Genesis 17

In this week’s bible chapter we’re going to be introduced to a practice that has haunted men for centuries. You can read the summary of last week’s chapter here and you can read Genesis 17 itself here.

Now the practice I just mentioned is indeed circumcision and in this weeks reading we find God commanding Abraham to take on this task. For the sake of context I’ll summarise where were coming from.

Moses, the author of Genesis, is chilling in the desert with the Israelites, fresh out of Egypt and he’s basically providing them with a history of their nation, while dropping some seriously theological themes. Therefore, we can see how Genesis 17 and its explanation of the origin of circumcision in Israel would have been important for the average Israelite to know. No doubt, the men in Israel had some serious questions about why they had a tradition involving the most vulnerable part of the male body. But that’s not all this chapter explains. Let’s walk through it together.

We start off with God appearing before Abraham. Now as far as we know, God hasn’t shown up for around 15 years. In fact Abraham hasn’t seen God since before the awkward turtle situation with Hagar, which resulted with little Ishmael. So apart from the problems that ensued when Abraham heeded ill advice of his wife (Genesis 16:2), Abraham probably had no reason to think that Ishmael was not the promised son. God had never said that his promised son would come from Sarah, so his child with Hagar probably seemed like a legit part of the covenant made in Genesis 15. Anyway, we’ll touch on this more later.

Now God basically starts with one of His spiels, restating much of what He’s said before. However, this time He changes Abram’s name to Abraham, which is great because up until now I’ve been crazy confused about which name to use in our weekly bible summaries. Now the meaning of his name has gone from “exalted father” to “father of many nations”. Now let’s stop and think about this. Abraham in the past would have introduced himself as “exalted father”. People would have heard this and asked how many children he had exactly. This was a question that could only be answered by an awkward silence on Abraham's part.

But NOW God amps it up a bit. Now Abraham is a father of NATIONS. How embarrassing would that be? I get the feeling the dialogue would go something like this.

Stranger: Hi, what’s your name?

Abraham: The God I serve has changed my name to “father of many nations”.

Stranger: Oh cool, how many kids you got?

Abraham: One.

Stranger:…right

But that’s just how God works. God writes the future. We can’t even see it. So when it appears like we’ve been promised something impossible (like, I don’t know, a guy on a horse with a sword coming out of his mouth and with eyes like blazing fire, cracking the sky open to come save us from this earth) we need childlike faith to trust that God can and will do what He says. And God has never broken a promise.

Okay, so in verses 9-14 we see the act of circumcision come in. The New Testament (Col. 2:11-14) sheds light on the meaning behind circumcision. The cutting off of the foreskin basically represents the believer in Christ, putting off the flesh and its ways. The fact that the flesh being physically removed is on the male genitalia possibly indicates that God is sanctifying for Himself a line of descendants or a nation from one man, through whom he will accomplish his work of redemption and the ultimate “putting off of the flesh” at the great consummation at the end of the age. Another interesting point is that these circumcised men were to be sexually pure (since they were God’s people) and thus the incision of the foreskin marked them off as different to the other nations. Ironically if they were to fall into sexual promiscuity and have relations with women or even prostitutes from other nations, the women would see that the men were different and possibly even question why, which would have been a convicting question for the men about to engage in what they knew to be an immoral act.

Now one of the ways that circumcision is relevant to us today is found in verse 7. God states that this covenant will be an everlasting covenant. Now since the New Testament states clearly that we no longer need to be circumcised, some view water baptism as the symbol of the new covenant, replacing circumcision. They bring Colossians 2:11-14 into the discussion to show that therefore in the same way all the newborn males were circumcised, now all newborn children must be baptized. In other words they believe in infant baptism. Others believe that a profession of faith is necessary in order for one to be baptized and infants clearly cannot profess faith in Christ, therefore it makes no sense for us to baptize our children.

Now I think it would be highly ignorant for me to say that infant baptism is an unimportant issue. Some people hold to the view that the essentials of salvation are the only things in the bible worth arguing over. Last time I checked ALL scripture was God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) and therefore it’s ALL important. Therefore, I have no problem with people who get dogmatic over this issue and try to take God’s word seriously. Personally, I’ve listened to arguments for and against baptizing children and while I do lean towards infant baptism, I know way too little to be dogmatic about the issue myself. Google it and come to your own conclusion :)

Onto the second half of the chapter! God notices that Sarai probably feels left out of the whole “getting a new name thing” so he changes her name to Sarah, which basically means the same thing. If anything, her name has changed from “my princess” to just “princess”, perhaps indicating that the scope of her princess-like position as the mother of many nations is greater than the average woman. She is not just MY (Abraham’s?) princess but also the princess over many nations.

Now when God finally says indicates that Sarah herself would give birth to his promised son, he reacts on a less than faithful manner. He basically laughs in God’s face. Now, granted he and Sarah were quite old and it literally would have taken a miracle for them to give birth to a child so it's no wonder he laughed in disbelief. But still. Never laugh at God. When I was reading this verse I was surprised that the next verse didn’t say “and God struck him down and went looking for a new patriarch”.

Anyway, after picking himself up off the floor from his laughing fit, Abraham proceeds to ask God to choose Ishmael as the promised son. No doubt Abraham loved the boy, being his first child and thus would have wanted the blessings of the covenant to be enjoyed by his firstborn. And yet God rejects Ishmael. Why? Let’s go to the New Testament for some clarification.

Galatians 4:22-23
“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.”

Ishmael represents human effort. When Abraham and Sarah lacked faith in God’s promise, they decided to help Him along and thus Ishmael was born. But God doesn’t work according to human standards. He does the impossible. Thus Abraham’s promised child was to be called Isaac, since God’s promises are so outlandish that they cause us to laugh with disbelief, but at the same time God himself is so faithful to His word that when He brings His promises to pass, He causes us to laugh for joy (Genesis 21:6).

Be encouraged. God has promised Christians the greatest gift He could offer; namely Himself. And while life’s struggles seek to sway us and cause us to fear, may we persevere in faith in God’s promises since He is faithful regardless of life’s trials or even our faithlessness (Romans 3:3) and no matter how unbelievable his promises may seem, our God can do the impossible (Luke 1:37).

Peace

Genesis 16

So I'm stuck doing an analysis of a chapter in Genesis, while Dimi is mocking me by playing Zelda right in front of me. So i guess I'll start off by copying and pasting the entire chapter onto this post.

Hagar and Ishmael

¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; ² so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ³ So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. ⁴ He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶ “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

⁷ The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. ⁸ And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

⁹ Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰ The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

¹¹ The angel of the LORD also said to her:

“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the LORD has heard of your misery.
¹² He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers.”

¹³ She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” ¹⁴ That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Ok so now Dimi will be cut at me and you can follow me through the chapter :)

Ok now, verse one doesn't say much, it simply sets the scene telling us that Sarai has been having trouble bearing children and that she has a servant named Hagar.

Verse 2 shows us how Abraham agrees with Sarai. Now it does not say whether there was a big discussion over this topic or not but it does show that he agreed with Sarai, which has caused him to get a lot of criticism since males are supposed to be the head of the household. It also shows a lack of faith in God's promise (Gen 15:5), since he wants to some how assist God in bringing him children, instead of letting God take the lead. It's quite funny actually since this verse shows us how utterly depraved we are as humans. Abram was counted as righteous in the last chapter for believing in God's promise (Gen 15:6) and then a chapter later you see him getting impatient and trying to speed things up with his human abilities.

Verse 3 states that Hagar is now his wife, which means that her status in the household has increased and it also means that Abraham has more than one wife. Now in the bible, taking more than one wife is never encouraged (Deut 17:17) and is generally wrought with complications, as you will notice if you read the latter verses in this chapter.


Verse 4 can show us how depraved humans really are. The moment Hagar gets a small bit of power she instantly looks down on Sarai. This is an act of pride and doesn't work out well for her later on.


Verse 5 and 6 shows that Sarai directs her anger at Hagar at Abram firstly, then later directs it towards Hagar herself. This is showing us how man should not try to "assist" God in his promise and should leave it up to him since it generally results in drama.


Verse 7 does not really show us much, except for the fact that she was running home, since she was found at the spring on the way to Shur which is in the direction of Egypt.


Verse 9 is a crucial verse in this chapter and it summarises the chapter well. She is commanded to go and submit to Sarai even though Sarai is treating her harshly. This is the main message of this chapter, that you must submit to your authorities even when it seems hard, this parallels with other sections of scripture (Rom 13: 1-7)


Verse 10 see's Hagar receiving a promise similar to that of Abraham (Gen 15:5) indicating that even though her son is not the promised child of Abraham, he is still partially blessed.


Verse 11 shows us that God listens to us when we are in need. Ishmael literally means "God hears".


Verse 13 calls God a "God of seeing". It is important to remember something like this, God is always watching even when it seems like no one is there to help us (like when your master is beating you every day and there is no escape). It can be a great comfort knowing God is watching and He cares.


Beer-lahai-roi in verse 14 means "Well of the living one who sees"...man, Hagar is really excited about this whole seeing-thing...maybe it's important?


This chapter teaches us several things. one of the main things is teaches is that you must submit to your authorities even when it seems hard and the people in power seem harsh and cruel. It also shows that God does have a plan. Technically Hagar brought this upon herself and did not deserve God's assistance, but God showed her favour and looked after her while she was being mistreated by her master. This chapter also shows us how we should have faith in God's plan, and that instead of trying to do things our way (like Abram did by conceiving a child with Hagar) we should have faith.

Genesis 15

So this week's study is on Genesis 15, one of the chapter's in scripture that gives pretty much a low down on the whole bible, so YOU DON'T WANNA MISS THIS!!

So context, Abraham has just flippin DESTROYED the 5 kings who kidnapped Lot, then got blessed by the High Priest Malchizedek, and rejected Sodom's offer, for they were an evil nation and Abram did not wish to depend on kings and their gifts, but on God. So from here you can see how Abram would have been feeling, he rejected all these gifts and is choosing to rely on God, but still has no son for his promise.

This is where we come in, here is the chapter so you guys can read it for yourselves:

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Now, as we know the author of this chapter, this whole book and the whole Pentateuch (first five books of the bible) is generally held to be Moses, writing to the Israelites as they wander around the desert. It would probably not be a coincidence then that Moses writes about the faith of Abraham so much (as the Israelites really bombed out in that area).

Ok, so you can see how Abram could have done with some encouragement in this chapter, as the chapter before he refused to take an offering from the king of Sodom in order to show his faith in God. It would have been perfectly fine for God to not encourage him and test his faith further, but He simply chose to let Abram know his faith was not misplaced.

So God encourages Abram, and then Abram lets loose. He tells God of his fear of leaving all he has to this dude Eliezer, which would therefore make everything God has done for Abram pointless in Abram's eyes (cos you know, not like God has a plan or anything). But God still encourages him, telling him again that he will have a son, and that they will be as numerous as the stars. Why did God wait for Abram to ask to encourage him, and why encourage him at all? It probably has something to do with verse 6; God brings Abram back to that place of faith. A person's faith (or lack of) can be shown clearly in times of crisis, like the years of childlessness Abram had currently gone through. Something important to note is that God is omniscient, so He would not have spoken to Abram to see if he has faith or not, but to cause him to have faith. This also shows that we do not have a works based salvation, but because of our faith (which He caused), not by anything we have done, are we counted as righteous.

God then decides to encourage Abram again, except this time specifically about the land he is going to possess (what could God be up to?). Abram again tells God of his fear that he does not know for sure (faith?) that he really will possess the land promised to him. Now God does something really weird... why does Abram need to get all these animals and cut them in half? And why not the birds? Well simply, these animals are used in rituals later for Israel, and when sacrificing birds, they are not to be cut in half (lev 1:17). Many believe that the birds of prey in verse 11 resemble Israel's enemies, and the torch and the fire pot and flaming torch in verse 17 to mean God's presence. Abram then goes to sleep and is told a prophecy about what the Israelites were currently going through!! Coincidence? I think not!!

Now, God makes a covenant with Abram by getting the torch and fire pot to pass through the animal carcasses. The covenant is that Abram's offspring will posses the land, and by using both offspring and land, this unconditional promise links to the earlier conditional promise of Abram becoming a great nation. So why did God say all this to Abram? Most likely to change the conditional promise to an unconditional one, which is kind of oddly similar to what Jesus did on the cross. When Jesus died, not only has He made it clear that faith in Him is all that is needed to be counted as righteous, by abolished the law, He has made it so that our salvation is not based on conditional sacrifices needed to be made, but one unconditional sacrifice made in unconditional love that is available to all men.

God bless all of you!

Genesis 12

We're starting with the life of Abraham in our weekly bible readings. If you guys want an idea of what happened in Genesis 11, so you understand a bit of the background then check out our summary of it here.

Again here's the text so you can read it for yourself:

The Call of Abram

12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

So to start off its always important to lay down the context for the chapter, otherwise we could probably twist the passage to justify racism if we tried hard enough.

The author of this passage is commonly held to be Moses who is assumed to be the author of the entire Pentateuch. He's writing this history of the patriarchs for Israel, who he has led out of slavery from Egypt and with whom he's currently wandering aimlessly in the desert with (...yeah, the Israelites thought it was messed up too).

And its not like they sipping drinks by the pool side. In fact, that wouldn't even make sense cos there was barely any water. This was a hard time for Israel. Most of them would not live to see the Promise Land and they would need to know that God has a purpose and a promise even through their punishment. This is the point of Genesis as a whole.

I'm gonna deal with the first half of this chapter first and then come to the wife swap situation later. Basically, God rocks up and is like "Abe, it's time to bail. I'll be in the car". Now this means leaving his fatherland, which was a big deal back then cos it was basically like leaving your identity behind and becoming a no one.

To do this requires FAITH (and a fear of being crushed by the omnipotent being who just tore your roof off and commanded you to do something) and its this type of faith that gets Abe credit in Hebrews 11:8. This reminds me of the fact that without faith its impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and also anything that does not proceed from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). You would do well to think about this for a bit.

Upon commanding Abe (can I call him Abe? I feel like were close enough) to leave his home, God gives him this stunning blessing:
"I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Hopefully, you can see this is a clear reference to the future Christ who will come through Abe's seed. Notice how God says "in you" and not "through you". Paul later states that all believers in Christ are children of Abraham (Galatians 3:29). It would seem as if it works both ways.

IN Abraham is almost synonymous with being IN Christ (his seed) and THIS is where the blessing lies. So for all those who think God broke His promise because not all the families of the world are blessed through Abraham, this blessing is for those in Christ only. And they are CRAZY blessed.

Let's move onto Abe's issue in Egypt. On the surface it just seems like a nice story with the basic moral being: trust God and He'll get you through trials.

And it is.

But I think there's something else here. Notice the contrast between the first part of this chapter and the second part.
In the first part we see Abram displaying great faith, leaving everything he has in Haran to follow the call of God and setting up altars where ever he goes in worship of God.

THEN, we see Abram set up a huge lie to protect himself (while neglecting the sanctity of his wife, mind you) all because he had no FAITH in God. See the contrast?

So what does this passage say as a whole?
Well, it seems quite clear that in regards to man, he is fickle and changes like the weather (and by that I mean Melbourne weather). One minute he might be a man who displays such great faith that he goes down in history for it and the next minute he's telling his wife that he's cool with another dude having his way with her as long as he gets to live. Nice. I guess the moral there is, don't trust Man.

But I think the more important question is what does this passage say about God?
Well, lets look and see...from verse 17:

"But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had."

We see that even though Abe was inconsistent, God remained faithful to his promise (Romans 3:3-4). He wasn't about to let some Egyptian mess around with Abram's wife and compromise Abe's seed.

Take note; our God is a faithful God.
As much as the bible, and Genesis specifically, is about the depravity of Man, it is also about the faithfulness of God to His promise that he made from the beginning.
(Genesis 3:15)

Key thoughts:
Are YOU living by faith?
Are you trying to please God with your works or with your faith in Jesus Christ?
Jesus said if you love Him, you will obey Him. You may be genuinely doing what you think to be God's will but you might be totally off and actually in sin.
It's God's will for us to read His word and obey Him by faith, just like Abraham did.
At the same time, recognise that although you're unfaithfulness is practically guaranteed, God will always remain faithful to you if you are His chosen people.

May that knowledge lead us to worship.

Peace

Genesis 11

So I am going to do a brief analysis on Genesis chapter 11 for all your viewing pleasure.

To start off I think I should probably throw the chapter in so that you can read it (assuming you don’t have a bible right next to your computer)

[The Tower of Babel]

[11:1] Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. [2] And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. [3] And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. [4] Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” [5] And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. [6] And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. [7] Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” [8] So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. [9] Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

[Shem's Descendants]

[10] These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. [11] And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

[12] When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. [13] And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

[14] When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. [15] And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

[16] When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. [17] And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

[18] When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. [19] And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

[20] When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. [21] And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

[22] When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. [23] And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

[24] When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. [25] And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

[26] When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

[Terah's Descendants]

[27] Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. [28] Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. [29] And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. [30] Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

[31] Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. [32] The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

So to start off I am going to talk about verses 1-9, the “Tower of Babel”.

It is assumed that these verses are not chronologically after chapter 10 because it speaks about one earth having one language, but these events may have taken place during Genesis 10:25

“To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided”

So it makes sense...ya know, the earth being divided and all, but the bible never clarifies it so it’s still just an assumption.

Anyway back to the story. The story of the tower of babel is actually rather important, and I think it’s actually kind of funny. It is almost directly after the flood and it shows humanity once again defying God, right after he wiped out humanity (well... most of it) for being wicked, they get another chance and BAM their already against God. They are defying God’s command to disperse across the world (Gen 1:9) and they are also attempting to glorify themselves and determine their own destiny without acknowledging the LORD. I think this short story is a great example of how depraved and wicked we are.

This brings us to verse 5, when God decides to intervene. The ESV study bible notes make a funny point saying that it is ironic that God had to come down to see the city. Even after the humans tried so hard to make a massive tower so that they could feel special it was still incredibly small in comparison to God. I think that’s a bit of a fail on humanity’s part.

Yay! Epic fail!

And this bring us to the next section where God uses his almighty almightyness and disperses them by mixing up their languages and thus resulting in the city being named Babel (which means “to confuse” to mix” to mingle”). Babel is also the name used to symbolise the city Babylon, which as a city represents the human ambition to dethrone God and make the earth it’s own.

…am I the only person who giggle’s at the fact that Babylon has “Baby” in it. It’s like God knew they would be a foolish bunch of people so predestined them to be named something that relates them to an infant just for the lols. Hehe, it gets me every time...

Ok that’s enough of the first 9 verses, now onto 10-26… “Shem’s descendants”

So there isn’t much in these verses, it simply shows the timeline between Shem and Terah, telling us the name of their first born and then telling us that they all had several other children.

One thing that would be interesting to note is that this appears to be when lifespans started to decrease. Shem lives 600 years (Gen 11:10) which is nothing compared to his daddy Noah who lived a whopping 950 years (Gen 9:29) but it continues to gradually decrease until it gets to Terah who only lives for 205 years (Gen 11:32). So that’s nice to know, the flood may have possibly had something to do with our diminished lifespans.

Ok, now to talk about verses 27-32… Terah’s Descendants!

So Terah fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran. These verses sort of set the scene for Abram’s story and it’s pretty helpful to read this before reading Abram’s story (I’m sure you all know Abram as the patriarch who would eventually change his name to Abraham.. if you didn’t then now you do). For example, it tells us that Haran fathers Lot. I read the bit later on when Abraham wanted to take Lot out of Sodom so that he wouldn’t get killed and it seemed kind of random to me, if only I had read these chapters…then it would have all made sense!

So the point is these verses set the scene well, so it’s handy to read them :)