GOD'S PLAN
Human Government Fails
After the flood, Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth begin to replenish the earth. Genesis 10 is known as the Table of Nations. It lists out 70 names of nations that come from these 3 lines. These nations come into play repeatedly throughout the Bible and their study is fascinating. However, for the purposes of the scope of this study, it can be summarized into the main the lines.
Japheth
Between Genesis 9:24 (KJV) “And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son (referring to Ham) had done unto him.“, and Genesis 10:21 (KJV) “Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.”, we can deduce that Japheth was the older of the sons.
Japheth was the father of the nations that went out to the west and to the north of the area where the settled after the flood. These became the nations of area of Europe and Turkey today.
Ham
Ham is the younger brother and the father of the nations that west to the south. They populated the areas of Africa and Canaan, or Israel today, over to the are of Babylon. It is from Ham that Nimrod, the first world ruler came. He established the city of Babel, which later became Babylon. Ham was also the father of the Egyptian empire.
Shem
Shem is the second born son of Noah. He is the father of the royal line that eventually produces our Lord Jesus. That is why his name is always listed first in Hebrew texts. Hebrew scribes always listed the most important names first. They were not in chronological order. Shem’s line went to the east and populated the far east, including Iran, China and India. His line will migrate into the land of Canaan as “sojourners”, or wanderers.
(Add info on how Shem, Ham and Japheth represent the three facets of humanity, Spirit, Body and Mind. Shem represents the spirit, Ham the body and Japheth the mind. Explain how this works.)
Early Division
An incident happened that is recorded in Genesis 9:20-27 in which Noah gets drunk on his wine and passes out uncovered in his tent. Ham finds him in this condition and something very inappropriate happens, but we don’t know what. What we know is that when Noah wakes up, he knows that Ham is guilty of something and curses his offspring Canaan. Notice he didn’t curse Ham, but one of his son instead. Noah says Canaan shall serve both of the other brothers. Now we can see why there have always been issues between the Israelis and the Canaanites, which today are in the area of Gaza and the Palestinians.
Ham had four sons listed in Genesis 10:6 (KJV), ”And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.” Why was Canaan singled out? We can’t say for sure, but one possibility, which is purely conjecture, is that Ham went into Noah’s tent and found him passed out and possibly impregnated Noah’s wife. In Genesis 9:24 (KJV) it says, “And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.” It says done unto him, but the way the people operated in those days, the wife was part of the husband. Anything done to the wife, was also done to the husband. Noah’s nakedness would also be his wife’s nakedness. The other sons backed in to drop a cover over the nakedness. If this were true, Noah would have then been justified in cursing the offspring of that highly inappropriate union. This is just a possibility, but one that explains the curse of just one of Ham’s offspring.
Nimrod
Nimrod was the grandson of Ham and he established the first world empire, Babel. This happened despite God’s direction to spread out and fill the earth. In Genesis 11, the story of the Tower of Babel is recounted. In it God comes down to see what the people have done and finds that they are all acting together, with one language to build a temple to idols. [Gen 11:4 KJV] “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” They wanted to make a name for themselves, also known as pride.
Babel would go on to become Babylon, which is known throughout the bible as the city of man, or the city of Satan. This city sits in opposition to the city of God, which is Jerusalem.
God decides to disperse the people and confuse their language, creating multiple languages so they could not understand each other. Humans were again moving away from God in a fairly short period of time since the flood.
God's Plan for Human Government
After the flood there were 8 people living on the Earth. God gave them a covenant and it is safe to assume that all believed and walked with God, at least for a while. God’s covenant was a fairly simple one without much restriction or elaborate set of rules. The key thing was had to manage their own people. The big difference between this and the original covenant between God and Adam was that death was now involved. Sin brought death and they needed to understand that. They had just witnessed the destruction of everyone on earth except them.
God’s desire for the people of earth was for them to replenish the earth. Genesis 9:1 (KJV) says, “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” God showed us through the confusion of languages and the scattering of the people in Genesis 11 that He did not want the people to congregate in one place and focus on what they themselves could do without God. In Genesis 11:6 (KJV) it says, “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” They were building a tower to heaven that they might make a name for THEMSELVES. They were not doing it for the glory of God. God’s desire was that anything they do be to the glory of God!
God shows us through human government that we can’t govern ourselves successfully without His help. On our own we stray and become focused on ourselves. God gave us a chance to do it on our own, and humanity screwed it up, again. It’s a good thing God is patient with us!
