[Text: Genesis 10-11:9.  Pray!]

Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, made a name for himself. It wasn’t through a great feat of heroism or because of philanthropic generosity. He literally made a name for himself…on an island…on the edge of a desert…that is visible from space. He wrote “HAMAD” in letters over 1,000 yards long in order to (if you’ll pardon the pun) make his name on the earth. His name is etched in the earth for every satellite and astronaut to see in an attempt at immortality. For those who remember, his life will be forever connected with that endeavor. He’ll be remembered as that really rich guy who had so much money he made his name visible from space for all to see.

FCF: Deep down I want to make a name for myself. It’s connected to a deep need for meaning in life and I know that I’m not the only one who feels the need for lasting significance. The expression that takes in my own life is that I want to be known and accepted; to be recognized; to be adored. Others find meaning and a name for themselves in other ways: through control over life’s situations or people, through achieving financial security, or through the pursuit of the ideal family. We all long for meaning and will go to great lengths to find it. In this passage we see how even the people of the covenant have tried to give their lives meaning apart from the LORD by seeking to make a name for themselves. They reject God’s design for His world and make a pitiful attempt at self-sufficiency. This text shows us that the end of that road is frustration. The LORD’s purposes will stand and the glory of man will always come to an end. What we need, then, is a lasting name, a name that will satisfy our need for meaning and won’t pass away when we do. Even though our own search for meaning ends with frustration, there is a name for us in Christ that is better than any name we can make for ourselves.

Genesis 10 serves a couple of purposes. First, it teaches the Israelites about their family’s origin. As the Hebrew slaves left Egypt, they were still figuring out who they were, what their name was, so to speak. So Moses teaches them about their family tree and their identity. In v. 21, special attention is given to connect Shem to Eber (from whom we get the name “Hebrew,” which is first used in Genesis 14 to refer to Abraham). So then Shem, as the father of all the Hebrews, is the connection point from Israel to the line of the covenant people after the flood. Moses is trying to root their identity in the covenant relationship they had with the LORD. But Shem is also noted in v. 21 as the elder brother of Japheth. Why mention that again? We already know about the connection of Shem to Japheth from 9:27, so his name being mentioned again underscores the relationship of these brothers within the promise of God to bring Japheth into Shem’s tent.

Genesis 10 also teaches Israel about the rest of the nations around them. Japheth’s family becomes known as the “coastland peoples.” They scatter far and wide and are linguistically and historically connected to almost every European and Asian nation, even the ancient folk of Wales who lived in what is now the UK. Basically, this is the family of most of us.

Later in the Story, we learn that although the people of the “coastlands” wandered away from God, they still have God’s special attention and He promises that the salvation he is going to work is for them, too. Isaiah writes:

My righteousness draws near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples;

the coastlands hope for me,

and for my arm they wait. (Isaiah 51:5 ESV)

That fits perfectly with the blessing Noah gave just a few verses before, that the family of Japheth would live in the tents of Shem, the one to whom God first directs his redemptive love, as we’ll see. This will be very important in later chapters and books! Their names are not forgotten by God!

We’ll come back to Ham’s family in a moment, but we should note that Moses in vv. 15-20 gives Canaan extra attention, more than his cousins of the same generation. Moses needs to show Israel what happened after Canaan’s family was cursed to be outside of God’s covenant through Ham’s rejection of the LORD. All the tribes listed there lived in the Promised Land Israel was to inherit and they filled the land with all kinds of brokenness and violence. Their name is associated with the depth of human sin.

As we look at Ham’s family, however, we see more detail, especially about one individual, than in any other genealogy. “Nimrod” is introduced to the Story (in v. 8) and to understand him is to understand what is happening in the hearts and minds of humans in his time.

Now if you call someone a nimrod today, you might get a dirty look because you’ve just insulted their intelligence, but Nimrod here was no dummy. The text says he was a “mighty man” and “a mighty hunter before the LORD.” That sounds pretty impressive, but there’s a problem. Nimrod lived and did all these things in opposition to God.

Consider his name. Nimrod’s name means, “we will revolt.” He was a mighty hunter “before the LORD,” which literally reads, “in the face of the LORD.” That is best taken as “against the LORD” so that we understand his aggression is actually contrary to God’s desire. Even his status as a “mighty man” (given this context) carries the connotation of tyrannical rule, serving only self.

Topping it off in Chapter 11, Babel, the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom (and listed so briefly in chapter 10) is the stage for an incredible act of rebellion against God. Mankind attempts to invade heaven itself to sit on the throne of God in order to make a name for themselves.

Chronologically, the story of the tower of Babel fits inside Chapter 10, not simply because Babel is mentioned as the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom, but also because of the reference in 10:25 to Eber’s son, Peleg. Peleg means “division,” and got his name because in his days the earth was divided. And Peleg was only one generation behind Nimrod, so that he was likely born at the time Nimrod was in full manhood and had already made a name for himself through force of strength. We also know this because at the opening of Ch. 11 the whole earth had only “one language and the same words” and yet Ch. 10 has a refrain at the end of each family tree talking about the different languages of the groups. We’ll see that coming about as a direct result of the events of Ch. 11.

The reference in v. 2 to people settling in the land of Shinar is another connection point to Nimrod’s rebellious kingdom. And given the chronology and the fact that this account seems to pre-date the scattering of the families across the earth, we have to understand that the people involved here aren’t just the people of Ham’s family through Nimrod. Humanity is presented here as a united front; everyone of the same mind and working toward the same end. Their purpose just isn’t a good one.

Vv. 3-4 reveals the heart of the people. They want to build a city where they can all live together. They want to build a tower with its top in the heavens. And they want to make a name for themselves. In these three things, there is not a single mention of the name of the LORD.

- First, they build a city where they can all live (as it says in v. 4), “lest (they) be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” But God’s desire was for the whole earth to be filled and subdued and beautified by the worship and work of his creatures ruling the earth as God’s agents of goodness. Even after the flood, the instruction to fill the earth still stood! What we see here is humanity ignoring the LORD and deciding for himself what is good and right.

It isn’t that God hates community. HE LOVES IT! The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have enjoyed perfect community from eternity past, created humans to enter into that fellowship to find fulfillment and worship the LORD in communion with Him. He made humans as communal creatures that love being with one another. But God is also on a mission to fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory as the waters cover the sea. Mankind here was rebelling against God.

- But they also want to build a tower with its top in the heavens. Archaeologist have discovered towers that are most likely the style written about here by Moses. They are step-pyramids (some are still relatively intact) that were used in worship. But with no command from God to worship him in this way, no reference at all to YHWH and the expressed desire to make a name for themselves, it seems that the only worship occurring in Babel was of the ingenuity and glory of men like Nimrod.

- The city and the tower were to serve the larger purpose in their hearts: the desire to make a name for themselves and create meaning and significance for their lives through the fame of this endeavor. The city and tower were simply the means humanity had devised to “make a name” for themselves.

Our means of making a name can look very different, but ultimately stems from the same heart problem from which the people of Babel suffered. We might not want our names to be known far and wide like Nimrod and the people of Babel, but there are ways that the same search for significance and meaning apart from the LORD creep in and control our hearts. It happens when we take good things and turn them into ultimate things to replace God. Like for me, being a good pastor is a good goal to have, but when I want to make my name, to become known as a good pastor apart from my identity as a sinner saved by Jesus, then there is a problem. My name becomes my idol. We each have names that we want to define us. For some it is Teacher. Others want the name Loving Wife, Successful Businessman, Creative Artist, Trusted Confidant, Master Craftsman, Mother, Father, Organized, Fun-loving, Funny or Solemn. We look to the names we make for ourselves as our source of salvation and life!Being those things aren’t wrong at all! But making those things the source of our identity apart from the LORD is deeply sinful and can only lead in one direction: frustration and death.

- I say they lead to frustration and death because we see that in this text and in history.

First, they lead to frustration as the LORD breaks us and shows us how lacking our names we make can be.Irony and sarcasm in the textBurned bricks and bitumen (tar) v. stone and mortarV. 5 - The LORD must come down to see their tower to heavenDespite their exalted speech and goals, they remain weak and pitiful in reality.In the end, after God’s judgment, they leave off building the city and scatter all over the earth. Their endeavor to disobey God and stay together was trumped by the sovereign purposes of God that man cannot overthrow.

But ultimately they end in death. Where are the nations that we see here? Gone. Crumbled into dust, both towers and men. We only know their name because God has left this witness to their existence.

In v. 6, the LORD assesses the situation. He says…

The LORD didn’t want the people to succeed in their efforts because they succeeded in their own eyes, they would never be satisfied without Him. God knows that there is no such thing as true, forever happiness without him and so He acts. He confuses the languages of the people and frustrates their plans. But that act of judgment is a mercy to sinful men! Not only does He honor his covenant to withhold His wrath against rebellious people, he frustrates their plans to call them back to remember Him and to embrace Him. The frustration is meant to remind us of our need for a better name than the ones we can make for ourselves.

In chapter 12, we’ll see another man in need of a name, an identity that is secure and satisfying. But this man, Abraham, is given a name by God himself with the promise of blessing that will overflow to all the families of the earth, even to the ones scattered afar. His name came from the grace of God given to Him and the love of God’s covenant given to him freely. He couldn’t do anything to earn it, but God gave him a name, a meaning to his life that could not be taken away and would outlast death.

The contrast between the attempt to make a name for themselves in chapter 11 and the better name given to Abraham in chapter 12 served to call Israel, and call us today to desire a better name than the ones we can make for ourselves. Frustration and death are still the results of going down that road of seeking significance apart from the LORD.

In Romans 9, Paul talks about God’s powerful work in history to save not only the Jewish people who embraced the LORD, but also of his work to save the non-Jewish people and give them new names that come from God himself and cannot be lost. He writes:

“As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not

my people,’

there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

(Romans 9:25-26)

When Nimrod walked the earth, he built his kingdom and made a name for himself on the backs of people as a mighty man, a tyrant who hunter men for his own glory. But when Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth, God come in the flesh, he walked humbly in the form of a servant. He came to build a kingdom, but not on the backs of slaves. Through his perfect obedience to God and his perfect sacrifice for sin on the cross, he made a name for himself that God would honor and love so that at the name of Jesus, every knee would bow and every tongue confess that he alone is Lord, to the glory of God the father.

It is Jesus who died and rose again that gives us a new name when we put our faith in him and rest in him from trying to make a name for ourselves. In Jesus, the names spoken of in Hosea are given to us.

So when you want to be known as the perfect parent and are frustrated by the fact that the only thing standing between you and perfect parenthood are these children; when your need to be accepted and loved is frustrated by rejection and indifference; when your desire to obey perfectly is frustrated by the same failure you saw yesterday, IN THAT MOMENT, what is your name? Is there something else that defines you? Something else that gives meaning and dignity and value to you?

In Jesus, your name is not Failure. Your name is not Unforgiven or Unloved or Lost Sinner or Weakling or Nobody. When your faith is in Jesus, God names you, “my people.” He calls you, “beloved.” Though you once were an orphan lost in rebellion, now you are called “sons of the living God.”

Illustration: Steven studied literature. To be precise, he studied 19th and 20th century humanistic literature in which the utter brokenness and frustrated aspiration of humanity was recognized. But there was no hope, no solution for that brokenness in what he read. Mankind’s name was Hopeless, Dark, Alone and Lost. And Steven believed it. He began to take the broken names as his own and was frustrated by any attempt to leave them behind.

It was in that dark place of despair that Jesus met him and spoke kindly to him, helping Steven to believe that Jesus came to give us new names and he did it at the cost of his own life. No longer did Steven have to make a name for himself. No longer would he be defined by his brokenness and frustrated attempts to find meaning in life. Now his name was Beloved of Jesus and Son of the Living God. And that name covered his shame because of his past, and gave him incredible peace and confidence that in Jesus, his life had meaning.

The names that God gives to us in Jesus (My People, Beloved, Sought After, Children of the Living God) are meant to free us. We are freed from trying to make names for ourselves that leave us frustrated when we fail and proud when we think we succeed. But it does more than that. Just as Abraham’s new name was meant to make him a blessing to the nations, our new names in Jesus are meant to lead us outside of ourselves, giving us confidence in our Savior and following him as he works to renew the whole earth. We join him in that work as we obey the Great Commission; going forward by the command and authority of Jesus, teaching others what it means to live as God’s Beloved in Jesus and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; One God in Three Persons who has set his love on us and given us new names that we could never make for ourselves.