Read Gen. 10:1-11
Next we have the genealogy of Noah and his sons. Notice in verse 5 it calls them Gentiles. It is from all these people that God chose Abraham’s tribe to set apart as His children to be a picture to the world of how God cares for his children. Japheth’s sons did as God told them to do: multiply and spread out. They became the foreign tribes with different languages and nations. We zero in on one of Ham’s descendants - Cush. Cush means “black, terror” and he had a son named Nimrod which means “we will rebel”. He became prominent in the earth and known for his strength and ability to hunt. Because this was such a useful service to the people it earned him respect and public gratitude. As a leader, he founded the first kingdom in the world [Ge 10: 10]: Babel. Babel means “confusion by mixture”. God hates when we mix a little of him with a little of the world. It comes out confusion. This city was so wicked and strong that God ended up destroying it. When the root is bad, the fruit is bad. Ham is a bad seed which cannot produce anything good.
Shem’s second son, Asshur, traveled a distance away and built Nineveh and several other cities. Nineveh would be the city that Jonah would be sent to preach to because the people had strayed so far from God. To their credit; they repented. Sadly for them their repentance only lasted a generation then it went back into sin and was destroyed. It is still under the curse and lies desolate today.
Reading the genealogies make me wonder what my genealogy will produce. Will it get more godly as time continues or will it turn away from God like Nineveh did. I pray it doesn’t.
Lord, may we leave an everlasting generation of godliness on the earth. Watch over our bloodlines and may they become more and more pure.
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