Genesis 11
Plan to build a city and a tower  1
The Lord investigates; the people scattered  5
Descendants of Shem  10
Descendants of Terah  27
Text
Comments
.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.
 3  And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. 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.
  4 - Scattered What was wrong with this? See ge0907. Cities operate efficiently where business people are near each other and where people are near markets and entertainment. Evil also grows in these circumstances, and distractions help people forget God, so city building was not His plan ge0901.
  4 - Reach unto heaven Compare jon0102, re1805.
.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.
  5 - Lord came down to see God didn't need to come down to know what was happening. The people to be dealt with needed to know that He knew. The investigation is also so we will know that He understands and will be fair. This was a time of judgment for the people.
.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.
  10 - Shem ... hundred ... five hundred Watch the steady decline in life spans and compare with the ages of those before the flood ge05. And notice a significant difference in their diet ge0903. Only in recent years have the dangers of meat become clear. Upon leaving the ark plant food was not easy to find and it took time to find fertile soil and start gardens. And in the wilderness travel out of Egypt, plant food may have been less readily available. Instead of returning to the original diet, humans apparently ate more flesh foods. Animal diseases are more like human diseases than plant foods are. And today, animal transmitted disease is common. A vegan diet honors the body temple God has given us. 1co0619.
.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.
.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.
  28 - Ur of the Chaldees See central area of the map of Assyria. Ur was "The country of Terah, and the birthplace of Abraham, Ge 11:28,31; 15:7.  It is usually called "Ur of the Chaldees," ... Ac 7:4; and is located, with strong probability, in the north-west part of Mesopotamia.  The city of Orfah, to which the Jews make pilgrimages as the birthplace of Abraham, is a flourishing town of 30,000 inhabitants, seventy-eight miles south-west of Diarbekir.  Some, however, place Ur in Lower Chaldea, at extensive ruins now called Warka, in latitude 31 degrees 19' North, longitude 45 degrees 40' East." (ATS Dictionary).
  31 - Terah ... went forth from Ur See above.
God's plan for restoration of the three relationships broken in Eden
Broken in Eden The curse Covenant, Gen. 12
Covenant, Gen. 17
With God
Serpent - dust; destruction
Blessing ge1202
Be your God  ge1707
With Others
Pain in childbirth
Great nation
Father of nations ge1704f
With the earth
Sweat and thorns
Land ge1201
Land of Canaan ge1708
..
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