Fear No Fear

We open with the Table of Nations, another genealogy, this time of Noah’s sons. All these people were born after the Flood. The lists are separated by son of Noah, by their lands, everyone according to their tongue, according to their families, and by their nations. The list (Chapter 10) is kind of an advance picture of what was about to happen (Chapter 11). It is interesting that Ham fathered Canaan and these two men were the ones involved in the last chapters mocking of parental authority and dignity (at best). The names of their descendants include Cush and Egypt – enemies of the Israelites in the future. However a single name is mentioned alone and not with brothers: Nimrod. He is singled out as a mighty hunter before the Lord. He is mentioned as a king whose kingdom included Babel, Nineveh, and Assyria – all names we’ll come to know. Interestingly, the Jewish Rabbinical teaching has two versions of Nimrod. Some say he was the first to hunt game and no beasts could best him – the first big game hunter. Others say he was mighty at hunting men and capturing their minds – the first dictator. The scripture is silent as to why he was singled out, but he founded Babel and that doesn’t speak well to his character.

Among Shem’s descendants was Uz – possible founder of the land Abram would later come from. If you look at the AGES of these men (especially Shem’s line – last half of Chapter 11), you should notice two things. First, that the lifespan of these men were getting shorter. Second, that the longer lived men were around a LONG time. Shem, for example, outlived Abraham by 35 years – he lived long enough to have seen Jacob’s 50th birthday (in fact he was alive when Egypt was rising as a dynastic power). These men who survived the Flood were around for the others to consult, to hear stories from, to hear about the world before the Flood and why it came. To hear how Yahweh saved humanity through Noah and his family. Yet still, almost immediately they turned against the Lord and set themselves in conflict with Him. If you think of the stories and teaching they HAD to have mentioned at least to their own children (but probably more since Noah is called a preacher in 2 Peter 2:5), there is NO EXCUSE for the idolatry many of these peoples embraced.

“These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, and according to their nations” (Genesis 10:31).

The Tower of Babel dominates the first half of Chapter 11. First off, it was called babel after it was over (babel means to confuse or confound). Poetically, they said they were going to build it to the heavens – it only means tall and noticeable. Some believe it was a tower for defence, able to be seen from far away and to see approaching armies from far off easily. Others look at the command Yahweh gave Adam to FILL the Earth and see this tower (and the accompanying city) as a declaration to NOT fill the Earth. To instead stay in one place, banded together, with one language, doing WHAT they wanted WHERE they wanted. It was another form of rebellion against the Lord. When the Lord came down to look into their hearts directly – maybe so nobody could claim He didn’t understand what they were really doing – He chose to stop their work. He did it in two ways. The second way came from the first. The first was their language. Until now they had the SAME language. Now the Lord gave them multiple languages. Remember Chapter 10 and how they divided themselves up according to their languages? This is why. Naturally, those who spoke the same language banded together and collected in the same places. Thus humanity travelled to fill the whole earth, migrating across the landscapes to the far flung corners of the globe, as archeology has detailed for us.

It is interesting that it was LANGUAGE that the Lord touched. Words have power (Proverbs 18:21). What we say MATTERS (Matthew 12:36). Yahweh is a God who speaks reality into being. As copies of Him, our words have more power than we think. How often does what we say come to pass? It isn’t karma. It isn’t manifestation by the cosmos. It is the harvest of the seed which we planted with our words (Genesis 8:22). It is us calling with our creative power and seeing the results (Romans 4:17). By dividing our words, the Lord assured that no ONE individual would be able to sway and control all the rest. It has proved throughout history to be a major deterrent to those wicked people who wish to conquer the globe.

The location where this happened was called babel because of the language confusion. It is possible it happened around the time of Peleg’s birth (Noah’s Great Great Grandson) since his name means division. He was born around two hundred years after the Flood. Babel later became Babylon, the capital city of an empire not always friendly to the Israelites (though often an unconscious instrument of the Lord). It also is named as a symbol of great wickedness in a vision of the End Times (Revelation 18). The chapter continues with a list of Shem’s descendants and ends with a list of a particular descendant’s family: Terah, who became the father of Abram. It is Abram we follow through Chapter 12.

Abram was called by God Himself to be blessed and to be a blessing. This is the beginning of the THIRD Covenant with humanity (the Abrahamic Covenant). He was called out from his country, from his extended family, and from his immediate family (his father’s house). He was called to go to a far country that God would show him when he got there – that’s some trust Abram needed to have (Acts 7:2-3). Abram did it, kind of, but not really. As is so often the case, he did it his way. Abram’s father and nephew came with him, they went a certain distance and settled down in Harran. After his father died, Abram moved on. In fact, he took his wife, his nephew, all their possessions, and all the servants (and possibly slaves) they had acquired while living in Harran. Off they went, and they ended up in Canaan – throughout all this time Abram’s wife Sarai was childless.

Here in Canaan Abram shows a pattern. He went to Shechem and settled, building an altar to the Lord. God spoke to him and said Abram’s descendants would own the land. Abram moved to a mountain near Bethel, and built and altar to the Lord. There are very few places that Abram went where he didn’t build an altar, and build it almost immediately. It followed him his entire life. Making sure that he had a place to remind him of the Lord and to worship the Lord was very important to Abram. It helps to explain why God chose him: Abram believed the Lord was important and treated Him as important. In Genesis 18:19 it states that Abram was so dedicated that he would teach his entire household about the Lord and because of THAT, the Lord would bring about all that He had spoken over Abram.

Chapter 12 ends on a bit of a sour note. The habit Abram had of doing things his way showed its head again. There was a famine in Canaan and Abram took his entourage down to Egypt, to the rich and verdant Nile Valley which was full of food. Abram was about 75 and Sarai 65. Now Sarai was the daughter of we don’t know who. But Abram later claims she is his non-uterine half sister (Genesis 12:19). This is in spite of the fact that in Noah’s father’s genealogy, Terah calls Sarah his daughter-in-law. In any case, this 65 year old woman was so beautiful Abram feared other men would kill him to possess her. So he told her to always refer to herself as his sister (something he must have viewed as a white lie). Naturally, her beauty was noticed. It was talked about. And the Pharaoh (ruler of Egypt – probably Senusret I) acquired her with a huge dowry given to Abram. What trust in God Sarai must have had that she would be fine. Sadly, what lack of trust in this country Abram had. Sarai’s trust was rewarded.

Pharaoh’s house was stricken with disease and plagues. He called Abram to the mat, having somehow put two and two together, and demanded the truth. Abram gave the weak defence that it wasn’t a LIE lie, as they were in fact half-siblings. Pharaoh was disgusted. He had a higher morality than Abram, felt it was totally unacceptable. He might have taken Sarai as a wife and he did not take kindly to that. He banished Abram and his wife and his entire retinue with all their possessions (including a maidservant for Sarai that some scholars think was his daughter and part of the dowry) from Egypt. To make sure Abram went, he sent his guards to escort ALL the way out of Egypt’s territory. Thus begins the affliction of the Abrahamic line by Egypt.

Summary

Key Players: Shem, Ham, Japheth, Nimrod, Peleg, Abram, Sarai, Pharaoh (unnamed)

Key Themes: The rejection of God’s way of doing things, the beginning of the re-institution of the Blessing of God, the importance of doing things the way God says they should be done.

Key Verse(s): Genesis 10:4, 20, & 31; 10:8-12; 11:4-7; 12:1-3; 12:17-20