The Worlds of the Preacher by Scott M. Gibson

Author:Scott M. Gibson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Preaching;REL080000;REL074000
ISBN: 9781493413355
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2018-02-28T05:00:00+00:00

Ethnicity and the World of History

Where did the concept of ethnicity come from? We should begin with the world of the Bible. Biblically speaking, ethnicity and ethnic identity in Scripture have often been portrayed with the following dichotomy: there are the Jews (God’s chosen people) and there is everyone else. Growing up in the church, if ethnicity (namely, the creation of different ethnicities) was ever mentioned from the pulpit, preachers referenced two different Bible texts. First, some preachers referenced Genesis 9 and the narrative about the sons of Noah, contending that every ethnic group in existence today can trace its ancestry to the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Second, preachers often ascribed the formation of different ethnicities to the by-product of the sin of pride exhibited in the Tower of Babel narrative in Genesis 11, whereby the people at Shinar decided to make a name for themselves and build a great tower for their glory. In employing either of these texts, preachers have explicated God’s creation of ethnic differences as the consequence of judgment for sins committed. This has contributed to the belief among certain Christians that the genesis of ethnic diversity resulted from acts of sin and a fallen humanity rather than from God’s sovereign purposes and pleasure.

A contrasting view is suggested in an article from the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, in which the author writes this rebuttal to such commonly held beliefs:

It will be noted in a careful reading of the passage that: (1) God placed a curse on no one; (2) Noah did the cursing after having awakened from a drunken stupor; (3) Canaan was the one actually cursed by Noah, not Ham; (4) there is no indication of God having approved Noah’s act or of His having implemented it in any way; and (5) no reference is made to anyone being turned any color different from what he already was. [In addition] Genesis 11:1–9 records the incident when God confounded the builders of the tower of Babel but not one word is said about race, and the concept of race is not in the passage.6

In my search to understand the earliest evidence of ethnic consciousness and ethnic identity in the Bible, I have found myself drawn to Genesis 10—what is known as the Table of Nations. Beginning in Genesis 10:4, Moses identifies the sons of Javan, a descendant of Japheth, as “Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites.” William Mounce explains verse 5: “From these the maritime peoples (goyim) spread out into their territories by their clans (mispaha) within their nations (goyim), each with its own language [lason].”7 In similar terms, after listing the descendants of Ham, Genesis 10:20 reads, “These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.” Finally, Genesis 10:31 reads: “These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.” The four distinguishing characteristics among the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth regarding clan, language, territory,

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