This teaching is our 12th session in our verse-by-verse study of the Book of Genesis by pastor Barry – given as part of our family service on 14th May 2017.
In this study, we look at the Table of Nations as recorded in Genesis 10. This is a portion of scripture the critics tell us cannot be factual, but as Dr. Bill Cooper explains, it is the critic’s arguments that have been shown to lack substance:
“It is commonly thought in this present age that nothing is worthy of our belief unless first it can be scientifically demonstrated and observed to be true …it was assumed without further enquiry that nothing in especially the earlier portions of the biblical record could be demonstrated to be true and factual. This applied particularly to the book of Genesis. In other words, we were solemnly assured in the light of modern wisdom that, historically speaking, the book of Genesis was simply not worth the paper it was written on. On the one hand, I had the Bible itself claiming to be the very Word of God, and on the other, I was presented with numerous commentaries that spoke with one voice in telling me that the Bible was nothing of the kind. It was merely a hotch-potch collection of middle-eastern myths and fables that sought to explain the world in primitive terms. Now, it simply was not possible for both these claims to be valid. Only one of them could be right…
So it was then that I decided to select a certain portion of Genesis and submit it to a test which, if applied to any ordinary historical document, would be considered a test of the most unreasonable severity. And I would continue that test until either the book of Genesis revealed itself to be a false account, or it would be shown to be utterly reliable in its historical statements.
What I had not expected at the time was the fact that the task was to engage my attention and energies for more than twenty-five years!
The test that I devised was a simple one. If the names of the individuals, families, peoples and tribes listed in the Table of Nations were genuine, then those same names should appear also in the records of other nations of the Middle East. It simply was not realistic to expect that every name would have been recorded in the annals of the ancient Middle East and would also have survived to the present day. I, therefore, would have been content to have found say 40% of the list vindicated. In fact, that would have been a very high achievement given the sheer antiquity of the Table of Nations itself and the reported scarcity of the surviving extra-biblical records from those ancient times. But when, over my twenty-five years of research, that confirmatory evidence grew past 40% to 50%, and then 60% and beyond, it soon became apparent that modern wisdom in this matter was wide of the mark. Very wide of the mark indeed.
Today I can say that the names so far vindicated in the Table of Nations make up over 99% of the list!
…and I shall make no further comment on that other than to say that no other ancient historical document of purely human authorship could be expected to yield such a level of corroboration as that!”
(Excerpt taken from ‘After the Flood’ by Dr. Bill Cooper – available from www.genesisexpo.org.uk/product/after-the-flood-2nd-edition )
In this chapter, we also see the beginning of the first world government under the control of Noah’s great grandson, Nimrod; this, in turn, paved the way for a global deception so great it has infiltrated countless nations and cultures around the world for the last 4500 years.
You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for listening to later. We have also made available the Powerpoint slides (in PDF format) that outline the key points of this study.
We hope and pray this teaching will bless you and encourage you to undertake your own personal study and adventure in God’s Word!
