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<2024.03> Abram Believed the Lord, and He Counted It to Him as Righteousness

European Bible Study Meeting, 2002
Abram Believed the Lord, and He Counted It to Him as Righteousness
April 3rd, 2002, Afternoon Lecture Part 1
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”  John 6:28-29
Ham Was the Father of Canaan
So far we have taken a look at some examples of events that took place before the nation by the name of Israel came into being. About 1,500 years before Jesus was born, the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were written through the prophet by the name of Moses, and after that—through many other Old Testament prophets—the rest of the books were written to make up the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. Probably some of you are thinking, “Are the Jews the only ones who are wonderful? What is particularly special about them?” Yet, it was through them that the Bible was recorded, as it says in the letter to the Romans, “Then what advantage has the Jew? . . . the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God” (3:1-2), and Jesus Christ, the word who became flesh, was born amongst them. Since God chose this nation in order to carry out His work through them, we cannot possibly ignore them.
Let’s look at how this nation began. 
The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.  
Genesis 9:18-19
Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Genesis chapters 10 and 11 tell us that this Abraham, the forefather of the Jews, was a descendant of Shem. But here we find reference to Ham: “Ham was the father of Canaan.”
Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.  Genesis 9:20-21
It seems that Noah became intoxicated from his wine and fell asleep unclothed.
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.  Genesis 9:22-23
Here again, Ham is referred to as “the father of Canaan.” It says that Ham saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers, but Shem and Japheth did not see their father’s nakedness.
When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” He also said,“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.” After the flood Noah lived 350 years. All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.  
Genesis 9:24-29
It was the father who had done wrong, but his son Canaan was cursed. Now let’s move on to chapter 10.
These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.  
verses 1-5
In this chapter we read how the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth came to be scattered.
The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.  
Genesis 10:6
Cush, Egypt, and Put were also sons of Ham, so why was it that Canaan was cursed? Also, why  did God happen to call Abraham who was living far away in Ur of the Chaldeans and bring him to the land of Canaan?
In Genesis chapter 10 from verse 6 to verse 14, we read about the descendants of Ham, and in verse 14 we find the following.
Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.
Here there is reference to the Philistines. The Philistines were descendants of Mizrayim, one of the sons of Ham. The term “Palestine” today stems from “Philistia,” the land of the Philistines.
Now, let’s turn to the descendants of Canaan.
Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.  Genesis 10:15-20
The land of Canaan is the land where the present-day nation of Israel is located. God did not just give all this land to the Israelites from the beginning; He gave it to them in His own way.
When “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep”, God said, “Let there be light” and He divided the light from the darkness. Similarly, God called Abraham when Abraham was living in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land that now goes by the name of Iraq and led him to the land inhabited by the Canaanites, who had been cursed. It was not that God decided on just anyone and sent him off to make an attempt at founding a nation somewhere out in the wilderness. God used the method He had used from the beginning, planting a seed of life. Here again we see the plan of God as He quietly called this one man and through him produced many seeds. In Ecclesiastes it says, “As you do not know . . . how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child” (11:5 NKJV). God was quietly carrying out His work.
The nation of Israel did not come into being by chance. God formed the nation of Israel according to His own way. We cannot ignore the hand of God in its formation, and neither can we make fun of or speak ill of the people of Israel.
To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan.  Genesis 10:21-25
It says here that Eber, a descendant of Shem, had two sons, one of whom was called Peleg, and in the days of Peleg the earth was divided. It seems that something happened at that time.
When we read through Genesis chapter 10, we find it says continually that all these people were “fathered” by someone. Matthew chapter 1 says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers” (verses 1-2). Again we are told who “fathered” whom. Yet, in the letter to the Galatians we read, “God sent forth his Son, born of woman” (4:4). This birth is described a little differently.
To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east.  Genesis 10:25-30
The descendants of Eber lived in the hill country of the east.
These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.  Genesis 10:31
These are all descendants of Shem.
These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.  
Genesis 10:32
In this way, chapter 10 comes to a close.
The Lesson of the Tower of Babel 
In chapter 11 we find that a problem suddenly arose. We read about the sons of Japheth, the sons of Ham, and the sons of Shem. The genealogy that flows from Noah is presented in this way, but then suddenly we find an account here that interrupts the flow.
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.  verse 1
It says here that the whole earth spoke the same language and used the same words. This was inevitable since they were all descendants of Noah.
And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”  Genesis 11:2-4
They said, “Let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens . . . lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” What does this mean?
In Genesis chapter 9 verse 1, we find that as God blessed Noah and his sons, He said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” When Noah came out of the ark, God said clearly that they were to fill the earth. They had to spread out if they were to fill the earth. Otherwise they would not be able to do it. But in Genesis chapter 11 verse 4, we find the people building a tower and a city to avoid being dispersed over the face of the whole earth. God had told them to “fill the earth,” but they said they wanted to avoid being dispersed; they all wanted to stick together.
There is also great significance to the fact that they built a city and a tower. Human history has also meddled with the history of the church so we find that there are churches that have been formed according to man’s methods and not according to God’s laws or God’s word. Similarly, we can see that behind the historical events, there seems to be a certain power that attempted to block God’s plan to fill the earth with people and to choose one person in Ur of the Chaldeans, lead him to the land of Canaan, and there establish a nation.
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”  Genesis 11:5-7
Here it says, “Let us go down.” This provides us with a brief glimpse of the triune God who also said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).
So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.  
Genesis 11:8
When their language was confused, suddenly the people could not understand one another, and as a result they became dispersed across the earth. In Genesis chapter 10, it says, “From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language” (verse 5), and, “These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations” (verse 20). The people spread out, gathering with those who spoke the same language. They were dispersed according to their languages.
Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.  Genesis 11:9
This is part of the history of mankind. Paul wrote that “being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they [the Jews] did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Romans 10:3), and Jesus accused them of “making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down” (see Mark 7:3, 13). The people at the time of the tower of Babel gathered and established their own human righteousness  reach to the skies. The people wanted to show off their human power by constructing the tower of Babel, but God confused their language and they were scattered abroad. It seems that God has provided us with this account as a lesson to show that we are building something up in our own hearts.
Go to the Land I Will Show You 
From verse 10, the genealogy of Shem appea
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