Genesis 11B (2011) Many schlars have bserved that the bk f Genesis can be divided neatly int tw parts The first part f the bk runs frm chapter 1-11 It cvers the rigins f the universe, the earth, mankind and all the natins It explains the rigins f sin, the rigins f natins, languages and gvernment It establishes the prblem: man s rebellin against Gd The secnd part f the bk runs frm chapters 12-50 It cvers the rigins f the natin f Israel beginning with Abraham It explains the utwrking f Gd t fulfill His prmise t bring a Messiah And it shws hw Israel as a peple becme the mechanism fr Gd t deliver His Redeemer In the first part f Genesis, men are seen t be lsing grund The receive curses, are displaced frm their land, lsing privileges, being expelled frm Gd s presence In the secnd part f Genesis, men are receiving blessing Visitatins frm Gd, prmises fr t receive land, prmises t be in Gd s kingdm Tday we stand at the juncture f these tw parts We are finishing the first half Having just seen the develpment f natins and the languages And nw t cnclude, we examine the tldat r genealgy f the line f the prmise r the Seed: Shem Shem s line will cnnect us frm Nah s family t the next majr character in the stry f Gd s plan f redemptin: Abram 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11B 2 Even as Gd cnfused language and scattered mankind, His prmise was still intact and wrking thrugh the families f Nah Specifically, the family f Shem carries the prmise frward and int the next installment f the stry Gen. 11:10 These are the recrds f the generatins f Shem. Shem was ne hundred years ld, and became the father f Arpachshad tw years after the fld; Gen. 11:11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father f Arpachshad, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 11:12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father f Shelah; Gen. 11:13 and Arpachshad lived fur hundred and three years after he became the father f Shelah, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 11:14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father f Eber; Gen. 11:15 and Shelah lived fur hundred and three years after he became the father f Eber, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 11:16 Eber lived thirty-fur years, and became the father f Peleg; Gen. 11:17 and Eber lived fur hundred and thirty years after he became the father f Peleg, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 11:18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father f Reu; Gen. 11:19 and Peleg lived tw hundred and nine years after he became the father f Reu, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 11:20 Reu lived thirty-tw years, and became the father f Serug; Gen. 11:21 and Reu lived tw hundred and seven years after he became the father f Serug, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 11:22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father f Nahr; Gen. 11:23 and Serug lived tw hundred years after he became the father f Nahr, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 11:24 Nahr lived twenty-nine years, and became the father f Terah; Gen. 11:25 and Nahr lived ne hundred and nineteen years after he became the father f Terah, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 11:26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father f Abram, Nahr and Haran. In lking at this list f names, we have three bservatins t cnsider First, we find ten generatins between Shem and Abram Like all genealgy lists in Genesis, the pint f the list is t trace the seed line In this case the line between Shem and Abram, since Abram becmes the next character in the line f the prmise 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11B 3 But curiusly, the previus genealgy in Chapter 5 als included ten generatins between Adam and Nah This similarity isn t cincidence Gd has purpsed t place ten names between these men t emphasize His hand and authrity ver all these utcmes The number 10 in Scripture is the number f testimny, as in a testimny t Gd s faithfulness t His prmises S hw apprpriate that Gd waits ten generatins befre beginning the next step in His plan f redemptin The next time yu wnder if Gd is still at wrk in yur life, remember that He waited hundreds f years befre acting anew just t ensure He culd cmmunicate thrugh a 10 Gd s patience exceeds ur wn, and yet we can find patience by understanding and recgnizing Gd s patterns frm His wrd He mves in deliberate and purpseful ways, all the while remaining in cntrl and bringing all things t gd fr thse wh lve Him and are called accrding t His purpse Secndly, the verlapping lives f these men assures us that the histry recrded in Genesis was easily passed alng t later generatins and preserved fr Mses t recrd The lives f nly fur men link the beginning f time t Jacb s life Adam, Lamech, Shem and Jacb Each man in the list was still alive when the next man was an adult In fact, Nah lived until Abram s father, Terah, was alive Shem and Eber utlived Terah Eber utlived Abraham Finally, the list emphasizes the separating effect f Gd s seed prmise As we discussed last week, Gd is the business f selecting wh will receive His grace 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11B 4 And Gd s seed prmise is a grace He elects t bring t certain lines f men but nt t thers And that chice is evident in the utwrking f the events f their lives And it s reflected in the genealgies f Genesis Fr example, we taught back in chapter 10 that the genealgy in that chapter accunts fr the names that were nt t receive the prmise These are the families that disappear frm the pages f Scripture, since they dn t matter t the ultimate stry f the fulfillment f Gd s prmise But in particular take nte f the families f Eber, the man wh gave name t the Hebrews He had tw sns: Peleg and Jktan And in chapter 10 we re tld that Peleg was brn in the days when the earth was divided, referring t the dividing f men at the twer f Babel The narrative f Genesis gives a higher meaning t that reference f divisin The descendants f Nah are traced twice: in chapters 10 & 11 In chapter 10 we see Eber s family dividing int tw peple, Peleg and Jktan The remainder f Chapter 10, the line f Jktan is tld Culminating in the rebellin at the Twer f Babel In chapter 11 the line is traced a secnd time, but this time we fcus n the line f Peleg And his line ends in Abram The message f the genealgies f 10 & 11 seems clear Gd divided the earth in mre ways than ne While He divided the natins by cnfusing the languages, He was als dividing Eber s family 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11B 5 Jktan s line leads t the stry f the Twer and away frm the prmises f Gd Peleg s line in chapter 11 mves away frm the stry f the Twer and tward the prmised seed realized in the line f Hebrews thrugh Abraham Let s be clear n the purpses f Gd in Genesis Gd created, man plluted and Gd cleansed And since Gd is the One fixing man s mistake, Gd may take any rute He chses The stry f Genesis is the tracing f that rute thrugh certain men and apart frm thers Tday, Gd cntinues t wrk in exactly the same way The utwrking f Gd s prmise t redeem men frm sin has reached its fulfillment in the persn and wrk f Jesus Christ And as Jesus Himself said, He didn t cme t unify mankind Luke 12:51 D yu suppse that I came t grant peace n earth? I tell yu, n, but rather divisin; Luke 12:52 fr frm nw n five members in ne husehld will be divided, three against tw and tw against three. Luke 12:53 They will be divided, father against sn and sn against father, mther against daughter and daughter against mther, mther-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mther-in-law. The nly questin wrth asking is which side are we n? Are we with the line f the seed prmise: Seth, Nah, Shem, Eber, Peleg and Abram all the way t Jesus? Or are we will the rebels? Are we like Cain? Like Lamech? Canaan? Nimrd? Jktan? We nly get tw ptins, because there is n third categry And ur family tree divides n the questin f wh we say Jesus is As Jesus said Himself: 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11B 6 Luke 8:20 And it was reprted t Him, Yur mther and Yur brthers are standing utside, wishing t see Yu. Luke 8:21 But He answered and said t them, My mther and My brthers are these wh hear the wrd f Gd and d it. Nw we turn the crner f part 1 in Genesis and start part 2 Gen. 11:27 Nw these are the recrds f the generatins f Terah. Terah became the father f Abram, Nahr and Haran; and Haran became the father f Lt. Gen. 11:28 Haran died in the presence f his father Terah in the land f his birth, in Ur f the Chaldeans. Gen. 11:29 Abram and Nahr tk wives fr themselves. The name f Abram s wife was Sarai; and the name f Nahr s wife was Milcah, the daughter f Haran, the father f Milcah and Iscah. Gen. 11:30 Sarai was barren; she had n child. This is the central tldat f the bk f Genesis There are five tldats befre it and five after it It serves as the turning pint, the mment when Gd begins t mve the curse f human histry back tward Himself This tldat intrduces the first f the patriarchs f Israel Each f these men, Abraham, Isaac and Jacb, will receive greater and greater revelatin cncerning the prmise t bring a redeemer And each man will receive a small prtin f the prmise in their earthly life Yet as we will study, each man died lking frward t the fulfillment f Gd s prmises in a future life The first f these patriarchs is Abram, the sn f Terah He has tw brthers, Nahr and Haran His brther Nahr seems t have been named after his grandfather While Haran is named after his father s hme twn 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11B 7 By the time Abram is brn, his father had mved frm Haran t Ur, a city in Mesptamia Ur was a significant city histrically Mses calls it Ur f the Chaldeans, but the Chaldeans didn t ccupy this area until ver 1,000 years later Mses prbably included the reference t the Chaldeans t help identify the lcatin f Ur fr his readers Ur had a ppulatin f rughly 34,000 and ccupied abut 4 square miles at the time f Terah The city had walls 35 feet thick, which tells us that the fear and cnfusin created at the Twer has nw led t vilence and wars There is archelgical evidence that the city had harbrs n the Euphrates and traded with ther peple in the nrth and in Africa But in BC 2180, everything changed fr the prsperus twn War-like barbarians called Guti descended frm the Eastern muntains and cnquer Ur They make life miserable fr the inhabitants f Ur fr nearly a century In BC 2166, 14 years after the invasin, Terah begins t have children, including Abram Abram and his brthers grw up in an ccupied city Terah and his sn Abram were appinted t the line f the seed prmise, but this desn t mean they were always faithful fllwers f Gd In fact, there is n evidence that Terah ever knew the true Gd Jshua tells us: Jsh. 24:2 Jshua said t all the peple, Thus says the LORD, the Gd f Israel, Frm ancient times yur fathers lived beynd the River, namely, Terah, the father f Abraham and the father f Nahr, and they served ther gds. Jsh. 24:3 Then I tk yur father Abraham frm beynd the River, and led him thrugh all the land f Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11B 8 In Genesis 11 we als learn that Haran has a sn, Lt But the very next verse tells us that Haran died yung leaving his sn an rphan And this detail becmes imprtant in the next chapter, as we learn that Lt became a member f Abram s family as a result f Haran s death Haran dies while the family is still living in Ur, away frm the ancestral hme in Haran Bth the remaining bys take wives But curiusly, we learn that Abram s wife is barren and cannt have children Sarai s inability is the first f 12 bstacles that Abram will cnfrnt in his life stry in Genesis Mses expects his readers t understand frm the beginning that Abram is the man thrugh whm Gd will wrk the next stage f His redemptin plan But then immediately Mses presents us with smething that stps the stry in its tracks Hw can Abram cntinue t line f the seed if his wife is barren and can t give birth? We re intrigued t see hw Abram vercmes this bstacle Lking ahead, we ll als wnder hw Abram will receive land in a place ccupied by ther peple? Hw will Abram rescue his sn frm Gd s instructins t sacrifice him? What we cme t find fr each f these bstacles that Abram s success is prvided by Gd Himself Gd gives Abram the means t vercme each f the these challenges And that, in the end, even the bstacles themselves find their surce in Gd, as tests f Abram s character and faith Abram desn t always pass these tests 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11B 9 But he always stands in the end because Gd remains true t His prmises Such is the Gd we serve, that even when we are faithless, He remains faithful Finally, let s end the chapter Gen. 11:31 Terah tk Abram his sn, and Lt the sn f Haran, his grandsn, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his sn Abram s wife; and they went ut tgether frm Ur f the Chaldeans in rder t enter the land f Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there. Gen. 11:32 The days f Terah were tw hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran. We re tld that Terah takes his sn Abram, Lt and Sarai ut f Ur and heads t the land f Canaan But they get nly abut half way when they reach Haran and then Terah settles there While in Haran, Terah dies Mses desn t address in Chapter 11 why the family leaves r what happened t the ther brther Nahr But he deals with bth lse ends in the cming chapters In particular Mses quickly cmes t answer the questin f why the family departs their hme in Ur And even befre we venture int chapter 12, we can lk at the New Testament fr the answer Stephen gives us the answer in his discurse in Acts Acts 7:2 And he said, Hear me, brethren and fathers! The Gd f glry appeared t ur father Abraham when he was in Mesptamia, befre he lived in Haran, Acts 7:3 and said t him, LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU. Acts 7:4 Then he left the land f the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. Frm there, after his father died, Gd had him mve t this cuntry in which yu are nw living. Mving frm east t west, Abram sets ut fr the prmised land, bringing his wife, nephew and father with him 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11B 10 The family f the seed prmise mves as Gd directs The details f this call and the mvement f the family will begin t emerge next week and in the cming chapters But hw exciting is it t knw that we serve a Gd Wh has made it His practice t call men ut f bscurity t serve Him? He brings men and wmen frm east and sends them west He rescues us frm idl wrship and spiritual ignrance and He grants us the privilege f knwing the Creatr persnally He lves us while we are yet still a part f the wrld, His enemy and He adpts us int His family He redeems us frm ur wn sin and sets us n a jurney t learn and serve and prclaim His Name and glry t the wrld And He started with ne man, Abram 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.