21 January 2018

The Days of Peleg

"To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan."
1 Chronicles 1:19

This is an intriguing verse because in a few words it says something which both agrees and contradicts modern scientific thought.  It is commonly taught the continents today were once connected to one another but over time they split and drifted apart.  This is believed to have taken an incredibly long time according to the current rate of movement.  Scripture affirms the division of continents and islands happened, but it took very little time at all.

Eber had two sons and one he named "Peleg" which means "earthquake."  He was named this because "in his days the earth was divided."  At the time of Peleg's birth the seismic activity was so pronounced Eber named his son Peleg.  It was in the days of Peleg - during his lifetime - the earth was divided.  Perhaps the movement of the continents had not fully shifted to their current position, but there was a distinct beginning and end to this remarkable process which occurred in Peleg's days.

Can you imagine living in the days when the earth was divided?  It would be an unimaginable thing to see land fleeing from your view to be replaced with an ocean!  After an earth-shaking event such as this I imagine people were terrified of even small tremors.  Neighbours and perhaps family were separated by a seemingly infinite sea of water.  To access regions which were previously landlocked would require large ships engineered to handle the high seas.  I imagine after the dust settled this dividing of the earth led to far greater development of seafaring for travel, exploration, and trade.

I can't imagine the feeling of despair people felt in those days where the earth was divided, cities were split in the middle, and families happened to be on other sides of the crack which expanded to be the Pacific Ocean.  All communication would be cut off; there would be no way to know where to go or what to do.  This reminds me in a spiritual sense of how sin separates us from God.  Because of man's sin we are cut off from communion with God:  there is no relationship possible because we cannot communicate.  By the grace of God Jesus came to save us from sin and make first contact with us, demonstrating His love through His sacrifice on Calvary.  We who were far off have been brought near through the Gospel.

We have all kinds of ways to communicate using technology people in Peleg's days did not have.  Vast oceans can be crossed in a matter of hours with aeroplanes, and using satellites and GPS we are able to track the location of a mobile phone within a few feet.  Despite all our advances in technology, aviation, and travel, we remain as sinful and helpless spiritually as man ever was.  Thank the LORD for His goodness to us, for we who were separated from God have been made one by Jesus Christ.  This is earth-shaking truth for all time!

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