Genesis 10:23














I. DESCENDANTS OF A WICKED FATHER.

II. INHERITORS OF AN AWFUL CURSE.

III. POSSESSORS OF A FAIR DOMAIN.

IV. USURPERS OF ANOTHER'S LAND. Lessons: -

1. Wicked men and nations may greatly prosper.

2. Prosperity sometimes leads to greater wickedness.

3. The greatest prosperity cannot turn aside the punishment of sin. - W.

The gathering together of the waters called He seas.
I. THE SEA. "Let the waters...unto one place."

1. The method of their location. Perhaps by volcanic agency.

2. The degree of their proportion. If the sea were smaller, the earth would cease to be verdant and fruitful, as there would not be sufficient water to supply our rivers and streams, or to distil upon the fields. If the sea was larger, the earth would become a vast uninhabitable marsh, from the over abundance of rain. Hence, we see how needful it is that there should be a due proportion between the sea and dry land, and the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, in that it is established so exactly and beneficently.

3. The extent of their utility. They not only give fertility to the earth, but they answer a thousand social and commercial purposes.

II. THE DRY LAND.

1. The dry land was made to appear. The land had been created before, but it was covered with a vast expanse of water. Even when things are created, when they merely exist, the Divine call must educate them into the full exercise of their utility, and into the complete manifestation of their beauty. So it can remove the tide of passion from the soul, and make all that is good in human nature to appear.

2. It was made to be verdant. "And let the earth bring forth grass." The plants now created are divided into three classes: grass, herb, and tree. In the first, the seed is not noticed, as not obvious to the eye. In the second, the seed is the striking characteristic. In the third, the fruit. This division is simple and natural.

3. It was made to be fruitful. "And the fruit tree yielding fruit." The earth is not merely verdant and beautiful to look at, but it is also fruitful and good for the supply of human want. Nature appears friendly to man, that she may gain his confidence, invite his study, and minister to the removal of his poverty.

III. AND IT WAS GOOD.

1. For the life and health of man.

2. For the beauty of the universe.

3. For the commerce and produce of the nations.

(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

1. Water is as indispensable to all life, whether vegetable or animal, as is the air itself. But this element of water is supplied entirely by the sea. All the waters that are in the rivers, the lakes, the fountains, the vapours, the dew, the rain, the snow, come alike out of the ocean. It is a common impression that it is the flow of the rivers that fills the sea. It is a mistake. It is the flow of the sea that fills the rivers.

2. A second use of the sea is to moderate the temperature of the world. A common method of warming houses in the winter is by the use of hot water. The water, being heated in the basement, is carried by iron pipes to the remotest parts of the building, where, parting with its warmth and becoming cooler and heavier, it flows back again to the boiler, to be heated anew, and so to pass round in the same circuit continuously. The advantage of this method is, that the heat can be carried to great distances, and in any direction.

3. A third important use of the sea is to be a perpetual source of health to the world. Without it there could be no drainage for the lands. The process of death and decay, which is continually going on in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, would soon make the whole surface of the earth one vast receptacle of corruption, whose stagnant mass would breathe a pestilence, sweeping away all the life of a continent. The winds would not purify it; for, having no place to deposit the burden, it would only accumulate in their hands, and filling their breath with its poisonous effluvia, it would make them swift ministers of death, carrying the sword of destruction into every part of the world at once.

4. It may be mentioned, as a fourth office of the sea, that it is set to furnish the great natural pathways of the world. Instead of a barrier, the sea is a road across the barrier. Hence the ocean has been the great educator of the world. The course of empire began on its shores, and has always kept within sight of its waters. No great nation has ever sprung up except on the seaside, or by the banks of those great navigable rivers which are themselves but an extension of the sea. Had it not been for the Mediterranean, the history of Egypt, of Phoenicia, of Greece and Rome and Carthage, would have been impossible.

5. A fifth office of the sea is to furnish an inexhaustible storehouse of power for the world. Of the three great departments of labour which occupy the material industry of the race, — agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, — we have seen how the first depends upon the ocean, the one for the rains which support all vegetable life, the other for the thousand paths on which its fleets are travelling. We now find that the third one also, though at first appearing not to have very intimate connection with the ocean, does in fact owe to it almost the whole of its efficiency. Ninety-nine hundredths of all the mechanical power now at work in the world is furnished by the water wheel and the steam engine.

6. A sixth office of the sea is to be a vast storehouse of life. The sea has a whole world of life in itself. It is said that the life in the sea far exceeds all that is out of it. There are more than twenty-five thousand distinct species of living beings that inhabit its waters. Incredible numbers of them are taken from the sea; in Norway, four hundred millions of a single species in a single season; in Sweden, seven hundred millions; and by other nations, numbers without number.

7. Omnipresent and everywhere is this need and blessing of the sea. It is felt as truly in the centre of the continent, where, it may be, the rude inhabitant never beard of the ocean, as it is on the circumference of the wave-beaten shore. He is surrounded, every moment, by the presence and bounty of the sea. It is the sea that looks out upon him from every violet in his garden bed; from the broad forehead of his cattle, and the rosy faces of his children; and from the cool-dropping well at his door. It is the sea that feeds him. It is the sea that clothes him, It is the sea that cools him with the summer cloud, and that warms him with the blazing fires in winter.

8. There is a sea within us which responds to the sea without. Deep calleth unto deep, and it is the answer and the yearning of these inward waves, in reply to that outward call, which makes our hearts to swell, our eyes to grow dim with tears, and our whole being to lift and vibrate with such strong emotion when we stand upon the shore and look out upon the deep, or sit in the stern of some noble ship and feel ourselves cradled on the pulsations of its mighty bosom. There is a life within us which calls to that sea without — a conscious destiny which only its magnitude and its motion can symbolize and utter.

(Bib. Sacra.)

I. EXPLANATION OF THE PASSAGE.

1. Panorama of emergent lands. A sublime spectacle it is — this resurrection of the terrestrial forms out of ocean's baptismal sepulchre — this emergence of island, and continent, and mountain — this heaving into sight of Britain and Madagascar and Cuba and Greenland, of Asia and Africa and Australia and America, of Alps and Himalayas and Andes and Sierra Nevada; more thrilling still, of Ararat and Sinai and Pisgah and Carmel and Lebanon and Zion and Olivet.

2. Geologic confirmation. How could the geologist make out his magnificent geological calendar, if it were not for the successive layers of deposited or stratified rocks of the lands upheaved into view from the depths of old ocean's sepulchre? And so, at this very point, the ancient seer and the modern sceptic agree; both say that the earth was formed out of water and by means of water (2 Peter 3:5). But they differ as to the explanation. The ancient seer said, "The secret of Nature is God." The modern sceptic says, "The secret of Nature is Law." And yet both speak truly, for Truth is evermore unutterably large: God is the cause of Nature, and Law is God's means.

3. Beneficence of the arrangement. "God saw that it was good." And well might He delight in it. For a blessed thing this Divine distribution of lands and seas was.

II. MORAL MEANING OF THE STORY.

1. The birth of individuality.

2. The birth of duty. Each man is in himself a little world. The individualization of each man is not so much for the man's own sake as for the sake of all men. This, then, is the stirring thought of the hour: Individualization for the sake of mankind. Go forth then, brother, inspired with the majestic thought that you are a personal unit — a man among men — individualized from the mass of humanity for the sake of humanity and humanity's King. Yes, happy the day, let me again say it, when God says to thee: "Let the waters gather themselves to one place, and let the dry land appear." Thrice happy the day when thou obeyest, looking upward to the opening heavens and outward to the broadening horizon.

(G. D. Boardman.)

Up to this point the unquiet element, which is naturally uppermost in the creature, has prevailed everywhere. Light has come, and shown the waste; a heaven is formed within it; but nothing fixed or firm has yet appeared. Just as in the saint there is first light, and a heaven too within, while as yet he is all instability, with nothing firm or settled. But now the firm earth rises. The state desired by Paul, — "that we be no more tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, but may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head, even Christ," — here begins to be accomplished. Now the will, long buried and overwhelmed with tossing lusts, rises above them to become very fruitful; and the soul, once lost in passions, emerges from the deep, like "the earth which He hath founded forever." There is yet more for us to mark in this emerging earth. Not only does it escape the floods: it comes up also into the expanse of heaven. That creature, so long buried, now mounts up to meet the skies, as though aspiring to touch and become a part of heaven; while on its swelling bosom rest the sweet waters, the clouds, which embrace and kiss the hills. When the man by resurrection is freed from restless lusts; when he comes up from under the dominion of passions into a state of rest and peace; not only is he delivered from a load, but he also meets a purer world, an atmosphere of clear and high blessing; where even his hard rocks may be furrowed into channels for the rain; heaven almost touching earth, and earth heaven, Not without awful convulsions can such a change be wrought. The earth must heave before the waters are gathered into one place. (See Psalm 104:7, 8.) Many a soul shows rents and chasms like the steep mountains. Nevertheless, "the mountains bring peace, and the little hills righteousness." And this is effected on the third or resurrection day; for in creation, as elsewhere, the "third day" always speaks of resurrection. Then the earth brings forth fruit. Fruitfulness, hitherto delayed, at once follows the bounding of the waters. For, "being made free from sin, we have fruit unto righteousness, and the end everlasting life." The order of the produce is instructive; first the grass, then the herb, then the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind: as ever, the blade before the ear, the small before the great, from imperfection onwards to perfection. The first thing borne is "grass," the common emblem of the flesh. Is it asked how the risen creature can bring forth fruits, which are, like the goodliness of the grass, of the flesh and carnal? Because for long the regenerate man is yet "carnal," and his fruits are in the flesh, though with sincere desires for God's glory. The development of Adam, as exhibited in the Word, not to say experience, gives proofs on proofs of this. The Corinthians, too, were "carnal," though with many spiritual gifts. But after "grass" comes "herb and tree," with "seed and fruit"; some to feed the hungry, some to cure the serpent's bite; some hid in a veil of leaves, or bound in shapeless husks; some exposing their treasures, as the lovely vine and olive; the one to cheer man's heart, the other to give the oil to sustain the light for God's candlestick. Such is the faithful soul, with many-coloured fruits, "as the smell of a field which the Lord blesses." The form of the fruit may vary; its increase may be less or more — some thirty, some sixty, some an hundredfold; for "the fruit of the Spirit may be love, or peace, or faith, or truth, or gentleness": but all to the praise of His grace, who bringeth forth fruit out of the earth, "fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ." Nor let us forget, — "whose seed is in itself, after his kind." God's fruits all multiply themselves: this is their constitution.

(A. Jukes.)

By means of this distribution the waters are ever in motion, which preserves them and almost everything else from stagnancy and putrefaction. That which the circulation of the blood is to the animal frame, that the waters are to the world: were they to stop, all would stagnate and die. See how careful our heavenly Father was to build us a habitation before He gave us a being. Nor is this the only instance of the kind: our Redeemer has acted on the same principle, in going before us to prepare a place for us.

(A. Fuller.)

People
Abimael, Almodad, Amorites, Anamim, Anamites, Aram, Arkite, Arkites, Arphaxad, Arvadite, Ashkenaz, Ashur, Canaanites, Caphtorim, Caphtorites, Casluhim, Casluhites, Dedan, Diklah, Dodanim, Eber, Elam, Elishah, Gether, Girgashite, Girgashites, Girgasite, Gomer, Hadoram, Ham, Hamathite, Hamathites, Havilah, Hazarmaveth, Heth, Hittites, Hivite, Hivites, Hul, Japheth, Javan, Jerah, Jobab, Joktan, Kittim, Lehabim, Lehabites, Lud, Ludim, Ludites, Madai, Magog, Mash, Mesha, Meshech, Mizraim, Naphtuhim, Naphtuhites, Nimrod, Noah, Obal, Ophir, Pathrusim, Peleg, Phut, Riphath, Sabtah, Sabtecha, Sabtechah, Salah, Seba, Shelah, Sheleph, Shem, Sinite, Sinites, Tarshish, Tiras, Togarmah, Tubal, Uzal, Zemarite, Zemarites, Zidon
Places
Accad, Admah, Assyria, Babel, Calah, Calneh, Canaan, Erech, Gaza, Gerar, Gomorrah, Lasha, Mesha, Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Resen, Sephar, Shinar, Sidon, Sodom, Tigris-Euphrates Region, Zeboiim
Topics
Aram, Gether, Hul, Mash, Meshech, Sons, Uz
Outline
1. The generations of Noah.
2. Japheth.
6. Ham.
8. Nimrod becomes the first monarch; the descendants of Canaan.
21. The sons of Shem.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Genesis 10:1-32

     7230   genealogies

Library
Ancient Chaldaea
The Creation, the Deluge, the history of the gods--The country, its cities its inhabitants, its early dynasties. [Illustration: 002a.jpg] "In the time when nothing which was called heaven existed above, and when nothing below had as yet received the name of earth,* Apsu, the Ocean, who first was their father, and Chaos-Tiamat, who gave birth to them all, mingled their waters in one, reeds which were not united, rushes which bore no fruit."** Life germinated slowly in this inert mass, in which the
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 3

Moses and his Writings
[Illustration: (drop cap W) Clay letter tablet of Moses' time.] We now begin to understand a little of the very beginning of God's Book--of the times in which it was written, the materials used by its first author, and the different kinds of writing from which he had to choose; but we must go a step farther. How much did Moses know about the history of his forefathers, Abraham and Jacob, and of all the old nations and kings mentioned in Genesis, before God called him to the great work of writing
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

Healing a Phoenician Woman's Daughter.
(Region of Tyre and Sidon.) ^A Matt. XV. 22-28; ^B Mark VII. 24-30. ^b And he entered into a house, and would have no man know it [Jesus sought concealment for the purposes noted in the last section. He also, no doubt, desired an opportunity to impact private instruction to the twelve]; and he could not be hid. [The fame of Jesus had spread far and wide, and he and his disciples were too well known to escape the notice of any who had seen them or heard them described.] 25 But { ^a 22 And} behold,
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Sea of Sodom
The bounds of Judea, on both sides, are the sea; the western bound is the Mediterranean,--the eastern, the Dead sea, or the sea of Sodom. This the Jewish writers every where call, which you may not so properly interpret here, "the salt sea," as "the bituminous sea." In which sense word for word, "Sodom's salt," but properly "Sodom's bitumen," doth very frequently occur among them. The use of it was in the holy incense. They mingled 'bitumen,' 'the amber of Jordan,' and [an herb known to few], with
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Syria at the Beginning of the Egyptian Conquest
SYRIA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EGYPTIAN CONQUEST NINEVEH AND THE FIRST COSSAEAN KINGS-THE PEOPLES OF SYRIA, THEIR TOWNS, THEIR CIVILIZATION, THEIR RELIGION-PHOENICIA. The dynasty of Uruazagga-The Cossseans: their country, their gods, their conquest of Chaldaea-The first sovereigns of Assyria, and the first Cossaean Icings: Agumhakrime. The Egyptian names for Syria: Khara, Zahi, Lotanu, Kefatiu-The military highway from the Nile to the Euphrates: first section from Zalu to Gaza-The Canaanites:
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 4

The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria
Assur-nazir-pal (885-860) and Shalmaneser III. (860-825)--The kingdom of Urartu and its conquering princes: Menuas and Argistis. Assyria was the first to reappear on the scene of action. Less hampered by an ancient past than Egypt and Chaldaea, she was the sooner able to recover her strength after any disastrous crisis, and to assume again the offensive along the whole of her frontier line. Image Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief at Koyunjik of the time of Sennacherib. The initial cut,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 7

The First Chaldaean Empire and the Hyksos in Egypt
Syria: the part played by it in the ancient world--Babylon and the first Chaldaean empire--The dominion of the Hyksos: Ahmosis. Some countries seem destined from their origin to become the battle-fields of the contending nations which environ them. Into such regions, and to their cost, neighbouring peoples come from century to century to settle their quarrels and bring to an issue the questions of supremacy which disturb their little corner of the world. The nations around are eager for the possession
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 4

The Pioneer's Influence Upon a Nation's Ideals.
ABRAHAM, THE TRADITIONAL FATHER OF HIS RACE.--Gen. 12:1-8; 13:1-13; 16; 18, 19; 21:7; 22:1-19. Parallel Readings. Hist. Bible I, 73-94. Prin of Pol., 160-175. Jehovah said to Abraham, Go forth from thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, to the land that I will show thee, that I may make of thee a great nation; and I will surely bless thee, and make thy name great, so that thou shalt be a blessing, I will also bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will
Charles Foster Kent—The Making of a Nation

The Interpretation of the Early Narratives of the Old Testament
[Sidenote: Importance of regarding each story as a unit] Of all the different groups of writings in the Old Testament, undoubtedly the early narratives found in the first seven books present the most perplexing problems. This is primarily due to the fact that they have been subject to a long process of editorial revision by which stories, some very old and others very late and written from a very different point of view, have been closely joined together. While there is a distinct aim and unity
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Sargon of Assyria (722-705 B. C. )
SARGON AS A WARRIOR AND AS A BUILDER. The origin of Sargon II.: the revolt of Babylon, Merodach-baladan and Elam--The kingdom of Elam from the time of the first Babylonian empire; the conquest's of Shutruh-nalkunta I.; the princes of Malamir--The first encounter of Assyria and Elam, the battle of Durilu (721 B.C.)--Revolt of Syria, Iaubidi of Hamath and Hannon of Gaza--Bocchoris and the XXIVth Egyptian dynasty; the first encounter of Assyria with Egypt, the battle of Raphia (720 B.C.). Urartu
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 7

Genealogy According to Luke.
^C Luke III. 23-38. ^c 23 And Jesus himself [Luke has been speaking about John the Baptist, he now turns to speak of Jesus himself], when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age [the age when a Levite entered upon God's service--Num. iv. 46, 47], being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son [this may mean that Jesus was grandson of Heli, or that Joseph was counted as a son of Heli because he was his son-in-law] of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark,
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Influences that Gave Rise to the Priestly Laws and Histories
[Sidenote: Influences in the exile that produced written ceremonial laws] The Babylonian exile gave a great opportunity and incentive to the further development of written law. While the temple stood, the ceremonial rites and customs received constant illustration, and were transmitted directly from father to son in the priestly families. Hence, there was little need of writing them down. But when most of the priests were carried captive to Babylonia, as in 597 B.C., and ten years later the temple
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

The Book of the First Generations of Man, and the Glory of the Cainites.
I. THE BOOK OF THE FIRST GENERATIONS OF MAN, AND THE GLORY OF THE CAINITES. A. THE BOOK OF THE FIRST GENERATIONS OF MAN. 1. The reasons why Moses records the generations of Adam 1. 2. Why he so particularly gives the years, and in the case of each patriarch adds "and he died" 1-2. 3. Why Enoch is placed in the records of the dead 3-4. * Was Enoch a sinner, and do sinners have hope of eternal life 4. * Of death. a. How we are to comfort ourselves against death 5. b. How reason views death, and how
Martin Luther—Commentary on Genesis, Vol. II

Genesis
The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation, i.-ii. 4a, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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