Part G.
G1.
G2. Genealogy of Shemites (11:10-32)
†
The first 11 chapters of
Genesis appear as a complete cycle. At creation, chaos (Gen 1:2) became order (Gen
2:1-3). At
†
Gen 11 mirrors the incident in
TIMING: The time of
11:1 the whole earth: the known world, not the globe, referring to all the known races. Just like the description of the whole Earth in the Flood, here it may not be all races.
one language and the same words: one same language that everyone could understand each other.
o
If ch.11 is chronologically
after ch.10, then there would have been many languages on Earth at that time.
The “one language” could then be a common language (lingua franca) that everyone could understand while each nation
also had their own language, just like Mandarin in
11:2 people: Which group of people is represented here is unknown. It may not be the same as “the whole earth” in v.1.
migrated
from the east (ESV, KJV): “From the east” are
translated in some versions (NIV, NASB) as “to the east.” “To the east” is
probably more in line with the negative image of going eastward. Going eastward
in Genesis is a metaphor for departing from God’s blessing, as evident in both
the cases of Adam and Cain moving east after expulsion. Also, most of the clans
and nations in Gen 10 were located west of
plain: can be translated “valley” (Dt 8:7; 11:11), probably between
Tigris and
settled there: permanent settlement, contrary to God’s command of “filling the earth” (Gen 1:28; 9:1). The word “there” (Heb. sam) occurs 5 times in this passage and is a phonetic play with “name” (Heb. sem in v.4) and “heavens” (Heb. samayim in v.4).
11:3 come, let us: The phrase occurs 3 times in this passage and is a phonetic play. The making of bricks (“come, let us make bricks”) led to the building of the city (“come, let us build a city”) and then led to the action by God (“come, let us go down and confuse”).
make bricks, and burn them thoroughly: The Mesopotamian plain did not have sufficient rocks and stones for construction. The Hebrew literal translation is “brick bricks and burn for a burning” (Heb. nilbena lebenim…nisrepa lisrepa), perhaps a deliberate play on words that led to the eventual babbling.
bitumen for mortar: a mineral pitch, which, when hardened, forms a strong cement for attaching the bricks. In Hebrew, bitumen is “heimar” and mortar is “homer”, another play on words.
11:4 a city: for security and protection, especially in the middle of an indefensible plain.
a tower
with its top in the heavens: similar to today’s
skyscraper; with great height appearing to reach the heavens (Dt 1:28; 9:1).
The tower represented a symbol to reach God’s abode and be equal with God. It
is an expression of their arrogance like the king of
o
The tower was likely similar to
a ziggurat, a common structure in
make a name for ourselves: They expressed their objectives: [a] to pursue fame and independence from God, and [b] to avoid being scattered. Only God is worthy of everlasting fame (Isa 63:12) and only God can dispense everlasting fame to His chosen people (Gen 12:2; 2Sa 7:9; 8:13).
lest we be dispersed: With protection of the city, they could stay in the same place. Again, to prevent emigration was contrary to God’s command of “filling the earth” (Gen 1:28; 9:1).
11:5 the Lord came down: God was still higher despite their plan to reach heavens. The descent of God implies judgment, not seeking information.
children of man: The word man (Heb. adam) has the same root as dust (Heb. adama), a reminder of man’s corruptible state, yet they were arrogant enough to wish to be like God.
had built: in the process of being built.
11:6 one people, one language: a people unified by the same language. It may also imply that there was only one race because the word “people” in OT often points to kinship ties (while the word “nations” indicate geographic and political relations).
the beginning of what they will do: They wanted to be like God and they disobeyed God’s command. If they succeeded, they would have continued to commit other unimaginable sins.
will now be impossible: It does not mean that they would be successful in achieving their plan, but simply means that it would be difficult to restrain them from more conspiracy to sin. The verse is a hyperbole that explained why God needed to act.
11:7 let us: gathering the angels to complete God’s plan; or possibly expressing the 3 persons of trinity.
confuse their language: The word “confuse” (Heb. balal) can also be translated baffle or babble. It was originally used to describe the mixing of the food in cooking, meaning the components could not be distinguished after mixing.
11:8 dispersed them: The word “disperse” appears 3 times in this chapter (v.4,8,9) and is a main theme. Not dispersed was the main problem and dispersal was the result of God’s action.
Before the Flood, man killed each other and were not at peace and they received God’s judgment. Here, man were in unity and at peace yet they still received God’s judgment. It can be seen that unity of the whole world may not be God’s plan.
left off building the city: The city was the greater problem than the tower so that the tower is not mentioned here. Their intention to stay together was likely more problematic than their arrogance to reach God. However, it is likely that the tower was implied here as part of the city.
Because of the different languages, they could not cooperate so they stopped their construction. It is also possible that their spirit was dampened by the clear signal that God was against their work.
Question: Would God approve of world peace and unity?
Answer: From
human perspective, world peace may be an ideal. But, as can be seen from the
example of
What kind of danger is it? The analogy of marketing can be used to illustrate the risks of world peace and unity. If one corporation acquires full control over a product everyone needs, we can anticipate that the price will go up and quality will go down. That is why western free-market economies enact antitrust laws to keep monopolies from practising this kind of exploitation. Free competition has been found to be the best kind of economic system. Total world unity will eliminate competition among citizens and corporations.
Monopoly of power is dangerous because “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We have seen good examples from the widespread corruption at the United Nations. A one world government will unavoidably oppress its citizens and institutions. That is exactly what will happen in the future Great Babylon described in Rev 17—18.
We can see evidence of how large scale institutions today are being dominated by anti-God secularism. For example, the present European Union is constituted entirely of supposedly Christian nations (though nowadays most of them in name only), but the governing parliament of EU has many times rejected the recognition of God in their draft constitution. If there is ever a mega-scale government, it will certainly be a secular one. We have witnessed in the last few decades how secularists attack Christianity and persecute Christians. The future Great Babylon (representing a world system, that will comprise of the political, social, economic, religious, and cultural structures of the entire world) will do its worst in persecuting and murdering Christians.
World unity may be theoretically an ideal state. However, it is most likely against God’s will. The best possible state of world affairs may be a relatively peaceful world where national states can negotiate to settle their differences under the arbitrators from neutral states. It is also important that the most powerful nations be the ones that subscribe to the divine ideal of justice and peace.
o In the last two centuries, the world has been dominated by western culture which is mainly influenced by Christianity.
o
After the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1990, the
o
It is only under God’s
providence that the
11:9
11:10 generations: a new “toledot” section (the 5th of 10 in Genesis).
Shem (11th generation from Adam): Shem was 100 years old 2 years after the Flood. As Noah got his 3 sons after he was 500 years old (Gen 5:32), Shem was born when Noah was 502. However, the number 100 may be a rounded number so Shem might be 102 at that time.
11:11 Shem lived 600 years, compared to Noah’s 950 years. The life span of Shem was already shorter.
o Note that there is no mentioning of death in this genealogy (different from the genealogy in ch.5). The suggested reasons are: [a] new optimism leading to the new era starting with Abraham; [b] producing a faster pace for the chronology; [c] the emphasis here is life and expansion as opposed to death resulted from Adam’s sin in ch.5.
11:12 Arpachshad (12th generation): apparently the third son of Shem (Gen 10:22). Since he was born only 2 years after the Flood, he could be the eldest son. However, Biblical genealogies typically record only the individuals who were chosen by God or who were important in salvation history. Because of this, the line from Arpachshad to Abram may not always be the eldest son.
11:13
11:14 Shelah (13th generation): According to Lk 3:36, there is one skipped generation between Arpachshad and Shelah: Cainan.
11:15
11:16 Eber (14th generation): Eber is famous possibly because his name was associated with the word Hebrew. Eber was the one with the longest life span (464) among all those born after the Flood. This is possibly a reward for his adherence to the ways of God.
11:17
11:18 Peleg (15th generation): The
Tower of Babel was probably built during his lifetime. Jewish tradition puts
the year of
11:19
11:20 Reu (16th
generation): His name could be related to “Ruel” meaning “friend of God” or
“God is friend.”
11:21
11:22 Serug (17th
generation):
11:23
11:24 Nahor (18th generation): meaning “blow away”; same name for Abram’s brother.
11:25
11:26 Terah (19th
generation): The name could mean “mountain goat” or could be close to the word
for “moon” (Heb. yareh). It is likely
that Terah’s family was involved in the worship of moon god (called Sin) which
was common in ancient
o
There will be a logical
difficulty if Abram was the eldest son. Consider: [a] Terah was 70 years older than Abram (Gen 11:26). [b] Terah moved from
o
The proper reading should be:
If Abram (age 75) left
While Abram was named before the other 2 sons of Terah, it does not mean that Abram was the eldest son (see the example of Shem, Ham, and Japheth). It only means that Abram was in the chosen line. The verse simply points out that Terah had a son when he was 70 years old and two more afterwards.
As
Similar to the chronology in ch.5, the numbers in this chronology are also different in the Masoretic Text (MT, the Hebrew Bible), the Greek Septuagint (LXX), and the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP). [Masoretes were Jewish scribes who standardized the OT Bible during 5th to 10th century AD.]
o
According to MT, presuming that
there are no gaps in the genealogy, the first son of Terah (probably
o In addition, the Septuagint recorded a generation (Kainan) between Arpachshad and Shelah.
|
|
MT |
|
LXX |
|
SP |
|
|
|
son |
life |
son |
life |
son |
life |
|
Shem |
100 |
600 |
100 |
600 |
100 |
600 |
|
Arpachshad |
35 |
438 |
135 |
565 |
135 |
438 |
|
Kainan |
-- |
-- |
130 |
460 |
-- |
-- |
|
Shelah |
30 |
433 |
130 |
460 |
130 |
433 |
|
Eber |
34 |
464 |
134 |
504 |
134 |
404 |
|
Peleg |
30 |
239 |
130 |
339 |
130 |
239 |
|
Reu |
32 |
239 |
132 |
339 |
132 |
239 |
|
Serug |
30 |
230 |
130 |
330 |
130 |
230 |
|
Nahor |
29 |
148 |
79 |
208 |
79 |
149 |
|
Terah |
70 |
205 |
70 |
205 |
70 |
145 |
|
Years after Shem |
390 |
|
1,170 |
|
1,040 |
|
NOTE: The numbers show the
age of each patriarch at the birth of the recorded son and at death.
The italics are the numbers
that differ from the Hebrew Bible.
11:27 generations: a new “toledot” section (the 6th of 10 in Genesis).
Abram (20th generation): His name means “exalted father”; later God changed his name to Abraham at the age of 99 (name meaning “father of a multitude” or “father of many nations”, Gen 17:5). According to the genealogy in this chapter, Abram was the 10th generation after Shem, and Noah was the 10th generation after Adam. And 10 is a symbolically perfect number. However, because of skipped generations, it is unsure how many generations passed from Adam to Abram.
o According to the genealogy in Lk 3, there were no gaps between Adam and Noah and Noah was indeed the 10th generation after Adam. Jude 1:14 clearly says that Enoch was the 7th generation from Adam. Further, the descent from Enoch to Methusaleh to Lamech to Noah was clearly without gaps.
o What about between Shem and Abram? According to Lk 3, there was at least one skipped generation between Shem and Abram. Further, only the father-son relationship of Terah and Abram was clear. There may be more unrecorded gaps.
Nahor: Both Isaac and Jacob had their wives from Nahor’s family. Nahor had 12 sons (Gen 22:20-24).
11:28
o Some point out that Chaldeans appear only after Abraham’s time. However, the original Hebrew is “Ur Casdim” where the name Casdim might have derived from Arpachshad, which is Arp-casad. Even if it actually refers to the Chaldeans, the name was probably used by Moses (the author of Genesis) to show its location.
11:29 Sarai: Some (such
as the Jewish historian Josephus) believe that she was the same as Iscah (the
name is rendered Jessica in English), the daughter of Abram’s elder brother
Marriages to close relatives might have taken
place because these men did not want to marry pagan women around them. Besides
Abraham, Isaac married his niece Rebekah (Gen 24:15; daughter of Bethuel,
granddaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor); Jacob married his nieces Leah and
Rachel (Gen 29:12; daughters of Laban who was Rebekah’s brother, great
granddaughters of Abraham’s brother Nahor). Since both Isaac and Jacob married
their nieces (one generation below them) from Nahor’s family, Abram was most
likely younger than Nahor. So, in terms of age, Terah’s 3 sons in order were:
11:30
11:31 to go into the
11:32 Terah died in Haran: The life span decreased gradually from Shem to Abram [600—438—433—464—239—239—230—148—205—175]. The average is 317 years compared with the average of 912 years from Adam to Noah (excluding Enoch).
o
The city
†
The
† Arrogance (the extreme form of pride) is a common sin of man. Wanting to be like God is another common (and serious) sin. We need to be cautious to guard ourselves against these temptations.
†
Terah left