Genesis 10-11
Babbling in Babylon
Psalm 3:5-8 Trust in Trials
5.I laid myself down and slept. I awakened; for Yahweh sustains me.6.I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of people who have set themselves against me on every side.7.Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For You have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.8.Salvation belongs to Yahweh. Your blessing be on Your people. Selah."Observation
3:5-8.(See post on Genesis 6-9 for notes on Psalm 3:1-4) Betrayed by Absalom (2 Samuel 15:1-17:29) and fearing for his life, David calls to the God who answers from His holy hill (Mt Zion, where He is praised for answered prayer), for protection and salvation. Because of his confidence in God's protection, David didn't stay up all night fretting, but placed his concerns in God's hands, who sustained him in the past, and would continue to do so. He asks God to destroy the power/teeth of his enemies, and proclaims that salvation and blessing belong to God who gives them to His people (cf Philippians 4:6-9).
Application
When overwhelmed with difficulties and difficult people, don't panic, but pray, asking the God who saves to deliver you and bless you. That's His speciality.
Prayer
My Savior, thanks that I can call to You, knowing You are mightier than anything I face, You answer prayers, and bless Your people. Amen.
Proverbs 1:17-19 Suicidal Greed
17.“For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:18.but these lay wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.19.So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.“Observation
1:17-19.As Rome was crumbling, monks were compiling a list of the sins that did the most damage to people. Avarice or greed made the list of the top seven. Greed or covetousness is called idolatry (Colossians 3:5), because we look to things to meet our needs rather than God. A bird will see a trap and avoid it, but those who covetously seek to deprive others of their rights and life are actually laying a fatal trap for themselves, and they don't see it. While seeking to enrich their life (at the expense of others) they will, in reality, lose it.
Truthbase.net has a series on Deadly Desires if you want to do some spiritual Spring cleaning.
Application
Valuing things over people is a sure sign that one is headed to destruction.
Prayer
Heavenly Father of us all, please keep me mindful of the reality that You are sufficient for all my needs, and don't let me be tempted to use others to satisfy my temporal desires. Amen.
Genesis 10-11 Babbling in Babylon
Genesis 10 Cultural Lay of the Land
1."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...6.The sons of Ham: Cush...8.Cush became the father of Nimrod (rebel). He began to be a mighty one in the earth.9.He was a mighty hunter before/in the face of Yahweh. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh.”10.The beginning of his kingdom was Babel (gate to a god), 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 Calah (the same is the great city).14....Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from)...20.These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, in their nations.21.To Shem,25.To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided.32.These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations. Of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood."
Observations
10:8.Nimrod whose name means “to rebel” is identified with Gilgamesh by some cultures, and Hercules by others. The best insightful overview is this link which has great archeological graphics and background, and is largely accurate (although it misses the graphic of Egyptian gods arriving by boat from Mesopotamia). He is also the founder of the Mother-Child Queen of Heaven Cult, the forerunner of cultural Easter. The main point is that Nimrod leads the rebellion against the God of the stars and the Scriptures, setting up the opposition to God and His chosen people, Israel.
10:10-14.
You could go on an archeological expedition thru the Ancient Near East, as many have, tracing these once great cities and civilizations, and you'd find magnificent ruins (oxymoron?). These once great cities and civilizations are now, for the most part, uninhabited, barren mounds of dirt. Chapter 11 gives us more insight into why this happens.
Hint: Independence is the essence of sin, and its consequence is catastrophic.
10:25.
is the general statement, elaborated upon in chapter 11.
Application
Appearances can be deceiving. What looks magnificent today, might be a barren mound of dirt tomorrow (and vice versa).
Genesis 11 When Will We Ever Learn?
1."The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.2.It happened, as they traveled east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.3.They said one to 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 ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”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 have all 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 Us 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."
10."This is the history of the generations of Shem...24.Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah...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...29.Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai...30.Sarai was barren. She had no child.31.Terah took Abram his son, Lot...(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."
Observations
11:1.Chapter 10 mentions cultural divisions and languages. Chapter 11 starts out with everyone unified. Another obvious “contradiction”? Or perhaps we have that same stylistic device where chapter 10 gives the overview, and chapter 11 gives the specifics explaining the overview. In 10:25 we're told of the division which occurs in chapter 11. No problem.
11:4.
The Tower was a ziggurat or stepped pyramid, found all over the Ancient Near East, some in the cities mentioned in the text.
Verse 4 is in direct opposition to God's instruction to fill the earth in Genesis 1:28.
11:5.
The narrative hinges on this verse, God appears on the scene and reverses all that man was previously doing. This will happen again.
11:10-31.
From Ham, the cursed son, we get Nimrod, the curse of Israel. From Shem we get Abram, in whom everyone gets blessed.
Application
People are still trying to make a name for themselves while ignoring God's commands. Do they really think they'll succeed in the long run? Do you?
Prayer
Lord, thanks that You are accessible and I don't have to build a tower to reach You, because You reach down to me. Amen.
Digging Deeper
You could spend or lose a lot of time exploring the background of pagan societies and religion. (Trust me on this one, I teach a course on it.) But you won't find anything that will help you be more pleasing to God than what He's already revealed. So dig to your heart's content, but remember the lesson of the ant.
God in a nutshell: Lets us do our own thing for a while (cf Flood and Babel), but eventually shows that He's God, and we're not.
Us in a nutshell: We tend to want to make a name for ourselves, ignoring God. Silly mound makers.
Where to go for more
Please see the links in the commentary above.