Monday, March 17, 2014

Genesis Bible Study


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Genesis 10

The Table of Nations
By Amy Gentry

“These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.” Genesis 10:32

With the rest of humanity destroyed in the flood you would assume these family clans would stick close to each other working towards the common good of building a new society that was far from evil.  Wrong. 

A list of Noah’s great-grandsons reads like a map of the Old Testament.  You recognize tons of names, but unfortunately Ham’s decedents would one day become enemies to Israel.  How could this be?  How could all of humanity get wiped out, setting the scene for a fresh start and then we end up with a family warring against itself? 

Consider this question: 
How could God deliver His people if there was nothing to deliver them from?
 

The generations to come after Ham were many yet the house of Ham is under a divine curse.  According to Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, “Those that are under the curse of God, may, perhaps, thrive and prosper in this world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the blessing or the curse, by what is before us, but by what is within us.” 

Ham has a crop of decedents and favorable land but would not ultimately inherit the blessing from the Lord.  However, in Shem’s line we find Abram, Isaac, and Jacob.

All of the warring within this family, Noah’s family, is a prequel to a much bigger battle.  One that ultimately will lead Christ to the cross. 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.”  Isaiah 55:8

 

 

 

 

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