A People, A Place, A Promise

Day 4 – A Year in the Bible – Genesis 10-12

GENESIS 10 – THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH

Genesis 10 is sometimes called the “Table of Nations,” because it details the genealogies of Noah’s three sons – Shem, Ham, and Japheth – and their descendants. It shows how Noah’s family multiplied on the earth after the Flood, spreading into distinct nations.

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 10:32

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GENESIS 11 – BABEL

Genesis 11 tells the story of the Tower of Babel – where all people are speaking one language and are united to build a tower reaching the heavens in defiance of God’s command. This lead God to confuse their language and scatter them and halt the constructions of their tower. The chapter also gives the genealogy from Noah to Torah, introducing Abram, Sarai, and Lot.

One Language in the World
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 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. 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. 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 11:1-4

So the Lord Scattered Them Upon the Face of All the Earth
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 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. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 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

While unity often looks like a very positive thing, it is not positive at all if that unity is in opposition to God’s command. This was unity in sin. God told the people to spread throughout the whole earth. Instead they stayed put, banding together in their own power, and decided together to build a tower to heaven not wanting to be scattered abroad. So, God forced His command by turning their one language into many languages so they could not understand one another.

If God says GO and you do not GO, He will at some point (in His mercy) make you GO! It is always better to obey God than be forced as a rebellious child.

Abram, Sarai, and Lot
Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 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. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 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. – Genesis‬ ‭11‬:‭27‬-‭31‬ ‭

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GENESIS 12 – A PEOPLE, A PLACE, A PROMISE

Genesis 12 marks the beginning of God’s covenant with Abram (later Abraham). God calls him to leave his homeland and family for an unknown land (Canaan) and promises to make him a great nation and a blessing to all people and nations.

And I Will Make Thee a Great Nation
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. – Genesis 12:1-5

God promised a land for Abram’s people to dwell. God promised Abram offspring. God promised Abram that all the nations of the earth would be blessed by him and his seed. We know that the seed promised was Jesus Christ who came from the line of Noah, the line of Shem, and the line of Abram.