Daily Scripture Reading Genesis 10:25 - 11:21
Over the past two centuries, humans have invented machines and communication devices that allow people to travel and communicate at speeds far exceeding what humans experienced over the first 6,000 years of human history. Mankind has essentially created a global village. It is now possible to travel to any spot on the globe in less than 24 hours and have live conversations with someone on the opposite side of the earth.
Humanity thinks our technological progress is permanent. Modern man thinks our global village is here to stay. Scientists are now dreaming about expanding human settlement to other planets.
However, today’s passage reminds us that Yahweh is in control. If He decides to undo human inventions or destroy the global village, He can do so.
The tenth chapter of Genesis lists the descendants of Noah. The sons of Japheth settled northwest of the middle east and became the Europeans. The descendants of Ham traveled southwest and became the Africans. The sons of Shem went east and became the Asians. The last few verses of chapter 10 finish listing the descendants of Shem.
Gen. 10:25 Now 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.
The Hebrew word “peleg” means to divide. The phrase “in his days the earth was divided” may refer to what happened at the tower of Babel, which we will read about in chapter 11. When the earth was divided, one of the sons of Eber was named Divide (Peleg).
Gen. 10:26 And Joktan was the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah
Gen. 10:27 and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah
Gen. 10:28 and Obal and Abimael and Sheba
Gen. 10:29 and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.
Gen. 10:30 Now their settlement extended from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the hill country of the east.
Look at the word “east”. This tells us the descendants of Shem settled east of the rest of Noah’s descendants, meaning they became the Asians.
Gen. 10:31 These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their tongues, by their lands, according to their nations.
Gen. 10:32 ¶ These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.
Gen. 11:1 ¶ Now the whole earth had the same language and the same words.
This verse describes humanity after the flood. All people spoke the same language.
Gen. 11:2 And it happened as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
Notice they found a plain in the land of Shinar.
Genesis 10:10 lists some cities in the land of Shinar: Accad, Babylon, and Uruk. It is believed Shinar was in the lower end of the Mesopotamian Valley. After the flood, all humanity stayed together as a group, and they arrived in Shinar.
Gen. 11:3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had tar for mortar.
Gen. 11:4 And 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, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
God had commanded humans to fill the earth and subdue it (see Genesis 1:28). However, at this point, all humanity was trying to avoid scattering over the face of the earth, meaning they were refusing to go out and subdue the earth.
Gen. 11:5 Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
Gen. 11:6 And Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they have begun to do. So now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
Gen. 11:7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s language.”
Gen. 11:8 So Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
Take note of the words “Yahweh scattered them”. Man had one idea, but God forced them to do something different.
This is a reminder that humans are pawns in the hands of Yahweh. Mankind wanted to stay together, which was contrary to God’s commands, so Yahweh created multiple languages and forced mankind to scatter over the earth. Yahweh created us. When He chose to confuse human language, He did so and there was nothing humans could do to stop it.
That is true today. Yahweh is still mightier than all humanity combined. When man defies God, God has the power to force us to obey, if He chooses to do so.
God wants people to multiple and fill the earth. In recent decades, mankind has adopted the mentality that population growth is bad. They have eschewed child-bearing to the point that world population will start declining in a couple decades. It is possible that God will do something drastic in the next couple decades in order to force humans to begin multiplying again.
Over the past century, humanity has developed the technology to shrink the world and create a global village. Today, there are phone apps that can translate in real time, so people who speak different languages can communicate with each other. Humans are recreating the village that existed around the tower of Babel. Humans think our progress will never stop, but what if God is not pleased with our global village? Yahweh can put an end to our technology at any time of His choosing.
Gen. 11:9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth; and from there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Gen. 11:10 ¶ These are the generations of Shem. Shem was 100 years old and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;
Gen. 11:11 and Shem lived 500 years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
Shem lived a total of 600 years.
Gen. 11:12 ¶ And Arpachshad lived 35 years and became the father of Shelah;
Gen. 11:13 and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he became the father of Shelah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
Arpachshad “only” lived 438 years.
Gen. 11:14 ¶ And Shelah lived 30 years and became the father of Eber;
Gen. 11:15 and Shelah lived 403 years after he became the father of Eber, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
Gen. 11:16 ¶ And Eber lived 34 years and became the father of Peleg;
Gen. 11:17 and Eber lived 430 years after he became the father of Peleg, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
Gen. 11:18 ¶ And Peleg lived 30 years and became the father of Reu;
Gen. 11:19 and Peleg lived 209 years after he became the father of Reu, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
Peleg was born 101 years after the flood. Peleg was the great great great grandson of Noah. Genesis 10:25 tells us the earth was divided in the days of Peleg. If that refers the tower of Babel and the confusion of language, that means the tower of Babel happened around 100 or 200 years after the flood.
Gen. 11:20 ¶ And Reu lived 32 years and became the father of Serug;
Gen. 11:21 and Reu lived 207 years after he became the father of Serug, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
Reu “only” lived a total of 239 years. Notice the continuing decline of life expectancy.
Before the flood, humans lived 8 or 9 centuries. Then God decided human life expectancy would be a maximum of 120 years (see Genesis 6:3). By the time of Reu, less than two centuries after the flood, life expectancy was down to 200 years.
Over the past two centuries, humans have invented machines and communication devices that allow people to travel and communicate at speeds far exceeding what humans experienced over the first 6,000 years of human history. It is now possible to travel to any spot on the globe in less than 24 hours and have live conversations with someone on the opposite side of the earth.
Humanity thinks our technological progress is permanent. However, today’s passage reminds us that Yahweh is in control. If He decides to undo human inventions or destroy the global village, He can do so.
Why might God want to put an end to modern technology?
What would be the benefits to humans if modern technology suddenly ceased to exist?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”