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Created Through Him

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.

Honoring parents

10/11/2013

18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant (Genesis 9:18-27).

Admittedly this is a difficult passage to understand. Noah was not acting as he should have and evidently Canaan behaved in a shameful way. It is hard to tell exactly what Canaan did, from the words it seems a bit trivial, but evidently it was a big deal. Noah’s reaction was harsh. The reaction it seems was aimed at the fact that Canaan did not honor his father. Though it would be 1000s of years before the Commandments of God were given to Moses clearly the idea of honoring father and mother were present from antiquity.

Rainbow

10/10/2013

8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth (Genesis 9:8-17).

A covenant is a promise. In these verses we read of the covenant that God made with Noah. That covenant was that a flood would never destroy all creatures again. The sign of the covenant was a rainbow. The sign was set as a reminder. The reminder is one of hope. Hope is for things yet to come and promises yet to be fulfilled. The hope of the rainbow is the Lord Jesus Christ: high and lifted up, standing in the light of His glory.

Created Through Him