“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” (Genesis 10:25).
The 1850s was an era of growing division in the United States. The failure of the nation’s leaders to resolve the issue of slavery created a gap that expanded through a series of events. The publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin portrayed the cruelty of slavery and stirred the antislavery cause. The Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court stirred up resentment throughout the North.
When Abraham Lincoln opened his campaign for the Illinois U.S. Sen- ate seat, his opening words were biblical and prophetic: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” In 1859, John Brown led a band of followers to attack the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry and use the seized weapons to lead a slave uprising. He was taken prisoner and later hanged. Then South Carolina and other states seceded from the Union.
Later elected president, Lincoln pleaded for unity, but the South turned a deaf ear. Just a month later, guns fired on Fort Sumter and a war began in which more Americans would die than in any other conflict before or since.
In the beginning, the earth was not divided. People were not separated, and unity reigned in all creation. God was one with His people and sin did not split families apart. But after the Flood, as the book of Genesis describes Noah and his sons (Genesis 9:19) and the table of nations, we begin to see separation. “From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands” (10:5). In Genesis 11, a large separation took place at the Tower of Babel when people were divided by language.
In the midst of this period of coming apart was the birth of Peleg: “For in his days the earth was divided” (10:25). Peleg, whose name means “divided,” symbolizes the results of sin—separation from God. But Christ prayed “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us” (John 17:21).
O Lord, unite the body of Christ. Bring Your people together again in a harmony that will be a witness to the world.
For Further Study: Genesis 10:21–11:9; John 10:16; Galatians 3:28