Lineage of Nations

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God "the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken" (Ge 3:23). Sin took hold, and when Cain killed his brother, God told him, "'You are cursed from the ground'" (4:11). Then Cain settled "east of Eden" (:16) and his wife "gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city" (:17). Sin was still operative as evidenced by Lamech telling his wives, "'I have killed a man for wounding me; and a boy for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-seven fold'" (:23-24). Nonetheless "men began to call upon the name of the Lord" (:26). However, "the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth" (6:5) and said, "'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land'" (:7). "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord" (:8) and "became the father of three sons" Shem, Ham, and Japheth" (:10). God directed Noah to "'make for yourself an ark'" (:14) because "'I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh'" (:17).

When the flood subsided God told them, "'I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood'" (9:11). "The Lord said to Himself, 'I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth'" (8:21). "Noah began farming and planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine and became drunk" (9:20-21). It resulted in an offence made by Ham whereby Noah stated, "'Cursed be Canaan'" (:25). Canaan was one of the "sons of Ham [who] were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan" (10:6). Some would say a curse would be genealogically inherited. God says, "'I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children . . . of those who hate Me'" (Ex 20:5). "Cush became the father of Nimrod" (:8). But Nimrod was not directly in the line of Canaan. His name means "strong, valiant, brave." "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord" (:9). Truscott says it "should read 'Nimrod the mighty hunger against the Lord.' The Hebrew word for 'before' used here is li-phene, 'in the face of,' and can be translated 'against.'" (Truscott 421). "The beginning of his kingdom was Babel . . . in the land of Shinar" (:10). He was the thirteenth generation from Adam and, in the Bible, the number 13 is the number of rebellion. In that sense "a direct line can be traced from Nimrod and Babel in Genesis to Antichrist and Babylon in Revelation." (Truscott 421).