Didn’t God establish nations to keep people separate?
Question 115 in Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded
This question is from Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded, available in paperback, PDF, and Kindle.
The nations described in the Bible were not nation-states in the modern sense, but rather extended family groups or tribes who shared a common language and culture. The original division of nations occurred early in post-deluge history. Nations are first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 10, in a passage naming the first generations born after the great flood subsided: the offspring of Japheth, Ham, and Shem. Genesis 11 then focuses on the particular events that led to the division of the nations by language and physical distance. The efforts of a united humanity to construct a tower to their own glory (“let us make a name for ourselves,” v. 4) displeased God. God responded by confounding their language, leading them to abandon their construction project and “scattered them abroad over the face of all the Earth” (Gen 11:8–9).
The children of Israel were selected as a nation set apart as God’s chosen people, and they were commanded to keep away from the corruption and idol worship of other nations. Even before that, the first great order of separation for Israel was an internal schism. Moses separated the wandering people of Israel into groups of faithful and reprobate before the Lord caused the earth to swallow up the followers of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num 16:23–35).
The good news is that national divisions that came about due to sin and corruption can be overcome by the grace of God. Foreigners who worshipped the one true God were to be welcomed by the nation of Israel (Isa 56:1–8). In the Great Commission, Christ commanded his followers to go to all nations teaching his commands (Matt 28:19–20). Peter preached that God had revealed to him that he “should not call any man common or unclean,” and told his listeners about a faith that offered hope to God-fearing people of all nations (Acts 10:28; 35). National divisions are a consequence of sin. Everyone who repents and believes in Christ can join the eternal, holy nation of God (1 Pet 2:9–10).