Table Of Nations

In Genesis there is a table of nations. It explains the nations that came from Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham occupied the western and southern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, what is modern day Palestine and north-east Africa. Shem occupied Babylonia and the Arabian Peninsula. Japheth occupied Asia Minor, the Caucus Mountain region and the European coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea. I started thinking about what is the application of this information in my own life. On the surface, it seems like just a lot of geographic and ethnographic information. But as I thought about it prayerfully I realized that I could flip page or two and there would be Abram being promised that all nations of the earth would be blessed through him. Perhaps as modern readers we might be tempted to think too small when we see God's promise of blessing all nations through the Abrahamic covenant. Perhaps we might think Abram and Moses really did not understand the complexities of various people groups, but if you read this passage, all peoples is a wide range of peoples. I don't think it is intended to be an exhaustive list, but a list of the relevant people that the children of Israel would have been exposed to at the time of the writing of the book of Genesis. The peoples named are all within about a 1500 mile distance from the Palestine region. Most detailed listing of people groups are those in Canaan and Egypt, the places they knew the best. I wonder if when we think of missions, if each person would make their own table of nations, what countries and people groups each person would come up with if they had to list every people group they had some sort of personal contact with. For instance, I have taken Arabic classes and so on my list would be Arabic speaking countries like Egypt and Lebanon. I know several people from Mexico because of the missionaries from our church who are serving there. I wonder how the various lists would compare when people in an average church compared their personal table of nations.

Here is my own personal table of nations:

Egypt
Lebanon
Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
Qatar
Yemen
Iraq
Turkey
South Korea
Mexico
Colombia
India
Pakistan
Vietnam
Japan
Philippines
Australia
South Africa
Kenya
Germany
England
The Netherlands
Italy
Spain
U.S.
Canada

I defined my list by people I have personally met from the country.

But then I started thinking about the various people I know through blogging my table of nations from blogging is pretty international too.

If others want to post their own table of nations I would be interested to read other people's postings too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Was the New Testament Letters Only Written to Male Brothers?

  Question:   Was the Bible written to men only and not to women?   Some teach that the New Testament letters address brothers exclusively.      Executive Summary Answer:   Women and men share in the blessings of the gospel, Scripture was written for both women and men. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27 ESV) Answer:   The Bible recognizes differences between genders but also recognizes the commonality between male and female genders.   The book of Proverbs is written to sons to gain wisdom.   “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”   (Prov. 1:8-9 ESV) The book of Proverbs was written in order to teach young men wisdom.   Even so, often it is the female gender that teaches wisdom.   Early in the book, the male gender, a son, is to embrace the teaching from a member of the
Read more

In The Hours

Image
In The Hours Words by Helen L. Parmelee Music by Kevin Twit http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/lead/inthehours.pdf This song by Indelible Grace is one that really moves me. I think it moves me because it reminds me of my own story. The words remind me of God's work in my life through the blessing of suffering. A lot of my best days walking with my Lord has actually been days of suffering. Verse one reminds me of growing up when I felt rejected by others but God was my song. 1. In the hours of pain and sorrow, When the world brings no relief When the eye is dim and heavy, And the heart oppressed with grief While blessings flee, Savior Lord we trust in Thee! While blessings flee, Savior Lord we trust in Thee! Verse two talks about my drifting from the Lord when I was caught up in pride and the sin of self-sufficiency. 2. When the snares of death surround us, Pride, ambition, love of ease Mammon with her false allurements, Words that flatter, smiles that please Then ere we yield, S
Read more

Celtic Words In English

I once heard a lecturer say that English was made up at its heart three languages; Anglo-Saxon (A Germanic tongue), French (influence from William the Conquerer A.D. 1066), and Latin (from the church and scholars). She also mentioned that Celtic had been the language of England before the influence of the Anglo-Saxons and some “tie together words” had been brought into English. I assumed she meant words which tie sentences together, or nouns. But I was not sure which words she meant in particular. So I did a little research to find out what those relics in our language are. It seems that Celtic has few words surviving in English. I'm not counting the Celtic words which came in through other languages such as French. I'm not sure that there is a definitive list of Celtic words in English but here are a few I found in various places on the Internet and a book I have. ass (borrowed earlier by the Celts from the Latin asinus) bannock bard blarney bucket car cart clock coll
Read more