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2022-Q2-L5: All Nations and Babel

Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 9:18-11:9, Luke 10:1, Matt. 1:1-17, Luke 1:26-33, Ps. 139:7-12, Gen. 1:28, Gen. 9:1.

Memory Text: “Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9, NKJV).

Scriptures:

  • Genesis 9:18 - 11:19.
  • Luke 10:1: After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
  • Matthew 1:1-17. The Genealogy of Jesus Christ.
  • Luke 1:26-33: [Birth of Jesus Foretold] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
  • Psalm 139:7-12.
  • Genesis 1:28: And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Notes (Come and Reason)

  • "The curse of Ham" is not in the Bible. The curse was not made to Ham but to Canaan.
  • "The curse of Ham will be a blessing". God never intended a curse to be a blessing. However, a curse can be turned into a blessing, if man cooperates with God. In other words, all things turn out for good to man, if man allows God to turn evil into good.
  • If the curse was to be a blessing, then God could be accused of using (or inflicting) evil to do good. This misrepresents God. He does not use evil to do good. The ends do not justify the means.
  • God does not make a wrong a right. God can bring good out of the wrong, by overruling the outcomes of the wrong.
  • The curse itself was not necessary to fulfill His purposes.
  • Who is the agent of the judgment, of the suffering of the wicked in the Final Judgment. Is the agent God or is the agent the sinful nature of man?

Notes (Emmanuel)

  • PP 118.2: The prophecy of Noah was no arbitrary denunciation of wrath or declaration of favor. It did not fix the character and destiny of his sons. But it showed what would be the result of the course of life they had severally chosen and the character they had developed. It was an expression of God's purpose toward them and their posterity in view of their own character and conduct. As a rule, children inherit the dispositions and tendencies of their parents, and imitate their example; so that the sins of the parents are practiced by the children from generation to generation. Thus the vileness and irreverence of Ham were reproduced in his posterity, bringing a curse upon them for many generations. “One sinner destroyeth much good.” Ecclesiastes 9:18.
  • Ed 108.2 - 109.1: The harvest of life is character, and it is this that determines destiny, both for this life and for the life to come. The harvest is a reproduction of the seed sown. Every seed yields fruit after its kind. So it is with the traits of character we cherish. Selfishness, self-love, self-esteem, self-indulgence, reproduce themselves, and the end is wretchedness and ruin. “He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:8. Love, sympathy, and kindness yield fruitage of blessing, a harvest that is imperishable.

Notes (mine)

  • Garments. Revelation 16:14-16; Revelation 3:18; Genesis 3; 9.

SUNDAY. The Curse of Ham. Genesis 9:18-27.

From the lesson: Noah’s act in his vineyard echoes Adam in the Garden of Eden. The two stories contain common motifs: eating of the fruit and resulting in nakedness; then a covering, a curse, and a blessing. Noah reconnects to his Adamic roots and, unfortunately, continues that failed history.

MONDAY. The Genesis Genealogy.

Read Genesis 10. What is the purpose of this genealogy in the Bible? (See also Luke 3:23-38.)

From the lesson: The biblical genealogy has three functions. First, it emphasizes the historical nature of the biblical events, which are related to real people who lived and died and whose days are precisely numbered. Second, it demonstrates the continuity from antiquity to the contemporary time of the writer, establishing a clear link with the past to the “present.” Third, it reminds us of human fragility and of the tragic effect of sin’s curse and its deadly results on all the generations that have followed.

Note that the classification of “Hamite,” “Semite,” and “Japhethite” does not follow clear criteria. The 70 nations foreshadow the 70 members of the family of Jacob (Gen. 46:27) and the 70 elders of Israel in the wilderness (Exod. 24:9). The idea of a correspondence between the 70 nations and the 70 elders suggests the mission of Israel toward the nations: “When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel” (Deut. 32:8, NKJV). Along the same line, Jesus sends 70 disciples to evangelize (Luke 10:1).

TUESDAY. One Language. Genesis 11:1–4 (ESV): 11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

WEDNESDAY. “Let Us Go Down”. Genesis 11:5–7 (ESV): 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

THURSDAY. The Redemption of the Exile.

FRIDAY. Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Tower of Babel,” pp. 117-124, in Patriarchs and Prophets.