God's Narrative Told

I love this time of year until about late fall… It’s camp fire time! The family gathers around a fire pit instead of a TV or other electronic device. Stories are shared dreams are expressed. Laughter is heard and lessons taught without even realizing it. As the fire is lit, the chairs encircled looking at each other and at the flames, we communicate as we sacrifice marshmallows to the flames.

The people in Israel would understand this well.

Much of the scriptures given to Israel were narrative in nature.

Lessons came through stories of the past… And God was the Narrator!

It would share where you have come from

Lessons that should be learned through the events and lives of others

As they learn and understand the past, they better understand the present

It gives one pause as to how they should proceed forward

God in His Word is sharing His Story with you and I… The nation of Israel in the wilderness was the first primary audience to these scriptures, you and I are the secondary audience.

Genesis 9:1; 18-19

Genesis 9:1 NASB95

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:18–19 NASB95

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.

The Stage is Set!

A good narrative sets the stage… Some of my favorite story tellers are PAUL HARVEY “The rest of the story” or MIKE ROWE “The way I heard it”… you can almost envision being there! Given events, details, and in the end it all comes together… God here as He unveils His story is doing the same with a purpose and intentionality.

As fathers and grandfathers would gather their families around the fire they would explain the culture, events, and time

God is preparing His people to enter into the promised land (more next week)

God is giving His holy law and preparing a holy people

Israel… a “called out” people (from Egypt… from the world)

As we read Genesis 9 we see that all people on earth will come from Noah’s three sons… Shem, Ham & Japheth.

God has just punished sin and evil of rebellion and pride with a worldwide flood, and given the promise, blessing and hope of the rainbow.

FROM THIS SETTING WE READ “here’s what happens next”… Genesis 9:20-28

Genesis 9:20–28 NASB95

Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 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.” Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.

Genesis Chapter 10

We are given what is known as the table of nations… Genesis 10:1; 31-32

Genesis 10:1 NASB95

Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.

Genesis 10:31–32 NASB95

These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations. 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.

Most genealogies are vertical in scripture… Chapter 10 is very horizontal.

We see geographical, political, and languages formations as we fan out across the earth (Genesis 9:1)

We see in Genesis 10:25 that just 5 generations after after the flood comes the events of the Tower of Babel (not all old testament scriptures are written in chronological order)… sometimes information is recorded for the emphasis to be better understood.

Genesis 10:25 NASB95

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.

WAIT!!!… another narrative five generations later?

The Tower of Babel

Look at what occurs Genesis 11:1-9

Genesis 11:1–9 NASB95

Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 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.” The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 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. “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 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.

These are some amazing yet perplexing and odd campfire narratives… what does it mean?

I have never had to send my children to college to understand a story of life events

We do not need to take up Greek or Hebrew here to understand what God is saying

You may need to read His Word more though…

What are we seeing & learning…?

Man continues to sin…

Noah plants a vineyard but allows himself to get drunk & then he gets naked

Intoxication and sexual looseness are hallmarks of pagan behavior… mankind has not changed

Pride, Arrogance, and Self exaltation is still in man’s heart

Read it how it states it… Ham saw his father naked

Not castration

Not homosexual relations

Not sleeping with Noah’s wife

He brags about it, power over father, rather than submission and respect

Noah declares a curse or oracle pertaining not only to Canaan but his other sons descendants

The nature of the father will be perpetuated through their descendants

I appreciate what A.P. Ross had to state on this… Noah’s oracle predicted that the Canaanites would be in servitude to the Shemites and Japhethites (vv. 26–27). But this was because the Canaanites lived degrading lives like Ham, not because of what Ham did. The point is that nationally, at least, drunken debauchery enslaves a people. This is why, in God’s program to bless Israel, the Canaanites were condemned.

Israel as they read these words Moses is writing they will see in the table of Nations the extent of sin in the LAND that is promised

The nation will see how sin can grow and entice if left unchecked

Israel will see this getting exponentially worse just 5 generations later… The Tower of Babel

This brief narrative would explain how the nations came to be scattered and vastly different in their language

It would also show once again God judging sin and disobedience

What the people PRIDED themselves in would be their downfall

What they feared the most would become their consequence Proverbs 10:24 a

Proverbs 10:24 NASB95

What the wicked fears will come upon him, But the desire of the righteous will be granted.

GOD CAME DOWN… He intervened!

Their coming together was only increasing their evil and sin

If they continued to disobey, refuse to fill the earth as God commanded… UNIFIED the extent of their sin would be limitless!!!

What they would not do in obedience God did in Judgement!

Babel

Very few if any disagree that the location of Shinar is the area of Babylon.

Babylon throughout scripture is demonstrated as:

The force and power of the world

The evil of the world system

The seat of ungodly powers

Modern day Bagdad Iraq

We see it in scripture as Anti… God, His kingdom and His order and rule

It is the Anti-Kingdom…. it is no wonder in the end times we see the Anti-Christ take up his rule there

The Rest of The Story

Verse 9 leaves things bleak…

There is little hope offered

There is no rainbow given

What will happen next...

God wanted His ethical standard to be in the minds of His people Israel as they approached the land of Canaan…

You are to be my people, a holy people

I will bless you He states… IF you obey.

HOWEVER… allow sin and pride to come in, and I will judge, I will scatter you through wars and conflicts...

God had a plan… this is just a few chapters in the story

His plan will succeed with or without Israel’s obedience

God was not done working with Mankind… as the nations are scattered He would now work with one line, one nation, from who ONE would come to deal with man’s sin once for ALL

The prophet Zephaniah 3:9-11 gives us a glimpse of the final chapter when God will tear down the world system of Babel “Babylon” and He will reign in His Millennial Kingdom in the coming future...

Zephaniah 3:9–11 NASB95

“For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, That all of them may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him shoulder to shoulder. “From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, Will bring My offerings. “In that day you will feel no shame Because of all your deeds By which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst Your proud, exulting ones, And you will never again be haughty On My holy mountain.