Genesis 10
Messenger Dox
Call to worship:
OT: Psalm 67
pastor Andrew loginow
NT: Matthew 28.16-20
pastor Michael champoux
song:
All creatures
Historical reading:
pastor zachary mcguire
Apostles Creed
song:
Nothing but the blood
Warner baby dedication: dr. Brett eckel
Confession & Pardon:
dr. brett eckel
song:
O praise the name
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Gen 10
Introduction
So, I have a confession to make. I’ve mentioned before that this is not my first time preaching through Genesis. I preached through the entire book of Genesis when I pastored a small rural perish in Kentucky. Well, I preached through almost all of Genesis. When I preached through Genesis back in 2011 in Kentucky, I did not preach Genesis 10.
At the time I thought to myself, “this is just another genealogy, there’s not much here, let’s just get to the Tower of Babel; let’s get to the good stuff.” In defense of my younger, foolish self, this line of thinking is not uncommon. There are many churches that would never preach a genealogy like Genesis 10 and even many Reformed churches that practice expository preaching, like us, may skip over a text like Genesis 10. But, man, what a missed opportunity!
Now that I have confessed that to you, I will complete my repentance by turning the other direction and preach Genesis 10 this morning. You may be thinking, “what in the world is going to be helpful for me and my life in 2025 from what seems to amount to an ancient phonebook?” I’m glad you asked. The answer is Jesus.
All of Scripture is centered in Jesus, not merely the New Testament, but also the Old. And it is not simply a smattering of passages in the Old Testament that are about Christ, but every pericope. This list of ancient names is about Jesus and Jesus is who we need – every week; every day; every hour; every minute; every second. Your next question might be, “well, where in the world do you see Jesus in this chapter?” I’m glad you asked. Let me show you.
Birth of Nations
Genesis 10 begins a pericope that ends in Genesis 11.9, which God’s people have long referred to as “The Table of Nations.” This genealogy of Noah and his sons builds to the Tower of Babel, which Pastor Kevin will preach next week. It’s noteworthy that many scholars believe that Genesis 11.1-9 actually takes place before the spread of the nations here in Genesis 10, which makes sense, especially because often Scripture isn’t concerned with chronology. Beginning in Genesis 10 the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to chronicle the development of the ancient Near Eastern nations post flood. These are the civilizations of the Patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These nations were the contemporaries and often adversaries of ancient Israel. As we draw near Genesis 12, which begins universally recognized history, we have these God-breathed Scriptures of Genesis 1-11, revealing prehistory, or proto history to us.
And what we see clearly is that for all of history God is sovereign over the nations. The genealogy reveals where ancient civilizations like Egypt and others originated. If we didn’t have Genesis 10 we wouldn’t know such history. Just as the Holy Spirit curated this genealogy as He inspired Moses, so also did the Spirit curate this list in actual time and space. Remember passages such as this one are not merely history, but redemptive history. It is actual history, but it is theological, teleological; it tells the story of redemption.
And one of the predominant characters in the Old Testament portion of redemptive history is, of course, Israel. Moses is teaching Israel where they’ve come from. Israel’s story properly begins in Genesis 12 with father Abraham and officially with Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, who is renamed Israel, but in Genesis 10 we see Israel descended from Shem after the flood. In both Genesis 10 and 11 Moses focuses on 2 specific descendants of Shem: Eber and Peleg. The name Peleg means divide, which not only foreshadows the Tower of Babel, but also the divide between Israel and the nations during the Old Testament. The name Eber is most certainly where the term Hebrew derives, which is how Israelites are classified even today.
This genealogy also reminds us that God is sovereign over the rise and fall of nations. Let’s use Egypt again as an example, because it is noteworthy. Moses tells us that Egypt was a son of Ham. More than likely this man, or his descendants established the nation of ancient Egypt. Note also the Philistines, the Canaanites, and the Babylonians – Israel’s chief antagonists in the Old Testament – are Ham’s posterity as well.
But in the time of the Exodus, which was not long before Genesis 10 was written, Egypt was the world superpower, like America today. At that point there was no civilization superior to Egypt. What is Egypt now? Basically a tourist destination. I know it’s more than that, but Egypt’s influence on the world today is negligible.
The same was true of Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, England, and now America. And if the Lord tarries there may be a day when America is obsolete on the global stage. In terms of the history of the world, the United States is an infant in age. Nations have risen and fallen since Genesis 10 and God has always controlled the world stage. Under the sovereign hand of God the table of nations was established in Genesis 10 and continues even today.
But Genesis 10 also shows us that it is not only the nations over which God is sovereign, but also God is sovereign over individuals. This genealogy has been called the table of nations, but it is also a list of names. From Noah to Babel we find this record of names of men. Nations are not created in the image of God, but individual people are created in God’s image. God always has and always will move history forward through the preservation and population of people.
King of Nations
And ultimately this list of individuals is about one individual; this list of names leads us to one, the name above every name. This list of names is not merely historical. This genealogy isn’t mere history; it is redemptive history. A few weeks ago we looked at the Genesis 5 genealogy from Adam to Noah and now this Genesis 10 genealogy moves us from Noah to Babel. Both genealogies (Gen 5 and 10) contain 10 generations.
Scholars debate whether these genealogies were as literalistic as possible, ie these are the exact descendants, or whether it was curated, including some and leaving out others. The fact that there are 10 generations in both leads me to believe the lists are curated, especially since there are genealogies that differ in Scripture, which skeptics use to argue Scripture contains error. And if we thought the Bible was mere history, the skeptics may be on to something, but we know the Bible is not mere history, it is redemptive history. So if there are variants in genealogies or some genealogies are curated it is not because it’s a mistake or Scripture is not true, it is because the Holy Spirit inspired the author of each text to write what they did for a reason.
So what is the reason? What should we make of there being 10 generations in each genealogy? Well in a general way we should see the intention of God. God is completely in control of history and just as He ordered the chaos in creation, so does He order the chaos of humanity – every birth, every death, and every life in between, every destiny is commanded by our sovereign God.
But in a more specific way, the Holy Spirit is preserving the line of the promise. Like Genesis 5 and 10 we also read a genealogy in Matthew 1 – the genealogy of Christ. In Matthew 1 there are 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to the Exile, and 14 generations from the Exile to Christ. Now don’t get hung up on fact that 10 and 14 are different numbers, the point is that history is teleological. History is not random, there is a telos, a goal, and the goal is Jesus Christ.
The Spirit also inspired St. Luke to record a genealogy of Christ in Luke 3.23-38. Luke’s genealogy is placed between Jesus’ baptism and temptation and Luke’s genealogy takes us from Jesus back to Adam and many of the same names in we read in Genesis 10 populate Luke’s list as well. What’s Luke showing us? That the preservation of the actual people in history and the preservation of the list of names in Genesis 10 were in service to the birth of Jesus.
In Genesis 3.15 God promised that the seed of the woman, Adam’s seed through Eve, would crush the head of the serpent, meaning there will be a man who defeats Satan, sin, and death reversing the curse. Luke is showing us that God keeps His promise. The seed of Adam was preserved all the way to Jesus. Indeed history is teleological and redemptive. Galatians 4.4 says, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman. God is the author of history, and from the beginning He was writing the story, in time and space, of His Son.
All history BC was building to the fullness of time when the Father would send His only begotten Son, the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, to be born of a woman – conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. Jesus was born of a woman – the seed of the woman but because He was conceived by the Spirit, Jesus did not inherit Adam’s original sin so He lived without sin. Because Jesus was without sin, He offered His righteous life on the cross bearing the wrath of God for our sin. And because Jesus was righteous, death had no power to hold Him, so Jesus took the keys of death and hades and He resurrected on the 3rd day.
Because that’s true, Jesus is the only hope of salvation for the nations. Not just Israel, but all nations. The promise of Jesus has been preserved for us in Genesis 10 before there was any such thing as Israel. In our Old Testament call to worship we read the exhortation, let the nations be glad! Jesus is the only way the nations can rejoice. We also read from the Great Commission in Matthew 28 where Jesus commands His church to make disciples of all nations. The good news of Jesus is for all nations.
Not only that but St. Luke tells us in chapter 10 about the first mission Jesus sent his disciples out on and in this mission Jesus fulfills Genesis 10 by reversing it. In the Hebrew text of Genesis 10 the list of dispersed nations is 70, but in the LXX the list is 72. When Jesus sent out his followers in Luke 10, how many did He send? 72! This is no coincidence. Jesus is showing us that he has come to collect the nations that were dispersed from Genesis 10.
But the gospel is not meant for theocratic enforcement because Jesus is not the just the hope of the nations in general, but Jesus is the only hope of salvation for individuals. While the good news of Jesus certainly has applications lived out in homes, communities, and civilizations, the gospel is first and foremost about personal regeneration. It is about dry bones coming to life. It is about old creatures becoming new. The gospel is about being born again.
Kingdom of Nations
Individuals experience the new birth and then the Holy Spirit gives them the gift of faith in Jesus. God gives faith first by opening our eyes to the knowledge of who Jesus is and what Jesus did; when someone tells you the good news that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5.8). And when that good news takes root so that you not only know it, but you confess the good news and do not deny it, that’s when God has given you assent. And if God gives you faith, He does not leave you with mere knowledge or assent, but He will gives you trust. You transfer your trust away from your own good works, pagan religious convictions, or anything else you trust in for justification, when you have genuine faith, you trust Christ alone.
And after God gives you faith, your response is repentance. Those who have genuine faith confess their sin and turn from sin. Believers experience an initial repentance – the first time you ever confessed your sin to God and turned to Christ. But genuine believers also practice repentance, confession and turning, for the rest of their lives because the Holy Spirit is persevering in them. Is your faith in Jesus alone? Do you repent of your sin?
And the Bible tells us that every individual who trusts in Jesus now makes up a new holy nation (1st Pet 2.9), the new Israel (Gal 6.16), the church. The church is the kingdom of God, Jews and gentiles who are now a kingdom of priests. All who believe have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. There is no nation, no civilization on earth, since the resurrection of Jesus that is God’s nation. Israel is not God’s nation; America is not God’s nation. The church is God’s holy nation, made up of all nations.
And so our first allegiance musts be to the Kingdom of God, the local church. We are Christians before Americans. Is that your perspective? There are men that I have known that would tear up at the playing of our national anthem at a ball game, but stand there in church with a frown on their face refusing to sing to the Lord.
Let me ask you are you more comfortable putting your hand on your heart and reciting the pledge of allegiance than you are reciting the Apostles’ Creed? If so, you need to reevaluate your allegiances. Don’t allow politics or patriotism to trump your rights, privileges, and responsibilities in the church. You have more in common with the alien who trusts in Jesus than you do the citizen who rejects Jesus.
And that’s because the church is the true and final holy nation. Regardless of what’s going on in the world, we can rest in the promise that even though nations rise and fall, the church has remained and will remain forever. It’s hard to imagine a world where America isn’t the global superpower, but it can happen; it may happen. It happened to Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, England, and others. But Jesus promised that He would always be with His church and for the last 2 millennia the church has sustained. There is no civilization, no entity, no corporation, no family name that has persevered like the church. Take heart, brothers and sisters, we are truly on the right side of history.
But the promise of perseverance comes with warning – Jesus promised that the church catholic would endure, the church universal, the church global will endure; Jesus never promised that specific local churches, or denominations would persevere. Like everything else, there is a sense that God will establish and extinguish churches at His own will and pleasure for His own glory. And as in everything else we must confess He is good and right to do so. But there is also the matter of faithfulness. The book of Revelation warns that unfaithful churches – churches that do not preach the gospel, churches that do not rightly and regularly administer the sacraments, churches that abandon or abuse church discipline, churches that are led by unqualified men, may not endure. Jesus can, should, and will blow out their candlestick. Lord, keep Christ Community Church faithful!
Conclusion
Can you imagine if we had skipped over this chapter? How we would have missed this beautiful record of God’s sovereignty over the nations and over every individual who has ever drawn breath? How we would have missed Jesus in this ancient genealogy and the good news of forgiveness of sin and hope for eternal life through faith in Christ and repentance of sin? How we would have been robbed of the reminder and encouragement that we, the church, are the eternal holy nation? I have a confession to make: I’m glad we didn’t.