Notes: Genesis 10-11:26

Bob Feather January 6th, 2008

Notes for January 6, 2008

Genealogies revisited. As before, the descendants of the other sons are listed, and then follows the detailed account of the son through whom the Messiah would come.

Genesis 10

2-5: The sons of Japheth

5: isles of the Gentiles. Weren’t all people “Gentiles”? And, what of this division by “tongue”? Weren’t all people of one language and one speech (Genesis 11:1)? Most likely this verse is a comment on the post-Babel world.

6-20: The sons of Ham

8-10: Nimrod, a mighty one in the earth, a mighty hunter before (against?) the Lord. His kingdom began at Babel in the land of Shinar(Genesis 11:1-9). Interesting, non-Biblical and totally unverifiable, traditions about Nimrod abound.

11: Nimrod built Ninevah, which would become the capital of the Assyrian empire.

18-19: The Canaanites were to become a godless people who opposed God and His people.

Genesis 10:18-19; 50:11; Exodus 3:8,17; 33:2 34:11; Nu 13:29; 14:25, 43, 45; 21:1, 3; 33:40; Deuteronomy 1:7; 20:17; Joshua 3:10; 24:11; Jud 1:1, 3-5, 9, 10, 17, 27-33; 3:3, 5; 2 Samuel 24:7; 1 Kings 9:16; 1 Chronicles 2:3; Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 9:8,24; Obadiah 1:20; Zechariah 14:21.

Simon the Canaanite was one of the Apostles (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:18).

19: Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin is remembered until this day. Genesis 18-19; Matthew 10:15; 11:23-24.

21-32: The sons of Shem

25: In the days of Peleg was the earth divided. Does this refer to the division of one central land mass into the various continents (so-called “Pangea”); or does this refer to the division of a unified humanity into various language and social groups; or something other?

Genesis 11:1-26

Unity is the cry of the day; everyone wants unity, whether within the country or among countries. In this chapter we see what happens when men are unified in their detest for God.

1-9: The Tower of Babel

1: One language, and one speech. And it wasn’t English.

2: Dwelling in the plain. They had been journeying. Were they looking for a suitable place to settle?

3: Tempered bricks. Construction and the building arts came early in the pages of man’s history.

4: Building our way to heaven. Did they really think that they could construct so high a tower? Did they really think that heaven was a place that could be reached by human endeavor? God does not live in a temple made by human hands (Acts 17); and no amount of work(s) will raise a man out of his sin and into the presence of God

Making ourselves a name. And they did. But instead of fame, they are known for infamy. How many a young person set out to make a name for himself only to discover his life in ruin and disrepute.

Gathering ourselves together. Instead of being gathered together by God, men gathered themselves. The US constitution guarantees the right to assemble, but don’t try to gather a lynch mob. Men are free to join hands together; but beware when men gather together for evil.

5: The Lord saw everything. God always sees everything. Notice that God took special interest in the affairs of men.

6: Man can do anything he sets his mind to. If unified language is the central ingredient to great advancement in human accomplishment, then what will come of the almost monopolistic spread of Microsoft’s computer operating system (language)?

7: God confused their language so that they could not understand each other’s speech. Most of us are familiar with the difficulties surrounding not being able to communicate because we are unfamiliar with another’s language. Do we understand the language of God.

8: The Lord scattered them, and city construction stopped. That which they wanted to avoid became reality. How did this happen. The Lord did it.

9: Babel. Know for it’s confusion of language, this abandoned city has given its name to the countless situations in which men have spoken without understanding one another.

10-26: From Shem to Abram (Abraham)

	Father	Age at Son’s Birth	Son	Years after Son’s Birth	Age at Death
1.	Shem	100	Arphaxad	500	600
2.	Arphaxad	35	Salah	403	438
3.	Salah	30	Eber	403	433
4.	Eber	34	Peleg	430	464
5.	Peleg	30	Reu	209	239
6.	Reu	32	Serug	207	239
7.	Serug	30	Nahor	200	239
8.	Nahor	29	Terah	119	148
9.	Terah	70	Abram

Notes: Compare this with the table in Genesis 5 and you will see that men have children at an earlier age, and that fathers die younger after the flood.

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Genesis 11:1

1And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

Genesis 11:1-9

1And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3And 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.

4And 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.

5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6And 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.

7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9Therefore 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 10:18-19; 50:11

1018And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

19And 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.

5011And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.

Exodus 3:8,17; 33:2

38And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

17And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

332And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

Deuteronomy 1:7; 20:17

17Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

2017But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

Joshua 3:10; 24:11

310And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.

2411And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand.

2 Samuel 24:7

7And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba.

1 Kings 9:16

16For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife.

1 Chronicles 2:3

3The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD; and he slew him.

Ezra 9:1

1Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

Nehemiah 9:8,24

8And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:

24So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.

Obadiah 1:20

20And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.

Zechariah 14:21

21Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

Matthew 10:4

4Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

Mark 3:18

18And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,

Matthew 10:15; 11:23-24

1015Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

1123And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

24But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

Genesis 11:1-26