Overview
After Noah and his family left the ark at the mountains of Ararat, they immigrated about 500 miles to the area of Babylonia, We read in the genealogies of how third families greatly increased, for the Lord God had blessed them. The genealogies of Noah’s sons are listed according to their families, languages and nations.
The major races of the world today can be traced to the sons of Noah. The Japhites represent those from the continent of Europe and some of Asia. The Hamites represent those from the continent of Africa who, early in their history, inhabited the land of Canaan. The Shemites represent the Middle Eastern countries, such as Israel and Arabia. Genealogies in the Bible can teach us about ancient history and in the midst of them we often find important pieces of information often overlooked.
God was not against civilization, the building of fine structures or cities, or intelligent thinking, but He was against the motivation behind building the tower of Babel, which was a rebellious heart full of self-pride and desiring self-glory, self-honor, and self-rule (sins that God hates the most), all of which put Him out of the picture. The tower was constructed to be a military and municipal building, and some scholars says it may have been a temple built for religious purposes, or for astronomy. Whatever it was for, it was not pleasing to God, so He called a divine council, as He did in Genesis 1:26 before the creation of man, showing the importance of the decision to be made, and it is written, “Let Us” which is in reference to the God-Head – the Holy Trinity.
God’s miraculous intervention interrupted and ultimately completely halted the continuation of this great structure. Previous to this, all people spoke the same langrage and lived in the same general area, but God wanted them to be scattered over the face of the earth, and so this was accomplished by confusing the languages. God has always been involved with the peoples of the world whom He created from “one blood… and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” (Acts 17:26).
Likewise, in the New Testament, Jesus Christ commanded His believers to go into all the world and preach the Gospel (Mark 16:15). However, they continued to congregate at Jerusalem, so God allowed the persecution of the believers which forced them to be scattered throughout the then known world (Act 8:1), thus the good news spread as God had planned. What happened in the book of Acts is not an accident, we believe it was by divine purpose and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the message reached the three continents which represent the three sons of Noah. For example, the miraculous conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch, representing Africa and from the line of Ham (Chapter 8), Paul, a Jew from the line of Shem (Chapter 9), and Cornelius, an Italian from the line of Japheth (Chapter 10).
God is no respecter of persons, for in Christ there are no differences, we are all one. God’s will is that all nations would come unto repentance and worship Him. In the book of Revelations, we are given a wonderful picture of how it will be in heaven when people from every tongue and every nation will be with the Lord, singing His praises (see Rev. 5:9, 10). In contrast, later on in the book of Revelations (chapter 18), we see God’s judgment on the great Babylonian city which, if we study carefully, we see sins as those who built the tower of Babe, that of being self-centered by unifying nations to lead them astray against God.
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