Genesis 12:1-9
World English Bible

12 Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan. They entered into the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites were in the land.

7 Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.”

He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. 8 He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on Yahweh’s name. 9 Abram traveled, still going on toward the South.

The LORD calls Abram to leave his old life behind and to set out for a Land that the LORD would show him (this sounds very similar to God's call to the people of Israel as he's leading them through the wilderness by following the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, which is what the first recipients of this book were going through at the time that the Spirit revealed this to Moses).  He was not to be like his father that was kept from full obedience by staying where he was comfortable.

Then, in Genesis 12:3, we receive the first glimpse of what will be known as the Abrahamic Covenant (though this man is not yet known to us as Abraham, but simply Abram).  Because of Abram's obedience, all the nations of the world will be blessed through him and God will mete out blessings and curses upon the nations based off of how they treat Abram and his descendants (specifically the covenant people that we know as the nation of Israel, for this promise is repeated to Isaac and Jacob, but none of Abram's other descendants).  God is choosing Abram as the one through whom the Promised One (the Messiah)--the promised "seed" would come.

Abram took his wife Sarai (no issue there) and his nephew Lot (Abram probably considered him like his own son, but the LORD had just told him to leave all of his father's family behind.  This partial obedience is going to lead to many issues down the road as Lot is going to be at the center of many of Abram's problems we are going to read about, and he will be the father of people who will be antagonistic towards God's covenant people--the Ammonites and Moabites).

Abram followed the LORD's leading and arrived at Canaan.  I find it interesting that the LORD said He would show Abram the destination, not just tell him of it.  God did not expect Abram to find his own way given some general guidelines of a particular direction to head in.  The passage seems to indicated that the LORD directed each and every step to get Abram where he was supposed to be exactly when he was supposed to be there.  That's the story of Israel coming out of Egypt, but that is also our story in the Christian life.  We go where God directs us.  We know of our final destination (the place we call "heaven" or "the kingdom of God") and God orders each and every step for us to take along the way).  Abram was promised great things that he would never see fulfilled completely in his lifetime, and he was called to believe those promises by faith.  We are likewise to believe that all of the LORD's promises are "Yes and Amen" to us, even if we can't see how they are going to be fulfilled.  We are to obey and trust the LORD with the details.  There will be a great test of Abram's faith in a few chapters that will show this point more clearly.

Abram passed through all the Land of Canaan once he arrived and then set up camp at Shechem (the Israelites are going to set up camp in the same place when they come into the Land).  His camp was next to the large oak tree at Moreh.  The text makes sure to tell us that Abram looked at the Land that was promised to him and his descendants and it was filled with Canaanites.  We've just finished talking about how evil and wicked these people are, so the whole land was polluted by them and their idolatry and detestable practices.  It is at this moment, at this time, and at this place that the LORD speaks to Abram again and renews His promise that He will give all of the Land to Abram's descendants--Israel is about to conquer Canaan and be the recipients of this promise.  The promises were received by Abram and they were in a way for him, but in another sense they were for his physical and spiritual descendants many, many years in the future.  More on the idea of "spiritual descendants" later when we get into the New Testament which will tell us that all of us who are in Christ are beneficiaries of the Abrahamic Covenant because the promise of "through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed" happened through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  It was always God's plan to bless all nations through one Promised Seed (the book of Galatians in particular makes this very clear, pointing back to this very passage to note that the use of "offspring" here is singular and not plural, so God is making a promise about a specific descendant which is Christ).  The gospels start with these words in the book of Matthew, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."  This is because Jesus is the One we've been following all these genealogies to get to (after His appearing the genealogies stop) and He is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant (the King of Kings who will have no successor) and the Abrahamic Covenant (the True Israel who would bring blessing to His people and to all nations that would bless Him, but to those who curse Him, He they will be cursed).

Abram built an earthen altar to the LORD there at Shechem, but he did not stay there.  Instead, he set out for Bethel (though this was not its name yet--the book of Genesis will use lots of foreshadowing by calling places by their covenant names instead of their Canaanite names). We will see this battle over the identity of names of places as the LORD people take control and then the pagan peoples take parts of the Land back and change the names back to worship their old names or to names to worship their pagan gods.  The LORD's people will often build an altar and make sacrifices when they consecrate a place and its name is changed.  Watch for this pattern as we go through the Old Testament.

Abram pitched his tent so that Bethel was to his west and Ai was to his east (if these names look familiar to you, it's because these were some of the first cities that the Israelites conquered in the book of Joshua (chapter 7) and it was at this place that the Lord (a preincarnate appearance of Christ) appeared to Joshua as a mighty warrior, the Commander/Captain of the LORD's Army) and told Joshua, "Be strong and very courageous" and to only be careful to do everything which He had commanded Joshua to do.  The Lord promised He would go before Joshua to ensure victory, but Joshua needed to have the courage to lead the people in obedience, even when it didn't make sense.  Abram continued to wander or sojourn through the whole Land (an indication that he was not going to have any permanent rest there--that was promised to his descendants) as he travelled towards the South.  This word translated South here (that's a good translation of it) speaks of the Negev or Negeb, depending on your translation, which is the southern wilderness that is between Jerusalem and Egypt.  Already in the book of Genesis directions are being given based off of Jerusalem being the point of reference, even though we are thousands of years away from David conquering Jerusalem and taking it away from the Jebusites.  God chose that place in ancient times to be the place that would be called by His Name and where His glory would dwell in and among His people (again, ultimately fulfilled in Christ who was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead there).  That place will be central to the gospel narrative from Genesis to Revelation.

When we go to the South we come across the land of the Philistines.  This was part of the Land that was promised to Abraham but was never fully conquered by his descendants, and it is still giving us issues today (Gaza in particular).  Abram is on his way south to Egypt (outside the Land he was promised) to look for provision from the hand of the Egyptian Pharaoh during a time of famine (this is the same situation that would bring Israel to Egypt in the first place and that got them to be enslaved).  I'm guessing the people reading this are thinking, "Don't do it, don't go down to Egypt--it will only lead to bondage.  Pharaoh can't save you, only the LORD can do that."  We'll read more about Abram in Egypt next time.

1.  Day 1: Genesis 11:27-32
2. Day 2: Genesis 12:1-9
3. Day 3: Genesis 12:10-20
4. Day 4: Genesis 13:1-18
5. Day 5: Genesis 14:1-24
6. Day 6: Psalm 128 

Genesis 11:27-32
World English Bible
27 Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot. 28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees, while his father Terah was still alive. 29 Abram and Nahor married wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah. 30 Sarai was barren. She had no child. 31 Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.

While Terah is not a major player in the biblical narrative apart from the fact that he is the father of Abram, it would seem that God called Terah in much the same way that He called Abram, but Terah refused to leave his land and his people and missed out on a great blessing that God had in store for him to be the father of His covenant people.  We see that Abram is not an only child, having Nahor and Haran as siblings, and Haran is mentioned here as being the father of Lot.  Since Abram would have no children of his own for a long time, Lot, Abram's nephew, would be like a son to him.  He would be the only family member that Abram would not leave behind, though this would cause trouble for Abram and his descendants later.

Now we start to hear the names of the wives of these patriarchs.  Up to this point, the wives have largely gone unmentioned, but Sarai (later called Sarah) will have a major part in the story,   We see close family marriages here which were not uncommon at the time.  We'll learn later that Sarai is Abram's half-sister.  We should not judge men and women of this time for close marriages as there was no law forbidding it, and it makes sense given that the world was just divided into peoples who could not understand each other, so it would be very hard to marry someone from outside your clan who spoke a different language.

It seems that Abram's father was the first to receive the call to leave his homeland and go to the land of Canaan, but Terah only made it as far as Haran (probably named after his brother of the same name).  Terah brought Abram and Sarai and Lot with him Haran and he lived there until he died at the age of 205, never seeing the Promised Land that God had called him to.  It would not be until after the death of of Terah that God would call Abram to be faithful where Terah had not been faithful.  Abram would be given a similar (though slightly different) calling in Genesis 12, which we'll look at next time.  He would be called to leave country, relatives, wealth, and everything that attached him to his current land, people, and culture behind and to set out for a land that the LORD would show him.  The LORD told Terah the name of his destination, but the name of the Promised Land was not revealed to Abram immediately.  We could be telling a far different story if Terah had been obedient to the LORD's calling, but, instead it was his son who received the calling and the blessings of obedience.

Genesis 11:10-26
World English Bible
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10 This is the history of the generations of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11 Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah. 13 Arpachshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Shelah, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber. 15 Shelah lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Eber, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg. 17 Eber lived four hundred thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu. 19 Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father of Reu, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug. 21 Reu lived two hundred seven years after he became the father of Serug, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor. 23 Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah. 25 Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

These are the generations of the Shem (the Semitic peoples).  While there are a few interesting names in the list of peoples that come from Shem, we're really focused in on the specific line that goes from Shem to Abram.  We have a clue that this is the line we are supposed to be concerned with in advancing the story because the ages are given so that we can follow how long we have gone since Adam to Abraham.  You will not see any of these nations rise up against Israel until the last days (I think this is even more evidence that are are in the latter if not the last days as it seems like nearly the whole world has turned against Israel--both the nation and the people).

There is not much that I can say about this passage beyond the fact that is working to preserve a covenant people for Himself.  He is going to choose a seemingly unimportant person from a seemingly unimportant family to accomplish His very important plans.  This is the way that He has been working from the beginning though, so this should not surprise us one bit.  It is the way that He still works today.  He uses the "weak" things of the world to confound the "strong" and the "foolish" things of the world to confound the "wise."  God makes sure He works in such a way that it is clear that He is the one working and He gest all the glory both now and forevermore.

Genesis 11:5-9
World English Bible
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5 Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. 6 Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. 7 Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.

Though the LORD is omniscient and did not need to see things for Himself, He came down to earth to see the city and the tower for Himself that the people built.  God saw that they were unified in their rebellion and that if they stayed unified it would lead to even worse rebellion which might hinder the LORD's gospel plans for the future (though He is sovereign, He could see all of man's potential choices and how letting man live in a state of rebellion here and letting sin go unpunished was not the best option).  He chose not to kill all of them, but instead created a situation whereby they had little choice to do what He commanded in the first place--to spread out over the entire earth.

He broke them up into different language groups and each of these groups settled in various places (usually in the same region, but sometimes spread out over great distances, which is why we can see related language groups in different geographical regions).  These different languages did not evolve over long periods of time, but instead all the different families of languages appeared as a result of a single event.  It is true that new dialects and amalgamations of languages have come up since then, but this is very similar to the situation with the animals on the Ark.  You don't need every animal that we see today, just the basic information for all the variety of animals that we see today.  In the same way, not every dialect of every language needs to be created at the Tower of Babel, but the root languages from which all these different branches and dialects would appear did form at one time as a result of a single event.

The confusion this caused stopped construction of the city and tower of Babel as the workers could no longer communicate with each other.  The city was named Babel because of the confusion of languages that started there, and we still use the word babel today to refer to someone speaking in a way that sounds like incomprehensible nonsense--they are making noises that sounds like speech, but they are not forming comprehensible words (at least, not to us).  We may also use this word to refer to so many voices saying so many different things that no one can pick out a single voice and understand what they are trying to say.

This act was "reversed" in a way at Pentecost when people came together to celebrate the Feast of Weeks who were speakers of a multitude of different languages, yet they all understood Peter's sermon as if he was speaking in their native tongue.  The Holy Spirit allowed the gospel to be proclaimed in one tongue and understood in every tongue so that language no longer divided people in a way that cut them off from being a part of God's eternal plan for all people of all nations.  We train people today to learn other languages and I mentioned some of that in yesterday's article and gave some links to some missions organizations that are involved in translation and in languages studies for missionaries, but we also try to share the gospel with native speakers who already know another language and then get them to share the gospel with those who speak their language.

There are even parts of our country where large immigrant communities live and English is not the primary language spoken in the community.  It is challenging sometimes for us to send English-speaking missionaries into these areas, but our hope is that as we do so, there will be witnesses and ambassadors for Christ from those communities that will share with their friends, family, and neighbors (even though we know "a prophet is not welcome in his hometown.")  Pray for these missionaries today who are helping to break down language barriers and for the work of organizations like Home - TWR Website which are broadcasting the gospel into countries all over the world in their own language, even in places that it hard to get a person to (just air drop some pre-programmed solar-powered transistor radios and the people can hear someone sharing the gospel with them in their own language as long as the broadcasters know the language groups they are trying to reach). 

Also pray for all those who broadcast over the internet and satellite radio.  There's even work to tell Bible stories (specifically the story of the gospel from Genesis to Revelation) to those who still have a completely oral tradition with no written language at iBIBLE (the book of Genesis and the Gospels have been translated into several of the world's major languages).  Last, but not least, there is much work among the deaf peoples of the world to translate the Bible into the various sign languages (there no international sign language--sometimes with more than one dialect or branch of sign language for the same spoken language.  You can find Bibles for the deaf of many language groups here:  deafbible.com/.

One final resource I want to recommend is the Gideon Bible app for smartphones (links available here:  Read The Bible | Gideons International).  They have bibles available in over 2,200 languages.  You can look up a verse or passage you are thinking of in your language, then switch to the other language and let the person you are trying to share with read in their own language.  As you can see, God is working in a mighty way to bring about people from every tribe, tongue and nation, and He has commanded us to be a part of that mission before He ascended.  We should be able this work until he returns.

Genesis 11:1-4
World English Bible

11 The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 2 As they traveled east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

I mentioned last time how the map would make a little more sense why there were little bits of the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth all in the same little region of the plains of Shinar.  It is because this is the region they all travelled to when they were as one people with one language after the Flood.  Though God had told them to be fruitful and multiply and spread out over the entire earth and have dominion over it and fill it, these people rebelled against the LORD's command and said that they instead wanted to build a city for themselves with a great tower reaching to the heavens (they wanted to get to heaven by their own strength and works) and they believed that if they could ascend to heaven, they might even be strong enough to overthrow God and take over control of heaven and earth from Him.  This sounds a lot like the plot of Satan to get a one-third of the angels of heaven together and try to usurp the throne of heaven from God.

This is not just an act of physical rebellion, but of spiritual rebellion too.  The people are back to saying that they will refuse to let the LORD tell them what to do because they want to be in control of their own lives and they imagine they can do as good or better of a job at it than God can.  They want to steal the glory and honor that are due only to Him and claim it for themselves, and God shares His glory with no one.  They believe that if they control all the leavers of power and if they can unite together as the whole world, they will be strong enough to put an end to the LORD's people and the LORD's plan.

This place and its name will be chosen by the Anitchrist and his kingdom to represent his philosophy and goals for his worldwide government and religious systems.  It will be a system of organized rebellion based off of the rebellion that started here in Genesis 11.  It will be this event that will lead to the peoples being divided and their tongues (languages) being divided, which will force them to spread out into different people groups across the face of the entire earth just like the LORD commanded.  We'll see that part of the story next time.

I forgot to mention last time that it is interesting to compare the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 with the list of nations assembled in Acts 2 for Pentecost.  The church is planted in all these regions in a single day as God redeems a people for himself from every tongue, tribe and nation listed in the Table of Nations.  Our world has become even more divided than since the days of Genesis 10 though with more languages and people groups --some of which don't even have a written language to this day.  There are missionaries from many different organizations working to take the gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation, but two great organizations you can support that are doing the work of language training and Bible translation are Home - Wycliffe Bible Translators USA Homepage and JAARS (they work together on this mission).  I also highly recommend the work of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board - IMB (which you help support through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Cooperative Program if you are part of a part of a Southern Baptist church.  There is also much that is being done through our Home - North American Mission Board by supporting our seminaries, church plants, disaster relief, military chaplains and missionaries to reach the unreached people groups right around us here in North America (because many times the nations are coming to us for education and employment).  You can support the work of the NAMB through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.  You can find prayer guides on these pages to help you pray for various missionaries and you can give direct support to these efforts in addition to the portion of your regular gifts that go to these organizations through the SBC's Cooperative Program.

Genesis 10:21-32
World English Bible
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21 Children were also born to Shem (the elder brother of Japheth), the father of all the children of Eber. 22 The sons of Shem were: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arpachshad became the father of Shelah. Shelah became the father of Eber. 25 To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. His brother’s name was Joktan. 26 Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 30 Their dwelling extended from Mesha, as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, by their families, according to their languages, lands, and nations.

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, by their generations, according to their nations. The nations divided from these in the earth after the flood.

Shem is listed last in the Table of Nations, even though he is not the youngest of the three brothers because this is where the LORD wants us to put our attention next.  Shem's descendants include many of the Near Eastern and Middle Eastern peoples.  The map below shows the distribution pretty well.  Shem's descendants are intermixed with the descendants of Ham, and trying to live among them and "coexist" with them is going to be a problem for them.  Japheth had the right idea to get as far away from Ham's descendants as they could.  Ham went mostly to the south and Japheth went mostly to the north.  That left Shem mostly sandwiched in the middle of the two of them, with Ham trying to circle Shem in on all sides as much as possible (the map does not show how large the plains of Shinar are, but Assyria and Babylon will be huge kingdoms).

It would appear that Shem has the least amount of access to natural resources, they have little opportunity to expand (Japheth can grow to the north, west, and east) and Ham can grow to the south and west.  If anyone were placing bets on this, it would seem like the descendants of Shem would be the ones to die off.  They are living in mountainous and desert regions and the Hamites control access to most of the major rivers in the area as they set up major cites along the Tigris and Euphrates.  Yet, these are the people God is going to choose to use to accomplish His plan--He loves choosing the ones that we would never think had a shot because it is clear He did all the work and should get all the glory.  We'll pick up the story in chapter 11 with the story of the Tower of Babel and how it came about that the nations and peoples became so divided (and it will also explain a bit why there are descendants of Ham in Shinar).  Then, we'll get a proper genealogy from Shem to Abram.  This will be our signal that one part of the story is coming to a close and another is opening.

   Day 1: Genesis 10:1-20
   Day 2: Genesis 10:21-32
   Day 3: Genesis 11:1-4
   Day 4: Genesis 11:5-9
   Day 5: Genesis 11:10-26
   Day 6: Psalm 96

Genesis 10:1-20
World English Bible
10 Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

2 The sons of Japheth were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, everyone after his language, after their families, in their nations.

6 The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush were: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said, “like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh”. 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah. 13 Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), and Caphtorim.

15 Canaan became the father of Sidon (his firstborn), Heth, 16 the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. 19 The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon—as you go toward Gerar—to Gaza—as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim—to Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.

We'll zoom in on the sons of Shem next time, as that's the family that we are going to follow, but this passage in Genesis 10 that lists the sons of Japheth, Ham, and Shem is sometimes called The Table of Nations.  It tells us the origin of most of the nations that we find elsewhere in the Bible (and several that we hear of nowhere else).  We see that many of the nations are named after the firstborn son of these three sons of Noah.  This is also the genealogy that comes at the end of "the story of Noah" (I indicated at the beginning of Genesis that the various stories are broken up by genealogies).  We've now covered the story of Creation, the story of Adam, and the story of Noah, and we are about to move into the story of Abraham and his descendants.

This genealogy serves as a reminder to us that God is electing/choosing a specific people from among all the peoples to fulfill His covenant promise that He made in Genesis 3 that there would be a promised "seed" or "offspring" (hang onto that word, because it is about to show up again).  Paul points out something in the New Testament that so many of us miss reading these passages in the Old Testament that this word "seed" is singular, not plural.  It is not a statement about any or all of Eve's descendants, but a particular one of God's timing and choosing.

None of the nations listed here would be chosen for that role.  In fact, most of the nations listed here will be opposed to that plan--some right away, and others after a long time, but, eventually, the whole world will turn against the people that God has elected to be His own.  This passage should give special meaning to the promise though that God is going to redeem a people for Himself from every tribe, tongue and nation, for this is how the LORD sees the nations.  We can call ourselves whatever we want, and try to draw our own boundaries, but these the peoples whom the earth was given to and was divided among, and it seems that even in the end times, these are the names that the LORD will refer to when speaking of the various nations of the world.

The sons of Japheth were sea-faring people who would live on islands and we see most of the northern European peoples can trace their roots back to this family.  Notable names from this family are Gog (and Magog) which will come up in end times prophecies and the kingdoms of Kittim and Tarshish (we believe Tarshish to be modern-day Spain).  We'll see both of these mentioned in biblical prophecy .

There are many more names we recognize among the sons of Ham because these are the peoples that Israel will constantly be at war with and who are bent on destroying them.  They are the ones most often chosen by Satan to be the people from whom his antichrists come from.  These peoples include Nimrod from whom Assyria and Babylon came (these would be the nations that would take the Israelites into Exile), Cush, Put, Canaan, and Egypt, the Philistines, and all the Canaanite peoples who were to be judged and destroyed--specific mention is made of Sodom and Gomorrah here as a preview of a story that is coming later in Genesis about their destruction.

This story also gives a preview of the peoples being divided by language.  That hasn't happened yet, but it will very soon in Genesis.  The continents will be divided and the LORD will judge the nations for their rebellion and cause a language barrier between these different people groups so that it will be more difficult for them to have organized mass rebellion.

We'll pick up next time with the sons of Shem (the Semites or Semitic peoples).  We specifically will focus in on the family from which Abram/Abraham comes from, but there are many other descendants of Shem who still receive the blessing that was given by Noah to Shem (the land from where Job comes from is one of these peoples, the land of Uz).  God's people will even be told to leave these close family members behind and not to return to them because these family members will worship idols and they would tempt the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to return to their old land and old ways and not to live in the Promised Land under God's Law and Covenant.