Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Identity
- Identity: Our true identity comes from God. Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.
I think
it makes sense to speak about identity when we come to a genealogy. After all, what is the point of a genealogy
but to locate a person among those who come before – and subsequently, after –
them. Genealogies are inherently about
identity and discovering who we are and what we are about within God’s family.
When we
look within this genealogy, this is exactly the view that we get. The Semites, the people of Shem, are the
people of Mesopotamia and are directly involved in God’s work in the Old
Testament. It is these people out of
whom Abraham comes. The Japhethites are
the people who go into Asia Minor and Europe and become the people to whom the
mission goes in the New Testament.
Notice that both of these peoples come from the sons of Noah who
respected their father at the end of the prior chapter.
Then,
there are the Hamites. These people are
the people of Canaan and Africa. These
people become the perpetual adversaries of the Hebrew people and seldom if ever
respond to God on any kind of large scale.
Remember that it was Ham who did nothing to help his father at the end
of the prior chapter.
Here we
can see identity with respect to God’s greater scheme. He respects and does not abandon those who
respect and follow His ways. Those who
seek to find their identity in places other than God’s ways will continually find
themselves at odds with God and God’s ways.
It really boils down to the question: where do you get your identity?
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