Biblical Unity of All Mankind

Chapter 10 of the Biblical book of Genesis contains genealogical lists of the descendants of the Biblical prophet Noah. The book of Genesis lists seventy nations that descended from Noah’s sons after the Biblical flood, ie Shem, Yefet, and Ham. These seventy nations represent many geographic, ethnic, linguistic, and racial groups. According to Jewish tradition, all of present mankind is descended from Noah and his family, even if not all of the original seventy nations listed in the Bible are still identifiable today.

There is profound significance to the enumeration of all the nations of mankind in the Bible. The listing of seventy nations includes Eber, who was ancestor of the ancient Hebrews, but the Biblical list does not even mention the Jews who descended from Eber. The Bible is emphasizing that the God of the Bible is the God of all the nations and He has a relationship with all the nations of the world. The God of the Jewish Bible is not just the God of the Jews, and He is concerned with the well-being and destiny of all of mankind.

In Chapter 11 of the Book of Genesis, it explains how God scattered mankind all over the face of the Earth in response to men committing a sin by building the Tower of Babel. There is a clear lesson from this. The Jewish Bible does not teach that all nations should dissolve their identities, or become Jews, or convert to Judaism. Each nation should maintain its distinctive language, national identities, and culture.

The Jewish Bible does seek a united world and is not obligating non-Jews to convert to Judaism. However, that world unity must be based on recognition of one God as the Creator of the world, and a universal acceptance of His Biblical commandments that define a moral code for all mankind.