All Are Named
Opening Prayer
Lord, I wait before You today for a new disclosure of Your will for me. Teach me from Your Word.
Read Genesis 10:1-32
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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Meditate
“There before me was a great multitude … from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9).
Think Further
In all of Genesis 1-11 this chapter is probably the least read! The names are foreign to our ears, and seem only of historical interest. My interest in family history means often scanning parish membership lists, shipping lists and census records. I persevere because I am interested in just one family, hardly noticing other names. So what am I to do with this part of God’s Word with over one hundred separate names? Many have been identified with locations ranging throughout today’s nations of Crete, Turkey and Iran, and to Libya and Sudan. Even if we were to focus on Shem (21-31; and again 11:10-26), the names are still many and the region large. The list is “unique in world literature [and] paints a basically positive, or at least neutral, picture of the relationships between the nations” (John Wenham). Tomorrow’s reading will provide a less favorable perspective, but both demonstrate fulfillment of God’s command to “fill the earth and subdue it” (1:28). God’s blessing of ongoing life continues to expand.
Can we see here an outworking of God’s involvement in and concern for all the diverse nations, clans and languages (5,20,31, and 32)? Their very number and naming challenge all divisions of people into “us and (an undifferentiated) others.” At Pentecost there is another listing of peoples, each hearing the gospel proclamation “in our own tongues” (Acts 2:9-11). There is God’s heart. Recent decades have seen Christians active in exploring all the rich variety of the world’s spoken languages and translating Scripture. Moving beyond broad political nations, there has been detailed investigation of the diversity of people groups: they are being named, and Christ is being made known. God knows the names of all. No one is anonymous. All will be represented in the worship that is to come.
Apply
In prayer, name several of today’s nations, clans and languages, including yours. Thank God for his work among them.
Closing prayer
Forgive me, Lord, when my faith is smug, cozy, and selfish. Pull me out of my self-centeredness and send me into Your world to witness and serve.
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