The Segregation of Man (Genesis 9:18 – 11:9)
The Segregation of Man
Genesis 9:18 – 11:9 (9:18-28)
February 2, 2014
When we read this text, we have here two very peculiar stories,
And ones that honestly cause us to scratch our heads a little in wonder.
• We have Noah, the man who walked with God, the man righteous before God, the man blameless in his time, passing out drunk and naked.
• We then have Noah distinguishing between his sons, cursing one and blessing two others.
• And then, by reading on into chapter 11 we have this peculiar story about a tower being built to the heavens and God confusing the language of humanity.
And while we all know the stories, there is always a little curiosity
As to why they were included and why they are here.
What is Moses trying to reveal?
• What benefit do these stories have to the children of Israel now wondering in the wilderness?
• What benefit do these stories have for your life today, that God would preserve them in Scripture?
To understand that, you need to know that Moses is now
Transitioning into his next main point to the children of Israel.
And that point is one that has baffled humanity up until this very day.
God is about to do something that is totally wonderful
And yet impossible to fully grasp.
God is about to select a people for Himself.
Now you won’t see that selection yet, it is only alluded to in our text today.
That selection doesn’t come until Genesis 12.
Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
There God does something that is totally and completely gracious.
God chooses Abraham from the midst of the earth
To be the father of a nation whom God will bless.
It is mind boggling, and even to this day it is hard to fathom.
It is nothing less than the divine prerogative of God.
That God has the right to choose whom He will to be His children.
And why we find that significant at this point,
Is because this is the only hope humanity has.
We’ve already seen what humanity does when left to its own devices.
Humanity chooses sin.
Adam did it, Cain did it, and every human from there on out did it.
And by the time we got to Noah we read the sad reality about humanity.
Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
When man is left to his own devices, he always chooses sin.
And that is precisely the reality that led to the flood.
And the idea is that after a global killer,
Man is supposed to realize that God is serious about sin
And then man (motivated by judgment)
Is supposed to choose to live a righteous life from here on out.
But that is not the way it is at all.
In fact, the flood destroyed sinners, but it didn’t change humanity.
Remember when Noah came out of the ark?
Genesis 8:21 “The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”
The simple reality is that the flood did not change a thing
As to what humanity was.
• Man is sinful even if he is in a perfect garden
• Man is sinful even if given a second chance on earth
In fact by the time we get to the New Testament
Paul quotes that compilation of Old Testament passages
Which are assessments of God as to who humanity really is.
Romans 3:10-18 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
That is about as thorough as it gets.
Man is sinful.
He was sinful before the flood, he was sinful after the flood.
Any hopes of man now changing his ways is really only wishful thinking.
And if you doubt, all you have to do is see Noah already getting drunk.
SO WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
Well it is obvious that man isn’t going to save himself.
• It is obvious that man isn’t going to choose God.
• It is obvious that man isn’t going to choose righteousness.
Every time man was given the option, he always chose sin.
Let’s state it bluntly.
MAN WILL NOT CHOOSE GOD
Partly because he won’t and partly because he can’t
The New Testament reveals this clearly
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
Today so much is spoken of about man’s “free will”
Or man’s “right to choose”
But listen, there is no such thing as free will.
(Man is either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness)
Man, without God is not free.
Man is a slave to sin.
He doesn’t know he is a slave, but that’s precisely what he is.
And every time he is given a choice, he proves that by choosing sin.
And that is what Paul illustrated.
• Man constantly lives in “the lusts of the flesh”
• Man constantly indulges “the desires of the flesh and of the mind”
Why?
Because he is a slave to sin.
In fact, in a spiritual sense he is dead.
“You were dead in your trespasses and sins”
Dead means “inability to respond to stimulus”
It’s not just that they won’t respond, they can’t respond.
And if they could, they wouldn’t, because they want sin.
And this is the reality that has been revealed
In the first 8 chapter of Genesis.
God created man and put man in a paradise garden.
• But did man want God? No
• Did man choose God? No
In fact by Noah’s day, how many men were credited as righteous before God by reason of their faith? (Just One – Noah)
Man is not choosing God.
Man is choosing sin.
And if that reality stays the same, we are destined to
Repeat this judgment scene over and over and over until the very end.
Man is wicked, and that isn’t going to change.
Man will not choose God.
SO HERE IT IS:
If man is going to be saved, then God is going to have to choose man.
• God will have to choose him
• God will have to call him
• God will have to save him
• God will have to sanctify him
• God will have to secure him
Because if it is left up to man, salvation will never occur.
And that is the point Moses is driving to.
God is about to sovereignly choose a people for salvation.
He is about to choose Abraham, and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob and make them His very own people.
• They will not be chosen because of their great intellect
• They will not be chosen because of their great wealth
• They will not be chosen because of their great strength
• They will not be chosen because of their great integrity
• They won’t even be chosen because of their great faith
They will be chose simply because God wanted to choose them.
And the rest of the book of Genesis will prove that
This choice makes all the difference.
We have seen the depravity of man throughout the first 8 chapters of Genesis.
Now it is time to see God’s effectual call upon His elect.
God is about to choose His people.
However, before God can select a people,
He must first separate the people.
The people must first be distinguished from one another
And then God can make His selection known.
AND THAT IS WHAT THIS PASSAGE IS ABOUT.
These passages reveal how God separated all the nations on the earth,
So that we can see that of all the nations, God chose Abraham.
And when you read this text, the reality of that separation
Becomes extremely clear. It is obviously Moses’ point.
(9:19) “These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.”
(10:5) “From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.”
(10:25) “Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.”
(10:32) “These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.”
(11:8-9) “So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Moses’ point is obvious.
• He is revealing how the earth became so diverse.
• He is revealing how the earth was separated.
And from purely an intelligent point of view this is important.
Certainly if only 8 people got off the ark, it would be curious
Why there are so many different dialects in the world.
Here is that answer.
• God separated humanity.
• God made them diverse.
And He did so that He might choose a people for Himself.
Well this morning I want you to see the events
That led up to the segregation of the world.
I want you to see the catalysts God used to divide the world.
There are three things that caused it.
#1 NOAH’S CURSE
Genesis 9:18-10:32 (18-28)
Again you notice Moses’ point right off the bat.
(18-19) “Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.”
He is pointing out how the earth came to be in the condition
That the children of Israel now see it.
They aren’t all one family
They don’t share the same culture
They don’t speak the same language
God took these three and divided them to populate the earth.
Moses even throws in an important fact “Ham was the father of Canaan”
Certainly the children of Israel would have interested in this tidbit of information.
They knew all about the Canaanites and how they were
To be removed from the land God had promised to them.
Well, let’s see how that division came about.
It all started with Noah planting a vineyard.
(120 years of boat building had more than satisfied his carpentry urge – Noah wanted to farm)
So “Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.”
Well I think we can all agree that
This is a less than flattering story for Noah.
As a side note, just be mindful that drunkenness has caused people
To do stupid and shameful things since the days of Noah.
Well, Noah gets drunk and makes a fool of himself.
And “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.”
Presumably Ham accidentally spots Noah, but instead of covering his father to save his father’s dignity, Ham immediately went to expose him.
And of course you know that this is not Christian.
• Christians aren’t out to exploit the flaws of others.
• Scripture teaches us that “love covers a multitude of sins”
• It also teaches that “love does not rejoice in unrighteousness”
• It also reminds us that when we catch our brother in sin, we are to show him
his fault in private, not show his fault to everyone else.
This is obviously bad form on the part of Ham.
Noah was certainly guilty of shameful behavior, but a son who truly loved his father would hope to save him from embarrassment, not exploit him.
And that is certainly what Shem and Japheth desired.
They go in and cover their father Noah.
(24) “When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.”
Now Scripture doesn’t reveal how Noah knew it,
But it was obviously made known to him.
And with that shame came upon Noah
(shame always follows sin)
And Noah was embarrassed.
And in his anger and in his shame, Noah pronounces a curse.
(25-27) “So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. “May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”
Now Noah in anger pronounced a curse on his son.
What Moses is pointing out is that whether Noah knew it or not,
His statement was a prophetic one.
It was God who used Noah’s embarrassment and anger
To provide opportunity for a prophetic statement.
• Canaan would be relegated to slavery
• Shem would be blessed
• Japheth would share in Shem’s blessing
And this would happen.
1 Kings 9:20-21 “As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel were unable to destroy utterly, from them Solomon levied forced laborers, even to this day.”
Furthermore Shem would become the line of the Jews
And Japheth the line of the Gentiles.
Shem would be blessed and Japheth would indeed
Be grafted in to Shem’s blessed line.
It was a very prophetic moment for Noah.
• God was separating the earth in that moment.
• God was segregating among people right then.
And to see who the people were, we read chapter 10
(we won’t read it all)
Mostly I want you to see Ham’s descendants.
The first son was “Cush” (Ethiopia)
And Moses even points out that the curse
DID NOT MEAN that Ham’s descendants were weak.
They weren’t slaves because they were dumb or weak.
Look at Cush’s son:
(8-9) “Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.”
Ham’s line wouldn’t be servants because they were weak.
They would be servants because God decreed it to be that way.
This line was cursed, and incidentally look at some of the places that came from that line.
• Verse 10 mentions Babylon
• Verse 11 mentions Assyria and Nineveh
• Verse 14 mentions the Philistines
• And verses 15-18 mentions all those “ites” the children of Israel would soon conquer
The point is that God, through Noah, separated the people
And actually placed Shem at the top and Ham at the bottom.
(32) “These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.”
NOW I KNOW…
You don’t like that thought.
• It’s not fair that God would just not choose Ham.
• It’s not fair that God would put him at the bottom.
Romans 9:19-23 “You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,”
PEOPLE SAY IT’S JUST NOT FAIR THAT GOD DID THAT TO HAM.
But let me remind you of what we spoke of to begin the sermon,
And what we’ve seen from the beginning.
People who hold such a view are automatically assuming
That Ham wanted to come to God, but God wouldn’t let him.
WRONG – we already saw what man wanted.
Ham didn’t want God,
And if it were all up to Ham he wouldn’t have chosen God.
And neither would Shem or Japheth for that matter.
It’s not about God being cruel to Ham,
It’s about God being merciful to Shem.
God would endure Ham’s line with much patience so that
He could make known the riches of His glory upon Shem’s line.
God was separating them,
That He might select those He chose to show mercy.
And the first catalyst for this separation was Noah’s angry curse
Given as result of being shamed by his drunkenness.
Noah’s Curse
#2 MAN’S CONSTRUCTION
Genesis 11:1-4
Now if you’ll listen to Moses, he is clearly revealing to you the problem.
God was in the business of separating the earth, but that was difficult.
WHY?
(1) “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.”
It’s hard to separate a people who communicate so well with one another.
If God is to fully separate the earth,
There is going to have to be more drastic measures taken.
And God finds an event which makes it possible.
Here is man together:
(2-4) “It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Now this is an interesting story.
And it is included, NOT because building a tower is a sin.
• And some have said it is because they wanted to build “a tower whose
top will reach into heaven,”
Likening what they were doing to a form of idolatry
In which they were trying to usurp God’s position.
If that is so, they didn’t come close, for in a minute you will see
That the Lord still had to come down to see it.
But the issue isn’t even that the were building a tall tower.
The issue was the purpose of that tower.
It was specifically designed to keep them from being “scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
This tower was seeking to accomplish the exact opposite thing
That God was trying to accomplish.
God was trying to separate man that He might select His people
And yet these people are specifically trying to stay together.
Now this is in violation of God’s command:
Genesis 9:1 “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”
They were supposed to spread
God wanted them to spread
And they are doing just the opposite.
• I don’t know if this tower was to be a tower of trade…
• I don’t know if it was to be a worship site… (many assume)
• I don’t know if it was just something you could see so you wouldn’t get lost…
But the point is that humanity is resisting what God is seeking to do.
God wants humanity divided and spread over the earth,
And man is adamantly resisting.
And so this tower becomes a catalyst for God’s next move.
Noah’s Curse, Man’s Construction
#3 GOD’S CONFUSION
Genesis 11:5-9
Verse 6 really tells the story:
(6) “The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.”
Man is unified and he is unified in iniquity.
He is teaming up to defy the desires of God.
(not all unity is a good thing)
And God will have none of that.
So in verse 7 God said, “Let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
That would have been interesting wouldn’t it?
A guy yells out “cut me a brick 6 ½” long” but all of a sudden the brick cutter doesn’t have the faintest idea what he is saying.
All of a sudden it was chaos, it was confusion.
But you will notice that God achieved His desired purpose:
(8-9) “So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
And that is Moses’ main point.
God is separating, God is segregating, God is scattering humanity.
He is dividing them, that He might show His grace and mercy
To the one He is about to select.
As you will see next week, the very next verse says:
Genesis 11:10 “These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;”
Moses was showing you that God separated humanity
So that he could show you who God was now selecting.
And God had to choose someone, because by now it is apparent
That no one was going to choose God.
And if you don’t believe me,
All you have to do is take a close look at Shem’s line.
• If you follow it on down, it gets to a man named Terah.
• Terah was the father of Abraham.
And just in case you assume that Shem stayed with the Lord and chose the Lord and his descendants stayed faithful where as the others did not…
Joshua 24:2 “Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.”
Shem’s line was no prize.
By the time we get to Abraham they are already worshiping pagan gods.
No, this story is NOT about how God separated the good from the bad.
This story is about how God separated all the bad,
That He might choose one and make it good.
God separated the bad from the bad
That He might select one and make them good.
AND WHY NOT JUST MAKE THEM ALL GOOD?
Because as Paul said in Romans 9
God left some bad and made some good “to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy”
It was so that those who were chosen would realize
How merciful and gracious God had been to them.
And this is the message that Moses is beginning to reveal
To those children of Israel wandering out in the wilderness.
THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO UNDERSTAND
HOW GRACIOUS GOD HAD BEEN TO THEM.
And incidentally that message is for you as well.
If you would be willing to see it, you didn’t choose God, He chose you.
Ephesians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”
Jesus said:
John 6:70 “Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”
John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”
There is no reason why God would have done this except grace.
• Can I explain it? No
• Do I fully understand it? No
But one thing is for sure, I sure am grateful for it.
I don’t know why He chose to bring me into His church and make me part of His bride, but I sure am glad He did.
It is the sovereign grace of God at work, and
• It is meant to move you to gratitude and greater commitment.
• It is meant to crush your pride, and to quit assuming your salvation was all your doing.
• It is meant to motivate you to give every ounce of glory you can to our gracious God.
He separated the earth, and out of the earth, He chose you.
Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
