Genesis 10:6-14: a reflection

6The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7The sons of Cush were: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were: Sheba and Dedan. 8Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, “like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD”. 10The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah. 13Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), and Caphtorim.

This passage is part of the table of nations, tracing the descendants of Noah's sons into the many peoples of the earth. It reads as a list of names and nations, but it carries a quiet and significant truth: all the diverse peoples of the world descend from one family, from Noah, and ultimately from the one man and woman God created. Behind all the nations, languages, and peoples of the earth stands a single human family, sharing one origin, all made by the one God.

Notice what the table of nations testifies to: the unity of the human family. However divided humanity has become, into different nations, languages, cultures, and peoples, we all spring from one source; we are, at root, one family. Scripture affirms this elsewhere: God made from one man every nation of mankind. The differences that divide us are real, but beneath them lies a deeper unity: we are all one family, all made by the one God, all bearing his image.

That truth has profound implications for how we regard others. It is easy to see those of other nations, races, or cultures as fundamentally other, separate from us, even to divide humanity into us and them. But Scripture insists on our common origin: every person, of every nation and language, is part of one human family, made by the one God, bearing his image. There are no outsiders to the human family. Regard every person, whatever their nation or difference, as your kin in the one human family God made. And remember that God's heart, and the gospel, reach to all the nations that spring from that one family. We are one; treat one another as the family we are.

Lord, the table of nations shows that all the diverse peoples of the earth descend from one family, that behind all the nations and languages stands a single human family, all made by you. Help me live in the light of that truth. It is easy to see those of other nations, races, or cultures as fundamentally other, to divide humanity into us and them. But you made from one source every nation, and every person bears your image. Help me regard every person, whatever their nation or difference, as my kin in the one human family you made, with no outsiders. And thank you that your heart, and the gospel, reach to all the nations. We are one family under you; help me treat every person as the kin they truly are, and long, with you, for all the nations to know you.