There is value in looking at each name and working to understand which people group came forth from that ancestor, but there is also value in simply drawing out three significant ideas from Genesis 10.

The Unity of the Human Race. Genesis 10 tells us that all humanity came from Noah and his family, and the book of Genesis also explains we have a common origin in Adam and Eve. As the apostle Paul explained to the philosophers on Mars Hill, God has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth (Acts 17:26). We truly are collectively of “one blood,” and while there are some differences between generations and races and ethnic groups, what they have in common is far greater than their differences. We are all made in the image of God.

The Generosity of God. Genesis 10 makes us consider just how wide all creation is, and how there are billions of people on the earth today, even more in the past, and should Jesus tarry, there will be many more in the future. Yet the love of God is broad enough to include all humanity. Remember that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16), and that in some way God shows His love to all humanity, and the blessings of sun and rain are just one example of this (Matthew 5:45). Since God is this generous with all humanity, we can rest with even greater confidence in His generous love to His people, those who trust in, rely on, and cling to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The Reason for a Missionary Heart. God divided and spread-out humanity, but not for the purpose of taking people away from His good news and salvation in Jesus Christ, who is the Savior of the World (John 4:42). Rather, Jesus gave His disciples specific instructions before He ascended to heaven: go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded His disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). We must have the missionary heart to reach the world as Jesus commanded.

Today, remember God’s heart for all humanity.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 10

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Yet, Noah’s costly sacrifice pleased God: the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Here, the Bible speaks anthropomorphically, using a human analogy of a divine action or attribute. God was more pleased by the heart of Noah in his sacrifice than the actual smell of the offering. It was as if the scent of such a costly, faith-inspired gift of roasting meat was pleasant to God. In response, God made this wonderful promise to Noah and to humanity: I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake.

God promised to never again visit the earth with judgment by a flood on this scale, to destroy every living thing. God did this even as He understood that the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. This was a promise full of mercy.

It was a strange combination of truths. First, that the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and second, God’s promise to never again curse the ground for man’s sake. Man’s evil would seem to invite God’s curse, not put it away. The strange combination is accounted for by Noah’s altar and sacrifice, and God’s pleasure in the sacrifice.

The sacrifice Noah made and God received was the key. Without a sacrifice, sin demands judgment and vengeance, like the judgment sent by God in the flood. But Noah’s costly sacrifice pointed to the ultimate sacrifice, one that was and is infinite in value: when God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, laid down His life, dying to bring all who believe into right relationship with God.

We can say that after the flood, Noah’s story when the flood was over illustrated many things relevant to the life of the believer.

– When he left the ark to possess the earth, Noah showed the believer’s freedom.
– When he made such a costly sacrifice, Noah showed the believer’s faith.
– When he honored God with a worshipful offering, Noah showed the believer’s heart.

Better than anything Noah showed, God showed His great covenant of mercy after Noah’s sacrifice. He promised to never again judge the world in the same way as He did with the flood of Noah’s time. That covenant has stood the test of time.

God has been completely faithful His covenant made in Noah’s day. Even so, in Jesus Christ, God will be completely faithful to His covenant with you. Rest in that today.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 8

Click Here for Daily Devotionals from David

Having entered the ark, they waited for rain. Genesis 7:10 says they were in the ark for seven days before the rains started and the fountains of the great deep were broken up. Those seven days of waiting were a test of faith, and it’s easy to imagine Noah’s skeptical neighbors mocking everyone on the ark. “You said the waters would come, and nothing has changed. You said God would send judgment, and everything is fine.” If they said something like this, it was only temporarily true. The waters came from both above and beneath, and soon the only refuge was the ark they had mocked and despised.

As God had promised (Genesis 7:4), after the seven days of waiting the waters poured forth for forty days and nights. In the Bible, the number 40 is associated with testing and purification, especially before entering something new and significant. This is seen in several cases.

• Moses was 40 days on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:18, Deuteronomy 9:25).
• The spies were 40 days in Canaan (Numbers 13:25).
• Israel was 40 years in the wilderness (Numbers 14:33, 32:13).
• Elijah made a miraculous journey to Sinai over 40 days (1 Kings 19:8).
• Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days (Mark 1:13).

Forty days isn’t a short time, but it also isn’t terribly long. It was long enough to stretch the faith (and patience) of Noah, his family, and the animals onboard, but it had an end. The finish was promised just as certainly as the beginning was.

Notably, the LORD shut him in. Noah did not have to shut the door to keep anyone out of the ark; God alone did it. After the same pattern, it is never the duty of God’s servants to disqualify people from salvation. If the door is to be shut, God will shut the door. God’s servants may warn, but God holds final judgment – not man.

In Noah’s time, one could say that God kept the door open until the last possible minute, but eventually the door had to shut. When the door is open, it is open, but when it is shut, it is shut. Jesus is He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens (Revelation 3:7).

The time of testing has an end (40 days), but so does the day of grace. While the door is open, come to Jesus and find refuge from the judgment to come.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 7

Click Here for Daily Devotionals from David

We wouldn’t believe it unless the Bible said it, but it is clear. Enoch, the son of Jared, was carried away to God in a miraculous way. These verses emphasize that Enoch walked with God, repeating the phrase to make sure we understand the idea. Walking with God, in this sense, speaks of a true, deep relationship.

It is impossible to walk with a person unless you know they exist and have a vital sense of their presence. Walking next to someone, you may not see their face, but you can sense and hear their steps. When friends walk together, they communicate, enjoying a bond that goes beyond words. This was the kind of deep relationship Enoch enjoyed with God, and God enjoyed with Enoch.

Enoch walked with God, and walking with God means walking by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), walking in the light (1 John 1:5-7), and walking in agreement with God (Amos 3:3). Hebrews 11:5 tells us the foundation of Enoch’s walk with God: By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. You can’t walk with God or please God apart from faith.

After walking like this with God, it was as if one day God told Enoch, “You don’t need to walk home. Why don’t you just come home with Me?” The text simply says, God took him. Charles Spurgeon wondered if perhaps some of the great patriarchs saw Enoch rising through the sky even as Jesus, many years later, ascended to heaven.

It seems Enoch began to walk with God in a special way after he begot Methuselah. The name Methuselah may mean, when he is dead, it shall come. At the birth of Methuselah, Enoch had a special awareness from God that judgment was coming, and this was one of the things that got him closer in his walk with God.

Jude v. 14 also tells us Enoch was a prophet; even from his vantage point long ago, he could see the second coming of Jesus (…the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all).

I don’t know which comes first: a close walk with God, or a deep anticipation of the return of Jesus. Whichever comes first, they are linked. Walk with God closely and look for the return of Jesus. One day God may take you away!

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 5

God then sent Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden. In mercy, God protected Adam and Eve from the horrible fate of having to live forever as sinners by preventing them from eating from the tree of life.

Not only did God prevent them from eating from the tree of life, but the Lord also sent them out of the garden of Eden. We don’t know if Adam and Eve wanted to stay in the garden. Perhaps they felt if they left the garden, they might never see God again because it was the only place where they had met Him.

God didn’t just ask Adam and Eve to leave the garden; He drove them out. On top of that, God placed a guard – several angelic beings known as cherubim – at the entrance. Cherubim are always associated with the presence and glory of God (Ezekiel 10, Isaiah 6, Revelation 4). When cherubim are represented on earth (such as in the tabernacle, Exodus 25:10-22), they mark a meeting place with God. Though Adam and Eve and their descendants were prevented from eating the fruit of the tree of life, they could still come there to meet God. This was their “holy of holies.” Therefore, it was important to send cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

They guarded the way so that Adam and Eve could come before the Lord, perhaps at the entrance to the garden or the tree of life. This is the last historical mention of the garden of Eden in the Bible. We can speculate that God did not destroy it but left it to the effects of the curse and suppose that it generally deteriorated from its original condition, blending into the surrounding geography.

We can make an analogy, seeing that Jesus is the gatekeeper to the Garden of God. When Jesus promised the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43) that he would be with Him in Paradise, He used a word that means “Garden.” It is the same word used in the ancient Greek Bible to describe the Garden of Eden.

Jesus is the one who brings people back to God’s garden – no longer on earth, but in heaven (2 Corinthians 12:4, Revelation 2:7). Today, by Jesus Christ, you can come to the presence of God – Jesus guards the way.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 3