“…From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.”
Genesis 10:32
Most of the contents of chapter 10 and 11 are a list of names; that is name after name, descendant after descendant. I’m sure that a lot us when we encounter such lists when we read our Bibles gloss over them and often times, give them of little importance. And yet, these people already tell us quite a lot about God and our world today. After the flood, the only people in the world then were Noah and his family. This account that the Bible gives us says that after the cleansing of the world, God favored Noah enough that the rest of the inhabitants of the world came from his sons. (And of course, this account would eventually lead to Abram who we all know played quite a role)
After the list of Noah’s descendants in chapter 10, came the Tower of Babel in chapter 11. Some would use this passage as the origins of the different languages in the world. In a way, I suppose that is true. But more than that, it would some explain the origins of the different people in the world, the migrations of people and how there are people in all parts of the world (Gen. 10:32). As for why this was so, I honestly think that God was not punishing them, instead, it showcases God’s grace. Building the tower soon after the flood, it would indicate that people did not learn from that point in history. If they did, they would not have been so conceited as to think they could reach the heavens if they built a tower high enough to get them there. Therefore, “confusing their language so they wouldn’t understand each other” was not a penalty for their arrogance. God could have easily wiped them out again, but chose not to; that scattering them around the world would be a better option.
[Something I wrote for the Bible in One Year online devotions, unedited version]
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