is very offensive to God’s authority and His purpose.

As the result they were spread over the entire earth. This is the beginning of forming many nations on the earth. Now it is evident that there are many nations on the earth. I like to discuss two things on nations of the world.

a.       How did the nations of the world do?

First they were formed according to three characteristics: clan, language and territories. It is repeated three times in ch 10[Japheth 10:5 ;Ham : 10:20; Shem : 10:31. It is at the end of the genealogy of Ham, and the end of the genealogy of Japheth and the end of the genealogy of Shem.  These three are the unifying elements; Out of the three, the language is the tool that controls their minds and thoughts. Through language they communicate and express their will and desires. Through language they unify their thought and minds. Out of the language come ideology, religion and all cultural elements.

Second, each nation is driven by the same motive and will as the one we see in the plane of Shinar. As we see the world that we are living, as long as we know of human history, there were many conflicts and wars nation against nations. There was world war I and world war II. What drove the nation against nation? This is what we saw in the plane of Shinar , to make our name and to reach to heaven. Since dispersion, each nation upheld such principle. Our nation must be better or great. We have to have power over others and we have to be greater than other nations.  Since every nation has the same goal, and the same drive to succeed and prosper, we think it is very unnatural if one nation does not abide by such principle. In essence, such drive of nations is to take hold of the world so as to become the super kingdom.  It is opposing God’s authority and God’s kingdom.

b.      How did God see this and plan?

Acts 2:1-13 ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. ⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

Here when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, they spoke the languages that they never knew and many heard the message of the Gospel through their own language.  God confuse the language so that they may not build their own kingdoms. But as the disciples received the Holy Spirit they spoke the Gospel in all languages. Here we can see that God wanted to unify the world through the message of the Gospel. All men may be under Jesus the Lord and King, the Savior of the world.  God began this work through Jesus.

Mark 13:4 "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?" ⁵ Jesus said to them: ….⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁸ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  God saw that as the end of age comes, there will be many wars one nation against another nation.

Eventually there will be a fight between the kingdoms of the world and the king and Lord Jesus. It is recorded in Rev 17-18. The prelude of this is described in 16:4.

Revelation 16:14 They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

Eventually Jesus, the king of the world, will subdue all the kingdoms of the world and will restore God’s kingdom.

What does it mean to us? We know that each of us came from many different countries or kingdoms, so to speak. When I watched world soccer, I wasn’t sure which side I have to choose; Korea or America. It is very unlikely but if Korea goes to war against US, what do I have to choose?  Whether we acknowledge or not, our mind, our thoughts and feeling are bound by our clan, our language and our territories.  Yet as we see the world is coming closer together, the barrier of languages is minimized and territories become blurred since we can travel so easily and so often. We also exchange our though through internet in matter of seconds to the people of the world. 

What I mean? The kingdoms of the world is getting together as it did in the beginning in the plain of Shinar.  What we have to choose is not from my nation against your nation. We know that eventually God’s kingdom will prevail. All the kingdom of the world will be gone or disappear. God is the one and only Lord. God demonstrated this through his one and only Son Jesus. Jesus will establish God’s kingdom so that God may be all in all. So we have to choose God’s kingdom that God offers through his son Jesus.