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Created Through Him

A great nation

10/21/2013

1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).

This is the beginning of the promise to Abraham. Abraham is to be a blessing to all people. What a profound concept. God in His infinite wisdom selected Abraham to be the father of those that would serve God. Remember too that this also fulfills the promise to Shem since Abraham is in the lineage of Shem. As prophesized by Noah, Shem was to be blessed. God across hundreds and thousands of years of time always fulfills His promises.

Abraham, Lot and Sarah

10/20/2013

29 And Abram and Nahor took them 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 the father of Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran (Genesis 11:29-32).

We have some very familiar biblical characters in these verses. People such as Abraham, Sarah, and Lot are included. These people were related to each other and traveled as a group. The group set out to travel to the land of Canaan. We see too in these verses the providence of God. God wanted Abraham to be in a certain location, and it was so.

From Shem to Abraham

10/19/2013

10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: 13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: 15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: 17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. 18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: 19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. 20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: 21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. 22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: 23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: 25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. 26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 11:10-28).

These verses show the lineage from Shem to Abram (Abraham). A very detailed timeline can be established that encompasses approximately 500 years. Interestingly Noah lived until just several years before Abraham was born. So the oral accounts of biblical history were very accurate. The eyewitnesses lived such a long time and had so many offspring that occurrences of major events in antiquity was very accurately passed down from generation to generation.

Tower of Babel

10/18/2013

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth (Genesis 11:5-9).

These verses may seem harsh to us on the part of God. But God is not arbitrary or capricious. God acted in this case to confuse language and destroy the tower so that Man would not continue to think that he could live without God. Additionally, God desired Man to spread across the earth and apparently Man was in rebellion against this. Remember the command to Noah and his sons was essentially to populate the earth.

Actions of Man

10/17/2013

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth (Genesis 11:3-4).

These verses show what at first would be good qualities; that of self-reliance. However, this reliance is at the exclusion of God. Man wanted it Man’s way. Collectively they wanted to be God. But even collectively Man is no match for the God of all-creation. Rather than reaching God through our own proud actions, God is reached through humble submission.

And the earth was of one language

10/16/2013

1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there (Genesis 11:1-2).

Immediately after the flood apparently all people desired to live together. There was one language and so all communicated without difficulty. This would seem to be a good thing. After all, there was likely a lot of uncertainty in the world after the destruction of so much and so many. But as we will learn in the verses that follow, no matter how good something might seem, if its’ purpose are not focused on serving God, it will not come to a good end.

The earth divided

10/15/2013

21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. 22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. 23 And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. 24 And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. 25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. 26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, 27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, 28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, 29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. 32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood (Genesis 10:21-32).

The lineage of Shem completes the list of families and nations that would form from them in the immediate post-flood era. We learn from these verses that in the fourth generation after Shem that the earth was divided (in the days of Peleg). It is possible that this division was one in which people were scattered (tower of Babel) or it is also possible that at this time the earth’s tectonic plates moved rapidly and the continents were divided. All we know for certain is that there was division of some kind.

The decedents of Ham

10/14/2013

6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. 13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim. 15 And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth, 16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. 19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations. (Genesis 10:6-20).

In the lineage of Ham we begin to see some familiar names and places. Names such as Nimrod, peoples such as the Canaanites and places such as Cush, Babel, Nineveh, Gaza, Sodom and Gomorrah are familiar to us. Much of our familiarity is due to the rather dubious nature of some of these peoples and places. But this should not surprise us since Noah had previously prophesized in chapter 9 that the decedents of Ham would become a problem. And so the line of Ham would in many cases become against God.

Japheth's line

10/13/2013

1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations (Genesis 10:1-5).

These lineages form the beginnings of the early nations. This first family line is that of Noah’s son, Japheth. The nations that would form from this line would populate mostly along the coast as well as to the north of present day Israel (formed until much later in time). All nations have their origin in one of the three sons of Noah.

The death of Noah

10/12/2013

28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died (Genesis 9:28-29).

Noah lived a very long time. Almost a third of his life was after the flood. The age that people lived would dramatically drop after the flood. So Noah would be the last of those that would live for such a long time. The post-flood world was greatly different than the pre-flood world. At the time of Noah’s death, the ice age would have been receding; the ice age being caused by the tremendous amount of moisture in the atmosphere in the immediate post-flood age. The topography, atmosphere, weather and diet had greatly changed. Truly it was a new world.

Created Through Him