We are going to begin our look at the descendants of Noah's sons. This portion of Scripture contains a lot of genealogy, and I know we might feel tempted sometimes to skip over genealogy lists, but the Lord placed them in the Bible for a reason. Because God placed these genealogies in the Bible, they are definitely worth studying, for, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16)
"This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah's sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras. The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites. (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)" (Genesis 10:1-5) Here in Genesis 10 all people still speak the same language, but the author goes ahead and mentions the "confusion of language" that happened later on in Genesis.
I own a commentary on the book of Genesis that discusses the nations that came from the descendants of Japheth. This book states that the descendants of Magog were the people who became the Scythians, Slavs, Russians, Bulgarians, Bohemians, Poles, Slovaks, and Croatians. From Madai came the Medes, Persians, Afghans, and Kurds. Javan's descendants were the Greeks, Romans, French, Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians. Tiras's line produced the Germans, Thracians, and Teutons.
You will recognize names in the table of nations that correspond to geographical areas. Tarshish, for example, was a famous port city of ancient times and it is mentioned a number of times in the Bible. It was a well-to-do seafaring community and this corresponds with what the author of Genesis says in verse 5 about the descendants of Javan: "From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories."
"The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan." (Genesis 10:6-7) You'll recognize many of these names as place-names in the Old Testament.
Ham's son Canaan produced the Phoenicians, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Gergashites, Hivites and the various other tribes whom the Lord drove from the land after He rescued the Hebrew people from Egypt. After giving the wicked pagan people of Canaan hundreds of years to repent and turn back to Him (and they did not repent), He drove them from the territory and replaced them with His people Israel.
"Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, 'Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.' The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah---which is the great city." (Genesis 10:8-12) Nimrod wasn't a hunter of game; he was a hunter of territory. A conqueror, in other words. He was focused on nation-building.
According to several extra-Biblical writings, he was also a hunter of men, for it is said that he was involved in men-stealing in order to place people into slavery. Our own nation, along with others, was involved in this type of sinful industry at one time. Slavery was permitted in the Bible but not in this context; it was permitted for a person to place himself in what we'd call "indentured servanthood" for a period of time to pay off a debt. It was permitted to use as servants those whose territories a nation conquered, but the Bible will later on give strict instructions about how these people were to be treated. The Bible does not endorse kidnapping people and selling them into slavery, but according to accounts outside of the Bible, Nimrod was heavily involved in the slave trade for personal profit.
Nimrod was not a godly man. You'll note that the nations he founded were heathen nations, such as Babylon and Assyria. Where are these nations today? They do not exist, for the Lord judged them for their sin and idolatry. The city of Nineveh, which Nimrod founded, was exceedingly wicked according to the book of Jonah. However, the generation to whom Jonah preached actually repented, so the city was spared for a time, but it was later utterly destroyed after its people fell back into their pagan ways.
Nimrod's name actually means "rebel" and it appears that this is what he was, at least by taking a look at the territories he headed up. If the people of these lands were following his example, this lends credence to the theory that he was a man who lived in opposition to the Lord. The historian Flavius Josephus wrote that it was Nimrod's idea to build the Tower of Babel for the purpose of being able to escape a future global flood. If this is true, then his unbelief in God's promise is astounding. He was living in a time not too long after the flood, when men who survived the flood were still on the earth because people lived hundreds of years in those days. He was living in a time when people were still alive who had heard the voice of God promising that the rainbow in the sky was the proof that He would never again bring a global flood. And yet Nimrod and his people decided to construct a tower tall enough to reach heaven to escape a flood that the Lord says is not coming. This proves that they trusted in human beings more than in God. They sought ways to save themselves (by works) instead of trusting in God (salvation by faith).
Though the author of Genesis says that Nimrod was a mighty hunter "before the Lord", this can also be translated as he was a mighty hunter "in the sight of the Lord". It doesn't necessarily mean he walked with the Lord, but that the Lord witnessed all his deeds. It probably refers to the fact that he was the first great conqueror on the earth. This world has seen many great conquerors over the millennia but most of them have not been godly men. The fact that the Lord allowed them to conquer doesn't mean that He approved of the condition of their hearts but that He allowed them to have their way in order to suit His purposes. For example, He will later allow Assyria to become a great nation in order to discipline the ten northern tribes of Israel for their idolatry. He will allow Babylon to become a great nation and take the tribes of Judah and Benjamin into captivity for a season of time because these two tribes eventually fell into the same idolatry as the other ten.
Nations rise and nations fall according to the Lord's plan. Sometimes the fall of a nation is the result of that nation's citizen resistance to the Lord. Because of the faith of our country's founders, the Lord allowed the United States of America to rise and to become a great nation, and we ought to pray every day for the Lord to protect us. I fear for our country sometimes. Many of our citizens have fallen far from the Lord and that's a recipe for disaster for any nation. If the Lord allows us to continue, I think it will be because He has people here who walk faithfully with Him. I think if He spares us it will be for the sake of those who trust in the name of His Son.
So what should we do to protect our country? We don't have to follow a recipe for disaster. The Bible gives us a recipe for success that we can follow. "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14) The Lord doesn't say, "If unbelievers will repent and pray to me, I will heal the nation." He says, "If My people will repent and pray I will heal the nation." You and I have a personal responsibility to humble ourselves in the sight of God and pray for forgiveness for our own failures and pray for the sins of our nation. We have the responsibility to intercede for our nation with the Lord. In the Bible we find God sparing people and nations simply because some faithful people humbled themselves and prayed to Him. It well may be that the Lord will protect America and keep it strong simply because people like you and me obey the Lord and pray for the good of our country.
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