By: Thomas F. Booher
Matthew Poole's commentary on all of Genesis 10 is well worth reading, but let's just take his remarks on Genesis 10:5 and relate it to all the prissy Protestant Popes who are persecuting men for believing what their prominent forefathers believed:
Genesis 10:5, "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations."
Poole: "The isles of the Gentiles; not isles properly so called; for why should they, having their choice, forsake the continent for islands, and thereby cut off themselves from their brethren? And where had they ships to transport them? But the word isles here and elsewhere signifies all those countries that had the sea between them and Judea, as it doth Isaiah 11:10-11, Isaiah 40:15, Jeremiah 2:10, Jeremiah 25:22, Ezekiel 27:3, Zephaniah 2:11. And isles are here put for the inhabitants, as the words earth and land are commonly used. This division of the world among them being a work of great weight, was doubtless managed with great care and consultation, and the advice of their heads and governors, and above all by the wise and special providence of God, which at this time did particularly determine the bounds of their several habitations, as it is recorded Acts 17:26.
Every one after his tongue, i.e. according to their several languages, into which they were divided at Babel. By which it appears that this division, though mentioned before, was not executed till after the confusion of languages at Babel.
After their families. Here observe the wise and gracious providence of God mixed with this judgment, that God distributed the languages according to the difference of families and nations, that each several nation, and all the families or branches of that nation, should have one and the same language; whereby both union and love were preserved among themselves, and the several nations were distinguished one from another, which was very fit and necessary for many reasons as that the church of God, which was confined to the Hebrew nation, might neither be mixed with nor infected by the idolatrous nations; and that it might be evident to the world, that the Messias was born of the seed of Abraham according to God’s promise, &c."
Now given Poole's words, how is he not some form of dreaded "Kinist" or "Race Realist" today? By the way, Poole is speaking about the sons of Japheth, the Europeans and other predominately white-skinned peoples of the world. Read his commentary on Gen. 10:1-4, but I will just note this brief part from Gen. 10:2, "Japheth’s portion was at first Asia the Less, and afterwards by degrees all Europe, and the northern parts of Asia. This is he so much celebrated among the Greeks by the name of Japetus."
Poole notes that the divisions of nations was by God's wise and special providence, and also through the wisdom of the governors and leaders of these Gentile peoples, descendants of Japheth. Poole quotes Paul's words in Acts 17:26 to support this. That of course is after the ascension of Christ, and Paul in Acts 17 says nothing about God's division of kindred into nations with the same language being dissolved now that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, ascended back to heaven, and has sent His Word and Spirit to the ends of the earth. Rather, Paul affirms the goodness of the division and separation of the nations, without denying that we are ultimately all from Adam and one blood. The division into nations and languages is actually for the propagating of the Gospel, Acts 17:26-27, "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, SO THAT THEY SHOULD SEEK THE LORD, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."
In short, God's wisdom at Babel has not become God's stupidity after Pentecost! God still desires to call a people to Himself who dwell all over the world, over the whole face of the earth! It is actually the Judaizing heresy and error to try to reverse that and bring the nations into the United States, as if we alone in our own land and locale can dispense to others the Gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation. I doubt anyone is making that exact claim, but it veers in that direction in actual practice. Matthew Henry states on this passage, "He that wills us to pray every where, assures us that he is no where far from us; whatever country, nation, or profession we are of, whatever our rank and condition in the world are, be we in a palace or in a cottage, in a crowd or in a corner, in a city or in a desert, in the depths of the sea or afar off upon the sea, this is certain, God is not far from every one of us."
At any rate, the Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, so that the Apostles could then be sent out to the nations of the world! It did not dissolve the nations and their races and cultures and languages, but it enabled the Apostles in their lifetimes to go forth with the Gospel into the peoples and their places and proclaim in their own native tongues the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Missions work continues today, and we cannot short-circuit this by trying to bring all the nations and all their sins and issues and paganism into our own nation in the name of Evangelism. Henry also adds that we are of one blood, and division into nations should not cause us to hate other nationalities, because we all do come from Adam: "He made them not to live in one place, but to be dispersed over all the earth; one nation therefore ought not to look with contempt upon another, as the Greeks did upon all other nations; for those on all the face of the earth are of the same blood. The Athenians boasted that they sprung out of their own earth, were aborigines, and nothing akin by blood to any other nation, which proud conceit of themselves the apostle here takes down." Notice that the sin is hating other nations or races by denying their humanity, by denying they are made in the image of God and from Adam like the rest of us. It is not a sin, however, to deny differences between the nations and races, much less is it a sin to acknowledge the reality of nations and races!
Poole points out that God wisely and graciously divided up the families into their nations with the same language, so that "both union and love were preserved among themselves, and the several nations were distinguished one from another". It is true Poole goes on to add that this helped distinguish the nations of the world from the Israelites/Jews, who were God's covenant people at that time. It created a clearer boundary of sorts so the Israelites would not intermingle with the pagans and foreigners. The Gospel indeed has now gone out to the ends of the earth, and Christ is gathering a people for Himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation. But this does not dissolve the good of tribes, tongues, and nations, anymore than the Gospel dissolves the good of male and female, or families and households. We still need "both union and love preserved among ourselves", for that is a natural blessing and necessity.
Even in worship services, if you cannot speak the same language you are literally speaking in tongues that are not understood and are likely not translated. Only in missionary or similar circumstances, where there is a dire necessity for the Gospel to be translated to the local people, would we see that sort of church setup. Having a minister speak a foreign tongue, pausing every few sentences to be translated by another into your own language, is obviously not ideal and painstaking, for the preacher, the translator, and the congregation. There is almost no profit to attend and join a church in which you cannot understand the reading and preaching of the word or sing praise to God in your own tongue. For good order and mutual love flowing from natural affection, we still need division of races into their lands/nations. None of this implies hatred of foreigners, but it does indicate that there is still such a thing as a foreigner and stranger under the new covenant, even as there is still male and female.
Now, we often say today that the division of races into their places and languages is just a matter of "politics" and therefore is disputable and indifferent. Or, some will even say if you maintain these divisions today, you are a racist and bigot and have somehow denied the Gospel and its power to unite all believers of every tribe, tongue, and nation! But nations being comprised of one lineage, one ancestry, one race of people, is by God's own hand and design, ever since man began spreading over the face of the earth. The people having one language is also by God's wise and benevolent design. So friends, if we want to have benevolence towards others, the same love and goodwill that God Himself has for the peoples of the world and that He displayed by scattering the people over the face of the earth by confusing their languages, then we should encourage returning to your homeland and remaining in your homeland. Of course in this sin-cursed world, migration and other things will occur, there will be exceptions and things must be handled with prudence, but the resident alien should dwell in a foreign land not as a normal custom or practice, but largely out of desperation and necessity. It should not be willy-nilly as it is today.
This also means that remigration under many circumstances is virtuous, wise, and benevolent.
One more note on Poole's commentary -- go back to the beginning part, where Poole even states as if it is common sense (for it once was and must become so again) that the "isles" of the Gentiles were not literal tiny little islands, and that no one in their right mind would cut themselves off from their brethren, their kinsmen according to the flesh unless they had to do so (out of necessity due to war, seeking refuge, avoiding, famine, divisions from war between the brethren, etc.).
Is it not evident that our Reformed forefathers like Poole would be horrified at what is happening to our nation, with its mass-mixing through the importation of foreigners as if they were Americans? This is de-racinating, it is national trans-racialism, it is trans-nationalism. It is as destructive to nations and the boundaries God has wisely and graciously appointed for mankind as a person chopping off their private parts in a vain attempt to become the opposite sex is destructive to them, body and soul. There is self-mutilation, and there is national and racial mutilation. We are committing all three in large numbers today. May the Lord bring us to repentance and return to national and spiritual truths, for God's glory, our good, and for the good of foreigners!
Do not fear being branded a racist. To be branded a "racist" today is normally just being an anti-trans-nationalist, an anti-trans-racialist. It is to believe and act like Matthew Poole in his commentary on Genesis 10, which is in keeping with the other Reformers and Puritans of his day, the American Presbyterians of the 1800's, and frankly most of human history and common sense.
In other words, to be branded a "racist" today is to simply believe that race is real, that God dividing up the lands and regions of the world into particular families that form larger nations with the same language, is in fact still wise and loving. Indeed, it promotes maximal "human flourishing", and after all, isn't such flourishing the very thing all the woke folk claim to want for all people today anyway? If so, then let us do all we can to return the peoples to their places, as God has appointed for their good, His glory, and the Gospel's advance.
Comments
Post a Comment