The ethnological register.
I. PROCLAIMS THE UNITY OF THE RACE.
1. It declares all the successive families of mankind to have sprung from a common stock. Diverse as they flow are in their geographical situations, ethnic relations, physical capabilities, national peculiarities, according to the doctrine of this genealogical table they all trace their origin to Noah and his sons.
2. It condemns all those theories which derive man from several pairs. Equally the heathen superstition which assigned to each particular region its own Autochthones, and the modern scientific dogma of varieties of species and distinct centers of propagation is here condemned. Even now ethnologists, archaeologists, and philologists of the highest repute lend their sanction to the sublime sentiment of the great Mars' hill preacher, that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell upon all the face of the earth." The anatomical structure of the human frame, especially of the brain and skull, the physiological properties and functions possessed by the body, the psychological nature of man, and the power of indefinite propagation, which are the same in all nations, with the ascertained results of comparative grammar, which have already traced back all existing languages to three primitive branches, tend in a powerful degree to confirm the doctrine which this table teaches.
3. It implies certain other truths on which Scripture with equal emphasis insists, such as the brotherhood of man, the universal corruption of the race, and the necessity and universality of Christ's redemption.
II. ATTESTS THE DIVISION of the RACE.
1. It asserts the fact of the division. It states that in the days of Peleg the earth's population was divided. The means employed are described in the succeeding chapter.
2. It confirms the truth of this division. Had the confusion at Babel not occurred. and the subsequent dispersion not followed. this table could not have been written. Its existence as a literary document in the time of Moses authenticates the fact which it reports.
3. It defines the extent of this division. It shows that the scattered race were to be split up into nations, families, tongues.
III. ILLUSTRATES THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE RACE. The geographical distribution of the earth's population was—
1. Effected in an orderly manner. They were neither scattered promiscuously nor suffered to wander and settle at hazard. Divided into tribes and nations according to their tongues and dialects of speech, they were allocated to distinct portions of the earth's surface.
2. Specially adapted to the characters and destinies of the several nations. The operation of purely natural principles makes it impossible that tribes can permanently settle in countries that are either incapable of yielding to them a maintenance or affording an outlet to their powers. More extensive information would doubtless enable the suitability of each locality in this table to the occupying people to be exhibited; but in broad outline it is perceptible even here—Japheth, whose destiny it was to spread abroad, being established on the coasts of the Euxine, the Caspian, and the Mediterranean; Ham finding rest in the warmer climates, whose enervating influences tended largely to develop his peculiar character, and ultimately to lay him open to subjection by the more vigorous races of the North; and Shem, whose function in the Divine economy it was to conserve religion and religious truth, being concentrated mainly in the Tigris and Euphrates valley.
3. The result of Divine appointment. Moses (Deuteronomy 32:8) and Paul (Acts 17:26) conspire to represent the allocation of territory to the different races of mankind as the handiwork of God (the special means employed for the breaking up of the originally united family of Noah's sons is detailed in the ensuing chapter); the import of which is, that nations have a God-assigned title to the countries which they occupy.
4. The Divinely-ordered distribution of the earth's population is capable of being disturbed by the sinful interference of man. Instances of this appear in the present table, e.g. the intrusion of the Cushite into Shinar, and of the Canaanite into what originally belonged to Skein.
IV. PREDICTS THE FUTURE OF THE RACE. As it were, the separation of the earth's population into races and the moving of them outward to their respective habitations was the starting of them on the lines along which it was designed they should accomplish their respective destinies and common work. They were meant to overspread the globe; and this was the initiation of a great movement which would only terminate in the complete occupation of their God-given heritage.
Lessons:—
1. The equal rights of men.
2. The sinfulness of wars of aggression.
3. The hopefulness of emigration.