Gen 11.1-32 tells us about the Tower of Babel and the line of Adam through Shem to Abram.
v 1…Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words (contrary to the theory of Evolution).
v 2…And it came about as they journeyed from the east (where they had lived around the Ararat region) that they found a plain (without mountains or stones) in the land of Shinar (from “sheninaeru” meaning “they were shaken out”-the dead bodies from the flood settled there on a low, laying plain) and settled there; the cradle of civilization).
v 3…And they said to one another, “Let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly (not sun-dried but burned to make them long lasting; no stones there-v 2).” And they used brick for stone and they used tar (asphalt) for mortar (to waterproof the tower against another flood?).
v 4…And they said, “Come, let us build us a city , and a tower, with its top to heaven (very high), and let us make us a name (the tower would be like a sign and a beacon to draw others; they would be renowned); lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the earth (contrary to God’s command to spread out through the earth; they did not known they were prophesying their own end).
v 5…And the Lord came down (meaning examined) to see (consider) the city and the tower which the sons of men (as opposed to the sons of God) had built.
v 6…And the Lord said, “Behold (see), they are one people and they all have the same language (in purpose, religion, design; understood one another). And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them (restrained or thwarted).
v 7…Come, let us (Yehovah: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) go down (not wait) and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech (or hear their “lip”; God will use “tongues” as a sign of judgment to the unbeliever-Isa 28.11; Acts 2.1-40 1 Cor 14.22).”
v 8…So the Lord (Yehovah) scattered them (dispersed them; exactly what they feared) abroad from there over the face of the whole world; and they stopped building the city (temporarily).
v 9…Therefore its name was called Babel (confusion) because the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth (but one group would remain).
v 10…These are the generations (“toldot” with a vav missing; diminished generations because of sin) of Shem (now the account of the father of the Hebrew nation through whom Messiah will come). Shem was one hundred years old and became the father of Arpachshad five years after the flood;
v 11…and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.
v 12…And Arpachshad lived thirty-five years; and became the father of Shelah;
v 13…and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.
v 14…And Shelah lived thirty years and became the father of Eber (meaning to “cross over” and where “Hebrew” comes from);
v 15…And Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.
v 16…And Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg;
v 17…and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.
v 18…And Peleg lived thirty years and became the father of Reu;
v 19…and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu (with Peleg we see a considerable drop in the average lifespan), and he had other sons and daughters.
v 20…And Reu lived thirty-two years and became the father of Serug,
v 21…and Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.
v 22…And Serug lived thirty years and became the father of Nahor,
v 23…and Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters.
v 24…And Nahor lived twenty-nine years and became the father of Terah;
v 25…and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.
v 26…And Terah lived seventy years, and he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
v 27…Now these are the generations (“toldot” written without one vav) of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran, and Haran became the father of Lot.
v 28…And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans (in Mesopotamia).
v 29…And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai (my princess) and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah (some say this was another name for Sarai).
v 30…And Sarai was barren; she had no child.
v 31…And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans (Ur Kasdim; it seems God’s call on Abram had an impact on Terah; he also mourned his son Haran who had died there) in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there (Terah may have been too old or sick to continue).
v 32…And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran (there is a picture here; only when our “old man” is dead can we move into the promises).
Gen 12.1-20 tells us about Yehovah’s call to Abram when he was in Mesopotamia repeated again; Abram’s departure from Haran and his arrival in Canaan; Yehovah appears to Abram; famine drives Abram to Egypt and his testings there; his departure and return to Canaan.
v 1…Now the Lord said to Abram (while in Chaldea-Acts 7.2; Abram is a type of the believer who stopped short of where God is sending them; he was to go to Canaan, not stop in Haran), “Go forth from your country (even further), and from your relatives (but he took Lot), and from your father’s house (three main influences which mold our lives) to the land which I will show you (his destination is not specific for now).
v 2…And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you (empowered to succeed), and make your name great (bit at first he would be an unknown stranger; and you will be a blessing.
v 3…And I will bless those (plural) who bless you, and the one (singular) who curses you (takes you lightly) I will (bitterly) curse; and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (this will be fulfilled in Yeshua and the Renewed Covenant-Isa 42.6).”
v 4…And Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him (followed him but was not as inspired with the same ideals). Now Abram was seventy years old when he departed from Haran.
v 5…And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew and all their possessions (movable goods) which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran (servants and dependants), and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came into the land of Canaan.
v 6…And Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the plain of Moreh (teacher). Now the Canaanite was (already) in the land (at that time).
v 7…And the Lord appeared to Abram (how we are not told but it was visible) and said, “To your descendants I will dive this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him (in gratitude).
v 8…Then he proceeded from there to the mountain (range) on the east of Bethel (it was safer in the mountains than on a plain) and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west (literally “from the sea”) and Ai (literally “ha Ai” meaning “the ruins”; in Abram’s time this area already had ruins) on the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord (Yehovah) and called upon (“invoked”) the name of the Lord (Yehovah).
v 9…And Abram journeyed on continuing to the Negev (south).
v 10…Now there was a famine in the land so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn (not stay) there (not affected by the famine because of the Nile), for the famine was severe in the land.
v 11…And it came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman,
v 12…and it will come about when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live (a fate worse than death!).
v 13…Please say that you are my sister so it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you (by your statement; she was his half-sister according to Gen 20.12).”
v 14…And it came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
v 15…And Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house (not Pharaoh personally).
v 16…Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake (on account of her); and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels (to refuse these would have aroused suspicion).
v 17…But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife (assuring Sarai’s chastity).
v 18…Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
v 19…Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’, so that I would take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and go.”
v 20…And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him (Pharoah wasn’t totally innocent her; it was his policies towards beautiful woman that caused all this to begin with).
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