Post-Flood Generations (10:1-11:9)

B. Post-Flood Generations (10:1-11:9)

After the flood and the death of Noah humanity began to repopulate the earth. Chapter 10, called the Table of Nations, is entirely devoted to Noah's sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their descendants. This genealogy comes from the Priestly source, but it differs structurally from the genealogies in chapters 5 and 11. It has a segmented or tree-like structure, going from one father to many offspring. The account details three broad groups of people, one from each of the three sons. Many of the offspring bear the names of geographical areas or cities. For example, the descendants of Ham include Egypt and Canaan. Nimrod, "a mighty hunter before Yahweh," is singled out for special attention and is credited with building Nineveh, the great capital city of Assyria.
    The Tower of Babel account (11:1-9) follows the Table of Nations. These two accounts seem strangely out of order. The Tower of Babel story presumes a unitary human population that disperses after God confused their language. But the Table of Nations precedes it and locates peoples in their places around the world.
    In spite of the logistic tension between the Table of Nations and the Tower of Babel, the two accounts tell somewhat the same story of tremendous post-flood human growth ("be fruitful and multiply"). At the same time the narrative reveals that human nature has not changed a bit, even after the cleansing effort of the flood. Humans still want to be like God, to reach heaven, the realm of the divine. And God is not going to allow it. The question that must nag the reader at this point, remembering how God earlier responded to human presumption, is this: What will God do now? Will he destroy humans again? Yet that option is not available because of the covenant God made with Noah. So then, how will God respond?