It is John at Bible Project. Right now we're in the middle of a series called The Family

of God. In episode one we looked at the diversity of the Jesus movement all over the globe.

Last week, in the second episode of this series, we looked at the story of Adam and Eve,

and how one human became two, meant to be united back as one.

Now fast forward through Genesis, pass the flood narrative, and...

Then you get your favorite part of the Bible in mind, Genesis chapter 10.

The table of the nations.

And if you're like me, you'll skip over this chapter. It's just a boring list of names, right?

Dude, Genesis 10 is so awesome.

It's a genealogy kind of, really more it's a ethnographic map of the biblical world.

So this ethnographic map consists of 70 people.

70 nations, but there's way more than 70 nations and 70 ethnicities.

In the biblical world, the number 70 is typological. It's a rhetorical effect that evokes the idea

of totality, comprehensiveness on a large scale, as opposed to the use of seven for completeness

on a smaller scale. So when we look at the table of nations, we're going to notice a lot more than

a list of random people from a long time ago. It's a highly designed map, showing us the outline

of the biblical world. But why take all this time mapping out genealogies?

This document is no mere academic exercise. It affirms, first of all, a common origin and the

absolute unity of humankind. All the nations and all their diversity all come from the same family.

And then buried in the middle of that is this narrative about the origins of Babylon

comes from a violent warrior who has a great name. What's the next story after Genesis 10?

It's the story about the building of the city and tower of Babylon.

...