January 6, Day 6 – God’s Division of Humanity
- Dr. Eric Stricker
- Jan 6
- 3 min read
Today’s passages contain a wealth of incredible information and biblical principles for us to read, hear, learn, process, assimilate, and apply into the daily practices of our lives. In Genesis 9-11, we read about God’s covenant with Noah after the flood. “God blessed Noah and his sons” (cf., Genesis 9:1). God calls for “fruitfulness and the increase in numbers” of human beings, and He indicates that “the fear and dread of” mankind will fall upon the animals, all of which are now “given into our hands” (verse 2). Henceforth, man’s food supply includes meat. God informs Noah that life is associated with blood, and that “lifeblood” requires an accounting (verses 4-6). We need to understand what this actually means, because – in our day and age – our culture has reduced life to little more than protoplasm. Human life is precious, sacred, and, above all, inviolable, because human beings were created in God’s image. Life comes to us based on God’s authority, not ours. Contrary to popular opinions, we do not have the final say about life – not even our own. This truth has enormous implications. God’s creation of human life in His image and by His breath cannot be countermanded. Whereas humans have both responsibility for life and the capacity to end physical life within the body, nevertheless, we have no authority to do so; such authority rests with God alone. When a person dies, he does not cease to exist; he is merely separated from the body. If someone murders another human being, God promises to hold the killer strictly accountable – not only for murder – but also for usurping the inseparable authority of God. God alone possesses authority over life and death. This truth makes human life inviolable – it cannot be destroyed by any human being. Thus, Abel’s blood – and therefore, his life – still cries up from the ground (cf., Genesis 4:10-11; Hebrews 12:24).
Genesis 9:18-23 also records Noah’s unintentional sin of drunkenness and the different reactions to it by his three sons. Shem and Japheth “covered their father’s nakedness” – the result of that sin. Here also, though not completely, we see Ham’s apparent mockery of his father’s condition. Love does not mock others. Love seeks to protect, to shield, and to cover the one loved – to inhibit exposure of the loved one’s faults or weaknesses. Sin always requires a “covering” (i.e., an “atonement”). Shem and Japheth’s response was actually an act of sacrificial love toward Noah, who later awoke from his stupor and cursed Ham for his scorn. In the curse, we see a subsequent, three-fold, future division of all humanity. In chapter 10, we see God’s division of humanity in the table of nations, and we see the construction of cities. Chapter 11 reveals to us the foolishness of the Tower of Babel and its resultant confusion of languages. Although the tower’s initial purpose was designed to bring about man’s unity, it was constructed by man’s pride which only produced confusion, contention, and cessation. Today, we observe similar nonsense in our world as we see confused and divided people all around us. Thank God for His plan to restore our unity and dignity through the establishment of the church on the Day of Pentecost.
Psalm 5, of David, is a lament and a cry for God’s help in the face of “wicked and arrogant people” (verses 4-5). David’s enemies are “thirsty for blood and deceitful” (verse 6), and he recognizes that their “hearts are filled with malice – not a word from their mouths can be trusted” (verse 9). When we, in our world today, are confronted by such people, like David, we need to go to the Lord in prayer “by His great love” (verse 7), and “take refuge in Him” (verse 11), because He “surrounds us with favor as with a shield” (verse 12). God is righteous, and He shields those who trust in Him.
In Matthew 5:21-42, we see amazing humility – the opposite of Babel's pride – in the behaviors required of us by the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus allows us absolutely no room for any pride in our lives. Impressive also is the truth that Jesus came into this world to fulfill history, prophecy, and the Old Testament law, and to restore unity and dignity to humanity.
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