WHEN THE UNRIGHTEOUS RULE

Genesis 10-11:9
Bob Bonner
October 17, 2004

Unless you have just recently crawled out from under a rock, you are probably aware that in a few more weeks there will be an election. There are many candidates and issues to be considered. What has interested me about the voting habits of Christians over the past 20 years is that when there is an issue that is a morally based issue, Christians who know and care about their Bibles don’t have a problem with voting righteously or correctly on issues. But when it comes to choosing a candidate, few Christians realize that there is a Biblical principle that should govern how to choose a leader for whom we vote. This morning, as we look at Genesis 10-11, there are some interesting ideas laid out for us by the Spirit of God that should help us in choosing a candidate, whether for the local judges or county commissioners, state representatives, or Federal leaders, like a President.

As we come to Genesis 10, it is important for us to remember why the book of Genesis was written and for whom. Genesis was not written to explain the history and origin of the entire human race. Genesis was written to explain to the Jews and anyone else who might read this record, how it is that the nation of Israel came to be the chosen people of God, and for what purpose God chose them.

It is true that up through chapter 9 the history of the origin of all the nations of the world is encompassed. But as we come to chapters 10-11, we begin to see God funneling down the history of the human races and nations to one particular family, and that would be the family of Abraham, from whom the nation of Israel finds its roots. Hence, these two chapters prepare the way for the introduction of Abraham.

When we look at chapter 10, we will see the listing of the various families from whom many nations come, and we will notice the eventual geographical location of those families, and a reference to their many different languages. In chapter 11, we will see what brought about all these different nations having different languages.

As we look at this survey of the world of nations in Genesis 10-11, keep in mind, those nations included here are only those nations which were known to Israel at the time of Moses and those which were of interest to Israel. Although these chapters uniquely hold more reliable source material about the genealogy of the human race, it was not meant to be all inclusive.

Chronologically, by the time we get to chapter 10, we are only 2-3 generations beyond the Flood, God’s judgment against Noah’s generation. And already, the human race is once again living in rebellion against God. We will see in these two chapters, as we have seen from the beginning of the Fall that the human race, no matter how many chances you give it, will be bent toward rebellion against God. Furthermore, the point becomes obvious that unless we have a savior, who will not just forgive sin, but eventually remove it from our lives, we have no hope of ever changing.

Hence, these two chapters prepare the way for God to present His only plan for the rescuing of the human race. These two chapters lead us to the door step of Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, through which the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, will come.

As we come to chapter 10, which I am calling “The Table of Nations”, we are going to see a genealogy of nations.

Although this chapter is filled with a genealogy of names, and to some it appears boring, I assure you it is not. It is so full of interesting material that we cannot get to it all. In fact, due to the difficult names and the length of the passage, I have decided not to read it all this morning, but only certain parts. In addition, I must tell you up front that I have chosen not to take time this morning to show you which nations established themselves in which parts of the world, according to this list in chapter 10. If you are interested in that, there are several sources available that will spell all of that out for you, one of which is Ray Stedman’s commentary on Genesis, entitled “The Beginnings.”

As we work our way through chapter 10 you will see that it breaks down into three parts that delineate the three family lines that stem from Noah, and you should notice that there is a three fold pattern. First, you will read about the particular son of Noah. Next comes the names of the heads of the clans or tribes under each son. Finally, there is the mention of the geographical location as well as the language divisions of each family.

I begin with simply giving you those verses that deal with the sons of Japheth, v. 1-5. Keep in mind that Japheth is the head of those people who would be later labeled the GENTILES, or the non-Jewish people of the world.

In verses 6-20, we read about the sons of Ham, who also are gentiles, but they are a unique group of gentiles. They become the oppressed/servant countries of the world or “third world countries” bound in poverty. These are the world’s families that fall under Canaan’s curse that we read about last time, in chapter 9. Of Ham’s sons, we read these words, beginning with verse 6: “The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.” Drop down to verses 8 and 9 “Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”

Cush was Ham’s oldest son and had apparently resented Noah’s curse against his family, that they would always be servants of their brother’s Japheth and Shem’s families. As more and more years passed, his resentment grew against these relatives and God, and in particular, the curse to be perpetual servants. Finally, by the time Nimrod was born, Cush’s resentment against God and His grandfather’s curse became so great that he named his youngest son, “Nimrod” which means “Let us rebel!” The inference is that Cush trained his son, Nimrod, from childhood to be a leader of sorts that would organize a rebellion against God and God’s purposes for the human race. Cush wanted his son to turn things around and be the leader who would rule the rest of the human race, rather than be the servants of others.

Be careful when you read verse 9, “He was a mighty hunter before the Lord,” and not mistakenly conclude that to be a positive endorsement or that it was trying to show that Nimrod used a bow and arrow well. It is not. It’s more literal Hebrew explanation is that Nimrod was “a tyrant in the face of the Yahweh.” Nimrod was a hunter in the sense that he searched out and persuaded men to obey his will against God’s. As J. Vernon McGee accurately described him, “he was the hunter of men’s souls.”

Nimrod would eventually win the favor of men, which in turn would make him a giant of a political leader, and in turn, that would enable him to move forward in his plans to build his kingdom, which would include the tower of Babel.

Extra-biblical history informs us that Nimrod and his wife were the founders of the first pagan religion built around the “mother and child” model found in so many third world countries today. For more information on this, read Alexander Hislop’s book The Two Babylons (London: S.W. Partridge, 1956)

In verses 10-12, we read about Nimrod building a kingdom and all of the cities he was given credit for founding. We read, “The beginning of his [Nimrod] kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.”

For Nimrod, the center of his kingdom was the city of Babel and more specifically, the tower of Babel itself. This very city’s name would later be called by its Greek name for Babel, Babylon, the city known throughout the Bible for its rebellion, spiritual darkness and godlessness. What’s truly interesting about Nimrod in his founding of Babylon is that its unified religious fervor along with its unified political organization against God mirrors the final opposition of man against God written about in the book of Revelation. Just as God frustrates Nimrod’s attempt to rule the world here in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, so will God, says Revelation, in the last book of the Bible. In the end times God will frustrate all of mankind’s attempts to unify the world, whether through NATO or the UN or any other human government that is established against or that ignores God. Truly, Nimrod’s character is a pre-shadow of the last world ruler to come, the Anti-Christ. Nimrod was the founder of the Babylonian Empire and everything it has ever represented.

With verses 15-18, we read about Ham’s son Canaan. “Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad.”

Just look at all the tribes that end in “ite.” When you read in the OT, about tribes that end in “ite” you can be sure that they come from the line of Canaan, and they existed in the territory known as the Palestine, the land which would eventually belong to Israel.

Now we come to the third of Noah’s sons, Shem. Shem is the one who received God’s blessing from chapter 9 and through him would be raised up the race of the Jews. We read about his family line, beginning with verses 21-32. Let’s look at just verse 21. It reads, “Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born.” “Eber” comes from the Hebrew word for “Hebrew” and it is through this line of “Eber” that Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, is born.

According to these verses, originally, the descendants of Shem settled in the eastern lands and region known as the Persian Gulf or Iran. It was from there, that God called Abraham and placed him in his new homeland of Palestine.

Now we come to the Tower of Babel, in 11:1-9. The predominant idea in this paragraph is really not the building of the tower, but the scattering of the people. The sin involved here was not the building of the city or the tower, per se, but it was the open rebellion against God’s commission to spread out and fill the earth. Instead, the people, led by Nimrod, pridefully wanted to hang together as a unified people and to find their strength and safety in the unity of their numbers, rather than looking to God. That which enabled them to be unified was their common language. In their unity, they hoped to make themselves “immortal” by making a “name” for themselves, through their ingenuity, selfish ambition and strength.

In essence, their sin was their attempt to live independently from God, their creator and the giver of life. In truth, their leader Nimrod had become anti-God, and so did the citizenry who followed after him. And the tower became first and foremost the rallying point and symbol of their independence from God.

Let’s read, beginning at 11:1. “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. [The implication of having the “same words” is to say that they were united in one thought and intent. In the Hebrew Orthodox English translation, this verse is translated, “The whole earth was of one language and of common purpose.” What was that common thought, purpose or objective?] It came about as they journeyed east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.”

“Shinar” is an alluvial plain that rests between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Today, it is the Nation of Iraq. Furthermore, the name “Shinar” indicates that these people were Hamites. In other words, not all of the sons of Noah followed after Nimrod and were part of the tower of Babel tragedy, even though all of the human races lived with the consequences of God’s judgment on Ham’s family.

Shem, we will learn next time, wanted nothing to do with Nimrod or the tower of Babel.

Let’s continue, verses 3-4, “They [meaning Nimrod and his followers] 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.”

It’s obvious from verse 4 that they did not want to scatter or “fill the earth” but to stay together. They did not have stone or other proper building materials, so this ambitious and ingenious lot had to make do with what they had. Nimrod, their leader, directed them, “Hey, let’s build an entire city and tower that will take us up to God.” The idea of a tower going up to God was not one of worship, but to treat God as their equal. A self-sufficient society, lead by a powerful human leader, would be a society no longer desirous of depending upon God.

The great tower of Babel dominated the well planned out city, both architecturally and culturally. It served as the focal point of both political and religious life. It was the symbol of the communities’ unity and strength, as well as its heart. Sadly, it was the symbol of that society’s unrighteous heart, as well as its unrighteous leader’s heart.

Any leader, who for political purpose or social achievement will dispense with his morals or God, is not what the Bible defines as a “righteous leader.” The Biblical expression “righteous leader” does not refer to just a moral leader. The “righteous leader” doesn’t even refer to a leader who has not made a major mistake in his life. Just look at King David. A righteous leader doesn’t even refer to a well organized leader. It refers first and foremost to a leader who stands for God, not what makes the godless majority happy.

In this country, we have the privilege of voting for or appointing our leadership. I have been asked “Are there any principles that should govern whom we appoint?” Absolutely. Those who are righteous. How do I know that? When Israel was first beginning as a nation, God gave them a command about appointing leaders. Take note of the basis for their selection of leadership. We read in Deuteronomy 16:18, “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge people with righteous judgment.” The job for rulers, judges and officers is to make “righteous judgments”. Not just moral assessments, but decisions that are God based and within His will. These leaders were first and foremost to demonstrate their ability to make such decisions based on how they lived their lives. When you vote for any candidate, what has been the past voting record? How have they treated others in business? How do they relate to their spouse? Before you look at their governmental objectives, God wants us to check these details out first. If they are not a “righteous leader,” regardless of their plan of action, don’t vote for them. If neither candidate is a “righteous leader” in the Biblical sense of the term, then do your best to pick the lesser of the two evils.

Here is another Biblical guideline to help determine “righteous judgment” and how to vote: Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall come to you.” Is a candidate’s plan to work on Social Security a kingdom issue? Not that I can see in scripture. Not that it isn’t important, but it is not a kingdom issue. But abortion certainly is a kingdom issue. If a candidate is pro-abortion, but has a good Social Security plan, you don’t vote for him. Why? Because he is not a “righteous leader”. Is education and how it is funded a kingdom issue? Not that I see in scripture. Not that it is not important, but it is not a kingdom issue. But marriage defined as one man and one woman certainly is. If the candidate has a great education plan, but is pro gay marriage, that candidate is not a Biblical “righteous leader.” Hence, if you are a kingdom citizen, do you vote for the kingdom agenda and His righteousness, or for this world’s agenda? I hope you know the answer to that. But what if you have two godly leaders to choose from? That would be so great, choose one. If you have two ungodly leaders, choose the lesser evil.

Hence, when you vote, wise is the vote cast for those leaders who put and keep their trust in God and His principles as the foundation for all of their policy making, as well as for their personal life choices. Proverbs 29:2 declares, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.”

As a result of Ham’s family following after a slick, unrighteous leader, we read, the following about God’s response to this leader and his people’s work. Verse 5, “The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.” I believe this to be a satirical note on Moses’ part, that God had to come down, to descend to see these human’s puny work. The tower that was to reach up to God obviously fell far short. The spirit-filled humor of these verses emphasizes the ridiculousness of Nimrod and his follower’s actions to supplant God.

Verse 6, “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.” There is an alternate way in which the last part of v. 6 can be read. It can be read as I just read it, in the form of a statement, or as a question. In fact, in the Hebrew Orthodox translation, the last part of verse 6, is written in the form of a question rather than a statement, and, in my opinion, better explains the actions of the following verse, verse 7. In the Orthodox translation, it reads, “And now, should it not be withheld from them all they proposed to do?” In other words, because of Nimrod’s plans, shouldn’t God thwart them? In answer to that question, we read in verse 7 God saying, “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.”

Again, one can’t miss the irony. The place of unity, their tower, became a place of dispersion. They wanted centrality, God moved them universally.

Verse 9, “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.”

It is ironic that these people prided themselves on their unity, ingenuity, ambition and strength. They named their city and tower “babel” which in Hebrew means, “the gate to the gods,” a mockery of God. Yet, God, using a play on Hebrew words, called it not “Babel” but in Hebrew “Balal” which means “confusion.” The people’s very desire to become a people of renown was suddenly turned against them.

The spirit of Babylon throughout the scriptures has been one of rebellion and independence from God. Later, in total disregard for God’s name of the city “Balal” meaning “confusion”, those who remained deliberately decided to ignore God and held on to the name “Babel”, which later in Greek, would become “Babylon.” And true to its name, Babel or Babylon would become just such a city, a gateway to many false pagan religions, but never directing people to the one true God. In fact, as history will one day show, Babylon will be the place that the Anti-Christ will call his home, as he makes man’s last stand in rebellion against God.

In the end, God got what He wanted. He had told them to scatter and fill the earth, but they refused to do so. So, He confused their languages and they were forced to scatter and reform into people groups and to form alliances and live in different parts of the world.

The lesson that Moses was teaching young Israel at the time he wrote this book was clear: If she was to survive as a nation, she must obey God’s will not righteous leaders. Any nation that turns its back on God, bristles with pride in its ingenuity, unity and ambition, and refuses to obey or seek after God will be scattered. Sadly, Israel failed to learn the lesson of Babylon and after refusing to obey God and rejecting her Messiah, she was scattered.

This morning, I leave you with just this one thought or application: Whenever a country or society or religious system glorifies humanity and makes man or his purposes the priority, it is not long before that society minimizes God and makes God nothing. When principles of the kingdom are selfishly ignored, shortly thereafter that society falls.

In Joshua 5:13-14 we read: “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, ‘Are You for us or for our adversaries?’ So He said, ‘No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, ‘What does my Lord say to His servant?’ ”

This should be a warning to the U.S.: As a country, we began with God and god-fearing leadership. Now, we won’t even allow his 10 Commandments to be posted in public places. Now, we have political candidates, who give lip service to believing in God, but are afraid to speak of Him or to pray or to take a moral stand whatsoever, for fear of offending their possible constituents. In the past forty years, we have had presidents, congressmen and those who have wanted to be presidents or congressmen give lip service to being men of faith, but their personal morals and their moral voting records reveal just the opposite. When it is risky to take a moral stand, they ignore God, and do whatever else they can to bring in the votes. As a result of decades of electing these types of leaders who are afraid to take a stand for the Lord, leaders who defiantly ignore God, our country is self-destructing from the inside. Make no mistake about it. God’s principle is obvious: When a society seeks to glorify and satisfy itself, rather than God, that society fails.

Can we ignore the principle of making sure the Biblically “righteous” candidates rule? Do we simply vote for a candidate who promises our kids a better education? Since when are we to look to government to be our safety net? What happened to God being our provider? What happened to hard work, prayer and seeking His face? Something one must think about when one votes for leaders, is do we vote for those who fear God, or those who promise to keep our pocketbooks filled? When you vote, are you thinking to satisfy self or to honor the Lord, and that which he deems righteous?

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