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 L ord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the
L ord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth” (Genesis
11:9, NKJV).
A
fter the Flood, the biblical account shifts from a focus on the
single individual, Noah, to his three sons, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth. The particular attention on Ham, the father of Canaan
(Gen. 10:6, 15), introduces the idea of “Canaan,” the Promised Land
(Gen. 12:5), an anticipation of Abraham, whose blessing will go to all
nations (Gen. 12:3).
However, the line is broken by the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1–9).
Once again, God’s plans for humankind are disrupted. What was sup-
posed to be a blessing, the birth of all nations, becomes another occa-
sion for another curse. The nations unite in order to try to take God’s
place; God responds in judgment on them; and, through the resulting
confusion, the people get scattered throughout the world (Gen. 11:8),
thus fulfilling God’s original plan to “fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1, NKJV).
In the end, in spite of human wickedness, God turns evil into good;
He has, as always, the last word. The curse of Ham in his father’s tent
(Gen. 9:21, 22) and the curse of the confused nations at the Tower of
Babel (Gen. 11:9) will, eventually, be turned into a blessing for the
nations.