Purpose: To learn about the history of the world after the flood and to understand the origin of the nations and the worlds languages. This sets the stage for the choosing of one nation that the Lord will create from one faithful man. The New World The line of Shem leads to the Patriarch Abraham. Genesis 11:10ff is normally read with one emphasis getting from Noah to Abraham. What we will do is make some observations and attempt to understand this genealogy from the perspective of the fledgling Israeli Nation. In our NASB, we see that there are 10 generations from Shem to Abraham. According to this genealogy, Abraham was born 292 years after the flood. There is a discrepancy that we need to discuss in the text. In Luke 3:35-36 we have: Luke 3:34-36 Jesus: the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, The LXX Genesis 11:12-14 And Arphaxad lived a hundred and thirty-five years, and begot Cainan. And Arphaxad lived after he had begotten Cainan, four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters, and died. And Cainan lived a hundred and thirty years and begot Sala; and Canaan lived after he had begotten Sala, three hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters, and died. And Sala lived an hundred and thirty years, and begot Heber. After reading some articles and textual commentaries on this subject, I find that there is no definitive proof concerning the age question. The question about the added generation of Cainan creates a larger problem because of the reference in Luke. Most Greek manuscripts do contain Cainan the son of Arphaxad. But the oldest manuscripts (P75 and Beza) do not contain Cainan in Luke s account. The oldest LXX accounts also do not have Cainan and none of the Masoretic texts do. Also, in the genealogy in 1 st Chronicles 1:17-18, Cainan is not mentioned. The conclusion is then that a copyist must have added it to the Luke manuscript matching it with an erroneous copy of the LXX.
Observations of Genesis 11:10-27 1. In Genesis 10:21, Moses makes the point to introduce the line of Shem in connection with the children of Eber. This is significant because it is believed that Eber (hchā-bêr) is where we get the name Hebrew. a. The family of Joktan ends up in Arabia (Midean) and is with whom Moses later lives (Jethro, Zipporah). b. It is believed that, during the confusing of the languages, Eber became the first Hebrew speaker and therefore all of his direct descendants would have spoken a dialect of Hebrew. 2. There are two men named Nahor in Genesis 11; one is the son of Serug and the other is the son of Terah and brother of Abraham. 3. The תּוֹל דוֹת tôlēdôt is of Terah. The next time this is used it is of Ishmael, then Isaac, then Esau, then Jacob. Abraham is not included in this break because, although it states the generations of Terah, the section is really about Abraham. 4. The genealogy of Terah is fascinating. a. Abraham is married to Sarah, his half-sister. b. Isaac marries Rebekah, his first cousin twice removed who is the sister of Laban. c. Rebekah is the grandchild of Abraham s brother, Nahor d. Nahor marries Milcah, his niece e. Milcah is the brother of Lot who travels with Abraham and is saved from Sodom f. Lot becomes the father of the Moabites and the Ammonites g. Jacob marries the daughters of Laban and from them come the twelve tribes 5. What we see in the genealogy of Terah is that up to the twelve tribes, God preserves the Messianic line, it being only of the descendants of Shem.
The Generations of Terah: This takes us to the Call of Abraham through his father Terah. This is a major division break in the Book of Genesis. The first 11 chapters are known by scholars as primeval history. I don t like this term because this indicates a time of unknown history. What we do have is very limited historical information before the time of Abraham. After the time of Abraham we have much more extra-biblical information than before the time of Abraham. In reality, the only written account of history that we have before the time of Abraham is the Hebrew Scripture. Many of the 3 rd millennium records, according to secular historicists, are greatly exaggerated in reference to age. All of the oldest written texts surfaced around 2000 BC. So, what we have in Genesis 1-11 is not prehistory, but pre-detailed secular history. The only information that we have before this time frame is biblical record, but Moses recorded this around 1450 BC. From 11:27-50:26, we have the Patriarchal History. After Genesis, God often refers to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These are the three main foci of the text in this second half of Genesis. Genesis covers over 2000 years from Adam to Abraham. But from Genesis 12-50 the time covered is from @2000 BC through @1650 BC (350 years). Obviously, the amount of detail is much greater. Why does God not say He is the God of Terah? The details in Genesis 11:27-32 are very interesting when we take into consideration Joshua 24:2 Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. The language can be taken two ways: that the fathers prior to Abraham and Nahor served other gods or this can include Abraham and Nahor. When God calls Abraham to leave his family, it appears as though God called Abraham at Haran. But we have further revelation in Acts 7:2-4 And Stephen said, Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you. Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. Did Abraham have influence on Terah? Or, did Terah decide to get out of Ur of His own accord taking his family with him? The text indicates that the call of Abraham influenced Terah and the move (11:31).
We do know that Terah originally did not serve the Lord God. He served other gods. Normally, it is taught that Abram was an idol worshipper and that God called him by grace and then was called Abraham. It is stated that God changed Abram to Abraham, changing his name and his whole life. But what does the Scripture say about why God changed his name? God did not change his name until Genesis 17. It was in Genesis 15:6 that the proclamation is made that Abram was a believer in YHWH and YHWH accounted it to Abram as righteousness. The reason for the name change is found in Genesis 17:5-6, 15-16. Based upon the text from Joshua, Abraham may not have been originally a worshipper of YHWH, but what we fail to see is that there is a lot of overlap within the generations. Based on the text, Abraham probably had many influences upon him including that of Shem. The promises that were told to Shem and the account of God preserving him through the flood were undoubtedly relayed to Abraham. God does not need Abraham to have this information to respond to the call, but the information, I am convinced, had a large part on Abraham s response to God. In fact, based upon Abraham s immediate response, I am convinced, that Abraham was a worshipper of YHWH prior to the call, prior to leaving Ur. Questions concerning the text 11:26-32 1. The most obvious one is that of the timeline of Terah s life a. Terah was 70 when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran b. Terah died in Haran at the age of 205. c. Abraham left Haran at the age of 75 d. According to Acts, Abraham left after his father died. e. How old was Terah when Abraham was born? 130 f. 60 years between the first born of Terah and Abraham g. Lot was probably contemporary in age to Abraham 2. How old was Abraham when they left for Canaan but stopped in Haran? No answer. 3. Why did they stop in Haran? No answer. 4. From where did Isaac get his wife? Genesis 22:20-24; 24:10, 23-24
The Outline of Life of Abraham age 75-100 (Chapters 12-15) 1. Initial Abrahamic Covenant 12:1-12:9 2. Egyptian Trouble 12:10-13:1 3. Separation from Lot 13:2-18 4. Victory over Kings 14:1-16 5. Honoring and Honor of Abraham 14:17-24 6. Promise, Prophecy, and Sealing of the Covenant 15:1-21 7. Abraham s Presumption 16:1-16 8. Sign of the Covenant 17:1-27 9. Promise Restated, Timeline Set 18:1-15 10. Doom of Sodom, Intercession of Abraham 18:16-33 11. Judgement of Sodom, Lot Preserved 19:1-29 12. Lot Debased, Origin of Moab and Ammon 19:30-38 13. Philistine Trouble 20:1-18 14. Birth of Isaac 21:1-8 15. Rejection of Ishmael/Provision of Ishmael 21:9-21 16. Abraham s Covenant with Abimelech 21:22-34 17. Offering of Isaac 22:1-19