Day 5: Tower of Babel

Today's reading: Genesis 10 & 11; Psalm 2.

In today's reading in Genesis, we get a listing of the descendants of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Through Shem, the "eponymous ancestor of all Semitic peoples" (10:21; p. 71), we can note that his grandson Eber becomes "the eponymous ancestor of all Hebrew peoples," from which Abraham is descended (14:13). The latter will obviously take a prominent role in Genesis. What I did find interesting is the descendants of Ham, who may not have cursed directly by Noah for some kind of sexual deviancy, but his progeny certainly were. As the Ignatius Bible states in the footnotes:

Ham is depicted as a progenitor of Israel's traditional enemies: the Egyptians (10:6), the Canaanites (10:6), the Babylonians (10:10), the Assyrians (10:11), the Philistines (10:14), and the Jebusites (10:16). (p. 71)

 Next, we have the story of the Tower of Babel. This explains how man came to spread all over the earth and how languages came to differ from one another. It should be noted, though, that it is a story of the effects of sin. As the BIY Companion, Vol 1, notes:

Ambition for excellence rather than power is a truly great thing. Ambition for excellence is what makes us strive to be great saints. God puts this desire in our hearts... Nimrod's people could have created a beautiful structure to honor God, but they chose to build a tower "to make a name for [themselves]" instead. They chose to glorify themselves instead of God. (p. 14)

We are then given another list of descendants, down to Abram, with his wife Sarai, and Lot (11:27-31). It is here that today's reading in Genesis ends.

In Psalm 2, we have another short psalm. It is one, though, which speaks of the Davidic covenant, which Jesus would later fulfill.

With this, what Bible in the Year calls the Early World ends and we move into the Patriarchs tomorrow.