Chapter 10 shows us the expansion of mankind after the flood. God provided an environment in which people could thrive. The sad reality is that most chose not to believe in God. We saw the failure of Noah in chapter 9. That failure influenced his son Ham and his grandson Canaan. We need to keep in mind that Noah and his family were the only people on earth after the flood. Two of those 8 people chose to defy God shortly after leaving the ark. Those two had a great influence on their descendants as well.
As we have noted, man is born a lost sinner. He does not need any encouragement to commit sin. The truth needs to be kept before man to help him to see the need to repent toward God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
In verses 2-5 we are given the names of the sons of Japheth. We see that the isles of the Gentiles were divided by these descendants. The word translated as “Gentiles” means “foreign, or heathen”. It is interesting that this is the description given by God, of the descendants of Japheth. The Gentiles here are the Celtic, European and Greek nations. In verse 5 we read as well that the Gentiles were divided after their tongues. Chapter 10 is obviously giving us a summary account of things God will speak to further in chapter 11. Chapter 11 states that the people were all of one language. Tongues in the Bible is languages. It is human languages. The giving of different languages came as a judgment of God due to the rebellion of the people. It was not given as a blessing. It was given to interfere with the open communication among people. That is the exact opposite of what God wanted, but He needed to confound the languages in order to slow down the advancement of evil.
In verses 6-20 we are given the list of the descendants of Ham. We are given quite a list of names here. These people settled in the area that includes Africa and Egypt.
Of interest is the name of Nimrod in verse 8. We are told that he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was an outspoken rebel. Verse 9 tells us that he was a mighty hunter before the LORD. It does not say he was blessed as a hunter, but that he was a mighty hunter before the LORD. He was a vile man who sought to dominate. He declared himself a leader but he was a leader who was defiant before the Lord. He hunted down those who would defy him.
We see that he was an industrious man. He built several cities, one of which was Babel. Babel would be mentioned further in chapter 11. The land of Shinar is also a place of note, not for its goodness, but also for its rebellion against the LORD. It is never wise to rebel against the LORD. We see that the pagan philosophy of the Babylonians and of the Muslims comes from the rebellion of Nimrod.
The Babylonian nation would be listed in the book of Daniel as the first of four world empires. It would become a powerful empire, but not a God-fearing empire. It would eventually be defeated and overpowered by the Medo/Persian empire. The Babylonian rebellion carried through the other three empires and is still infecting societies today. That rebellion will become more dominant in the time of the Tribulation and God will crush it by the end of the Tribulation.
The Canaanites are also mentioned. God would eventually send the nation of Israel into that land to possess it and to destroy the original descendants of that land. The Canaanites rejected God and became so wicked that God needed to destroy them. Israel failed to obey God and the wicked Canaanites were able to influence Israel in a negative way.
In verse 20 we read again that Ham’s descendants were divided by their tongues. Among the descendants of Ham are many different languages which all stem from the tower of Babel. Again, this was a judgment from God. We need to spend years learning a different language today in order to be able to communicate the Gospel to the various nations. It is God’s will for all people to hear the Gospel. He did not seek to make it more difficult for people to hear the Gospel, but rather to slow down the spread of evil.
You notice as well that God does nor refer to the different people as “races”. That term comes from evolution. God divided people into nations. In these nations, they had their various languages (tongues). The straw man of “racism” that is paraded around today is just a diversion tactic to seek to create tensions and hatred for different people. God’s intent is not for people to hate each other. God sent His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to show us how we can love one another. The Gospel of Christ is essential to knowing God’s peace and living within the bounds of His love. Unless a person is saved, he cannot know the love of God and he cannot function within the bounds of that love.
Pastor Bartel