Many Peoples, Many Gods

 Read Genesis 10

There are a lot of people named in this chapter.  We don’t know how many daughters were born during this time, but surely about the same as there were sons.

But in this culture, at this time, people focused on the sons.  Even when Jesus came, a man’s name often included the name of his father.  Do you remember Simon Bar-Jonah?  That’s how Jesus addressed Simon who would be called Peter after he professed Jesus as the Christ.

The link from father to son was an integral part of Hebrew society.

What is not included in this chapter is that most of these named people fathered lines of people who made up their own god or gods as they filled the world. They did not carry the name of the one true God with them.  They made up their own.

God’s own people would live in the lands where false gods were worshiped. The world did not know the one true God.

Let’s turn the clock ahead a few centuries to that pagan world and remember the story of God’s people.

Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.

‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

“‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you.  But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.

 “‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

We say those last words almost every Sunday, but do we realize that we have false gods all around us?

Hold on.  I haven’t seen a temple for a false god anywhere.  I don’t see signs on the highway calling me to worship Baal.  What false gods?

Here’s a big one:  Money and its first cousin—stuff.  We want the abundance of things in this world.  The good news for us is that God tells us if we truly seek him, he will also give us many of the things that the godless people have made into their gods.

Here’s another one:  Fame.  I don’t know too many famous people, but I do like attention.  I like it when my post gets 1000 likes or my tik tok video goes viral.  We like people to like us and make us feel good.  Sometimes it’s ok.  Sometimes, we like it more than we want God.  That’s when it’s become a false god.

How about idols and icons?  Only in America could we have a television show called American Idol and not think twice about it.  How about idolizing a football player or an actress or a rock star?

We can enjoy sports, have a favorite team, and even like a particular artist more than others, but once they take center stage in our lives, they are coming dangerously close to being a false god.

America is so materially blessed that even when we complain about inflation and the economy, we have more than most people will ever know.  We are spoiled when it comes to blessings.  Sadly, we often forget the One who has blessed us and make the things with which we have been blessed into our gods.

How do we not do this?

Again, we look to Joshua.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

If we will seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness, God will be with us wherever we go.  We don’t have to look for divine guidance in the world that we go into—we bring God with us.  His Spirit lives within us.  We are never alone.

That’s not the way the story unfolds as we go through Genesis.  For most of the people of the earth—you just read about the first few generations—they would seek or make or worship other gods.

Remember, that we gather here each Sunday and do our best to live each day to the glory of God because of one line of people who brought the one true God with them wherever they went.

Sure, they messed up a bunch, but God was always present.

Be familiar with the generations, but know the one true God who is faithful through all generations.

Amen.