Ham's Descendants (Gen. 10:6-20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04/24/2006

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Ham’s Descendants

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 10:6-20

            Message of the verse:  “6 The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.  7  The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.  8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth.  9  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD."

10  The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.  11  From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, 12  and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

13  Mizraim became the father of Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim

14  and Pathrusim and Casluhim (from which came the Philistines) and Caphtorim.

15 Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth 16  and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite 17  and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite 18  and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad.  19  The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.  20  These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations.”

In these verses there is found the descendents of Ham, and in the midst of these verses the writer brings out a character named Nimrod, who as the text says was a mighty hunter before the LORD.  One must remember that the Bible is not a complete record of history of all of mankind.  I would say that the main theme of the Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ and there are many things and events in the OT that point to Him.  The nation of Israel was chosen by God as the Nation by whom God would bring His Son into the world, and in this section of Genesis one can see some of the nations being formed that will have something to do with the nation of Israel.  For instance Nimrod was the one who began both Babylon and Nineveh, and God used both of these nations to discipline the nation of Israel.  There will be more said about Babel, or what would become Babylon in the next chapter of Genesis, however the things that were started by Nimrod are still present today in different religions.  I once read or heard that the mother son cult began with Nimrod.  This comes out of Genesis 3:15, which was a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ being born of a woman, but Nimrod’s mother took this wonderful prophecy and made something very bad out of it and as stated before it is still around today in the form of the Roman Catholic Church. In Arthur W. Pink’s book of Genesis he states that Nimrod is a picture of the future Antichrist, who is written about in both the Old and New Testaments.   

All of the descendents of Ham were located in the Middle East and Northern Africa, however some has said that Ham was a black man and the prophecy that his father Noah said concerning him that he would be a slave or that he would serve Shem is taken out of context, for Ham was not a black man.  I do believe that the black race came from Ham, but that was further down the road of history. (For more information on this subject look up the teaching of Ken Ham whose ministry has built “The ArkEncounter.”)

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God’s mighty hand can be seen not only in the dividing of the nations, but also in the lives of the individuals who live in these nations, and God’s plan will be fulfilled just as He has planned it in both the nations and also in the individuals who live in the nations.

The Word of God has challenged my heart as I read it this morning. 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I would pray that the Lord would get my life back on track to serving Him and trusting Him, and believing that He does have a plan for my life and by His grace and mercy will fulfill it in His good time.

Memory verses for the week:                          Philippians 2:14-15

14.  Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15.  so that you will prove yourself blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among you appear as lights in the world,